Joe the Bummer: Fifteen minutes never felt so long

Pajamas Media has done a ton of great things since their launch. Sending Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, to Gaza as a “reporter” was not one of them. Yesterday, Joe the Plumber embarrassed himself, and Pajamas when he had this to say from Gaza,

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think journalists should be anywhere allowed war (sic). I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what’s happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it’s asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you’d go to the theater and you’d see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them. Now everyone’s got an opinion and wants to downer–and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers.

I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, “Well look at this atrocity,” well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.

Bill Roggio is one of the leading milbloggers and citizen journalists covering the war on terror. He has embedded with US troops multiple times in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is what he had to say about this travesty at the Weekly Standard blog,

Joe is advocating a 1940’s media strategy for wars that are being fought in the 21st Century. We can’t roll back the mass access to print, television, the Internet, cell phones, etc. and push the news on grainy films at the theater.

The real irony here is that PJTV, a 21st Century, Internet-based news organization is sending a reporter–who doesn’t want reporters to report on war–to report on a war. And apparently Joe would love to return to the days when the news was influenced by the government and seen at the theater.

Another outstanding milblogger and embedded reporter, JD Johannes, had this to say,

PJTV, the first majorly funded new media venture of its kind, hired, as its first star middle east reporter, a man who thinks the U.S. Military and IDF should yield the media battle space to the enemy.

I don’t know what fantasy world Joe lives in, but the media is going to cover a war however they can get access to it. If the U.S. military or IDF doesn’t allow access, you can bet the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaida, Jaish al Mahdi, etc. will become the primary distributors of information. Heck, they already are.

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive says this was a “National Enquirer level stunt” for Pajamas Media.

Sometimes, you have to hear hard truths from friends to realize the mistakes you have made. Let’s hope Pajamas Media is listening, and booking Joe the Bummer a flight home, ASAP.

2 Responses to “Joe the Bummer: Fifteen minutes never felt so long”

1. Solomon says:

   January 15, 2009 at 6:12 pm

   Hey, come on, they couldn’t have paid for this much publicity, and believe me, it will work. The people who like Joe will also tend to like the rest of the offerings at PJM.

   Elitism alert: Don’t forget what the blogosphere was all about at first: regular non-professionals taking a look around them and commenting from their decidedly non-expert point of view. Take it or move on to something else. Joe’s obviously not the most articulate guy, no surprise, but I like seeing things through his eyes. It’s entertaining, and I think a lot of people identify with him and that’s a good thing (since I agree), and they will get something out of it.

   Yeah, Joe overstated it a bit about the media, but I get where he’s coming from. Bill Whittle addressed it pretty well here: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/citizen-joe-stands-his-ground/

   So we’ve now got a class of professional bloggers who feel their noses tweaked because of Joe’s incautious statement. OK, but let’s not forget where this all got started, with guys like Joe. There’s room enough for all (and PJTV has a stable of real experts which those going to see Joe may also be lead to take a listen to…that’s good). If he keeps at this, Joe may just get better and more articulate. That may be sad in a way.
2. WEC says:

   January 22, 2009 at 9:51 am

   Joe is kissing Israel’s ass so Solomon is down with it. That’s all there is to it. Joe represents the lowest common denominator of American political discourse: those who suddenly have an opinion about something they have never given a thought about until a camera is jammed in their face.