The McCain’s spent more on service staff to maintain their 4 7 10 houses than most people, including myself, spent to purchase their house.
The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns. Politico
I wonder if that includes the staffing requirements for their private jet too?
I think this puts an end to all the “McCain is a regular guy” talking points once and for all. Seriously, how can you relate to what the majority of American’s are going through when you spend more on servants in a year than most people will earn in seven years?
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
Dan,
I just checked your 2004 postings. John Kerry’s great wealth, privileges and properties weren’t shocking enough to prevent you from supporting him for President.
I’d wager the same holds true for Al Gore.
@Smitty This isn’t to say you should or shouldn’t support McCain. It just quite clearly points out that he might be an “Elitist” himself. To paint Obama as country club and McCain as blue collar is well comical at this point They both are very well to do (as are all presidential candidates)… so lets cut the oh he’s an “Elitist” spin.
Eliteism is a state of mind and not the dollar figure on the bottom line of an income tax form. One can have an annual income of only $50,000 and still be (act like) an elitist.
But who really is the party of the rich? See this news story written by the NRO and reported on by CBS on 10/30/06 (one of our non-biased, mainstream media outlets):
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/30/opinion/main2136401.shtml
Oh, and if Senator Obama is elected president and raises taxes on the “rich” as he promises, will Cindy McCain be forced to sell off some of her properties and let some of the staff go? More Americans out of work!!
I never understood why being an elitist is a bad thing. If you’re not elite what are you? Mediocre.
That being said, Smitty knocked it out of the park.
@DaveS You mean a state of mind kinda like one where you’ll have to have your people tell me how many homes you have?
Wow. This is dumb.
McCain signed a prenup, I’m sure so the number of houses his wife owns is probably not exactly known to him. Plus some of the properties are bought for her children. Who cares anyway? I am glad “we” are worried about this with all the issues our country faces. Seriously – this is all the left can get on McCain? It’s going to be a long couple months.
On a related note – Obama was stupid for jumping on this. it just opens him for questioning on his house purchase…get ready to hear about Tony Rezko.
@Go Celtics: I hope you were joking. If you’re an elitist, you think you’re better than everybody else. People can be great at what they do without being an elitist. Moreover, you can be elitist AND be mediocre – haven’t you heard Obama speak without a teleprompter?
Funny how everyone is concerned all the sudden with real “issues!”, when just a few weeks ago, being a “CELEBRITY!” was an issue.
And the elitist tag, while popular among Republicans, is total BS. The only reason people say that is because apparently Obama is an eloquent speaker and ordered orange juice and saying that he’s an elitist worked well in 2004. That and it’s the in joke on right-wing talk radio. God forbid we have someone who gets people excited and speaks well.
But if you guys keep repeating it, you’ll believe it even more, so rock on with that.
@Yeah: this isn’t all the left can get going, no. When the #1 issue in the Country is the economy, and you have a guy who still says the economy is “strong”, his advisors call middle-class workers a bunch of whiners, and he can afford 4,6,8,10 houses worth tens of millions of dollars, that’s relevant.
As I said above, how does McCain think he can understand, and therefore help fix, the economic problems most people are facing in this country when he’s that out of touch?
But you guys have your “arugula” argument, and that’s an issue bigger than the economy apparently.
I have only one home that was <$184k, and i love arugula. I don’t buy it, I grow it. Does that make me a wanna-be elitist?
After 8 years of “strategery” and “mispronouncatations”, I’d welcome “elitism.”
Dan – you act like Obama is middle class. He’s not.
The economy is the #1 issue? I thought the lefties were yammering about Iraq. Oh probably not anymore since things are looking good there thanks to McCain’s surge. Oh the politicking you are buying into. Moreover, if the left can get McCain on the economy topic, why talk about houses his wife owns?
Obama speaks REALLY well when the speech comes from a teleprompter. Seriously – when I watched the 2006 Democratic convention, i was pumped. “There are no blue states or red states, just United States!” – one of the best lines I have heard in my life. Loved it. The problem is that Obama is an idiot under fire. He steps all over himself and his words. That’s very problematic for him.
Oh yeah! The arugula incident – THAT was funny. The reaction of the people in attendance was hilarious. Seriously.
“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” Hello?! Anybody? Bueller?
a) he thinks the average person goes to Whole Foods
b) he thinks the average person buys/eats argugula.
Too damn funny.
The length of time the Republicans have been using the elitist tag on Democrats is only trumped by the Democrats tag on Republican’s being “rich, stodgy white people who are out of touch with the population” – sound familiar Dan? Obama is an elitist, to deny that is naivete, and so is McCain. Also realize, people don’t accuse Obama of being an elitist because he’s an eloquent speaker, they put that moniker on him because he IS an elitist, just ask the voters of PA (bitter people that they are…..). Hell, Jesse Jackson, the “intellectual” that he is, even mentioned Obama’s propensity to talk down to people.
