“The average Joe.” It’s an oft-used, endearing term that makes one think of a swell guy with solid character and a good heart and good intentions. Unfortunately, these words get twisted and applied to the bad and the ugly as well as the good.

Let’s take a look at three prominent “Joes” and see who comes out on top of the heap of good.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber. He’s a middle-class or perhaps lower-middle-class single father who was minding his own business, playing ball with his young son in the front yard of his Ohio home, when he was approached by then-campaigning Barack Obama in 2008. Out for a photo-op moment, Obama and his crew hadn’t planned on Joe having a working brain.

Joe was calm, apparently unimpressed with the intruding company, and asked Obama about his plan to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 that would apply to small businesses. Joe asked because he wanted to purchase a plumbing business, and that tax plan would hurt him financially.

Naturally, Obama was caught off-guard without a prepared speech and teleprompter, which propelled him into an honest answer: “When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” The reply prompted Republicans to prove Obama’s true beliefs of socialism. The game was on and the target was Joe.

It took just hours for the complicit media to point out that Joe was tardy in property tax payments and that he wasn’t a licensed plumber – all to paint him as a loser. The fact he was a decent, struggling single dad be damned; Obama’s trespass moment got him embarrassed, and Joe had to pay. Innocent Joe was vetted faster and more deeply than Obama has ever been.

Joe Scoptic (aka Soptic). Joe was a willing tool, used by despicable Democrats to craft a video to say Mitt Romney, via Bain Capital, killed Scoptic’s wife. The August 2012 story presented Bain taking over Scoptic’s employer, GST Steel, which led to Scoptic losing his job and health insurance, and his cancer-ridden wife died as a result.

The farce was master-minded and set forth by former White House spokesman Bill Burton; by Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary and Obama’ campaign advisor; and above all by Stephanie Cutter, Obama’s deputy campaign manager and still-lauded rising star.

All of them denied knowing Scoptic and the lying theme, yet within hours of publication, a May 2012 audio interview between Cutter and Joe was revealed.

There was no retraction. Obama and his sycophants had the same level of ownership to it as they have conscience. Zero.

Romney would be left tainted, irrespective of the following facts:

* 1993 (per Wall Street Journal) – GST calls on Bain to save the sinking company.

* 1999 – Romney leaves Bain.

* 2001 – Bain offers Scoptic a buy-out.

* 2001 – GST goes under.

* 2003 – Scoptic’s wife has own job and own health insurance; loses both.

* 2006 – Wife diagnosed with cancer and dies.

Joe Scoptic never did step up to the plate. If he was bought and paid for, shame on him; if he did it for free, he’s just one more cast-aside Democrat tool like Cindy Sheehan and soon-to-be Sandra Fluke.

Last but not least is Joe Biden, our vice president, our second in command.

It’s hard to know what is more prominent with that fact: the fright or the joke. Democrats pass him off as merely gaffe-prone and “Joe being Joe,” yet this loose-lipped character travels around the world representing the greatest country on Earth. What a mascot.

Here’s a partial review for us proud Americans:

“You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. … I’m not joking.” (CSPAN)

“They’re (Republicans) gawna … put y’all back in chains.” (Said to a predominantly African-American audience in Virginia)

“This is a big f***ing deal.” (On live mic, for all the world to hear, when the Democrats won on Obamacare)

“Stand up, Chuck, let ’em see ya.” (Said to wheelchair-bound Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham)

“As Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.”

“Spread your legs: You’re going to be frisked.” (Said to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s (D-N.D.) husband at her oath of office ceremony)

“There is no silver bullet” … “I’m shooting for Tuesday.” (On the complexities of gun violence. Then, he recommends to Americans): “Buy a shotgun if you want to feel safe … a double-barreled shotgun (and) some shotgun shells.”

Joe’s buffoonery is not limited to the U.S. borders. He gave a speech addressing Ireland’s Prime Minister Brian Cowen and said the premier’s mother had died. She was alive.

This week at the U.K. national security council meeting, Biden said he was “delighted to do it. I spent half my life on our national security council.” That means 35 of his 70 years. Truthfully, he’s been on the U.S. National Security Council for four years (his vice presidency). Biden also confused Poland with Portugal in a major speech.

As for core and character, these words of Joe Biden are more than just slips and skit; they demonstrate an arrogance of merely flipping words off of an elitist’s shoulder with no respect for the forum or the listener. It isn’t cute.

More sobering is this. Biden was newly elected to the Senate in 1972 when his wife and only daughter were killed in a car accident. Within days, he went on to be sworn in to office while standing at the bedside of his sons, both of whom were critically injured in the tragedy. It’s reasonable to wonder how large the arrogance is for a man not to have stopped in his steps and stayed home in Delaware instead of having relatives raise his boys so he could pursue his political ambitions in Washington.

Yes, I know – the famous take-the-train-every-day commute. Joe had a live-mic “F” comment for that, too.

In summary, we see that the real Average Joe who truly represents middle America was the one who did not seek the limelight for himself but was simply playing ball in his own front yard with his son when Barack Obama whizzed by for a photo-op. For that, Joe The Plumber was maliciously exposed as a loser, yet Joe Scoptic dishonestly garnered pity and 15 minutes of positive fame.

As for Joe Biden and his antics and lack of decent character, he serves as second in command and may well seek the highest office in these United States of America.

Whoever said, “Nice guys finish last,” must know Joe The Plumber.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.