Joe the Plumber says he is 'sick of the gossip and drama.' Joe the Plumber blows a gasket

Samuel Wurzelbacher, who on Thursday morning accused CNN of being like TMZ and trying to trap him with “gotcha questions,” explained to POLITICO immediately following the tense interview that he is “sick of the gossip and drama.”

Reached on his cellphone after his early morning TV appearance, Wurzelbacher, better known to many Americans as “ Joe the Plumber,” explained why he had gotten flustered.


“Because I’m just — I’m sick of the gossip and drama. There’s real issues to work on. They want to take anything they disagree with me on to use it to twist it and use it to their gain and paint me in a light they want to paint me in,” he said. “Let’s … stop with the seventh-grade shenanigans.”

( Also on POLITICO: Rush site purged of 'slut' remarks)

Minutes after comparing CNN to TMZ on the air, Wurzelbacher said the host of “Early Start” went “National Enquirer” on him by asking him about his previous statements on gays.

“They want to paint someone as a bigot — I don’t hate people,” he said. “I am working for everybody.”

During his conversation with CNN’s Zoraida Sambolin, Wurzelbacher — who won an Ohio Republican congressional primary this week — began to show his first signs of frustration when asked why he believes he’s qualified to run for Congress.

“What qualifies me?” Wurzelbacher said, laughing. “One, I’m an American citizen. Two, I’m very much involved in the process of what’s going on. I guess my question would be, what qualifies the current politicians who are killing our country, Republicans and Democrats alike?”

He added, “I’m sorry, it just seems like a silly question.”

Things only got worse when Sambolin cited some of Wurzelbacher’s previous statements about homosexuality, including his claim that the word “queer” is not a slur, as well as his declaration that he would not allow homosexuals “anywhere near my children.”

“Have you changed your positions on this at all?” Sambolin asked.

“So this is TMZ, this isn’t CNN, is what you’re saying,” Wurzelbacher shot back.

“Of course it’s CNN. These are things that you said, that I would like to know if you still stand by them or if you have changed your positions on them.”

“Listen, in my dictionary, and everyone’s dictionary in the 1970s, the word queer did mean strange and unusual. There was no slur to it. Do you challenge that?” the congressional candidate said, before adding, “Come on, you’re trying to do a ‘gotcha’ moment, it’s quite obvious.”

Before the interview came to an end, Wurzelbacher charged, “I’m allowed to have my opinions as an American, but it seems the left becomes very intolerant when you have an opinion other than what they state.”

Asked by POLITICO if he will go on CNN again, Wurzelbacher said he is undecided.

“You’re going to be asked questions but I’m not afraid of them. I will fight back, I will talk back. I’m not sitting there to be persecuted,” he said. “If they’re going to take me on, they better be ready to take me on.”

Wurzelbacher will face off against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the fall.