Let’s all face facts, to become the nominated candidate of either party requires some, if not a large percentage, of elitism, which holds just as true for this election as any other in the recent past. As for the quote “God forbid we have someone who gets people excited and speaks well.” I ask you Dan, did you have the same opinion when Reagan ran for office? Not that it makes a difference, whether it’s Reagan, Clinton, McCain, or Obama, supporting a candidate based off of how he speaks is about the worst thing an electorate can do.
Lastly, I will answer your question “As I said above, how does McCain think he can understand, and therefore help fix, the economic problems most people are facing in this country when he’s that out of touch?” by asking “How does Obama think he can understand and therefore help fix the economic problems most people are facing in this country, when he is just as out of touch with the ‘common man’ as his opponent?” The answer is simple, but heavily debated. One thing is for sure, neither one is “in touch” with anyone of us, and both are jockeying to win the position of President……
Dan said,
“Funny how everyone is concerned all the sudden with real “issues!”, when just a few weeks ago, being a “CELEBRITY!” was an issue.”
If celebrity was a false and pathetic issue (and it was), then why is it now ok to use the “houses” argument?
Weren’t we having a back and forth a bit ago about things being ok when one side does it but not the other?
See I thought McCain’s “celebrity” commercial was crap, because it wasn’t issue-oriented. But that’s the difference between you and me – you’re a hack, and so if the other side does it, it’s ok if you do it. That defines the campaign ethics of all hacks – left or right.
Why don’t you do us a favor and type out the source code of this blog:
“IF letter after name = R, then “attack”, “corrupt”, “pathetic”, “cronyism”, “incompetent”;
IF letter after name = D, then “brilliant”, “aggressive”, “yeah but Republicans ”
You’d have a lot more time to spend with the family then, and we could all stop wasting our time.
Joe Biden? I’m underwhelmed.
Joe Biden, whose 35 years in the Senate only serves to highlight Barak Obama’s lack of experience (i.e. 143 days in the Senate).
Joe Biden, a man know for his gaffes:
“I mean you got the first main-stream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy…I mean that’s storybook man.” [Joe Biden on Barak Obama, 2007]
Easy now Smitty – I am actually a Joe Biden fan. I don’t agree with most of his policy, but I respect him.
The thing about Biden is that he can actually speak without a teleprompter. He can attack McCain and co. — sort of be that “attack dog”.
Is this the right pick for Obama – hell no. Looking at both of them on the stage together today was sort of laughable. “Change” – I’m going to pick this old white guy that looks like everybody on the dollar bill (remember when Obama said that?). I am going to pick this guy from Washington.
The pathetic thing is to hear the Democrats spin this … when confronted on the topics like, “how do you explain the fact that Obama has been ripping on McCain being in Washington for so long, but Biden has been there longer”. The Dem talking head said, “No, that’s not what Obama meant. He meant on the wrong side for too long.
It’s just crazy. Too damn funny.
Obama is nothing special – no different than the other hacks before him.
Also – WTF is up with picking another Senator? Can we get someone on the ticket (R or D) with some EXECUTIVE experience!?
Yeah Boy,
Obama struggles without a teleprompter in front of him while Biden has an tendency to talk himself into corners or go off on strange tangents, he’s a liberal Professor Irwin Corey.
The left wing blogs (Kos, DU) are not very happy with the selection of Biden, they’re becoming increasingly disillusioned with Obama—but not enough to vote for anyone else (unless Dennis Kucinich tossed his hat back into the ring).
I agree that Biden was selected as Obama’s attack dog, how successful he’ll be is another matter.
Three Senators in this race is more than enough, McCain should select a governor.
perhaps if you “righties” and “lefties” stopped acting like bitchy little school girls jumping on every little thing someone does wrong (when it is just as likely that your elected official does bad stuff too) we could make some darned headway with this country.
perhaps if all of us held our leaders and ourselves responsible for the big things they and we mess up on (regardless of political party) we could make some darned headway with this country.
perhaps if we recognized that there are many different ways to live a good life and we stopped legislating values and morals and religious views we could make some darned headway with this country.
remember all that life, liberty and pursuit of happiness stuff we were founded on? yeah, let’s get back to that. let’s get back to improving ourselves and those around us. let’s get back to, you know, (as cheesy as it sounds) american ideals. let’s have discussions and dialogues and monologues and townhalls and speeches and whatever else we need to try and sway the hearts and minds and pocketbooks of our fellow americans.
let’s try acting like americans, gosh darn it all to heck.
@sean: about Reagan, I was four when he was elected, so I can’t really comment on his veracity as a speaker, or how it affected me. At that age, and for most of the Reagan years, I was excited about the “… and knowing is half the battle” campaign at the end of every G.I. Joe episode, not so much politics ;)
@Celtics: I don’t really get bringing my family into the debate, but whatever. If you feel like you’re wasting your time trying to label me as a “hack”, then you’re right. Otherwise, I welcome the at times thoughtful debate, but no one’s making you press the “Submit” button down there.
Smitty, I actually like Biden, even before his VP nomination, and think he’s the kind of politician who says what he’s really thinking. Sometimes that leads to “gaffes” according to the media, but you can’t fault the guy for where he’s come from or what he’s done with his life.