Republican 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.
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’.”
