This is not the kind of headline that a candidate for president wants floating around in these tough economic times. But there it is, via Politico:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.
"I think--I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where--I'll have them get to you."
Ouch. As I wrote a couple days back. I'm not a fan of stoking populist anger by pointing out that a candidate is rich. Wealth in itself doesn't necessarily mean a person won't do great things for those less fortunate. Take Michael Bloomberg as an example of a guy who really does care about the poor.
That said, the fact that McCain doesn't know how many residences he owns, be they condos or not, will not endear him to the middle class voters who are struggling in today's economy. And the "I'll have my staff get to you," reeks of Thurston Howell III like nobody's business. "Lovey, call up the servants and ask them how many fabulous homes we own!" I mean, really, are there so many properties that McCain couldn't have done the math in his head? If you can't remember how many homes you and your wife own, either you have too many homes, or your memory is slipping.
The McCain campaign has often portrayed Obama as an elitist in this campaign. My hunch is that they'll stay away from that line of attack for a while.
UPDATE: And just like that, the Obama campaign is up with an ad:
Don't you want some one smart enough to wisely invest in real estate? Some one who has the balls to take the risk to own multiple homes? Instead of sitting at home complaining about affording one home, why not buy some multi-family homes to earn a positive income?
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garyrjas
2:16PM Aug 21st 2008
McCain made his money mostly from his second (rich) wife after dumping the first one after he came back from Vietnam. He wrote a book on integrity and proceeded to kiss Bush's rear end and policies that he used to abhor just to get the right wing vote (integrity). He is a politician and like most, makes his money off of the working man (and woman)'s back.
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Map
2:17PM Aug 21st 2008
Oh well, so he is rich??????? Obama is rich also and he doesn't stand any worse than McCain. Mccain married a very rich woman, so???????? She is heir to a profitable beer distribution company. What do you expect???? A poor black man to run for President??????????That poor balck man is not Obama. Now, you people are mocking the American dream. We all are rich compared to most countries and that includes the blacks.
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jbanksjr1979
7:14PM Aug 22nd 2008
no chililover, this is who the rich (controlling media) want you to think is winning so you will vote for the winner, sad to say my ignorant mother says she will vote for who she thinks is doing better in the polls so she can say she voted for the winner. not very bright but true.
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Donna
2:29PM Aug 21st 2008
By now everybody knows who John McCain's wife is and that she's from a very wealthy family with money enough to buy as many houses as they would like ~ what's that got to do with his being the best candidate for President, or with his ability to run the country? The best thing to do is to listen to what McCain says he wants to do for the American people when he becomes President instead of worrying about what he owns or anything like that. He's successful ~ all the better. Would we want some unsuccessful guy to run the country? Don't think so! He clearly wants the best for all Americans and that's what's so important!
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Louise
2:19PM Aug 21st 2008
HAVE YOU NOTICED WHEN IT COMES TO THE POLITIANS MONEY, IT IS DUD? BUT OUR MONEY , GIVE IT TO THEM.
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mick deering
2:20PM Aug 21st 2008
what business is that of the news media - if mccain and his wife want to buy homes and have the money let it be, it is no ones business. i wish i could do it
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Jason
2:20PM Aug 21st 2008
Big darn deal, my land-lord owns over 30 houses, but if you asked them to tell you how many they had they'd have to look it up.
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garyrjas
2:20PM Aug 21st 2008
Barrack Obama votes against protecting newborns in the Louisiana Legislature and then has the chutzpah to go and say conservatives are lying when they attack him for voting against it!- WHAT, NOW HE'S FROM LOUISIANA? HE'S FROM ILLINOIS, GO READ A BOOK OR SOMETHING.
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MQuigley
2:20PM Aug 21st 2008
This senile moron keeps mentioning former Soviet block countires, can't tell the difference between Sunni and Shite. The guy should be in old folks home not in the White House.
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kathy
2:21PM Aug 21st 2008
Time for the politicians to get in touch with reality... so many people are losing the ONE home they have worked all their lives for. Can't hardly pay for the gas to get to work. This country needs to wake up fast.
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TB
2:22PM Aug 21st 2008
Ok Lets say you own a Flower Nursery and where ask how many plants you own, would that make you someone bad to have to check your records to see. McCain and his family invest in real estate, unless you have just went over the files you would not know unless you are just doing it for a Hobby and only own 1 or 2. Get real people !!!!
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Louise
2:23PM Aug 21st 2008
OBAMA IS MCCAIN, MCCAIN IS BUSH, BUSH IS CHENEY, AND THE SENATE AND CONGRESS IS WHO EVERY PAYS THEM THE MOST MONEY. WAKE UP FOLKS, THE DICTATORS ARE LIKE KINGS, AND WE ARE ALL SLAVES.
