Joe Biden appeared on NBC’s Today show this morning to respond to last night’s debate, which has made a national icon out of Joe Wurzelbacher, AKA Joe the Plumber. Instead of identifying with the working-class man who succeeded into moving into ownership, as Biden normally would, Biden professed not to know any small-business owners like Joe who worried about taxes:

Patrick Hynes at ABP makes the point that Joe the Plumber is actually Joe the Small-Business Owner, and that’s why he will run afoul of Obama’s tax policies. Joe made that clear in his ropeline conversation, and Obama made just as clear the fact that Joe should be happy to see government spread his wealth around.  Quite obviously, Joe the Plumber/SBO in Toledo is worried about it — in fact, disgusted by it — whether Biden knows him or not.

Biden’s obviously out of touch, and dangerously so.  If plumbers like Joe worry about the heavy tax burden he will incur by owning their own businesses, they won’t take the risk to launch the ventures.  That will depress job creation and keep people locked into working for larger employers, the very corporations against which Biden inveighs in this remarkably substance-free rant.