The Name Game

Marc Ambinder does not allow for much personal liberty or free expression in the matter of people's names:

Sam The Not-Officialy-A-Plumber

16 Oct 2008 04:14 pm

(I.e., Joe The Plumber's name isn't Joe, and he's not officially a plumber. Discuss.)

Well, it is his middle name that is "Joe".  I understand that in the new America glimmering over the near horizon it will not be patriotic to mention the middle name of the President (Hussein!  Come and get me!), but surely we will retain our right to use our own middle names if we so choose, won't we?  Or does that whole middle-name thing embarrass The One and his supporters that much?

Well.  As a bit of a nostalgia piece, maybe Mr. Ambinder would like to pass the time trying to figure out who these figures from history might have been:

Arthur Chamberlain
Stephan Cleveland
Dorothy Dunaway
John Hoover
Ralph Earnhardt
Ralph Earnhardt, Jr.
Yitzak Asner
 Willard Romney
Anna Roosevelt
 Henry Perot
William Pitt

I can get some of them!  As a bonus, how about

Chester Lott
James McCartney
   Thomas Connery
John Coolidge
  John Ferrell
Francis Fitzgerald
Richard Fuller
Malcolm Forbes
William Gable
Henry Gehrig
 
Now we can add Samuel J. T. Plumber to the list.  As American as apple pie.  Well, the old America.
 

                                                      

Comments

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

After the Al Smith joke-smackdown, if the election was to determine the replacement for Jay Leno, it would be a 50 state landslide for McCain.

[Stealth Gay Conservative Academic]

Oh no. I go by my middle name. I hadn't realized just how much of a racist I truly am.

[Rick Ballard]

Drop a hint that you know Ace is calling. Dunno why he would but he is.

[clarice]

That's really impressive! Did you do that from memory?
Isn't officially spelled with 2 ls or is the Atlantic into some kind of prole chic now that it's evident Joe and Sarah are America's new darlings?

[Sue]

Are we guessing?

*Wilt* Arthur Chamberlain
*Grover* Stephan Cleveland
*Faye* Dorothy Dunaway
*Herbert* John Hoover
*Dale* Ralph Earnhardt
*Dale* Ralph Earnhardt, Jr.
*Ed* Yitzak Asner
*Mitt* Willard Romney
Anna Roosevelt
*Ross* Henry Perot
*Brad* William Pitt

I can get some of them! As a bonus, how about

Chester Lott
*Paul* James McCartney
*Sean* Thomas Connery
*Calvin* John Coolidge
*Will* John Ferrell
*Patrick* Francis Fitzgerald
Richard Fuller
*Steven* Malcolm Forbes
*Clark* William Gable
*Lou* Henry Gehrig

I assume the Roosevelt is FDR's wife, but for the life of me, I can't remember her freaking name. Anyway, how'd I do?

[Sue]

Okay. Not bad, but not great.
when I looked at Anna Roosevelt I wanted to throw something. Why couldn't I remember her name?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

John Edgar Hoover???

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Eleanor

[Verner]

Trent Lott?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Frances Scott Fitzgerald??

[MayBee]

Don't shun me, but I go by only 1/2 of my actual first name.
I didn't even have a middle name until I got married.
I am an unlicensed babysitter, driver, cook, and cleaning woman.

[Topsecretk9]

but surely we will retain our right to use our own middle names if we so choose, won't we? Or does that whole middle-name thing embarrass The One and his supporters that much?

This is an wicked mean insane attack.

Could I suggest that it may not even be Joe who chose to be referred to as Joe, but perchance his parents?

I say this because I specifically named my child with the intention of calling him by his middle name.

I wanted him to have his fathers name (you know they whole junior thing) but we WANTED to call him his middle name.

I have to say that Obama love/obsession has made some otherwise rationale people BAT S*&^ Crazy nuts and they've let Zombies DEVOUR their brains.

OH and I noticed Joe's sons name is JOEY - middle name too? Or is it the name his father GOES by and so he named his son that too?

[Topsecretk9]

Oh -oops. Didn't mean it was mean attack by you JM. I meant Ambinder and Despicable Sullivan et al. Didn't put that together well. Sorry.

[Topsecretk9]

TM, not JM. Ack.

[Neo]

NEW YORK Tribune Company has given a two-year notice to the Associated Press that its daily newspapers plan to drop the news service, becoming the first major newspaper chain to do so since the recent controversy over new rates began.

[MayBee]

I remember a man that did something similar, but in the opposite, to another recent politician. He had to be destroyed, too.
Who asked too easy a question?
And what happened to him?
hint: Guckert

[Topsecretk9]

You know what's even more stupid about this? What if Joe had thought that he should introduce himself as his birth given in order to please the media and not "fool" them, even though he's probably been called Joe his whole life.

