For those of you who had hoped his fifteen minutes of fame were fourteen minutes too long and that Joe the Plumber would fade back into obscurity, I'm afraid that Joe had different plans. Think Progress got one of the first laugh-out-loud post election story I've seen:

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbach(er), aka “Joe the Plumber,” is taking on a new job as a war correspondent. He is heading to Israel to cover the war for the conservative site PJTV.com. Wurzelbacher said his 10-day journey will help explain why Israeli forces are mounting attacks against Hamas:

I get to go over there and let their “Average Joes” share their story, what they think, how they feel – especially with, you know, world opinion. Maybe get a real story out there.

Oh good grief, this should be hack-tackular. I may have to bookmark his site (what? There aren't enough news sources with a conservative bent that we need another one?) just to get my daily update.

As Election Day nears, John McCain continues to deploy Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher as a human shield against Barack Obama and his plan for middle class tax cuts. But while Wurzelbacher himself admitted he would fare better under Obama, another of McCain's representative Americans is set to receive a massive windfall if the Arizona Senator is elected. No doubt about it, Mrs. McCain - Cindy the Beer Heiress - would pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to her husband.

That the McCains are fabulously well off - as the $100 million beer distribution fortune, the 11 homes, 13 cars and a private jet attest - goes without saying. And as she reported in her two-page IRS summaries, Cindy McCain earned $6.1 million in 2006 and another $4.2 million in 2007. (Most came courtesy of her late father's Hensley & Company, Arizona's leading distributor of Anheuser-Busch products including Budweiser.)

But while as many as 100 million Americans would receive no benefit from President McCain's tax proposals, his wife would be awash in new-found cash. As the Center for American Progress detailed in June, the McCains would reap a $373,000 bonanza should he win the White House:

McCain favors making the Bush tax laws permanent, and also plans to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, double the dependent exemption and offer tax breaks on business income...Had McCain's tax proposal been in place in 2006, [they] would have done incredibly well - saving even more than they did under the existing Bush plan. John and Cindy McCain would have walked away with $373,429 in their pocket.

Of course, given that McCain's tax plan is radically more regressive than even that of President Bush - it delivers 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of American taxpayers - it's no surprise Cindy the Beer Queen can expect a jaw-dropping payout.

But Cindy's winnings don't end there.

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