ANGRY PLUMBERS wave plungers at Obama.

UPDATE: McCain defends the plumber:

Last weekend, Senator Obama showed up in Joe’s driveway to ask for his vote, and Joe asked Senator Obama a tough question. I’m glad he did; I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions.

The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn’t ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn’t recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.

What would it be like with a President Obama?

MORE: Mess with Obama, and you’ll never plumb in this town again.

There are a few other problems with the attempts to smear Wurzelbacher. He did not claim he now makes more than $250,000; he said he plans to acquire a small company that would put him in that bracket. And it’s curious that Politico states that Wurzelbacher “would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president”–as if Obama’s campaign promises have already achieved the status of established fact.

As for his unpaid taxes, blogger “Patterico” reports that Obama’s campaign treasurer has liens for unpaid taxes. That isn’t exactly an earth-shattering scandal either, but it is hard to see how it is less relevant than Wurzelbacher’s liens.

It’s okay unless Obama’s treasurer asks Obama a tough question. And how likely is that?

STILL MORE: Working in Jimi Hendrix. Why didn’t I think of that?