The same fools writing in newpapers and throwing up snarky gotcha post would be saying The. Same. Exact. Thing.

Joe The Not-Officialy-A-Plumber

16 Oct 2008 04:14 pm

(I.e., Sam The Plumber's name isn't Sam, he goes by his middle name Joe and he's not officially a plumber. Discuss.)"

[Topsecretk9]

Get out of my head Maybee. I was just thinking about him.

[Les Kneecapper Nessman]

"Nice middle name ya got there, Joe. Hate to see somthing happen to it..."

[JorgXMcKie]

Being called or going by one's middle name is something of a tradition among hillbillies and southerners for sure. I was given my father's first name and have never been called by anything except my middle name save for my time in service, where they pretty much insist on it in the official stuff. Even then all my friends called me by my middle name.

I do find it interesting how much time can be spent investigating every single detail of Joe-the-Plumber compared to the whole nanoseconds spent investigating important things that might harm Obama.

I'm guessing even the idiot media understands that this could hurt Obama a lot. I can see a lot of good commercials from this, including one using that clip of Obama asking insultingly how many plumbers make $250,000/yr. That's the point, moron. *IF* they made that much, they don't want you taking it and giving it someone you think deserves it more.

Finally, McCain killed tonight at the Al Smith Dinner.

[Pofarmer]

Apparently Barack Hussein doesn't want Joe the Plumber to have electricity either.

From Bloomberg News: Obama to Declare Carbon Dioxide Dangerous Pollutant

Obama “would initiate those rulemakings,” Grumet said in an Oct. 6 interview in Boston. “He’s not going to insert political judgments to interrupt the recommendations of the scientific efforts.”

Placing heat-trapping pollutants in the same category as ozone may lead to caps on power-plant emissions and force utilities to use the most expensive systems to curb pollution. The move may halt construction plans on as many as half of the 130 proposed new U.S. coal plants.

Hot air and unicorns, unicorns and hot air.

[Topsecretk9]

including one using that clip of Obama asking insultingly how many plumbers make $250,000/yr. That's the point, moron.

And don't forget Joe "Home depot" Biden don't know any plumbers in Scranton or Katie's Place on Union street that make that make $250,000/yr.!

---

It's weird. My mom and I were just this morning giggling about the only person who calls my son by his "official" first name is his little, old lady English teacher.

I guess I need to prepare him that there may be a circumstance he's attacked as a liar and total fraud because mommy and daddy wanted to call him by his middle name.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

My sister's names were chosen to honor my two grandmothers: Mary (really Mária) and Queene (what can I say, old Injun name).

They meant to call her Queene, because it was an unusual name; they made it her middle name because "Queene Mary Martin" was just too much.

(It didn't do a lot of good: as kids we called her "Mary Queene of Snots".)

I suppose she now has to worry about being attacked for not using her real name too.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

If you didn't get a chance to see McCain at the dinner tonight, you can view the 2 part video here.

[bgates]

McCain killed tonight
Man, did he ever. I enjoyed it almost as much as Hillary.

Obama...spoke. He got polite applause in a room full of Manhattan Democrats. Most of his laughs were his own.

[clarice]

And he got in some great digs on Bill Clinton's campaigning (not) for Obama and ACORN in particular.

[MayBee]

Hillary laughed so hard at McCain, I can only assume she knows Bill will vote for McCain.

Sorry, Barack. When you try to destroy the previous iconic Dem President and his entire economic record, he may not fall in line later.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

FLASH! Tom Brokaw Involved in Soros-Funded Charity that Funds ACORN

[Cecil Turner]

I'd just like to say that the casual destruction of people's reputations (especially "little people") by politicians and their supporters in an effort to make an ad hominem attack to deflect criticism is exactly what was wrong with the Clinton presidency, is rampant amongst the lefty commentariat (e.g., Kos), and is asbolutely unacceptable. And to put it in a vernacular that Joe might appreciate: that crap won't flush.

[Rick Ballard]

That's odd. Ace isn't acknowledging a response. Who were the fellows cowering in their houses on the edge of the Lexington green? Does anyone remember their names?

It's almost as if starting a fire and taking heat were different elements within the universe.

[Pofarmer]

What is Peggy Noonan's problem with Sarah Palin??

From WSJ

There has never been a second's debate among liberals, to use an old-fashioned word that may yet return to vogue, over Mrs. Palin: She was a dope and unqualified from the start

There seem to be a whole lot of people out there really trying to paint themselves as out of touch snobs.

