McCain Releases ‘Joe the Plumber’ Ad

October 16, 2008 By: Jim Meyers

The John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign on Thursday released its latest Web ad, entitled "Joe the Plumber," featuring the Ohio man who was mentioned repeatedly during Wednesday night’s presidential debate. According to a campaign release, “the ad highlights Barack Obama's plans to increase taxes on Americans, even as they seek to build their own small businesses and create jobs. While Barack Obama talks about cutting taxes, his plan is really just a plan to ‘spread the wealth around’ instead of creating new wealth and new opportunity.” Plumbing company employee Joe Wurzelbacher had complained that Obama’s tax policy would make it difficult for him as a small businessman. The ad shows Wurzelbacher telling Obama during a campaign stop in Holland, Ohio: “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more.” Obama tells him: “It's not that I want to punish your success … I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.” The announcer then intones: “Everybody? Leading papers call Obama's taxes ‘welfare … government handouts.’ “Obama raises taxes on seniors, hard-working families to give ‘welfare’ to those who pay none. “Just as you suspected, Obama's not truthful on taxes.”