Swing Vote and Joe the Plumber – UPDATED

This past summer, I reviewed a movie called Swing Vote, which no one saw, probably because Kevin Costner + politically themed movie does not = box office $.

The movie is admittedly not great, but I’ve read more than one blog or review about it that railed on its portrayal of American voters as rather stupid. Funny: I’ve been following political campaigns my whole life, and I thought the movie captured the group idiocy and mania of an American presidential election dead on.

Sorry to be a tad pompous, but the real election is proving the movie, and me, right.

Some Ohioan (woohoo!) dubbed Joe the Plumber became a centerpiece of the debate Wednesday night. So the media have tracked him down and shoved him in front of a camera about 100 times during the past 2 days (hyperbole becomes me). Good Morning America interviewed him in the wee hours of the Midwestern morning, having him stand just in front of the doorway to his modest home. It looked EXACTLY like a scene in Swing Vote! And they’re treating him as if he speaks for the entire working class, translated into Main Street, translated into the average American. Swing Vote takes it a couple of steps further and literally places the outcome of the election in one man’s hands.

I’ve been hesitant to recommend Swing Vote, because I like to be relatively sure people will enjoy a movie before I recommend it. But now, I say rent that sucker. But before you start the DVD, go online and watch the interviews with Joe the Plumber. That ridiculous movie won’t seem so ridiculous any more. And tell me afterward that those idiotic voters in the movie don’t look disturbingly similar to the real idiots who are presently whipped into hysteria over two men who probably shouldn’t still be in congress, let alone the White House.

**UPDATE:

Turns out, Joe the Plumber is not a licensed plumber and owes just shy of $1,200 in back taxes.  This makes the real situation even more like the movie!