I dunno, Sarah Palin works for me. YMMV.

LUN

[Athena]

This is so ridiculous.

My husband goes by his middle name because he hated the way his mother's voice sounded when she yelled for him by his first name.

I guess Marc and Andrew Sullivan would say that my husband's name really isn't his name either.

How completely stupid can you get?

[Pofarmer]

Ya know, I think that events on the ground have passed Peggy Noonan by. She thinks that this is still the good ole days with Reagan and Tipp O'neil, and that somehow, magically, Sarah Palin or someone could take us back to that time. Sorry Peggy, it ain't gonna happen. Sarah Palin has been on the national scene for all of seven weeks, campaigning for John McCain, and they want more, more, more. What's up with these people?

[Topsecretk9]

Sorry to interrupt the media's full throttle vetting assassination of Joe the Plumber who goes by his middle name, but there another person the media and Democrats don't seem to want to vet

Rahm Emanuel

Some Democrats are questioning how the DCCC pushed Mahoney on the district because he was a multimillionaire, overlooking other candidates. That may be sour grapes from David Lutrin, but he's getting to say I told you so because the DCCC didn't bother to vet Mahoney nearly as well as they should; and Mahoney's more closely tied to Rahm Emanuel than the media is letting on. The Democrats were chasing the money and former GOPers to run for office over established Democrats. In more conservative leaning districts, the crossover appeal is definitely a plus, but it looks real bad for Emanuel for backing Mahoney without doing his due diligence.

and The Politco is fretting that Republicans are wanting Nancy to do her job!

Anyway, recall that slippery interview Rahm Emanuel did during the Foley affair where the lawyer Rahm could not deny that he had sat on the the very important to be investigated Foley affair for a year or so, because they wanted to use it for the upcoming election.

Rahm Emanuel is a Chicago politicain.

The press yawn on this though and annoyance that GOP are pushing it is precious.

[Topsecretk9]

Pofarm

I stopped reading Peggy when in the 04 election she wrote this peice wherein she said she never understood gardening and peoples obsession with gardens and flowers and then she went to Europe and for the first time she realized the beauty of tulips (even though oddly she has seen them in DC for so many years) and suddenly she got it and had a new admirations for gardeners and therefore we all craved change and niceness and no war and and thinly veiled we should vote for Kerry.

It was the most elitist piece of crap and frankly insulting and dense.

Peggy's just pissed that she was flat out caught on TV saying ONE thing to her Network buddies and ANOTHER in her column about Palin and so then she tried to whitewash it.

NOW she feels vindicated for being a liar to the peasants.

[glasater]

Maybee--a trip down memory lane brought up this outstanding post on Jame Guckert by TM back in '05.
Quite a conversation with Kermit in the mix.

One commentator--Jeff--led to this web site bashing Joe the Plumber.

[Pofarmer]

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

Has Peggy Noonan been paying attention????

Palin brings vulgarity?????

I think she's just upset her precious Republican party has become the party of the Hillbillies and Rednecks, instead of the East Coast blue bloods. I bet Sarah Palin understands those crowds 10 times better than Peggy Noonan ever could.

[Pofarmer]

"The little people want to be led, you seeeee."

Bah.

[Daddy]

More Joe the Plumber, less Peggy Noonan.

[Topsecretk9]

I'll say the one good thing about this election is it's smoked out the Manhattan masquerade ball conservatives.

Most conservatives don't need to plan there evening wardrobe for the weeks foundation dinners and events like petite little Peg.

Most conservatives work and take care of their families and when they have free time tend to the garden, mow their lawns and clip a few roses to bring inside because unlike Peggy they've ALWAYS known their beauty and to smell them.

[Rick Ballard]

Tops,

Are you saying that shaking the dirt from the quaking root ball and doing some judicious clipping of unhealthy clumps might be agreeable to at least a decent plurality? I think you may have a good point.

Noonan is spouting from panty drenching fear. It's justifiable.

[bgates]

What is Peggy Noonan's problem with Sarah Palin?
I'll get to that. First I have some more important questions:
Which are denser, Fritos or Cheetos?
Do people sneeze more now than they did in the eighties?
Who'd win a hot dog eating contest between Batman and the Flash?
Once I have all that straightened out, I'll get after Noonie Pagan, or Poogy Nenan, or whatever.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

FBI Moves In On Dem Mahoney-- Here's What the Media Is Not Reporting on the Sex & Hush Money Scandal

[Publius]

Manhattan masquerade ball conservatives

Boy, have you ever nailed Noonan!

Her nose is out of joint because she no longer shines in the light of GOP conservatism. And Sarah shows how far removed she is.

