Is The Fourth Home in Passy, Senator McCain?
Okay, I doubt he's got a house in Paris. But in a continuing effort to prove his Richie Rich bona fides -- and remember, according to the candidate, it takes five mil to qualify -- Senator McCain just ain't sure how many homes he owns. But he promises his staff will get back to us with an accurate number.
Meanwhile, on the Pimp My Religion front, it turns out that the Senator's oft-told and moving story about listening to Mother Teresa's stirring request to rescue two Bangladeshi girls, one of whom they eventually adopted, is unfortunately a fiction designed to more efficiently package the Senator's religious beliefs. Mother Teresa had nothing to do with it. Mother Teresa wasn't even there. The McCain campaign has been kind enough to revise the story on its web site. After getting busted, of course.
So, two emerging mini-themes to accompany the Trigger Happy Maniac thesis. He's so rich he doesn't know how much money he has -- this explains his only casual familiarity with economic issues. And if he's got to sucker the religious crowd with some tear-jerker tall tales in order to gain their support? So be it.
Oh, I know. This is pretty thin stuff. John McCain's character was molded, shaped, burnished, and wholly created during his POW imprisonment. What he has done since, what he's doing now? Simply not relevant.
UPDATE BONUS VID! It starts like this:
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To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
- Harley's blog
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The latter may turn out to be the most important part of this story. The way it makes the McCain team, and the candidate, lose their minds. Cuz the only thing better than a rich guy who doesn't know how many houses his wife bought him is an enraged rich guy who...
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)...cherry-picked economic quotes from McCain. Factcheck.org explains why. I'm pretty disappointed, Harley. You throw stuff out there, only to have it debunked within a news cycle. If you're going to go negative, at least have those negatives be accurate and truthful.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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)From your FactCheck.org link referring to the state of the economy pre-Jan '08, McCain claimed "there's been great progress economically" under Bush and "we have had a pretty good prosperous time". Which just goes to show how out of touch he is with average Americans since he's probably referring to growth in GDP, productivity and returns on capital investment. None of which put food on the table or cover the ever rising costs of healthcare or a college education in the stagnant wage economy that has evolved under GW's stewardship.
Even without the mortgage led financial crisis and the stratospheric rise in crude based energy prices the economic outlook for the majority of Americans has been in steady decline since Bush took office. Cost's to average families of everyday essentials have risen while wages have remained largely stagnant and the income gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically heralding a new gilded age.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )The point is that Obama cherry-picked McCain's comments without mentioning McCain's qualifiers and conditionals, leaving a person with the impression that that's all McCain said. It was supremely misleading and purposely dishonest because it took McCain's remarks out of context, distorting the meaning of what McCain intended to say and actually said. His his overall comments were pessimistic, as factcheck.org noted. I can't believe that your partisanship is turned up so high that you fail to see that.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )during Bush's tenure with the qualification that this wouldn't console American families who are facing "tremendous economic challenges", is trying to have it both ways without really committing yourself. Presumably there will always be at least some American families who are facing "tremendous economic challenges", so this amounts to nothing more than standard Republican boilerplate.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Hurts don't it? And there's one thing you can't debunk. The Dude doesn't know how many houses Cindy bought him. That's accurate and it's truthful and it's got them both furious and on the defensive.
Which is pretty much where you want them. Sorry you're disappointed.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )it's pretty thin stuff, made all the thinner with your factually challenged reply. Cindy bought him houses? That's accurate and truthful?
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )And there's nothing that digs deeper in politics, hence the successful Britney ads.
Here's a helpful primer re the Right and men who are kept* by their second wives.
Enjoy.
*Ridicule again.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )Or maybe this wasn't a big deal until McCain made it one. His campaign's bizarre, almost self-parodying overreaction to this line of attack shows that he, at least, thinks it's a vulnerable spot.
Strange. The smart play would have been to shrug this off, something along the lines of "I'm not ashamed of my success. I'm living the American dream, and I want to help you live it too." Maybe throw in a few pointed comments about wealthy Democrats and "limousine liberals" for good measure.
Then again, I've said all along that McCain is a terrible campaigner, and I expect he'll keep proving me right.
--The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.
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)Tho' the truth is closer to "I'm not ashamed of my wife's inherited fortune" -- which doesn't play quite as well.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )In a political campaign? C'mon, if the Republicans can sell George W. Bush as a down-home Texan, they can sell John McCain as a self-made man.
