We've got some news that will leave you scratching your head and wondering, "when will he go away for good?"

Joe the Plumber, who is neither Joe (his name is Sam) nor a licensed plumber, has accepted an opportunity to become the new symbol and embodiment of the front groups campaigning against Employee Free Choice .

If there's anything that we've learned about Joe the Plumber last year, it's that he's an act. A façade. A gimmick. Not real.

Here's what the Plumbers Union - you know, real plumbers, who actually know what the lives of plumbers are like - have to say about the move:

"Joe the Plumber is selling out real plumbers. Right now, labor law is stacked against real plumbers. Real plumbers want and need the Employee Free Choice Act as a way to empower themselves to join a union, without fear of intimidation or losing their jobs. Joe the Plumber doesn't speak for real plumbers."

Opponents of Employee Free Choice claim they understand the needs of real working people. Yet, they're made up of corporate front groups and fictitious symbols. If anything, their use of Joe the Plumber shows just how phony their rhetoric is.

Here's the best quote, by the spokesperson for the corporate front group Americans for Prosperity, Mary Ellen Burke:

"The public loves Joe the Plumber. They see him as a role model."

A role model? Really? Because, if that's correct, it's the American dream to become a political prop.

It's an insult to the intelligence of all American workers. Do the anti-worker campaigns really believe that real workers will actually fall for this con?

If there was ever any evidence that you shouldn't believe a single word that the front groups say, this is it.

Photo by ronnie44052, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.