McCain's houses

[nancylebov]

What gets to me isn't so much that he didn't know how many houses he's got (though I bet the number is branded on his memory now), it's that he expected to ask a staffer how many instead of finding it out by himself.

Comments

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

When womzilla told me about this, I assumed that "I'll have to ask my staff" is just McCain's default whenever he gets a new/difficult question, and he wasn't sure what would make him look good or bad, so this was Lamest Save Evar. However, W. mentioned that there are some legal technicalities about what properties would be considered "his house"--vs. rental property, etc.

[sethg]

...and that it's actually sort of a philosophical question, how to count McCain's houses. Does an estate with two residences count as one house or two? Do we count the condo that the McCain daughter lives in and is owned by the parents? Do we say that since these houses are really owned by a trust controlled by his wife (or some such), he doesn't really own any houses?

[madfilkentist]

I once read a novel about a rich man who went to a hotel incognito and was treated horribly. The punchline was that he owned the hotel and didn't know it.

[laughing-fox.livejournal.com]

you know, what kills me is that the media is putting so much emphasis on this. Honestly, who cares? I know I could give a rats ass about it. What I want to know is why the media is wasting so much of my time on this ridiculous crap. This is just as stupid as the furor around Obama's wife being on the View. Did you know she had no idea why people do that little fist bump? she saw a junior staffer do it, and wanted to look hip and cool for the show. Dear gawd, a candidates wife didn't know something that important, and was insincere! (they talked about that for DAYS...)

Feh. It's no wonder no one takes journalism seriously anymore.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Icon <3!

[sethg]

Based purely on his policies and his political record, if McCain were running against the reanimated corpse of Richard Nixon, I'd vote for the corpse. So I have a hard time delivering a straight-faced argument that the house story should matter.

However, FWIW, here are two essays which do try to deliver such arguments.

[laughing-fox.livejournal.com]

hmm, i have a hard time buying those arguments. Anyone who spent time in a POW camp, where they try to strip you of *everything*, right down to your basic humanity, just maybe might know a bit about hardship. About surviving without any hope.

Frankly, I think the man is a crusty old bastard, and I disagree with him on a lot of points. But this generic "the rich are out of touch" argument doesn't work for the democrats any more than it does for the republicans. It's the same old saw used every election. I say it again, who cares how many houses he has? Talk to me about medical research. I have family and freinds that could benefit from that. Talk to me about trade, the deficit, the banking and housing market collapse, homelessness, protecting our constitution-granted freedoms. I can think of a million things I care more about than his possessions. This is nothing more than the same old spin. I want *substance* in my news.

[sethg]

The story goes that back when Adlai Stevenson was running for President, a woman came up to him and said "You'll have the vote of every thinking person in America!"

"Thank you", Stevenson said, "but what I need is a majority."

[laughing-fox.livejournal.com]

ROTFLMAO! I hadn't heard that before, brilliant!

[heron61.livejournal.com]

In addition to being exceptionally pleased at any media emphasis that makes McCain look bad, his lack of knowledge of how many houses he has is perhaps some indication of his being remarkably out of touch with the economic realities that average Americans face. Of course, that's also true of pretty much every other presidential candidate.

[laughing-fox.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I've had caffeine, (and responded in the right spot, and fixed some grammar, yeesh!) I realized I should have explained -why- I think this is just silly media spin.

His wife is very rich. We know this, not sure why everyone is so shocked about it. And people with a lot of money use real estate as an investment. And since he's been busy campaigning, the fact that he has to ask an aide to check into the status of their holdings, to give an accurate answer, isn't a big deal.

Unless you're a reporter that really wants to look for ways to make drama and bump up your ratings...

I think we ought to start a letter writing campaign to the major media outlets, demanding that they focus on REAL issues, so that the public can make intelligent, informed choices come election day. Just think, an educated populace, instead of a popularity contest! Or is that just crazy talk? *grinz*

[sethg]

Even if you exclude investment holdings, McCain's properties include:

• a three-bedroom condo in Virginia for when McCain is in DC
  
• two adjacent condominiums in Arizona that the McCains bought and combined to make their primary residence
  
• two vacation condos in California, one for the McCains' children
  
• a lot comprising three houses (one for the owners, two for guests and servants) in Arizona, on a ranch where McCain likes to entertain reporters
  
• a million-dollar property in California, reportedly where Cindy McCain's aunt lives
  
• a loft in Phoenix that the McCain family trust bought for the McCains' daughter to live in after she graduated from college