The GOP icon Samuel Wurzelbacher, more popularly known as Joe the Plumber, has told Time magazine he is quitting the Republican Party, a party that incidentally catapulted his image to the forefront of the national conscience during the 2008 presidential race when Republican John McCain of Arizona made mention of Joe the Plumber during a debate with Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois.

“Joe” went on to fame because of his iconic elevation by the Republican Party — the common fellow whose dreams and livelihood were being ruined by the U.S. government. He wanted to buy the plumbing company he worked for. It turned out he had a tax lien on his home and he was not even a licensed plumber in Ohio. But his everyman status stuck with him, even as McCain fell in the national election.

From Time:

Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he’s so outraged by GOP overspending, he’s quitting the party — and he’s the bull’s-eye of its target audience. But he also said he wouldn’t support any cuts in defense, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid — which, along with debt payments, would put more than two-thirds of the budget off limits.

“Joe” is no stranger to odd proclamations.

In April, he told a Lansing tea party protest crowd that saying “In God We Trust” could “get you shot” in some parts of the country. And just this week, he told Christianity Today he would not let gay people “anywhere near” his children.