That Joe the Plumber guy sure was the perfect example of guy-next-door, just-wants-to-make-an-honest-living-without-excessive-taxes blue collardom. Or so the McCain advisers thought. Just as the McCain campaign failed to thoroughly vet Sarah Palin though, it also failed to thoroughly vet Joe the Plumber before McCain started dropping his name like he had Tourette Syndrome.

Evidently Joe the Plumber isn’t just any old Joe; he’s a relative of Charles Keating, the corporate giant who dragged John McCain into the Keating Five ethics scandal years ago. The Charles Keating that was jailed for duping clients into buying junk bonds and convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. The Charles Keating that went down with Lincoln Savings and Loan, a company which required a $2.6 billion bailout from the government. The Charles Keating that contributed $112,000 to McCain’s campaigning during the 1980’s, sent the Arizona senator on trips, and left McCain in Senate Ethics Committee hearings. Yes, Joe the Plumber is a relative of that Charles Keating.

According to the Eisenstadt Group, the media source that broke the story:

If Steve Schmidt had any hair left, I hear he would have been pulling it out tonight. He reportedly screamed at John’s debate prep team tonight (out of earshot of reporters, of course). “You idiots - he’s related to Charles Keating… of the Keating Five scandal!” They thought they had a real live Joe Six-Pack who’s spurned Barack Obama’s tax plan. But what they forgot to do was check on Joe Wurzelbacher’s background.

Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

Obviously, this realization is no ethical black mark on Joe the Plumber’s record (though his failure to pay taxes twice and lack of a plumbing license are questionable), so much as it makes apparent the McCain campaign’s utter incompetence when it comes to researching those it chooses to associate with. Like Freddie Mac consultant Rick Davis.