In Debate, McCain Had Joe the Plumber, Obama Had Lilly Ledbetter

By U.S. News Staff

October 16, 2008 RSS Feed Print
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Joe the Plumber might be getting all the attention after John McCain repeatedly mentioned the Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher during last night's debate against Barack Obama, but Obama had his own story to tell about Lilly Ledbetter from Alabama.

"Senator McCain and I disagreed recently when the Supreme Court made it more difficult for a woman named Lilly Ledbetter to press her claim for pay discrimination," Obama said. "When she brought a suit, saying equal pay for equal work, the judges said, well, you know, it's taken you too long to bring this lawsuit, even though she didn't know about it until fairly recently. We tried to overturn it in the Senate. I supported that effort to provide better guidance to the courts. John McCain opposed it."

Ledbetter, 70, a former supervisor for an Alabama Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant, lost her gender pay-discrimination suit more than a year ago in the U.S. Supreme Court.

She spoke with U.S. News last spring, saying, "The way I understand it, I was treated like a second-class citizen for my 19 years and 10 months at Goodyear—as well as into my retirement."

She added, "It's a big hardship. I'm not bitter."

In the debate, McCain defended his vote on the bill Obama mentioned. "Obviously, that law waived the statute of limitations, which you could have gone back 20 or 30 years. It was a trial lawyer's dream."

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2008 presidential election,
John McCain,
Barack Obama

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Forget the character attacks, however deserved or not. Let’s deal with the actual issue that was raised. Here’s a relevant excerpt from the conservative Wall Street Journal’s article of OCTOBER 17, 2008, 'As Joe the Plumber Grows Famous, the Politics Get Murkier':

"To reach a level that would be affected by Sen. Obama’s proposed tax increase, Mr. Smither said, a mom-and-pop plumbing company like Newell would have to clear $5 million in annual sales. [Joe’s company actually reports only $100,000 in sales.]

Even if Mr. Wurzelbacher reaped taxable income from his business of $280,000 a

year, he'd pay only about $900 more a year in taxes under Sen. Obama's plan, which

would raise the tax rate on the income between $250,000 and $280,000 to 36%

from 33%.

[...]

If Mr. Wurzelbacher earns the wages of a typical Ohio plumber, $40,600, and holds a $90,000 mortgage, he would see a TAX CUT (emphasis added) under Sen. Obama's plan of more than $1,000, compared with no tax reduction under Sen. McCain's.

If he succeeds in buying the plumbing business where he works, he could see even more tax benefits, including Sen. Obama's proposed elimination of capital-gains taxes for small-business investment, a 50% tax credit to purchase health insurance for employees and a $3,000 tax credit for every new hire over the next two years."

Other issues and ‘things we wish were true’ aside, it’s better to acknowledge facts and deal with them objectively, at least from our end. And let’s not be distracted by whether Joe ‘padded his resume’ in order to get the answer to a question in which he was interested … what matters in the TOPIC, not that Joe wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up.

UnaffiliatedIndie of CO 10:13PM October 18, 2008

Amen to what you said.. !! This is a media war.. and the one that wins will the be one that has the most uninformed constituents... PEOPLE WAKE UP ALREADY!!

Mystclwon of IL 8:19PM October 17, 2008

mccain got no boost from this just sour grapes for a sour puss

draftee from greatest generation of NY 10:53AM October 17, 2008

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