AP Presidential Candidate, John McCain

Is anybody else a little disturbed that John McCain referred to Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher as both his "role model" and "an American hero?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased to see someone McCain's age treating a guy who's so much younger like some kind of mentor, but isn't this screwed up? I don't mean to disparage anyone in the plumbing industry, but does McCain really want the rest of us to view Joe the Plumber as a role-model? That's what we should aspire to be?

I always thought the Republicans were supposed to be the party of successful businesspeople, corporate executives, you know, the bourgeoisie. I guess you could consider Joe a member of the "petit bourgeoisie" because we wants to buy a small business, but this a pretty proletarian guy, right? If you go to his wikipedia page, he hasn't even completed a plumbing apprenticeship, let alone have a plumbing license or, god forbid, a college degree.

I get that this is just a political gimmick and everything, but it still bugs me. Obviously there's nothing wrong with being working class, but most working class parents want to give their children a better future, and Joe the Plumber isn't really the role model for that, is he? Sure, he's a role-model for being an anti-tax ideologue, but if you want to grow up to be one of them, you can just be an economist, you don't have to learn the ins and outs of plumbing.

Clearly the freakiest thing is McCain calling Joe, "an American hero." Given how McCain's tried to run on his biography, doesn't devaluing the idea of heroism sort of hurt him?

• Your Money, Your Vote

And by the way, if you were wondering why young people are overwhelmingly supporting for Obama, it's not because of the war, not because of the economy, not because of his soaring rhetoric, it's because he's a serious guy, and after eight years of the Clinton spin-machine, which most of us were dimly aware of, and eight years of George W. Bush, a joke in his own right, I think young people want to vote for the guy who doesn't make them instinctively say, "you're just so full of it."

• Budget Deficits? I Say Bring ' Em On For My Generation

Older voters have been bought off: senior citizens with social security, middle-aged middle class types with tax cuts and tax-deductible mortgage payments. But my generation's economic interests aren't being served by the government, so they're voting for the candidate they can take seriously. Watch the clip of McCain and tell me if you can take him seriously. If you can, you my friend have a very high tolerance for cognitive dissonance.

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