I'm married to Saira the Researcher.  My mom is Sandy the Truck Part Maker, and my grandpa is Darrell the Carpenter.  Where is Susan Powter the Insanity Stopper when you need her?

I've always thought the phrase "Joe Six Pack" was a condescending label created by media elites to describe the ordinary man.  It has a touch of the same sneer that went into the term "hard hats," which was used to describe traditionally-minded working class folks who hated hippies back in the days of Richard Nixon.  So it is extremely puzzling to me when vicious dunces like Sarah Palin use "Joe Six Pack" to describe their supporters, blithely unaware of how out-of-touch and belittling it sounds.

They've brought the same sort of rhetorical tone deafness to the "Joe the Plumber" campaign.  Never mind the factual details that the guy is neither Joe nor a plumber, as Linda Richman might say.  The whole idea of Joe the Plumber stinks.  It's like saying Jimmy the Shoeshine Boy.  I mean, give me a break, people.  Palin has now introduced us to Ed the Dairyman and Tito the Builder - the <i>builder</i> - in an attempt to franchise this unbelievably stupid concept.  I'm not kidding.  Is Clifford the Big Red Dog going to come out for McCain/Palin next?

Thus we get the pathetic spectacle of well-heeled rich kids from the College Republicans dressing up in overalls and ballcaps, waving plungers and signs that say "I AM JOE."  The conservative blogs have tried to push a movement in which McCain supporters post  "This I Believe"-style statements about their lives and their hatred of Obama, under the heading, "I Am Joe."  

This is what you'd expect from a country where a guy with 12 houses can describe anyone making up to $5 million a year as "middle class," and he can speak up for the little guy by choosing a flirty dingbat with no qualifications except her folksy flair as a running mate.  This is the logical course of action for a party that decries "class warfare" when its entire campaign is based on class warfare -- riling up its supporters' resentment of media elites while proposing to pick the pockets of regular taxpayers and transfer the funds to the wealthiest among us.   Of course they want to talk about every Ed, Joe, and Tito they can find, because it allows them to feign concern for people they view as ignorant pawns in their game.

Their disdain for the working class is revealed by the fact that they talk about them like they were children's toys.  Bob the Builder, anyone?

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/joeplumber.jpg