THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, FINAL EDITION: SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, JOE THE PLUMBER'S EARS ARE BURNING

Joe the Plumber may well have lost the election for John McCain after the third and final Presidential debate.

By the time that McCain had mentioned whom he had painted (with a big fat brush) as poor widdle potentially over taxed (if Obama gets elected) small business owner Joe for what seemed like the fourteenth time (and only about ten minutes or less into the debate) it seemed to this viewer that Obama had already won the evening. McCain came off as only representing small business owners who made the most money, with no real recognition of the people who work for said businessmen, or even most small business owners, for that matter.

Obama did well at letting McCain stew in his own juices and look like a politician with no real answers to the economic concerns of those who work to help the company owners and corporate czars make fat profits and performance bonuses, while labor receives less and less reward and security for their toil.

And what sealed the deal for Obama was when he managed to give his take on the McCain campaign's ad nauseum accusations against him in regards to his association with William Ayers and the ACORN voter registration fraud. Obama was able to give detailed and rational statements stifling the subjects of both Ayers and ACORN and made McCain look like a rambling online discussion board troll until Bob Schieffer moved on to the next question.

Later, when the subject was energy issues, McCain put me into a fit of near uncontrollable laughter when he suggested that one idea to fight dependence on foreign oil was to build 45 nuclear plants. Forty. Five. This is unequivocal proof that McCain is completely out of his fuckin’ mind. Hey, can we store all of the spent rods in Arizona? Or even better, put ‘em all in Wasilla, Alaska? I might just go for a policy like that!

And later, when the topic turned to health care, here we go with Joe the Fuckin’ Plumber again! There are millions of us out there who are one layoff or company closure away from losing our health care benefits, if we ever even had them to begin with. Under McCain’s health care proposal, Joe could take away everybody’s health plan, but whoopee! You could write off five thousand bucks on your tax return if you even find, much less can afford your own plan! Oh please.

There are more people out there in America than “Joe the Plumber”, and most of us are doing the actual work. And after tonight, it sure as Hell sounds like I wouldn’t want to be working for him. McCain makes Joe sound like a really selfish un-American asshole. Anybody who, while running a successful business, would shitcan employees simply because his tax bill went up is a real prick in my book.

If anyone who isn’t a millionaire and, having viewed this debate, is still going out and voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, that person is either seriously mentally ill or a complete and blathering idiot. But whom am I kidding? None of the goons who show up at the racetrack rallies and yell “Obama been lyin’!” “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” are incapable of being too drunk to pay attention by that late in the evening anyway.

That’s why it’s important for those of us who know better to show up for the game and get those ballots turned in. It is crucial not to let the Old Man and the Sleaze, at the bidding of their racist, sexist, homophobic mob of ignorant followers, take control of the nation’s highest office.