McCain unsure how many houses he owns

Source: Politico

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.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12685.html

NONE.

A couple of properties we've heard about. Mostly her properties, a condo here, a condo there, and a rather large house.

But one house on the Calif. coast came to the media's attention as a quasi-scandal, and vanished after a news cycle--for unpaid property taxes. It has one of the Mrs's elderly female relatives living in it for free. Maintenance and, presumably, taxes paid for when the bills reach the accountant; it's all done in a hands-off manner, and the state & accountant explained who was at fault, resolving the problem at once. Do we oppose this property and claim that's horrible repub values in action, or ignore that property?

And what is the case with the other chunks of housing?

as that he has too many for him to count!

homes, he can't even remember how many he has. Coincidence?


Something like that?

hard-working Americans, are at risk of homelessness, thanks to the deregulation of the mortgage industry that John McCain helped to pass through the Senate. Is John McCain out of touch with these Americans? When asked how many houses he owned, John McCain said "I'll have my staff get back to you." John McCain's not only out of touch with the realities American families face, he's so out of touch he doesn't even know how many houses he owns.

John McCain: out of touch and wrong for America.

I may ask for my money back.

Hit him with the chair!

And we have had a drunken fool. Combine the two and we bet McCan't

He's too busy to be bothered with counting up how many homes he owns. Plus, considering he graduated 594th out of 599 people in his class, I don't think I'd have much confidence in his ability to count past one.

so he can claim he didn't engage in deceit. His staff said "at least four".
While technically not a lie, he and his 'staff' both know it's way more than four.

McCain family owns 8 properties
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html


Personal ethics like being honest, not dodging questions with deceptions,
not having others deceive for you, which is worse than doing it yourself.

Some say it's more than 8.

"Take a look at John McCain's ten homes valued at $13,823,269"

http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.html

maybe he can't count to 10?

Not to mention toes?

FatDave
8. Funny, I know exactly how many houses I own.

"Zero. I live in one, and I pay for it a little bit every month, but it's still very much owned by the bank."

BUT how many homes does your wife/husband/significant other/sugar mama own?

& they keep piling on the story w/ updates from possible Obama VP candidates:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-doesnt-...

SOOOOOOOO GREAT that this happened!!!

I'm actually quite thrilled!!! Now we have something to build upon that people can really sink their teeth into. "Great, this asshole can't even keep track of how many houses he owns. Must be nice, 'eh. Especially since millions of little-guy Americans are facing foreclosure or otherwise struggling to make ends meet."

This really puts a human face on it. Really drives the point home smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen table. I can't count how many times I heard the pundit class on TV tonight referring to the ghwb moment in the grocery store - when he reacted to that curious little bar code thing he'd never seen before. Which is EXCELLENT-EXCELLENT-EXCELLENT!!! And even better, the Obama people finally got off their asses and threw a good punch with an immediate campaign ad milking the sucker!!! THAT is more like it!!! It puts the whole elitism thing and the painful economic reality that many Americans are now in that john mcsame will never know and that republi-CONS notoriously have done NOTHING to relieve (since they famously don't give a rat's ass about the little guy). It makes that really glaring. Makes him seem distant, out of it, out of touch, and in a follow-up punch it also very slightly suggests the age thing. He can't remember? Is he just too elitist that he doesn't even know how much he has or is he kinda, you know, a little, um, addled? He IS 72 now , isn't he? That IS kinda old, isn't it? Maybe age is getting to him?

EITHER WAY it's a loser for mcsame. EITHER WAY he looks bad. EITHER WAY this is not how you look presidential.

DELICIOUS!!!!! About time we got another good break! It's been a rough couple of weeks.

This just sticks it in and twists it. First phil "a nation of whiners" gramm and now this!

Zero. I live in one, and I pay for it a little bit every month, but it's still very much owned by the bank.

luxury homes.

too obvious, though--I'm sure the media is on top of this one like Edwards' house in Chapel Hill.

"I own a mansion, forget the price. Ain't never been there. They tell me its nice."

Never dreamed it might be about john mcsame!

