Joe the Author

On this most glorious morning, on which I can proudly say for the first time in my life that I live in a "blue state," comes word (from Fox News, no less) that Joe the Plumber is writing a book:

"Everyone came at me to write a book. They had dollar signs in their eyes. '101 Things Joe the Plumber Knows' or some stupid s---- like that. Excuse me, I am sorry," he said. "You know I will get behind something solid, but I won't get behind fluff. I won't cash in, and when people do read the book they will figure out that I didn't cash in. At least I hope they figure that out."

The book, called Joe the Plumber -- Fighting for the American Dream, is to be released by a group called PearlGate Publishing and other small publishing houses.

"I am not going to a conglomerate that way we actually can get the economy jump started. Like there is five publishing companies in Michigan. There's a couple down in Texas. They are small ones that can handle like 10 or 15,000 copies. I can go to a big one that could handle a million or two. But they don't need the help. They are already rich. So that's spreading the wealth to me," he said.

Noble sentiments, yes. But I hate to tell him that his media chuckwagon has already rolled on past him. If he had that book done and ready to go the night he became the star of the last presidential debate, and had some big distribution behind him, he could have made some money off the idea. But his 15 minutes are up. Despite his intention to stay active and work toward charitable causes, I don't think anyone's going to remember him a year from now. I suggest that he give Rupert Boneham a call and get some advice on extending your 15 minutes for the good of others without expecting to jump-start the economy or make an independent publisher rich.

Oh, and can we get a little sympathy for his ghost writer?