--The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.
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| parent )McCain's navy career ended in 1981. He became a Congressman-elect in 1982. Either he got rich while in the Navy or he got rich while in Congress. I don't think either of those stories is going to fly. The got rich in Congress story would actually work against him.
Dubya was a blank slate. McCain already has a narrative.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )After Sen. Obama weathered his own homeownership storm, why on earth would he or his surrogates want to re-open up a dialog on houses?
Very strange.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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)ABC News and Charles Gibson led with a story about John McCain's houses, complete with Senior Senator audio. And nice excerpts from Obama's attack line.
Then details re all nine properties. Then comment re making him seem out of touch. Then more from Obama saying basically that. Then, and this just keeps getting better, a clip from the Obama ad on the subject.
Oh. And then a five second rebuttal from the McCain campaign that mentions the Rezko connection. Who?
And then, just to button the report, Jake Tapper talking about how the little things can sometimes become seminal moments in campaigns, like John Kerry talking about voting for something before he voted against it.
Solid gold.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )Honest question, because the two issues are unrelated beyond the word "house."
Obama already took his lumps on Rezko. There's no there there beyond his admittedly poor judgment in having anything to do with him.
The attack on McCain isn't a guilt-by-association drive by. It's a critique of his entire economic plan, served with a quote conveniently provided by the candidate himself. McCain's economic plan is tax cuts for the wealthy. McCain's former economic adviser described complaints about the economy as "whining" and said we were in a "mental recession." McCain said his definition of rich starts at $5 million, and he doesn't even know how many houses he has. Tie it together, and you have an issue-based attack: McCain is out of touch and his plan won't help ordinary Americans.
The parallel attack using Rezko on Obama has nothing to do with houses -- it would be centered on Obama's efforts at ethics reform and would attempt to demonstrate that Obama is personally corrupt even while he cloaks himself in the mantle of a reformer. It falls flat because Obama *isn't* personally corrupt anymore than any politician, but that would be a better analogy.
But this has nothing to do with houses. That the McCain campaign would seek to invoke Rezko in a discussion about the economy illustrates either that they are reeling, with no real message control or coherent strategy, or else that they've decided to embrace the politics of personal destruction that McCain supposedly disavowed.
--Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
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| parent )Maybe because I don't have a pony in this race it looks different from the grandstands. Sen. Obama is really quite lucky that the Rezko thing simply blew over...months ago... and it doesn't strike me as very intelligent to provide an opening to the other campaign to resurrect it just as people are starting to pay attention.
Nevermind. Don't mind me.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )That's my point.
It's like if Obama had accused McCain of wanting to make the rich richer at the expense of the middle class and the McCain campaign had responded "speaking of things that start with the letter R..."
Let me put it another way -- do you think the McCain campaign needed the Obama campaign to mention houses (responding to McCain's own statement) to bring up Rezko? If not, why would the Obama campaign not press the point on McCain being out of touch with his economic policies?
--Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
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| parent )If you say so. It's just an observation. I think most people will think 'houses' and 'house' or even 'lots of big mansions' and 'mansion' aren't exactly non-sequitors.
Maybe I'm wrong.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )Check my comment re the evening news. This is a very bad day for McCain. Doesn't mean it will continue like this. But it certainly helps develop the narrative the Obama campaign has been trying to develop for weeks, if not months. If hearing some warmed-over Rezko charges is the price for this? Happily paid.
What would you suggest? That everyone simply ignore McCain's jaw-dropper?
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )You'll trade one day for that?
Let's go back to... nevermind.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )This is how narratives are built. Can't imagine why you're pretending this is something other than what it is.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )Enjoy.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )CBS was absolutely brutal. NBC not bad either. So all three nets, and the Senior Senator's seven homes, scattered coast to coast. That he didn't know about.
This is how a narrative is born. Mark it down.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )why? I don't remember class warfare working before in a Presidential election, though it's been tried. Or do you suppose the media will give it more life because McCain is not a Dem?
There won't be one word about this except on online fringie sites by Monday latest. Hope you have something lots better than this left in reserve, though.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Where's that graveyard you keep pointing out? This, like Bush the Elder's grocery scanner, will stick around for a while. Tho' you're right, given that the focus will shift to the conventions, ahem, on Monday, it will lurk in the background for a while.