Did you know Joe Walsh once ran for president, briefly, on the "Have A Party" ticket? It was back during the early '80's, on a lark for a few weeks. Fun to talk about, though!

I can't believe how fucking stupid right-wingers are. Mindless fucking sheep being led to the slaughter.

A rich, old guy who has checked-out of reality.

owns, although some might be in Cindy's name alone. In that case, he can ask HER.

ANY way you look at it, it doesn't make him look good. And it's one of those kitchen-table things that everybody can relate to. Not some esoteric policy-wonk stuff that goes over most people's heads. This one hits home, and rather painfully. On Olbermann tonight, Howard Fineman made a reference to Marie Antoinette!

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

Just PERFECT!!!!!!!!

EXACTLY the kind of thing we need!!!!

McShame = Poor Little Richboy Liar

Republicans are so clueless. It is a wonder they can function at all.

There are PLENTY of punches to throw now.

money, shepherds him around like a lost child and asks Lieberman to do it when she cannot be there.

I can't believe that pin-head has so many assets that he can't keep track of them all. Maybe he should stay in the private sector where he can spend some time getting his portfolio in order.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-doesnt-...

The houses, in addition to the private jet and all the traveling these houses demand, is outrageous.

snip: The answer, according to the group Progressive Accountability, is an even 10 homes, ranches, condos, and lofts, together worth a combined estimated $13,823,269.

John and Cindy McCain own a plethora of houses spread throughout the United States, including: two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.

Oh I see, just in case one is used for some sordid affairs. I'm surprised they don't a apartment in Trump Tower.

A mansion here, an upscale condo there, soon it starts adding up to real money.

I'm too new to post here - can anyone do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWt7UngH49s

Kaine RIPS McCain - Brilliant!

We should ALL be attacking mcsame on this. In as many ways as we can imagine! From ALL sides and ALL angles!

If you want ordinary, run-of-the-mill, middle class teachers, firemen, nurses, shopkeepers, and office workers running for President, then you'll institute public financing of elections. If you don't want someone who is "just like one of us" to run for President, then you'll stick with the status quo -- and while you're at it, you can shut the fuck up about elitism, because the very wealthy DO NOT EVER sit and have a beer with the likes of us ordinary joes (except perhaps for the occasional photo op in order to provide them with the image of being something they are not).

Kerry had several houses. McCain has several houses. Edwards and Gore each have a really BIG house. So what? The only pertinent aspect to this that I can discern is that it always seems to be Republicans who make an issue of it, and in glaringly hypocritical fashion.

how many cars do you own? how many televisions? how many homes?

most people don't require consultation to answer these questions. if you don't know how many properties you own, it's too damn many! real people do care about this stuff, i'm very far from rich, but i have a number of old cars, when people see me driving a different one, they'll ask how many cars i have, and i see looks of surprise when i have to stop and think about it. ordinary people are put off by those who amass so many large items they lose count. people accuse me of being rich because i have 6 vehicles. nevermind that my 6 are not worth their one.

yeah it's just one little issue, but it's one of many that add up to one big piece of shit of a man.

More likely he's being coy, to avoid having to answer the question. "Yeah, I'll look into it and get right back to you. Of course I have your number. Don't call me, I'll call you." Then the question goes away. I imagine it's just a dodge to avoid the whole hypocrisy thing after calling Obama an elitist.

But even if the question lingers and the issue sticks, expect the corporate media to be "balanced" about the whole thing by meticulously delving into Obama's life and finances too, in exactly the opposite way you'd expect if the original question had come up about Obama to begin with. They always take great pains to be absolutely fair to the guy with the little "R" by his name.

But in the end, it's clearly irrelevant who lives in a big house, or who maintains multiple houses (or keeps up-to-date on their property taxes, for that matter). It's painfully important to the majority of workers in the United States whether others in their community, friends and neighbors, parents and family, and even they themselves will be able to keep their OWN houses after the economic clusterfuck that has been the Bush Administration specifically and the Republican Party in general for the past, oh, 27 years or so.

