It was there last week and has been taken down ... ..Don't ignore the point that "Joe" as a person does not matter. It is his QUESTION to Barry, and Barry's ANSWER that is important !! "Joes" professional qualifications, tax status, personal life and rumors regarding Joe ARE NOT IMPORTANT and serve as DISTRACTION from Barry's answer.
Don't worry, we all know the regular liberal tactics on this type of situation: avoid the essence and attack somewhere on the periphery, just to create a diversion and take the public's mind off the main subject, a la: "Yes, he asked some kind of a question, BUT, his tie/shirt/smile was crooked, THEREFORE, he must be a plant, OBVIOUSLY!!"
Forgive me for never trusting a Republican factoid. I'm sure you have a screen shot or something that you can show us all. Well normally they wouldn't, but again, "Joe" held himself up to be an authority on the matter (what is called in debate "appeal to authority") -- he held himself up to be an authority on plumbing and how tax cuts would impact him. His argument was discredited when it was revealed that he was lying about everything. As for his question, the average income for a plumber is something around $47K, so you can see that his question has little relevance to plumbers in general. Additionally, he would have to reach $250,000 NET income to be affected -- and even then it's his marginal income that would increase from 36% to 39% -- ie. the amount over $250,000. So really, the whole question is a bunch of hot air.
The tape between Obama and "Joe" was shown on MSNBC yesterday. "Joe" told Obama that he'd been working as a plumber for 15 (fifteen) years. A local newspaper article published earlier quoted him as working for 6 (six) years. Typical Republican pathological LIAR. And even if it's "only" 6 years, why couldn't this fuck-up finish the apprentice program for plumbers? Real plumbers start out in the apprentice program, and that's just the first step. This is all you Repubs have, and you wonder why non-Republicans say you're full of shit? You couldn't find one real plumber or one real impending entrepeneur to ask Obama "the tough question?" And you whine about your fake plant (yes, he walked up to Obama, not vice versa) being given the third degree by the media, given the mountain of lies told by the GOP before Joe the Fake reared his ugly, empty head? Are you fucking serious? P.S. Joe the Fake says Social Security is socialism. How is that "mainstream" to most Americans?
What's typical is the refusal to focus on the question that was asked. Who gives a shit what the guy did for a living. The fact Obama gave the worst possible answer is what has got every tighty whitey wearing democrat running around with their heads cut off trying to deflect the focus. You can keep focusing on Joe all you want but it's nothing more than an admission that you refuse to defend Obama's answer to him.
So the top rate for people earning north of a quarter mill goes back to 39%, from Bush's cut to 36%. It's a nonstarter. Only an idiot would call that "socialism".
Socialism is not really about numbers at its essence but about the philosophy that it's the state that will decide who produces what and who gets paid what. In that "wealth redistribution" derives its mentality and marching orders from that philosophy, Obama is leaning towards Socialism, al least a lot more than McCain, Bush, even both of the Clintons.