But it ain't going anywhere. It's just too much fun.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )What do you think painting John Kerry and Obama as elitists is all about? Think it mighta worked with Kerry?
Or is it only class warfare when aimed at wealthy Republicans?
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )In the day, Harley would often comment that talking points don't make an arguement.
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )An entire news cycle dedicated to the prospect that the Senior Senator is so rich he doesn't know how many homes he owns. Because he said so. Yesterday.
Yep. Why on earth would anyone want to talk about that?
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )The campaign tends to mirror his temperament. As John Cole describes it aptly, there are only two settings. A**hole and Out of Control A**hole.
Today we got the latter. I mean they took their first bit of fire in days, maybe weeks, lost control of the media narrative for the first day in ten if not more, and how do they respond? By going absolutely postal. Not to mention stupid (Cindy owns the houses! Leave Cindy out of this!)
Right now the only folks who look stupid are the campaign mouthpieces. But watch and wait for McCain to blow too. His chesty manhood is under attack, and that's pretty much all he's got.
And another thing. Obama went thru a series of steel cage death match debates with Hillary, and was confronted with embarrassing gotcha questions in every one. McCain more or less skated thru, one among many, and then among none at all. (And at some very friendly and tightly controlled town hall meetings.) In other words, he hasn't faced the kind of media/debate scrutiny that Obama has. Until now.
He's gonna blow. The larger question is when. Even larger? How he handles his first hostile debate question. The first one he will have heard all year.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)in this campaign - oh, wait, that was back in June. Sorry.
Calling the Dem nomination debates "steel cage death matches" is Ludacris; the only posterior I saw get roasted back then was Her Nibs' capacious one, and that was by Russert over the the NY drivers' licenses for illegals deal that (Fmr.)Gov Spitzer had floated. Refresh my memory with some of the tough questions and grillings Obama faced back then, please.
The debate over capitalism vs. communism whetted my appetite for taking money from people who have way more than they need, so I propose a bet between you and me over who folds first in the Obama/McCain debates. All we need to do is agree on a nifty but not too spendy prize and some objective criterion for deciding the winner. Too much talking - time to ante up. OK?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )nt
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )One, you clearly missed the first 45 minutes of the Pennsylvania debate. McCain has not been touched by anything remotely like that.
Two, I have no idea what you mean by 'folds first.' And betting me about the debates only proves your willingness to lose money, not faith in your chosen candidate who doesn't know how many homes he has.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )I'll simplify: You take Obama, I take McCain, and whoever does better in the presidential debates gets determined by rules we agree on. Just say go/no go; no need to dance around.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )First, thanks for taking McCain. Second, I'd rather play a drinking game where we drink every time McCain says 'my friends' and a two drinks every time he refers to his time as a POW. Oh. And a drink every time Obama uses the word 'hope.' (Let's face it, I just want to get lit.)
The real problem is barring some huge and obvious failure, I don't see how we'll ever agree as to who won and who lost. What rules could we possibly agree on? And how do you make rules for something so completely subjective?
Convince me it's possible, and I'll play. But I just don't see it.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )The issue of who won the debates would have to be decided by that Bulgarian ice-skating judge- wait, I meant by someone we both trust to be neutral. I can think of several folks here, but when you limit it to people whose home addresses and mailbox slot sizes I don't know, the list thins. I'd go with Jordan, catchy, brendan or air just for starters as examples of naturalists, ah, neutralists.
Or maybe we just forget the whole thing and send each other liquor instead so we can play your drinking game (which will make the debates the most I've listened to McCain so far, and maybe in the best mood).
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent ). . .you never officially ruled on the end of the bet between Harley and myself. The posts at issue can be found here, including Catchy's ruling.
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| parent )This obviously will take intense study, meaning I will have to get back to you tomorrow. What does the winner get again?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Which is the ultimate prize, of course. :-)
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| parent )...of the Senior Senator's real estate excesses, let's not forget the actual and real big news of the day:
Thanks, Josh! Or should I call you 'Dr. Marshall?'
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)If so then Dr. would appropriate.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )Me: We! -- Ali
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| parent )I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )back in 2004, you Democrats had no problem with a candidate who had ten times the net worth of Cindy McCain and five luxurious homes* with massive carbon footrpints. The hypocrisy is stunning.
