TIME magazine has the required hit piece on Joe the Plumber, and I found this interesting for two reasons (emphasis added):
After the debate, fact-checkers were in a frenzy correcting McCain on several tidbits concerning the man who’s now the most famous plumber in the nation: his name, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (not Joe Wurzelberger)…
First off, calling him Joe is not an error, as they imply. Many people go by their middle names, though TIME’s ace reporters don’t seem to know this. [UPDATE: Now realize I missed their point about “berger” vs. “bacher.” My second point, about stressing his middle name, however, stands.]
Second, if they’re so persnickety about someone going by their entire name, why don’t they refer Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama” in all of their stories, hmmmm?
Sometimes it’s just to easy to ridicule the national media.