[matt]

One of the fundamental issues e have as a country is that the "elite" get their world view from the same set of "elite" friends, newspapers, web blogs, etc. It's a disturbing herd instinct.

Yesterday, there was perhaps the single most snide put down of Republicans in the LA Times. Basically, simple name calling by Rosa Brooks, a Harvard educated arbiter of political something or other, basically. Today's issue focuses on the Democrats all the way down the front page, while the latest Gallup poll should be scaring the bejeepers out of Obama.

I am in Beijing at the moment, and now that I can get out on the interweb, I think the press here has more of a spectrum that at home.

testing, testing...Tienanmen, Tienanmen!

[Pagar]

Good Morning to all!
Once again, over at American Thinker, Jack Cashill puts forth a strong arguement that Obama never wrote his books by himself.

"A newly discovered book chapter from 1990 that shows clearly and painfully the limits of Obama's prose style the year he received a contract to write Dreams."

How many people have been given an advance to write their memoirs before they have accomplished something?

LUN

[Jane Plumber]

I smell backlash. Joe the Plumber is arousing something very American in a whole lot of people - something they are not willing to give up. A whole lot of people "made it" under President Bush, and right about now they should be realizing that will not be possible under O.

I say Joe Plumber is an election changer!

[Pofarmer]

Well, you had to figure this one. From the Paper that started it all.

SCRANTON – The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded.

The Scranton Times-Tribune first reported the alleged incident on its Web site Tuesday and then again in its print edition Wednesday. The first story, written by reporter David Singleton, appeared with allegations that while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd and mentioned Obama’s name a man in the audience shouted “kill him."

News organizations including ABC, The Associated Press, The Washington Monthly and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann reported the claim, with most attributing the allegations to the Times-Tribune story.

Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment.

“I was baffled,” he said after reading the report in Wednesday’s Times-Tribune.

And another damned lefty meme gets established.

LUN

[sbw]

Listen up, people. We need to get PC before this here election. If the Big O doesn't admit to a middle name then, dammit, Joe, er, What's-his-name, can't use one either.

It's only... er... fair.

[rhodeymark]

The Wright (no silly, not that one) article offering lamentations to future Joe the Plumbers at AT is also excellent, and exemplifies the notion that everything Zero knows about business could fit on the dust jacket of Dreams, Ayers' widely acclaimed book.
LUN

[sbw]

As long as we're playing the name game -- labels that leave a mark -- several have scored high on the Richter scale:

-- Zero
-- Senator Government

And, from a comment on the AT article by Jack Cashill:

-- Milli Vanilli

Ouch!

[clarice]

The whole Mark Foley thing was a Dem set up from beginning to end--remember the "outing" on that fake website that got the ball rolling? The Dems found an old ponce who was utterly harmless and destroyed him through innuendo and media aided smears of (non-existent) pedophilia to put Mahoney into Foley's seat. This turn of events is karma though it cannot undue the fact that that bit of monket business gave them a majority which they may only solidify this time around.

[I am Spartacus]

I am Sarah Palin.

I am Joe the Plumber.

I am Clarice.

I do not hold life so dear that I am unwilling to relinquish it for the benefit of my heirs. -- Rick Ballard (other thread)

[Investors]

Bush and Buffet say buy American.

[badjoe]

Here's NPR on Obama and how he is a scrappy, Chicago-tough politician. Now that the theme of hope and change is no longer needed, they are assuring everyone that he brings a gun to the knife fight. There is nothing new in this article. I question the timing...

LUN

[matt]

the latest Gallup may be crack smoke, but it seems McCain is getting closer.

The press is almost at a Stalinist level in its bias, and my feeling is that people in the great big middle are getting very upset with them. The "death threats" are fake. McCain is somehow a racist. Palin, who had an 80% approval rating in Alaska has been absolutely trashed.

There are a lot of stories about voter fraud by ACORN and the dems out there Peggy Noonan makes no sense. Joe the Plumber gets the Trostky treatment. Obama wants to have his victory party in Grant Park? What next?

This is just insane.....When did the people we called leaders become so completely unhinged?

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Peggy's problem with Sarah is that she's younger and prettier.

[Boatbuilder]

I just heard a clip on the radio of Joe Biden saying that Barack's economic plan is based on a "Three-letter word---JOBS." And, being Joe Biden, he then spelled it out--"J-O-B-S".
If Sarah Palin had said this, the election would be over (as over as the Sox in the top of the 7th last night--heh).
Has anybody else heard or seen this? It makes Dan Quayle sound like Winston Churchill.

