RightOnline: Joe the Plumber, John Fund

PITTSBURGH – Somebody got to Joe Wurzelbacher. In a short speech to the RightOnline conference, the man formerly and forever known as “Joe the Plumber” (whose famous confrontation with Barack Obama is coming up on its one-year anniversary) dodged the angry or homophobic gaffes that have dominated coverage of some of his political speeches. “I don’t support gay marriage,” said Joe, “but I believe it should be left to the states. Keep the federal government out of it.”

There was some social conservative red meat, rare at this event so far. “Our president wants to sit here and talk about how this is not a godly nation,” said Joe. Later, confusingly: “I was reading this article about how we’re not Americans anymore.”

John Fund of The Wall Street Journal came next, walking onstage to the sounds of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” telling the crowd that their mood was “much brighter” than the mood at Netroots Nation. He cited Nate Silver’s assessment that the Democrats would lose 20-50 House seats in 2010: “At that 40-seat mark, Nancy Pelosi becomes minority leader.”

And Fund compared the Americans for Prosperity Tea Party protesters and bloggers to the conservatives, grassroots and corporate, who squelched other liberal moments. “In ’77 it was people like the direct mail kings,” said Fund. “In ’93, it was Harry and Louise. You are now the voice of the new politics.”