Joe the Plumber Hosts Blog After Failed Campaign

In cooperation with the Liberty Alliance, Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is launching a new political website, aptly named “Joe for America.”Since adopting his everyman moniker, Wurzelbacher has achieved a level of celebrity made possible by the strange atmosphere of modern American politics. Unfortunately for the Ohio native, the political limelight has proven itself a fickle mistress.After the 2008 presidential election, the event that originally gained Wurzelbacher his notoriety, Joe the Plumber continued to hold sway among certain conservative circles. The Toledo-born man has spoken at numerous events, appeared on most major news outlets, and has even co-authored a book, “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream.”Riding the crest of the “Joe the Plumber” wave, Wurzelbacher tried his luck at public office when he ran for Congress in the 2012 general election. With the 9^th congressional district at stake, Ohio’s own average Joe took on veteran congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and lost in a landslide.Perhaps down, but not out, Wurzelbacher’s new blog is his latest political venture. The website, which bears his name, is primarily stocked with material from a staff of writers, who in nearly every post make argument in favor of tenants of conservatism.Wurzelbacher himself, now only partially keeping his plumber pseudonym, makes weekly posts both in blog and video blog form.Speaking in interviews, Wurzelbacher claims that through his website, he doesn’t merely wish to inform Americans of the problems that face their nation, but intends to expose the roots of said problems."When you hire a plumber because no hot water is coming out of the kitchen sink faucet, you need to go to the water heater, not the faucet," remarked Wurzelbacher.With the United States’ current state of affairs (the debt crisis, battle over gun control, etc.), the times seem right for Wurzelbacher and his staff’s brand of political pontification. The question, though, is whether their writing can make any significant impact on a public heavily saturated with news media.The 11,741 people who have already liked Joe the Plumber on Facebook suggest that he can - and why not?A Gallop Poll from September shows that people mistrust the mainstream news media more now than ever. Of those surveyed, 60 percent said that they had little or no trust in the mainstream media’s ability to report the news fully.This mistrust creates a niche for bloggers to fill. It is in these discrepancies, between what goes on the record and the entire truth, that bloggers like Wurzelbacher create discussion that can dictate the conversation on important issues.This prevailing sentiment was addressed by Daniel Drezner, a professor at Tufts University, and Henry Farrell, a professor at George Washington University, in “Blogs, politics and power: a special issue of Public Choice,” an article by the two scholars who also happen to be bloggers.They write, “The growth of the blogosphere has triggered (perhaps unjustified) concern about the economic viability of media companies for the future. Surveys of blog readers show that they view blogs as more credible than traditional media outlets.”In its infancy, it is difficult to fathom the day when “Joe for America” will make a significant difference on American politics. However, as his unexpected 2008 rise to fame reminds us, Joe Wurzelbacher and his man of the people charm is not to be underestimated.