Why is Joe the Plumber still alive?

And why do people care about what he says?

Joe the Plumber is currently touring the rust belt on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group, to campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act.

So Joe the Plumber, who basically impersonated a working class plumber during the Presidential campaign and parlayed his fame into a quickie book deal, a TV infomercial, a gig as a "war correspondent," and a bunch of invites to Republican political events, is now not only a working class hero, but a working class hero who is working to defeat a pro-union piece of legislation.

What?

The only explanation for hiring a "working class hero" to stump on behalf of big business and against organized labor is that Joe (or Sam) is no such thing at all.

Joe the Plumber is really just an insufferable opportunist who has hitched his fortune onto conservative commentators and organizations who are only too happy to use Joe's minor fame for their political agendas. And Joe's just as happy to reciprocate, pretending to be a financial analyst, an expert on Mid East policies, and a tax and budget expert. And now he, the unemployed, un-licensed plumber, is an expert on labor issues.

If America's working people fall for Joe's shtick this time, and see EFCA fail in Congress, well, then they deserve it, and deserve to have Joe as their spokesman.