McCain unsure how many houses he owns

[tricky]

McCain unsure how many houses he owns

Jonathan Martin, Mike AllenThu Aug 21, 7:34 AM ET

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 Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."
The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.
In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain’s wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.
Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain’s houses.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico’s Ben Smith that it was McCain “who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state."
And David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists “on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona — or maybe in one of his six other houses.”
The Obama campaign seized on the house issue Thursday with an ad called "Seven," claiming that's the number of houses McCain has. The ad closes with a shot of the White House and the narration: "Here's ONE house American can't afford to let John McCain move into."
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in response: "Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people 'cling' to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?
“The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.”
At a campaign appearance in Chester, Va., on Thursday morning, Obama said: "Somebody asked John McCain, 'How many houses do you have?’ And he said, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check with my staff. True quote: I’m not sure, I’ll have to check with my staff. So they asked his staff and he said, at least four. At least four! ...
"If you’re like me and you’ve got one house – or you were like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so that they don’t lose their home — you might have a different perspective. By the way, the answer is: John McCain has seven homes. So there’s just a fundamental gap of understanding between John McCain's world and what people are going through every single day here in America."
McCain’s comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million — a careless comment he quickly corrected.
In the interview, McCain did not offer an alternate number, but had a new answer ready.
“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”
McCain, by anyone's measure, is well-off, if you account for his wife's fortune. Cindy McCain inherited control of her father’s beer distributorship, the largest in Arizona, and has an estimated worth of more than $100 million.
Carrie Budoff Brown and Ben Smith contributed to this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...Kk3wfHoiCs0NUE

[PETA]

He wears expensive shoes too.... though not as expensive as the earrings Michele Obama was going to buy w/her stimulus check.

Anyway, was anyone unaware that his wife is fucking filthy rich?

McCain... baller!!!!


The Richest Members of Congress

1 Herb Kohl (D-Wis) $219,098,029
2 Jane Harman (D-Calif) $168,651,649
3 John Kerry (D-Mass) $165,741,511
4 Darrell Issa (R-Calif) $135,862,098
5 Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) $78,150,023


Just Senators (McCain #7) amounts listed are min/max ranges. I suspect McCain's wealth include's his wifes money (same with Kerry)

1
Herb Kohl (D-Wis)
$219,098,029
$234,549,004
2
John Kerry (D-Mass)
$165,741,511
$235,262,100
3
Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa)
$78,150,023
$101,579,003
4
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif)
$43,341,462
$98,630,021
5
Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI)
$41,153,105
$64,096,019
6
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
$38,198,170
$90,733,019
7
John McCain (R-Ariz)
$20,571,136
$32,043,011
8
Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass)
$19,189,049
$93,043,004
9
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
$13,508,152
$49,829,007
10
Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore)
$12,994,660
$62,261,641
11
Bill Frist (R-Tenn)
$11,667,041
$41,735,006
12
Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn)
$11,542,483
$43,639,427
13
Mike DeWine (R-Ohio)
$11,488,475
$47,410,001
14
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
$10,080,005
$50,200,000
15
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
$8,780,208
$37,243,002


Oddly, the Dems have 8 of the top 15 and the top 4 richest spots....

[Deff Gordon]

rich people tend to own a lot of property. buy and sell all the time. i could totally see him not knowing the exact number.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by Deff Gordon

rich people tend to own a lot of property. buy and sell all the time. i could totally see him not knowing the exact number.

Add to that the fact that it is more likely that his wife owns them and that she deals with their personal finances while he deals with being a Senator... and POTUS candidate... they are fairly time consuming and of relatively greater importance than keeping track of your RE

[e-brake]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpmFd25tRqo

[PETA]

no volume to youtube vids at work... what does it say?

[david austin]

umm... ok

[tricky]

Originally Posted by xian

no volume to youtube vids at work... what does it say?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0..._n_120359.html

"It's seven," the spot says of the number of homes McCain owns. "Seven houses. And here's one house America can't afford to let John McCain move into." The screen pans to the White House.
During Thursday's speech, which was preceded by an introduction from Virginia governor and possible VP candidate Tim Kaine, Obama hammered home the economic populist theme even further. Again playing off a McCain gaffe, he chastised his opponent both for the policies he pursued and company he kept.
"Some of you saw the Saddleback Forum where [John McCain] was asked what was rich and he said 'I don't know maybe if you make $5 million, $5 million then you are rich,' which I guess means if you are only making $3 million a year you are middle class," said Obama. "I guess that's what he meant. His top economic adviser said the other day that Americans should stop complaining, that they've become a nation of whiners, that all these economic policies we are talking about is a mental recession. That if you just changed your mind you would be ok...."

In addition, some of the Obama state organizations are launching "a statewide search to find [voters] who, like John McCain, have so many homes that they just can't keep track of the number." Should be fun, or funny. This will be taking place in Pennsylvania, Florida, and North Carolina, among other states.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by tricky

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/0..._n_120359.html

Obama - king of the non sequitur idiotic argument - but, consider who he's preaching it to

What does McCain's familiarity with his wife's personal holdings have to do with his understanding of the US economy?

If he didn't know how many cars he had would that mean he didn't understand the principles of supply and demand?

[tricky]

Originally Posted by xian

Obama - king of the non sequitur idiotic argument - but, consider who he's preaching it to

What does McCain's familiarity with his wife's personal holdings have to do with his understanding of the US economy?

If he didn't know how many cars he had would that mean he didn't understand the principles of supply and demand?