And I'm sure the broadcast media will get right back to us on that one just as soon as they finish counting McCain's houses. They have our number. They'll call.

If we can defeat the propaganda sideshow and focus the attention of the public on the real issues, the Republicans will either have to change their ways in order to get elected, or disband entirely. Eyes on the prize -- the REAL prize: a democratic society.

how many TV's you own, what? is that against the law? should they be confiscated? I have no idea of how many underpants I own, does that mean I am rich?

I own but again we are talking houses as in how many fingers I have.

Not that any of McCain's houses cost that little, but seriously, if you don't understand the distinction between houses and underpants, I'm surprised you haven't electrocuted yourself from all the drool on your keyboard.

It's underpants and luxury condos - like apples and oranges. Two VERY different things here.

ry wealth, either, to make it like McCondo did.

And present it in a way like, "in these turbulent, volatile times, isn't it important to know where your president stands?" All of this guy's flip-flops can't be intellectually rectified by even the most nuanced, intricate explanations. They also need to provide real data showing that Obama will not raise taxes on people making less than $500,000 annually. They also need to use the draft statement against him. They need to show that his idea to cut the budget only actually works if the war in Iraq is off the books (which it already is) and if Social Security and Medicare are completely eliminated. Nail this motherfucker. McCain is running away with the election. Have some surrogates come on the corporate media's pro wrestling, tabloid political "news"/talk shows and talk about all of the bullshit surrounding his Vietnam days, the cheating on his wife. Spend the whole last few months doing nothing but attacking in the dirtiest, most underhanded ways possible.

http://digg.com/lbv.php?id=8096900&ord=1

That's why it is confusing. This guy has been a crook his whole career. Time to strip off the "great war hero" veneer.

I was watching CNN live (12:04 est) and they showed a sound byte of Obama speaking to a crowd in Virginia I think...He just Laid it out and shook his head and laughed, even the news caster said it would be a bad thing to say whren 1.5 million americans are facing forclosure...

Let's hope Obama RUNS with this!

clip of mccain being asked how many houses

followed by couple of families talking about how they have lost the ONLY house they had or are on the verge of losing it

repeat clip of mccain

tag line: must be nice to have too many house to keep track of in times when families are losing theirs

where each piece of property is.

But, yeah, I guess the Republicans are right, it’s the kid from a broken home who lived on food stamps and worked as a lowly paid community organizer that must be the elitist in this campaign.

Not the kid from a privileged background who can't remember how many homes he owns.

But if the Obama campaign doesn't use this hard, fast, and CONSISTENTLY for at least a week, they don't deserve to win.

That's quite true, too. If the Obama campaign DOESN'T make a helluva lotta hay out of this, they truly don't deserve to win. It's being handed to 'em on a plate! They damn well better run with it!!!

It's almost as infuriating as when I can't find the keys to the Lamborghini, or when my private jet needs servicing just when I finally saved up enough to buy that private island I've always wanted. But what can you do, we little guys just have to soldier through it.

What a crock! mccain has more homes than he can keep track of, $520 shoes, and a sordid marital past. How is he "one of us"? He's sure not one of me!

Brand it... and use it, liberally! I can see the ad now...

Ominous music with Voice over opening shots featuring pans of entire neighborhoods with for sale signs, and price reduced, yards overgrown. Quick cuts of people living in their cars.. quick cuts of mortgage companies with empty storefronts. (you can either have a voice over stating the startling facts, or even housing crisis victims in their own words).

Then we fade into McCain's quote about how many houses he owns. Then cut to black screen and voice over: "McCain's housing crisis? He just doesn't get it, does he?"

I think connecting it emotionally that way would do it. Hell.. if we could get a humane society rep talking about all the pets displaced and killed because of the real housing crisis, we'd really have something. Can you imagine that ad? OMG. Shots of the animals in shelters.. obvious pets surrendered or abandoned because people no longer had a home for them? Then ending the ad with McCain's own housing crisis?

Wish the Obama campaign had a mechanism for submitting these ideas.... I think this is one of McWealthy's weaknesses that would resonate with voters.