* Or six homes, depending on whether Teresa still had that nice Italian villa.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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)who as far as I've worked out on paper hasn't made a goddamn dime under his own steam. Some Connecticut Yankee with his Skull and Bones pin, he's no different than Kerry or Gore. That idiotic cowboy hat and fake Tex-ass accent makes me think of that ridiculous Dukakis riding around in a tank. So did that flight suit episode, after his Mysterious Absence from the Texas Air National Guard.
I won't go into the patent illegality of his Texas Rangers deal, that entire deal would make a buzzard puke. Or his buddy-buddy with Ken Lay.
But the glorification, nay beatification of St John McCain really does amuse me. I am put in mind of Daumier's Martyrdom of St Simeon , all that maudlin crap. If we have to get down to gaps between image and substance, McCain's whole life has been one narrow escape from disaster after another. He's the Peter Rabbit of politics, leaving his coat behind in Mr. MacGregor's garden.
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| parent )between MCain and Obama. I don't see much to like in McCain's record, but it's probably all out there at this point. The guy's been a professional pol for a long time, and he's smart enough to know how the past can come back to haunt you.
Obama OTOH is new to the game, and comes from a Chicago system where the locals help bury bodies so deep you'd need concrete overshoes to find them. But nothing's so deeply hidden that it can't be found in a Presidential election runup. And no one ever comes out of Chicago clean. So there's a real possibility stuff will surface between now and the election; The Ayers/Wood Foundation connection might turn out to be one of them, but if not, there'll be others.
PS Bush will be out of office in early January, so time is limited to stick pins in that particular cushion.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )But is it a giant killer? I dunno. It doesn't really trouble me, because I've met Bill Ayers. I'm on this bilingual steering committee, or was, when my kids were still in bilingual. Ayers lived in Hyde Park, dunno if you know about that neighborhood, but it's one of the few racially-mixed communities with a fair bit of money in it.
Woods Fund backs programs for disadvantaged children in metro Chicagoland. Elgin fits the category, and our goal was to work with bilingual kids on the Cook County side of the line, doing literacy work with the parents. We used to have a group of parents in our home every Wednesday night, all we wanted was funding to get a schoolbus to take the parents over to the community college, where they were doing a larger literacy work.
Bill Ayers is a big shot in educational circles. He's backed by Mayor Daley, and every attempt to link Obama to Ayers' radical past are just the usual smear by association we've come to expect from the usual suspects. McCain has far too many Felonious Friends of his own to wax pharisaic about Ayers.
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| parent )pot, kettle, etc.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )my problem is the matter of hypocrisy and double standards. Back then, Kerry professed that we should be good environmental stewards, yet he flounced around in his private jet, hobnobbed in his diesel-guzzling yacht, and resided in five massive homes with five massive utility bills.
The fact of the matter is that John McCain owns zero homes. John and Cindy have a prenup, and she and her dependents and her trusts and her companies own the assets. John McCain is out of that loop. He does politics and his wife handles her business affairs. And in none of those eight properties did Cindy partner with a now-convicted political fixer.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )And in none of those eight properties did Cindy partner with a now-convicted political fixer.
She did, however, invest in a shopping mall with Charles Keating.
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| parent )If you have 41% stake in a subsidiary and your dad owns 51%, guess who makes the call.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )i can't believe you dragged mccain's wife's dad into this just to throw him under the bus.
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| parent )~
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| parent )we should be good environmental stewards (cap and trade, anyone?) and also flounces around in a private jet. He also has massive houses with massive energy bills. Where's your double standard now?
Jeez, do you even read this stuff before you post it?
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )This page to be exact. Please explain how owning homes (or traveling in jets) applies to cap-and-trade.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )...on his tax return. LINK (warning PDF)
He must own at least one home if he is deducting the real estate taxes. If he does in fact own zero homes then he is either cheating on his taxes or he took the deduction on the wrong line place.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )That's an allocation of community property income & expenses statement.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )That is an attachment to his 2007 income tax return.
Here is a link to the whole return. LINK (warning pdf)
If you look on page 13 of the pdf you will see the allocation sheet I originally linked to. The $3,468 of real estate taxes is reported on John McCain's Schedule A, Line 6.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )if the house is listed as community property, then he's part owner.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )LINK
But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )Wiggle room.
If McCain doesn't own ANY then why didn't he say so? Seems pretty simple to me. Or was he unaware of that and needed his staff to get back to him?