This is politics....It's a damn good issue to beat McSame over the head with. Can't remember # of houses, nation of whiners, 5million is middle class, doesn't know the price of gas....Paints him as out of touch and just as aloof as the current president...Do you really not see that ?

[e-brake]

Originally Posted by xian

Obama - king of the non sequitur idiotic argument - but, consider who he's preaching it to

What does McCain's familiarity with his wife's personal holdings have to do with his understanding of the US economy?

If he didn't know how many cars he had would that mean he didn't understand the principles of supply and demand?

McCain himself has explained dozens of times that he does not understand economics and that he would rely on advisors. His top economic adviser just happens to be Phill Ghram, the guy who called us a nation of whiners, they guy who helped pass the mortgage laws that led to the forclosure crisis, the guy who who wanted to put social security int he hands of wall-street, the guy who was neck deep in Enron.

Sorry when it comes to the Economy McCain has nothing to stand on.

[PETA]

Originally Posted by tricky

This is politics....It's a damn good issue to beat McSame over the head with. Can't remember # of houses, nation of whiners, 5million is middle class, doesn't know the price of gas....Paints him as out of touch and just as aloof as the current president...Do you really not see that ?

I'm more concerned with him knowing how to deal with Russia than with knowing what the cost of a gallon of gas is.

Obama could not remember how many states there are....

$5M in personal wealth could well fall in the middle class - depends on the method used to determine. Think of all the everyday Californians whose homes' value shot through the roof.... think of midwestern farmers etc etc. You're really over simplifying this to a point of meaninglessness.

Aloof is Obama's attitude towards gun totin' god fearing crazies in PA, not McCain's familiarity with the price of a gallon of milk (the answer to which I do not know and I have 2 young kids and do most of the grocery shopping).

Originally Posted by e-brake

McCain himself has explained dozens of times that he does not understand economics and that he would rely on advisors. His top economic adviser just happens to be Phill Ghram, the guy who called us a nation of whiners, they guy who helped pass the mortgage laws that led to the forclosure crisis, the guy who who wanted to put social security int he hands of wall-street, the guy who was neck deep in Enron.

Sorry when it comes to the Economy McCain has nothing to stand on.

You're relying on his comment that he doesn't know anything about economics. When he said that Kevin he was making a joke to a reporter. He made the joke because the econ question was directed to McCain and McCain made the comment then pointed to another cat next to him w/a PhD in Econ. He does know economics... not as a PhD would but he understands econ. Obama, if you will recall was asked if he'd raise the captial gains tax. He replied, "yes." When told by the questioner that raising the tax rate diminishes revenues he still said he'd raise the tax. Just to penalize success I guess? That or Obama is clueless on fre market economics and eloquent on Marxist economics.


It'd take far too long to get into Graham and the legislation you're referring to but the short version is that its not a valid criticism. Do recall, he's thrown Graham under the bus.

Also, it was Graham's wife that was involved w/Enron - not Sen. Graham.

[tricky]

Originally Posted by e-brake

McCain himself has explained dozens of times that he does not understand economics and that he would rely on advisors. His top economic adviser just happens to be Phill Ghram, the guy who called us a nation of whiners, they guy who helped pass the mortgage laws that led to the forclosure crisis, the guy who who wanted to put social security int he hands of wall-street, the guy who was neck deep in Enron.

Sorry when it comes to the Economy McCain has nothing to stand on.

Originally Posted by xian

I'm more concerned with him knowing how to deal with Russia than with knowing what the cost of a gallon of gas is.

Obama could not remember how many states there are....

$5M in personal wealth could well fall in the middle class - depends on the method used to determine. Think of all the everyday Californians whose homes' value shot through the roof.... think of midwestern farmers etc etc. You're really over simplifying this to a point of meaninglessness.

Aloof is Obama's attitude towards gun totin' god fearing crazies in PA, not McCain's familiarity with the price of a gallon of milk (the answer to which I do not know and I have 2 young kids and do most of the grocery shopping).

Thanks for shifting to foreign policy because Economics was a losing proposition. (Kevin's Post)

As Politico notes, McCain's comments are a serious potential gaffe, as they dovetail with an increasingly aggressive effort to paint the GOP nominee as wildly out of touch on economic issues

[PETA]

Originally Posted by tricky

Thanks for shifting to foreign policy because Economics was a losing proposition. (Kevin's Post)

Oh, make no doubt he's made numerous stupid comments that are politically damaging. That doesn't mean they are substantively accurate.

Obama can't compete on foreign policy. Obama's capital gains tx comments neutralize the economics gaffes of McCain.

[e-brake]

Originally Posted by xian

You're relying on his comment that he doesn't know anything about economics. When he said that Kevin he was making a joke to a reporter. He made the joke because the econ question was directed to McCain and McCain made the comment then pointed to another cat next to him w/a PhD in Econ. He does know economics... not as a PhD would but he understands econ. Obama, if you will recall was asked if he'd raise the captial gains tax. He replied, "yes." When told by the questioner that raising the tax rate diminishes revenues he still said he'd raise the tax. Just to penalize success I guess? That or Obama is clueless on fre market economics and eloquent on Marxist economics.

So then McCain has been making the same joke for at least 10 years now? It was 1998 when McCain first made the statement in AZ that he needed more of an education in economics. Hell just since 2005 he has said it so many times that I cant begin to list them all....here are some highlights:

December 2007 "The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should, but I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

January 2008:"I may not be the expert that some people are on economics, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night,"

November 2005 “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”

April 2008 "There's a whole lot that we need to do in terms of going to outside advisers to craft an economic policy"