Poor Joe the Plumber Looks Lonely at His Own Book Signing

Posted by Melissa McEwan, Shakesville at 10:15 AM on February 27, 2009.

Joe the Multi-Faceted Hat-Wearer puts on his "Writin' Hat" to sign autographs last night at a Borders in DC, where "about 11 people wandered into the rows of seats set up hopefully in the basement" who he addressed "from behind a lectern and with a microphone … that seemed unnecessarily formal."

Never have I longed to be in DC so much as reading about this splendid event:

The only heat generated by Joe's appearance last night came when a young man named Jabari Zakiya recounted great moments in American racism (slavery, annihilation of Native Americans, segregation, etc.) and asked Wurzelbacher if the "hegemony" of the white man in America is "doomed" now that five states and the District of Columbia have majority minority populations.

Joe replied that he believes "our American heritage is being torn apart" by flag burners, critics of the military, and those who mock Christian values. He expressed his admiration for patriotic immigrants, and said he dislikes terms like African American and Asian American ("We're all Americans," he said). For some reason, he concluded by saying, "America has always been a kick-butt, take-names kind of country."

Wow.

The event was scheduled to last three hours, but ended after 55 minutes, with Joe having sold a total of five books.

Tagged as: dc, joe the plumber, asshat, joe the writer, 15 minutes

Melissa McEwan writes and edits the blog Shakespeare's Sister.