Joe the Plumber is Now an Alaskan Soldier

Apparently, he's become a fixture at Republican rallies.  Ana Marie Cox describes the sexual tension around his presence as "almost palpable," while GOP ladies rhapsodize about his Carhartt clothes and steel-toed boots.  (She says "I don't want to be weird or anything," but the image does make us cringe.)

The best part:

Gov. Sarah Palin apparently got so excited that she momentarily granted him the honored double status of veteran and Frontier State native: “He’s a fellow Alaska[n], and he’s a fellow military man who has served our country proudly. I’d like you to meet him.”

He is neither. But then again, his name isn’t Joe and he isn’t a plumber. So, really, who’s to blame her for getting a little carried away?

It wasn't so much a lie as an untruth, right? Of course, if Obama or Biden had introduced one of their donors as a veteran when he wasn't (much less "fellow" vet when they weren't), all Hell would break loose.  Literally, Hell, with the demons and everything; it's in the same part of Revelations (yes, with the final "s") that specifies the Antichrist will be a "Hawaiian from Kenya or a gaffe-prone lawyer from Scranton."  Those verses, by the way, have puzzled scholars since late antiquity.  You should see Origen's exegesis.

Anyway, the brilliant rising star of the Republican Party quickly made up for her most recent misstatement of fact, by claiming that Obama pals around with terrorists. Again. Seriously.