The way I look at it…

…what screwed up NotJoe the NotPlumber's life was jumping in front of network cameras to lie about his name, occupation and intentions in order to play gotcha with a visiting candidate. McCain just cashed in on the lie, and Sam cashed in on McCain.

A matter of perspective, I suppose...

Headlines.

Dying elephant edition...

Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False

Told ya'.

Senator calls Obama 'world's best salesman of socialism'

But isn't selling the quintessential capitalist occupation?

Joe the Plumber suggests some members of Congress should be shot.

I suggest that (not) Joe the (not) Plumber be shut. Tight.

Yes, but…

Lots of chatter about Patrick Ruffini's frustration with his party's direction…

If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was.

Ruffini's frustration with the conservative canonization of (not) Joe the (not) Plumber is understandable, but the problem isn't really with how unserious and ungrounded Americans think the Republicans are. The problem is that the Republicans are truly, and increasingly, unserious and ungrounded.

So much so, in fact, that Republicans like Ruffini continue to feed the notion that Sam Wurzelbacher actually had a "legitimate policy beef" with Obama. Nothing erodes legitimacy like lies, and Wurzelbacher's "beef" involved lies about who he was, what he planned to do and how Obama's proposals might affect him.

In other words, to become a Republican spokesman all he did, all he had to do, was lie.

Because that's what they do. That's all they've got.

In fact, Sam the Liar's the perfect Republican spokesman.