I’ve written before about questionable journalism from Politico.com. I was suspicious of this outfit when it was first announced, mainly because of so many of its writers coming from The Washington Post. Turns out my fears were well-founded. Their attempt to discredit Joe the Plumber is so sleazy it’s like something The Associated Press would do:

Jonathan Martin of The Politico was among the first out of the gate, with blog posts noting that Wurzelbacher, affectionately known by most of America as “Joe The Plumber,” has a tax lien against him and doesn’t have a plumber’s license. Martin conveniently forgot to mention that the law doesn’t require one.)

They’re not alone, of course. The entire MSM is mobilizing to destroy Joe, as are the lefty blogs. Think about it. A random person asks Obama a question at a rally. Obama gives an answer that is way more revealing than he planned, giving John McCain a chance to point to Obama’s leftist prescriptions for the country. Some are even saying this may be the moment Obama lost the election, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Instead of asking Obama about his response and what he meant, the media tries to destroy the civilian in the rope line who asked the question. Simply amazing. This is just media thuggery, done at the behest of Obama, who has no problem with thug tactics himself.

Ed Morrissey sums it up:

Joe Wurzelbacher didn’t give a speech or make a commercial. He asked a question. He stood on a rope line, and Obama picked him to ask it. The Tanning-Bed Media seems to feel that they have a duty to expose every last part of Wurzelbacher’s life, but that asking Obama to explain his political partnerships with Tony Rezko and William Ayers, and his long friendship and financial support of rabid demagogues Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger, are not just out of bounds but downright racist.

UPDATE: A reader of Instapundit makes some great points:

The harassment of Joe the plumber is the singular biggest mistake of the Obama campaign. The MSM is making Joe a martyr. Heck, DKos just published Joe’s home address. Obama is now not only a Marxist but a Marxist bully – just another Chicago thug. America roots for the underdog and they will not take this action kindly. If Joe were a hero yesterday, wait a few days.