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wmlord
2:23PM Aug 21st 2008
to bunycraft I wasn't aware MCain had moved to the upper class by virtue of his last "job". When you are born into privilage (family of admirals) and marry into wealth it seems to me you merely hire accountants at that point to look after your holdings. On the other hand, if he got rich as a politician he is a crook. Maybe if he looked at his balance sheet on occasion he would know what he owns. By the way, didn't the Obama's actually better their class affiliation through education and employment?
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Dave
2:23PM Aug 21st 2008
Just proves that liberals are sell-outs and scumbags...willing to vote for a guy who's best friend and spiritual confidant for the past twenty years was a low-life anti-american racist in Reverend Wright!!!!! How do you Lie-berals live with yourself and justify that injustice to America??? Oh yes, if you can justify killing innocent babies and then justify it some more by labeling a baby in the womb as a "fetus", I guess you can justify anything!!!
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Joe Flazh!
2:27PM Aug 21st 2008
Joe Conservative wakes up in the morning and goes to the bathroom. He flushes his toilet and brushes his teeth, mindful that each flush & brush costs him about 43 cents to his privatized water provider. His wacky, liberal neighbor keeps badgering the company to disclose how clean and safe their water is, but no one ever finds out. Just to be safe, Joe Conservative boils his drinking water.
Joe steps outside and coughs--the pollution is especially bad today, but the smokiest cars are the cheapest ones, so everyone buys 'em. Joe Conservative checks to make sure he has enough toll money for the 3 different private roads he must drive to work. There is no public transportation, so traffic is backed up and his 10 mile commute takes an hour.
On the way, he drops his 12 year old daughter off at the clothing factory she works at. Paying for kids to go to private school until they're 18 is a luxury, and Joe needs the extra income coming in. Times are hard and there're no social safety nets.
He gets to work 5 minutes late and misses the call for Christian prayer, and is immediately docked by his employer. He is not feeling well today, but has no health insurance, since neither his employer nor his government provide it, and paying for it himself is really expensive, since he has a precondition. He just hopes for the best.
Joe's workday is 12 hours long, because there is no regulation over working hours, and Joe will lose his job if he complains or unionizes. Today is an especially bad day. Joe's manager demands that he work until midnight, a 16 hour day. Joe does, knowing that he'll lose his job if he does not.
Finally, after midnight, Joe gets to pick up his daughter and go home. His daughter shows him the deep cut she got on the industrial sewing machine today. Joe is outraged and asks why she doesn't have metal mesh gloves or other protection. She says the company will not provide it and she'll have to pay for it out of her own pocket. Joe looks at the wound and decides they'll use an over the counter disinfectant and bandages until it heals. She'll have a scar, but getting stitches at the emergency room is expensive.
His daughter also complains that the manager made suggestive overtures towards her. Joe counsels her to be a "good girl" and not rock the boat, or she'll get fired and they'll be out the income.
His daughter says she can't wait until she's 18 so she can vote for change or go to the Iraq War.
They get home and there's a message from his elderly father who can't afford to pay his medical or heating bills. Joe can hear him coughing and shivering.
Joe turns on the radio and the top story is a proposal in Congress to raise the voting age to 25. A rare liberal opinionator states that it's an attempt to keep power out of the hands of working class Americans. The conservative host immediately quashes him, calling him "a utopian idealist," and agreeing that people aren't mature enough to make good choices until they're at least 25.
Joe chuckles at the wine-swilling, cheese eating liberal egghead and thinks, "Thank God I live in America where I have freedom!"
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Hank C.
2:29PM Aug 21st 2008
You shouldm't be concerned about how many homes any candidate has - what you should concern yourseld with is if Obama get elected (1) Who will run the country Harry Reed or Pelosi - (2) the Dems will create the bigest tax increase in history - they said that's what they will do (3) you think you have a tough time making ends meet now - just wait if "BO" gtet s in office. He'll make Carter look like an ultra conserveitve - and then next year at this time you'll all be "whinning"
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Albert
2:30PM Aug 21st 2008
oh ya... obama is more in touch because the average american, they all own million dollar mansions in the heart of Chicago and take regular trips to Hawaii
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Yves G
2:27PM Aug 21st 2008
John McCain graduated 898 out of 900, U.S. NAVAL AVIATION SCHOOL, started the fire on the USS FORRESTAL, due to his incompetence, killing over 150 sailors & allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Enemy after "crashing" his Aircraft, 1 of 5 which he was responsible for destroying due to his pilot errors, and has not to date asked forgiveness for; or accepted responsibility for; those acts.
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Kathy
2:28PM Aug 21st 2008
I am so sick and tired of you media people trying to make the dang news. Who cares how many homes he owns? What about how many homes does Obama or how much money Obama makes? Quit trying to confuse the facts of what really matters. Point is Obama said he would take Clarence Thomas out of the Supreme Court because of his lack of experience....Excuse me, but Clarence Thomas has been a judge and in the justice system longer than Obama has even been in politics. PLEASE wake up and see this man for who he really is