“What’s the difference between a plumber and a politician?” begins an old joke. “At the end of the day at least the dirt/slime washes off of a plumber.”
 
It’s not known how old the joke is. When Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (“Joe the Plumber”) became a political figure in 2008, “A plumber’s dirt washes off” was written in the Free Republic.  “I never thought I’d work in a job dirtier than plumbing but at the end of the day plumbing washes off politics doesn’t” was said by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) in 2014.
 
   
BBC Two—Daily Politics
Page last updated at 12:35 GMT, Thursday, 29 November 2007
Spot the plumber (and the MPs!)
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Finally, Allen from Eastcote appended these bon mots to his guess:
 
“What’s the difference between a politician and a plumber?
One gives you an estimate for the cost of performing a task, then charges you 4 times as much, tells you a bunch of lies in order to rob you blind and disappears when the whole thing goes wrong…
The other is a plumber.”
 
Free Republic
Joe the Plumber: McCain ‘appalled me’
Politico ^ | 12/9/08 | ANDY BARR
Posted on 12/9/2008, 6:43:31 PM by redk
Joe Wurzelbacher lashed out at former GOP presidential nominee John McCain Tuesday, the man who made Wurzelbacher famous as “Joe the Plumber.”
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A plumber’s dirt washes off.
23 posted on 12/9/2008, 6:51:04 PM by Garrisson Lee
     
HongFire
The Darkness
06-27-2009, 11:59 PM
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there is little to no difference between a plumber & a politician.
A plumber breaks shit up.
A politician is full of shit.
     
Twitter
Ike Gilbert
‏@ikegilbert
The difference between a plumber & politician: one of them works hard all day making sure the crap is flowing away from us…
3:55 PM - 24 Aug 2009
 
Facebook
KFAQ
March 24, 2014 ·
Great quote from Rep Markwayne Mullin “I never thought I’d work in a job dirtier than plumbing but at the end of the day plumbing washes off politics doesn’t”.
 
Tulsa (OK) World
Scalise gets backing of GOP in supremacist flap
Posted: Monday, January 5, 2015 2:19 am | Updated: 9:46 pm, Mon Jan 5, 2015.
Associated Press
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COMMENTS
Tom Lynch posted at 6:37 am on Mon, Jan 5, 2015.
How does the old joke about the difference between a Plumber and a Politician go? At the end of the day at least the slime washes off of a plumber.