[clarice]

**undo**

Here's a decent article on polls:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122420151553142939.html
It confirms that there's more damage by ACORN than one might imagine. Pollsters, not knowing how many of the new registations are legit or likely to actually vote, are weighting their polls by the seat of their pants.

[badjoe]

Boatbuilder

Slo joe was on Letterman last night talking about that gaffe. It's just part of who he is and don't we all find him endearing...sigh

PS Slo joe's forehead is incredibly smooth. It positively shines under the lights.

[Pofarmer]

The thing about the ACORN fraud, is that there have to be a whole lot of Dims in all levels of government that are aware of it, if not actually involved in it. Such complicity on the part of elected officials is somewhat distressing. OTOH, when Sarah Palin found corruption on the Alaska Energy Board she resigned and folks paid fines. It's not much wonder the Lib's are running scared. First Job for Sarah??? Voter rolls. Voting is the base of any democracy, and it should not be taken lightly.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

PS Slo joe's forehead is incredibly smooth. It positively shines under the lights.

That makes sense. You've heard the phrase "brow furrowed in thought"?

[badjoe]

lol Charlie

Pofarmer, that's a great idea.

[Extraneus]

Bush should appoint a special prosecutor for ACORN, since neither candidate can be trusted to pursue this after the election.

It may happen, too, because voter fraud is likely to be an explosive issue if Obama wins and one of these corrupted states is close.

Best case scenario for cleaning this up is McCain wins and Bush appoints a SP.

[Boatbuilder]

As with all of his whoppers in the debate, Joe's "gaffes" are not just slips of the tongue--because he always repeats them for emphasis. But Joe is an endearing old pro and Sarah Palin is a dope. I give up!

I think John McCain should say "I knew Dan Quayle, and Joe you're no Dan Quayle." (He's got to work on his delivery a little but he does have the comic touch to do it)

[Pofarmer]

Best chance for impeachment is Obama wins and Bush appoints a special prosecutor. Kind of a little "going away" present.

[Pofarmer]

Best chance for impeachment is Obama wins and Bush appoints a special prosecutor for ACORN. Kind of a little "going away" present.

[and hit run]

Now it can be told.

Thanks to Joe the Plumber, I have the courage to come out and admit it.

Hit a my middle name.

Thank you, Joe.

[badjoe]

Do politicians ever remember that in a nation obsessed with politics, our children—sorry, our kids—look to political figures for a model as to how adults sound?

Noonan doesn't have a clue.

[badjoe]

and, but are you licenced?

[Captain Hate]

Here's NPR on Obama and how he is a scrappy, Chicago-tough politician. Now that the theme of hope and change is no longer needed, they are assuring everyone that he brings a gun to the knife fight.

Typical tripe from Pravda West. I can imagine this little poofter sitting across from Putin and, when he's getting his skinny ass kicked and giving away the ranch, doing something snarky like surreptitiously giving him the finger. Vlad the asskicker would turn to his assistant and say "Get me the polonium." Game over.

[Barney Frank]

Interesting indicator for the coming Obama nation;

If you're a middle class Joe and you criticize the maximum leader you get put out of business.

As to Peggy Noonan, she was a flighty, airhead even when she was writing great speeches twenty years ago.

[badjoe]

Captain, you're killing me. I adore your commentary.

[badjoe]

I wonder what Noonan thinks of Bill Ayers' prose?

[glenda waggoner]

If McCain could campaign as good as he worked the Al Smith dinner, he'll win. I did notice he seemed to get louder applause and laughs than Obama, even when he said the room was full of dem hacks...And Hillary's hug for Mc was much more sincere than her Obama gloved hand. I even think she
mouthed "Call me" to McCain.

All my loves---what do you think is shaking about Colin Powell being on Meet the Prolitariat on Sunday? If he endorses O, he should do it quietly in the voting booth, then come out publicly if he wins--not trumpet his brotherhood.

[badjoe]

DOH!! I said earlier that Joe Biden was on Letterman. I meant Leno, I never watch Letterman..

[and hit run]

Bad:
and, but are you licenced?

Oh, yes.

I often use. "licentioused" to descene it myself, though.

[clarice]

And Run? Is that you?

[and hit run]

Descene = describe or something. My thumbs have a mind of their own

[Jane]

SC just sided with the democrats in Ohio.

Now that is dumb

[Barney Frank]

My thumbs have a mind of their own

Just use your index fingers and you'll never go rong.

[PDinDetroit]

sbw - I propose the following new name for Obama:

King Baby

Whines when he does not get what he wants. Makes funny faces about answers he doesn't like. Runs to MSM-Mommy when he doesn't get his way and SHE makes everything OK for Baby.

[M. Simon]

WSJ On Polls and weighting.