"My wife owns everything!
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| parent )is this official? is there a memo to that effect or a campaign statement confirming this defense?
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )The Obama campaign is attacking the candidate's wealth by playing gotcha with the wife's assets. Four years ago, your party was in the same situation, a U.S. Senator with a richer-than-snot wife.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )it's the fact that not even knowing how good he's got it makes him completely out of touch with the plight of most Americans as your FactCheck.org link makes perfectly clear.
Kerry isn't running for anything this go around, so as you would say he's irrelevant. The choice is between McCain and more of the same (Bush-GOP) and the change candidate Obama.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Did you actually read the factcheck.org link?
The comparison to Kerry is perfectly relevant because it's hypocritical to defend Kerry for his immense wealth and attack McCain for his. You're trying to have it both ways.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )Is it completely destroys any attempts by McCain, which have been ongoing for weeks, to paint Obama with the same brush.
Excuse me, bogus attempts, that is. Considering that he's the one who doesn't even know how many houses he owns.
Like I've said before, we can always make it a debate about policy. Not that a Republican's won an election on that theme since arguably 1980.
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| parent )It's not about the wealth per se. It's about being out of touch. It's also about supporting economic policies generally, and tax policy specifically, that benefit those who are immensely wealthy like yourself. Or your wife.
That's a relevant difference. And as always, Housegate is merely an effective pivot point in the larger debate about the economy.
Bet you miss those Britney ads now.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )I even quoted it, here.
Who's defending Kerry?
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Please click the following link for full dramatic effect.
http://theforvm.org/node/2901/111721#comment-111721
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )A finite number of times. Which we will, I predict, approach and pass.
Meanwhile...
And yes, I know he spent five years 'in prison' without a butler or a maid. Honest I do.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )From your link:
But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )The question put to McCain was, how many homes did his family own. Saying that he talked with Cindy about the condo in Coronado is a non-response.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )The fact that John said, "'Oh this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go,'" means that he is in the loop. Maybe Cindy makes the decisions but John has some input.
Also, the idea that a candidate for President has no say in where he or his children (Cindy's dependents) live is just plan scary. I hope you guys run with that line of defense.
This is why Rove's boys have McCain on a short leash. The good Senator is a gaffe machine.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )It's not our fault McCain said something, actually more than one, that was amazingly stupid. And believe it or not, it's not John Kerry's fault either.
Five million threshold for rich. Doesn't know how many homes he has. Put that together?
Heh. Watch for yourself.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )from John Hawkins at Right Wing News.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)I thought this was a parody at first, but it's apparently actual attributed quotes from an official McCain spokesman:
"We're delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama," said spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the press should focus on Obama's house. "It's a frickin' mansion. He doesn't tell people that. You have a mansion you bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon."
"The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It's not as if he lives in ten houses. That's just not the case," Rogers said. "The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use."
He also added: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.
"In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."
I think Obama would be well advised to offer to pay this guy's salary for the remainder of the campaign.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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)he really said "arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type"?
Because lord knows we don't want anyone smart enough to be a professor as President. Smart people are elitist!
Though "pointy-head"..what does that even mean..besides planting an old Harry Nilsson song in my head.
Which in turn reminds me of Spiro Agnew's "effete corps of impudent snobs"...ah, good times.
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| parent )that being intelligent has become a handicap in American politics, well, that's when I really do fear for the future of this country.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )Now McCain's hiding behind his wife's skirts:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/mccain_prepares_rez...
Pathetic.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )That Spyro, what a card. Too bad he died in jail.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )that scumbag didn't do a day in prison.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )I remember seeing Spy-rot ages ago on TV whining that a prosecution for Maryland highway fund graft was the work of his enemies, and I'd just assumed the wheels of justice had ground him up. Another happy illusion wrecked on the rocks of Lanikai beach.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )in the gate area at DFW. I think it must have been late '76 or '77. I was in uniform, sitting there minding my own business, when I saw a familiar-looking middle-aged man walking (alone) towards my row of seats.
I remember thinking to myself how much he looked like Spiro Agnew...so much so that he'd be the guy I'd cast in that role in a movie.
Amidst all those empty seats, he sat down right next to me. And it was a few seconds after that when I noticed the engraved name plate on his bag. I never said a word to him or acknowledged him in any way. In fact, I was more than a little bit embarrassed.
