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Shallow Nation

October 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am

Video: Joe the Plumber: Original Encounter with Barack Obama and Post-Debate Interview

Barack Obama and Joe the Plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, October, 2008, Ohio

Unlike Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin’s Joe Six Pack, Joe the Plumber is an actual person with actual opinions. After being mentioned some twenty times during the final Presidential debate, it was only natural that the famous plumber, whose real name is Joe Wurzelbacher, was among the post-debate pundits.

The phrase “Joe the Plumber” was mentioned nine times during the debate. At one point, McCain even referred to him as “my old buddy, Joe the Plumber.”

Wurzelbacher told the Associated Press: “It’s pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign.”

It was unclear whether the McCain campaign had been in touch with him. However, in a post-debate interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Wurzelbacher echoed familiar McCain themes. He said that Obama is well-spoken but that “there’s got to be some action behind it.”

Source: ‘Joe the Plumber’ becomes a national fixture

CBS News anchor Katie Couric interviewed him via phone after the debate on October 15, 2008. Joe the Plumber met both Presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, in person and described those encounters. He spoke favorably of McCain’s debate performance was dismissive of Obama’s eloquence, calling it “a tap dance…almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.”

Watch CBS Videos Online

Via – Politico – Joe: Obama’s ‘tap dance almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.’

Here is the original encounter Barack Obama and Joe the Plumber in Ohio. This is the unedited, nearly six minute conversation between the candidate and the now famous plumber, which ended, ironically, with Obama thanking him and saying, “I’ve got to go and prepare for this debate. But that was pretty good practice right there.”