Gary Johnson’s ‘Shovel-Ready’ Joke Stinks of a Stolen Line
EmailRepublican presidential candidate Gary Johnson scored some laughs at the GOP debate Thursday with a joke about shovel-ready jobs and his neighbor’s dog. It was a bright spot for Johnson - up to now, the candidate had flown under the radar of most national media – but in the hours since the debate, a better-known Republican has claimed the joke as his own.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh used a very similar line Thursday on his program.
Compare for yourself.
Limbaugh: “My dogs have created more shovel-ready work than Obama has this week alone. The new puppy. Honest to God. More shovel-ready work for me this week than Obama has created in all two-and-a-half years.”
Johnson: “My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.”
Johnson told the Huffington Post that he had gotten the joke from former “Tonight Show” writer Jim Villanucci.
After the debate, Johnson tweeted: “Re: the dogs, I understand Rush Limbaugh made the same point. Credit to Rush for a great and very true line.”
As it turns out, Limbaugh wasn’t the first to compare pooper-scooping to shovel-ready jobs.
Earlier this week, political blogger Jeff Carter wrote: “As many have said, ‘My dog has created more shovel- ready projects than Obama’.”
Unlike the jobs, it appears the joke has come shovel-ready.
UPDATE: Johnson stuck by his version of the joke Friday at a speech in Florida that he was now the most googled name on the planet because at the debate he came up with a “witty” line on “poop.”
While “Gary Johnson” was Google’s number one “Hot Search,” this does not mean he was necessarily the most googled term on the planet. Hot Searches includes those search terms that are most popular in that hour.
From Google:
“Rather than showing the most popular searches overall, which would always be generic terms like ‘weather,’ Hot Searches highlights searches that experience sudden surges in popularity, and updates that information hourly.”
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ABC News you guys are worthless. This reporter just has no shame. Forget about what these candidate positions are. Lets scheme to steal the spotlight away from Gary Johnson who finally is starting to get the recognition he deserves. Lets pick on this guy because he’s anti-war and espouses libertarian beliefs. If ABC News is pretending to make a big deal about this then why don’t you invite him to talk about his remark since thats all you care about.
Posted by: David Mogrovejo-Araque | September 23, 2011, 11:45 am 11:45 am
Wow… what a small-minded observation by ABC. Nevermind the fact that what Johnson said was probably the best of the night summary of our current condition. As usual from ABC, CBS and NBC… there is not a nit you won’t pick. Where are the policy observers at ABC? Are you all TMZ wannabees?
Posted by: Tex Geoas | September 23, 2011, 11:57 am 11:57 am
“Stinks of a Stolen Line”
Anyone with any exposure to dogs could come up with this line at a moments notice. Terming something “stolen” without any proof of theft is incredibly biased. Use unoriginal if you feel the need to disparage Johnson, but stolen is unsupported. Shame on ABC.
Posted by: bob | September 23, 2011, 12:00 pm 12:00 pm
Some joke are so obvious you can’t help but hear them from multiple independent sources who came up with them without stealing from anyone.
Posted by: Publius | September 23, 2011, 12:36 pm 12:36 pm
Palestinians will ask for state hood at the U.N today Basically Laughing at Obama pleas. Also AP reports about 600 million in payments to dead people from stimulus.
Now that is the Chicago way. Solyndra taking the fifth, we all new that would happen.
But they will give up someone pretty soon, and you got two more major investigations also going on. Obama must think he is back in Chicago where politicians are arrested monthly.
Posted by: deadwrestler | September 23, 2011, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
stolen?….doesnt matter, he had the guts to say it.Good for gary
Posted by: garrettC | September 23, 2011, 1:25 pm 1:25 pm
0bama is the perfect example of a shovel ready president.
Posted by: TexBork | September 23, 2011, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
Check #attackwatch tag history on Twitter for the organic bubbling of this gem of an observation by Gov. Gary Johnson. The only thing he’s stolen is millions of American dog-owners’ hearts!
Posted by: GaryJohnsonsNeighborsDogs | September 23, 2011, 2:05 pm 2:05 pm
This from the same media that has supressed any detrimental information about Barack Obama for four years.
Amazing.
Posted by: Grej | September 23, 2011, 2:20 pm 2:20 pm
Stolen or not……doesn’t matter. It was well delivered, and all too true.
Now let’s hear a lot more from Johnson, and see what he’s really all about.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | September 23, 2011, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
Yeah, thievery is not acceptable bur why did he steal the line?
It’s Bush’s fault. I am surprised that these CEO from Solyndra took the Fifth. All they have to do was to claim it was Bush’ fault but they did not, so by simple logic, we know whose fault it is. They are protecting someone else not Bush.
Posted by: acd2012 | September 24, 2011, 1:59 am 1:59 am
Nice! You update the post to take another shot at Johnson but don’t correct your improper characterization as “stolen”. Congratulations! You’ve made my ignore list.
Posted by: Bob | September 24, 2011, 11:08 am 11:08 am
Apparently, ABC thinks the joke stunk. Pretty hillarious.
Posted by: newcountryman | September 24, 2011, 12:26 pm 12:26 pm
Timing is 90% of a good joke.
Posted by: newcountryman | September 24, 2011, 12:29 pm 12:29 pm
Who cares if it is borrowed?
It was appropriate and funny.
This was the first time anyone would let him join the debate, and it is about time the public got to hear from him!
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | September 24, 2011, 2:36 pm 2:36 pm
This is a presidential debate not “Last Comic Standing.”
Posted by: marjorie | September 26, 2011, 1:33 am 1:33 am
It’s such an easy link to make. Maybe I should claim credit. My dog wore a t-shirt that said “I create two shovel-ready projects/day” at the 2009 Tea Party in DC. Walking thru the crowds, I was constantly surrounded by laughter and people asking me to stop so they could take a picture.
Posted by: Sheryl | September 27, 2011, 10:35 pm 10:35 pm
It’s stealing if you take it from someone in the same line of work or CLAIM it was your own joke. If Craig Ferguson used a joke from Dennis Miller, without giving credit, it would be stealing – but even then I don’t know if Dennis would really mind.
Posted by: JimmmyTheKnife | September 29, 2011, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
Like I said, the writer of this opinion piece is an infant. From the style and viewpoint I would have expected a frumpy old woman, but no, just some liberally indoctrinated intern kid. Delete this one too if you like. A pity Mr. Johnson doesn’t have the same luxury and so your shovel ready article title will remain preserved in Internet amber for all time. Think before you write. I am sure if Mr. Johnson wanted to “steal” a line, he’d do it from someone more obscure than Rush Limbaugh, don’t you?
Posted by: naql | October 5, 2011, 11:05 am 11:05 am
This is absurd. Like you’ve never told someone a joke that you heard from someone else because you thought it was funny. The whole Journalism profession (and judging by this article, you do a pretty crap job) is telling and retelling stories lived by other people. Maybe you should think before you write next time, because I think this article stinks of irrelevance.
Posted by: Keely | October 6, 2011, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm