Culture

'Joe the Plumber' Looks to Stretch His 15 Minutes

by Blue Crush | December 5, 2008 at 08:44 pm

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Joe the Plumber now has a book out, co-written by a relatively unknown author and publisher, Thomas N. Tabback. Thousands of copies have been pre-ordered, on his new website (theme: "It's about we the people, not we the government") that also offers Joe-approved merchandise and the ability to post, for a price, to its blog and forum. The book is $24.95, to become a "Freedom Member" on his site is $19.95. Anyone interested?

In the beginning he was just an average Joe. Then he became Joe the Plumber, star of the presidential debate. And with fame came other epithets: Joe the Concerned Citizen, Joe the Fraud and Joe the Opportunist. Now Samuel J. Wurzelbacher can add Joe the Brand to his many nicknames.

With all the Joe tales told since October, when Mr. Wurzelbacher first gained notoriety after questioning the tax plans of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Tabback believed one story was noticeably missing, Mr. Wurzelbacher's own. "We felt he had more of an interesting story to tell aside from the more tabloid-style events around the election," Mr. Tabback said. "And it turned out we were right."

Those who pre-order the book by Dec. 8 on SecureOurDream.com -- a website Mr. Tabback developed for Mr. Wurzelbacher in conjunction with Visuplay, a media producer based in Dallas -- will receive a signed copy by Christmastime.

Messrs. Tabback and Wurzelbacher have talked about promoting products on SecureOurDream.com, but right now "that's in development," he said. There is a "Shop Joe" tab on the website that to date lists only "Fighting for the American Dream."

"Fighting for the American Dream" is part biography and part current events, Mr. Tabback said, adding that it gives a behind-the scenes account of Mr. Wurzelbacher's encounter with Mr. Obama and what happened in the weeks that followed. It will also dip into Mr. Wurzelbacher's personal history and his take on American values.

But that will come at a cost. For $19.95, Mr. Wurzelbacher fans can become "Freedom Members" with posting rights on his blog and forum. For that price, they also become "an integral part of an American movement to preserve our American Dream," the site claims, but what that means remains unclear.