How much are the Republicans paying "Joe the Plumber"?

It would be difficult for anyone other than the most committed kool-aid drinker to believe that Samuel Wurzelbacher is anything other than a paid Republican shill. I'm sorry, but plumbers from Sarah Palin's "Real" America do not have the welfare of Israel at the top of their hit parade of issues. But "Joe the Plumber" does:

The all-out effort from John McCain's presidential campaign to scare voters into backing the Republican candidate continued apace on Tuesday as McCain surrogate Joe the Plumber agreed that a Barack Obama presidency would mean the "death of Israel" and end democracy in America.

The Ohio plumber, who has no license and is actually named Samuel Wurzelbacher, spoke at a McCain campaign event in Columbus Monday. A McCain supporter asked if "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." JTP hardly batted an eye.

"I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher said.

The push-back against Wurzelbacher's comments began, somewhat unexpectedly, at Fox News.

The network noted that the McCain campaign seemed hesitant to distance itself from Wurzelbacher. Correspondent Carl Cameron said that the McCain campaign was going to put out an ad today criticizing Obama policies on Israel.

"Just a coincidence?" he asked. "We report you decide."

Later Tuesday afternoon, Shepard Smith pressed Wurzelbacher on his comments, reminding the woefully misinformed McCain backer that Obama has consistently voiced support for Israel. Pressed several times to explain how he could agree with the conclusion that Obama would lead to the death of the Jewish state, Wurzelbacher was unable to come up with any good reasons aside from Obama's position in favor of negotiating with rogue regimes such as Iran.

"You don't want my opinion on foreign policy," Wurzelbacher said. "I know just enough to kind of be dangerous."

You know, sort of like your average Republican....like Sarah Palin.

The more the McCain campaign trots this nimrod out to be a symbol of "the real America" (and you'd think they could come up with someone who didn't look like a neo-Nazi skinhead), the more he looks like the soul brother of Ashley Todd and the other Zombies of Endless War for Jesus who populate McCain and Palin rallies these days. Not only isn't this guy a plumber, I'll bet he's never lifted a hammer -- or at least he hasn't had to since Camp Grandpa recruited him -- a guy named "Wurzelbacher" of all things -- to try to scare elderly Jews.