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ORIGINAL: inthysite

This should be fun

Reporter to McCain:
'How many houses do you have?'

McCain:
'I'm not sure, I'll have to check with my staff,

Obama's Response:
"If you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong," he said. "But if you're like me, and you got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don't lose their home, then you might have a different perspective."

McCain's Campaign's 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?"

Obama Jumps on McCain House Comment

Let the games begin!

quote:

ORIGINAL: huangshan

Obama is pretty much self-made, and McCain came from a successful military family and married an heiress. I suppose if you overlook a lot, there's a bunch of similarities.

Obama is something like 1/40th as rich as McCain. Now, there's nothing wrong with being rich (even super-rich), but I think it does raise legitimate questions about one's awareness of the plight pf people who are not in your situation if you have never been anywhere near it.

Talking point: Obama is rich. McCain is out of touch.

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That could be true, tafkam, but I think it behooves us, as educated voters, to see nuance and degree.

Also, re: "just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii"

There are no private beaches in Hawaii.

As such, I present another talking point: McCain is a liar. OR: McCain is out of touch.

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ORIGINAL: Jhud

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That could be true, tafkam, but I think it behooves us, as educated voters, to see nuance and degree.

Also, re: "just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii"

There are no private beaches in Hawaii.

As such, I present another talking point: McCain is a liar. OR: McCain is out of touch.

Or maybe he doesn't hang out on beaches in Hawaii?

Of course it depends on how you look at it:

Obama may even have a beach of his own to wade in—he'll reportedly be chilling in a private oceanfront home at an undisclosed Oahu location. All beaches in Hawaii are accessible to the public so you may catch him chancing a wave or two.

I would think you fans of the 'nuanced' Obama would be less persnickety.

quote:

And can anyone really get not knowing how many homes you have?

I can't imagine that. I mean even if it were eighteen, I can count to eighteen. Homes aren't like books or CDs or DVDs. You don't put them on a shelf and forget about them.

How can you forget how many homes you have?

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Just one more way the McCAin camp Git It Wrong.

Not that anyone should be surprised by that.

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Seems pretty straightforward to me...?

There are no private beaches in Hawaii.

McCain campaign says there is.

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ORIGINAL: Jhud

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And can anyone really get not knowing how many homes you have?

I can't imagine that. I mean even if it were eighteen, I can count to eighteen. Homes aren't like books or CDs or DVDs. You don't put them on a shelf and forget about them.

How can you forget how many homes you have?

Actually, it appears in the statement McCain hesitated not because he didn't know the number, but because he was thinking of the distinction between houses and condiminiums. It was probably not good to be uncertain in retrospect, but it really tells us nothing about how 'in touch' he is.

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The Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for owning seven houses. McCain’s staff, being less precise but in some ways more accurate, has said McCain owns at least four. Over here you can find the most expansive count which gives McCain ten. You could probably even push this up to eleven if you want to count the Phoenix double-condo as two separate homes. But I think that’s tendentious. To get to ten homes, you also need to count his various ranch properties as separate homes which I likewise think is tendentious — that’s best understood as a single $1.1 million vacation property. So that’s two homes. Then indisputably there’s the $847,800 pied à terre in Arlington where the McCains can stay when they’re in DC. That’s three. Then somewhat confusingly they own two different beach condos in Coronado, CA one worth $2.7 million and one worth $2.1 million so that’s five. And I’d say that five is arguably the correct answer.

To get to seven, you need to add in two additional properties that the McCains own. One is a $700,000 loft in Phoenix that they own and rent out. That’s unquestionably a McCain family financial asset, but I wouldn’t call it a “home,” it’s more akin to an investment. Then the tricky one is Meghan McCain’s loft. This was bought for her as a graduation present and I assume the underlying conceit is that it’s her loft rather than her parents’ and I think the precise ownership status of the property may be somewhat unclear. If they actually transferred title of the property to Meghan, there could be a large tax liability so probably the elder McCains own it. But I see five, six, and seven as all defensible answers to the question “how many homes does John McCain own?”

quote:

ORIGINAL: huangshan

And can anyone really get not knowing how many homes you have?

I can't imagine that. I mean even if it were eighteen, I can count to eighteen. Homes aren't like books or CDs or DVDs. You don't put them on a shelf and forget about them.

How can you forget how many homes you have?

quote:


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?"

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Wow, I wish my guidance counselor spoke with me about "community organizing" as a career path.

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Why is there so much snooty derision about Obama's decision to turn down a high-paying job at a New York law firm straight out of school, and instead accept a difficult, low paying, and often thankless job of trying to improve the lives of people on the south side of Chicago?

I'm hard pressed to see an act that's more noble, and Christ-like.

All the success Obama encountered after this time in Illinois politics was due to hard work, and beating the bricks.

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And exactly how did he 'improve their lives'?

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ORIGINAL: todd_t

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And exactly how did he 'improve their lives'?

Among other things, Obama worked with the faith-based Developing Communities Project (DCP) to pressure the city government to inspect and remove asbestos from local apartment buildings, organize voter registrations drives and local education reform movements, prevent the expansion of landfills into poor residential areas, built playgrounds, and set-up after-school programs.

And all for the whopping annual salary of $13K, plus the use of a beat-up Honda Civic to get around.

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ORIGINAL: SwedishCovenant

McCain showed himself clueless and disconnected from the vast majority of his constituents. Your attempt to make McCain's McCluelessness somehow Obama's failing is noted as the diversionary tactic which it is.

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ORIGINAL: SwedishCovenant
And in all actuality, that wasn't quite the way the McCAin interchange went.

> When asked about the number of houses he owned in a Politico interview published Thursday, McCain was unable to answer. "I think — I'll have my staff get to you," he replied. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you." <

It is interesting that you chose to rephrase McCain's *answer* so that your words made him sound less clueless then his own. Gee, isn't that just a little dishonest?

Oh, and as for his staff getting the answer? Turns out they couldn't get it, either:

>The McCain camp later told Politico the Arizona senator and his wife own at least four homes in three states. Other news organizations have reported a higher total.<

quote:

ORIGINAL: SwedishCovenant
Although I must admit, McCain getting caught without a clue, and his campaign staff no better (who IS going to know what they are doing in the McCAin White House? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?)...

...is better than McCain caught in a clumsy lie.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/140233