Joe, don’t plan on a sequel
Somehow I missed the news a few weeks ago that Joe the Plumber was writing a book, which is expected to be published … well, right about now. By my rough math, that’s seven weeks from total obscurity to national publication. Not bad for a guy whose only claim to fame is that he posed an impertinent question to a presidential candidate who’d wandered by.
I can’t imagine that JTP’s book will be worth reading. If you’re in the market for half-baked opinions from annoying know-it-alls, you can get them for free anywhere on the Web (here, for instance). Or you can settle onto a barstool at the nearest tavern and simply wait. You’ll get a lifetime supply of JTP-quality political analysis in a single evening, at no cost beyond the price of your beer.
But if JTP wants to publish a book, it’s fine with me. It’s not so fine with former New York Times writer Timothy Egan, however, who scolded JTP for even presuming to try:
I don’t want you writing books. Not when too many good novelists remain unpublished. Not when too many extraordinary histories remain unread. Not when too many riveting memoirs are kicked back at authors after 10 years of toil. Not when voices in Iran, North Korea or China struggle to get past a censor’s gate.
It’s one thing to believe that JTP’s book is likely to be an undistinguished pile of dung (as it almost surely will be). It’s quite another to suggest that JTP’s stab at publishing will crowd out somebody else’s fine novel or memoir. When you understand how many books get published in this country each year — 172,000 in 2005, according to one count, which works out to 471 books a day — it’s hard to believe that any manuscript is getting edged out. If anyone’s “riveting memoir” goes unpublished, you can be sure it’s because the only person riveted was the author’s adoring, supportive mother.
The marketplace will take care of Joe the Plumber. He’ll be back to pipefitting sooner than he thinks. But that unpublished memoir won’t suddenly become a critical favorite just because Joe is absent from the bookshelf.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:11 am
true words of wisdom. thanks dano. hopefully someone will come to their senses and realize he is 17 minutes past his 15 minutes of fame
December 11th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Funny how we know more about Joe the Plumber’s background and life than we do about the next President of the United States. Reckon why that is?
December 11th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Mr. Abbott, with all due respect, sir, if you do not know more about President-elect Obama than Joe the Plumber, then you are willfully ignorant. I suspect you know far more about Obama than JTP, but like so many of his detractors, you prefer to deal with rumor, unsubstantiated slurs, Internet bull***t and partisan sniping.
I make you this free offer: if there is anything you wish to know about the next president, just ask. I will be happy to research it and provide facts, not whining foolishness like your comment.
December 11th, 2008 at 9:45 am
walter, how’s that foot tasting right about now?
December 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Give Walt a break. You people are so touchy on anything that remotely sounds critical of Obama. Lighten up.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Both “cranky” and “question” seem to have issues.
Both—whom I believe to be one and the same—need to decide whether to wear pants or a skirt on any given day.
The infantile and splenetic posts from these two are almost menopausal in nature. LOL!
One never knows when a hot flash is going to surface with silly ad hominems to share.
Truth is, there is no excuse for the free ride the media gave Obama…..both during the primaries when he was challenged by Hillary……and later by McCain.
I supported Obama; however, a win is always less sweet when you know that there was so much unfairness.
Also, if McCain had chosen to use, and I mean really use, issues like Jeremiah Wright in the very beginning to show the lack of judgment Obama and Michelle exhibited to have attended such a church and to have had such a man baptize their children……who knows how the race would have ended?
I think both are good men. I supported Obama for a number of reasons. None of which had anything to do with my pleasure in many of his past associations.
Obama will have lots of challenges ahead.
Shedding the stench of Illinois politics first among them.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:19 am
The less said about Joe the Plumber, the better.
What a waste of time.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
More huffy moaning from NY elitists. Dear Timothy Egan, blow me.
How many books are published each year based solely on their literary merit or historical import? Seems publishers are in business to make a buck.
JTP’s got a Q factor - hell we even refer to him by his initials. If he wants to ghost-write a list of stuff he thinks about during his morning constitutional, so be it.
Will it be available before Christmas? I still got gifts to buy.