GRAFTON, W.Va. — “Joe the Plumber” says he is getting “damn close” to ditching the Republican Party, the party that he said is supposed to be about fewer taxes, smaller government and more individual rights.
“The Republican platform hasn’t been followed in some time,” Joe Wurzelbacher said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.” “Both parties anymore seem to be more intent on getting more power and control.”
Wurzelbacher, who is from Holland, Ohio, gained national attention in 2008 as “Joe The Plumber” when he questioned then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama about his tax plan during a campaign stop in Ohio.
In his response, Obama said he wanted to spread the wealth among many people.
Those with the McCain-Palin campaign seized on the comments as proof of, what they called, Obama’s socialist view of the economy and started using Joe as a representative of all middle class Americans.
Since that time, Wurzelbacher has traveled the United States as a conservative activist, author and motivational speaker and made an unsuccessful run for Congress in Ohio’s Ninth District last year.
This Thursday, he is scheduled to be part of an Independence Day Town Hall in Grafton that will also include First District Congressman David McKinley and Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito. Both are Republicans.
Wurzelbacher said, above anything else, he classifies himself as an American.
“It’s difficult to sit there and say I’m a Republican or proud to be a Republican because, quite frankly, they haven’t been representing their constituents for some time. They just represent a power base,” he said.
“I want what our Founding Fathers put forth and I want it followed which makes me, actually, not in the minority.”
The July 4th event with “Joe the Plumber” from Plumber Perth is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the Grafton High School Auditorium. A social hour will begin at 11:30 a.m.