Watch out Robert Fisk, there's a new kid on the block in the Middle East, and he means business.
After altering the shape of the US election (well, not really) Joe the Plumber is about to turn his hand to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The man from Ohio, who became a media sensation in the US after challenging Barack Obama over his tax plans during the presidential campaign, is being dispatched to Israel to cover the war in Gaza. Yes, Joe the Plumber is becoming Joe the War Correspondent.
The eminent news organisation sending Joe – real name Wurzelbacher – to the Middle East is pjtv.com, also known as PajamasTV. Carried under the news of its new recruit is an appeal for people "to report on examples of media bias and deception that you want exposed or that you have countered (you must be 13 years old or older)".
In the light of this appeal, it seems odd that Joe should be so unabashed about where his sympathies lie. When he joined John McCain on the campaign trail, he agreed with a Republican supporter that a vote for Obama was a vote for the death of Israel.
Joe has said he will spend 10 days covering the fighting in order to explain why Israeli forces are mounting attacks against Hamas.
"It's very tragic – but, at the same time, what are the Israeli people supposed to do," he told the Toledo WNWO television station. It is a stance that, despite its railing against bias, is clearly shared by pjtv.com with its warnings about the "rise of Islam".
Joe has already demonstrated the fearlessness necessary to be a war correspondent. "Being a Christian, I'm pretty well protected by God I believe," he said. "That's not saying he's going to stop a mortar for me, but you gotta take the chance."
But the big question, given Israel's reluctance to admit journalists it claims would show bias to Hamas, is: will Joe be granted entry to the Gaza Strip?
