Tony the 'Real' Plumber

This is my friend, Tony Fimbres. He's a plumber, a "real" plumber who has his plumbing license and is registered with an actual plumber's union, UA Plumbers Local Union 398 to be specific. I mention these details, not because it validates who Tony is, but who Joe the plumber is not, a small business owner that makes over 250K a year, or even a plumber for that matter. And yet, Joe, whose real name is Sam Wurzelbacher, has become the face of the McCain campaign and is being used as a tool to whip voters into a frenzy over what McCain interprets as Obama's socialist tax plan.

Now, my friend, Tony, makes a decent 70K a year as a "real" plumber; and, it would be safe to say that most plumbers make anywhere between 40K and 80K a year. Keep in mind that McCain's Joe, who has a tax lien against him and isn't a licensed plumber, made 40K last year. So how on earth will Joe, or any plumber, be hurt by Obama's tax plan? The short answer is they won't. Obama's plan is very simple: raise taxes on anything above 250K a year. Even if one is a private plumber, it is likely that he/she still makes less than that. As the statistics show, 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000 and so they would not experience an increase in taxes under his plan. In fact, working men and women like Tony and Joe would actually benefit under Obama's plan, because Obama wants to give a tax break to Americans making less than 250K a year.

So now, what is Joe actually complaining about, and furthermore, who is McCain really speaking to when he says disdainfully that Obama wants to "spread the wealth?" He's speaking to out and out rich folks, that's who, not to people like Tony or Joe. According to Obama, McCain is out for "Joe the CEO" not Joe the Plumber.

And what's worse is that the self-proclaimed "honorable" McCain uses the term socialism to describe Obama's plan and as a way to scare people into voting for him, a tactic that many voters have rejected thus far.

Here's a reality check! Plumbers, for the most part, do not support McCain. They are realistic enough to know that they will, without question, do better under Obama's plan. So much so, that the United Asscociation of Plumbers has endorsed him and small grass-roots organizations like Micheal Moore's Plumbers for Obama have begun to sprout up all over. However, whether you're a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, or a plumber, rest assured that you will benefit under Obama's tax plan, regardless of the names McCain calls Obama.