In the intervening years, it's dawned on me that he probably took some measure of comfort sitting next to someone in uniform. And though I don't beat myself up about it, I think I could have been a better person and at least given him a "Good afternoon, sir", as was expected of me.
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )Died in jail?
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| parent )No, I am not joking.
LINK
But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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)Is the Onion running McCain's campaign?
"a noun, a verb, P.O.W."
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| parent )McCain is a POW?
I had no idea. Do you have a cite? You'd think they'd play something like that up a lot more.
Wait... which war?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )No, he was a POW. Verb tenses are wicked important so please be careful not to confuse them.
I don't have a cite but you can use the google to find out more about it.
The French Inodchina War.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )This is gonna be fun. From Politico:
To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)Fence post turtles -- They don't get up there by themselves, some moron had to put 'em there.
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)If the houses of the candidates’ families are legitimate campaign fodder, this is interesting-
The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut in a ramshackle town of Huruma on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate's half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender.
"No-one knows who I am," he told the magazine, before claiming: "I live here on less than a dollar a month."
According to Italy's Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world.
No word yet on if Obama knows how many 2 meter by 3 meter shacks his brother owns, but there is word on how Obama loves to make a spectacle-
At that historic homecoming in August 2006 Obama was greeted as a hero with thousands lining the dirt streets of Kogelo. He visited the Senator Obama Kogelo Secondary School built on land donated by his paternal grandfather. After addressing the pupils, a third of whom are orphans, and dancing with them as they sang songs in his honour, he was shown a school with four dilapidated classrooms that lacked even basic resources such as water, sanitation and electricity.
He told the assembled press, local politicians (who included current Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga), and students: "Hopefully I can provide some assistance in the future to this school and all that it can be." He then turned to the school's principal, Yuanita Obiero, and assured her and her teachers: "I know you are working very hard and struggling to bring up this school, but I have said I will assist the school and I will do so."
just to offer empty platitudes-
Granting us access to the school and its records, Principal Obiero, 48, tells us: "Senator Obama has not honoured the promises he gave me when we met in 2006 and in his earlier letter to the school. He has not given us even one shilling. But we still have hope."
Hope and change you can believe in Principal Obiero, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If the above Vanity Fair story checks out, Obama offers a lot of pretty words like-
Obama said America's greatest moral failure is its insufficient help to the disadvantaged. He noted that the Bible quotes Jesus as saying "whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me." He said the maxim should apply to victims of poverty, sexism and racism.
but not much in the way of follow up, just ask the least of his brothers what he’s done for him.
(hat tip Dr. Reynolds)
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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)...who will help out this guy. All you have to do is pay the Western Union transfer fee.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )I get those emails too.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )Heh. Does Glenn have a fan club?
As for what the diary is actually about -- as opposed to 'Whatever you Can Do I Can Do Better Cuz Obama Isn't a Real American' -- I think puncturing McCain's bloated self-regard is a good strategic move. Forget Bush Sr. and the checkout counter. This is a guy who doesn't know how many homes he owns. This is a guy who, when queried about what makes one rich, came out with a five million dollar figure.
You know where it goes from there. That's why Obama was poking fun at the Very Senior Senator this morning, and using those examples while doing so. We need more of this, if only to counter the media-fed criticism-proof Hero Vest Senator McCain and his surrogates wear so proudly.
And that's before we get to his temper problems, something the Obama campaign started addressing yesterday. (He's trigger happy!)
So to sum up. An out-of-touch hot-head who is more adept at fashioning fake religious tales than economic proposals.
I like this narrative. Let's see if it flies.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )A celebrity with out much in the way of accomplishments aside from writing books and giving nice speeches, and he loves giving speeches, especially if your town will throw him a parade.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )The celebrity thing has run its course. The nice speeches thing is sooooo Hillary. Both have done the damage they will do (and both did so, btw). I'm going to assume the parade thing was an attempt at humor.
Like your sig, tho' not quite as obviously, these are yesterday's attack dogs. Today's attack dogs are eating different meat.
Carry on!
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )are today's trend lines. But keep whistling past the graveyard if you want to, you've got 2 more months before reality has to set in.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )But that's one ungainly series of metaphors. The first you borrowed from me, the second is, well, sorta familiar and doesn't entirely follow the first. On the