Truly! They're suckers if they don't.

you'll see it all

What country is this where someone in the middle class can't afford an efficiency condo at market rates and the effing GOP nominee for president DOESN'T KNOW HOW MANY HOMES HE OWNS???

I'll have one of my butlers get back to you.

Who's the elitist now, bitches?

Pardon me, Do you have any Grey Poupon?

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

Send it around, make it go viral. I hope it gets lots of airplay.

more rich than you" angle, is if McCain doesn't pay attention to details of his own life, like how many houses he owns, what makes you think he is going to pay attention to what concerns you?

Obama staff/supporters have my permission to use that in a commercial .

The McCain Residences: A Google Earth Tour (VIDEO)

Or Lifestyles of The Rich & Out of Touch

How can these people expect to lead us when they have NO idea how much trouble many hard working Americans are really in?

It used to be if you were hard working you would be OK. Now, the economy is so bad, for the first time in my life I'm struggling to make my house payment.

Lift the regulation and let the business men breath.

And Welcome to DU!

Of course he doesn't have a clue.

Back in the early days of the reagan administration, some pundits started referring to it as "Millionaires on Parade." And the reaganites all snickered, haughtily, at that as if to say "SO? So what's wrong with that? You got a problem with it?" But it WAS. That's because reagan surrounded himself with the haves and have-mores, just like bush has. That's all he listened to. That's all he was exposed to - that type of uber-wealthy and their interests and priorities and their viewpoints. That's all he knew. And when you only hear one thing over and over again, and it's all you know and all you see and anything less is just not on your radar, then that's what you think the rest of the world is like. NO WONDER mcsame thinks the economy is basically sound. That's all he's known for most of his life, the child of admirals, the husband of an heiress who had been his mistress. mcsame is trying to paint Obama as "not one of us." But it strikes me that it's mcsame, with all the shit around him and his history, who's really the one who's "not one of us."

Unfortunately the trailer park rednecks will probably still vote for this guy.

if they keep supporting and validating this kind of policy and these kind of policy-makers (rich CONservatives) again and again - why, some magic day way out there on the "time horizon" ("horizon" being an apt word because no matter how far you travel, you can't ever quite reach it), these poor schlubs who were always on the outside looking in will be rich, too.

And it never works out that way. It's not supposed to. But these gullible folks just keep on believin' and keep on swallowin'.

staff, gardeners, landscapers, servants - they all have legitimate W-2's and SSN's and green cards and citizenship papers?

I don't want to get any hard-working people in trouble; I'm just wondering how the "exterminate the illegals" crowd would react if it turned out that the McCain clan was employing Illegal Mud People instead of Red-Bludded Murikens.

He'd sure have some McSplainin' to do.

this burns me up... I know of many others who are in the brink of foreclosure of the house they sweated and saved for years to buy.. and he can't remember how many he owns.....

gggrrrrrrrrr

I apologize for being trite here, and rawther - um - hardboiled. But I tend to go straight to the strategery stuff. Too many Americans have been sold down the river on this whole issue and are hurting, on the edge of disaster, even homelessness. It's awful.

But if we don't make use of this situation to turn the republi-CONS OUT of office, we won't ever make headway toward solving the problem and easing the crisis for millions of Americans in this plight. They'll NEVER get any real relief from the republi-CONS, that is for SURE. We have to use whatever cards we're dealt.

...for his daughter Meghan.

http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.html

Someone who doesn't even know the value of what they have, because they can't be bothered to find out, has way too much.

houses he owns? oh, wait, maybe the answer is zero, maybe SHE owns them all in HER name.

this wrinkled old white guy gives me new material for my outgoing message every day. maybe I should thank him

"Smithers"

"Yes, sir"

"Could you please go out and count how many houses I have today? I seem to have lost track"

"Yes, sir, right away. As soon as I'm done with your pedicure, sir."

He may have a couple on the Iraq Pakistan "border" but they are difficult to locate.

Honest to god , This guy either lies like a mother F**** or he doesn't Remember shit and still he close the gap with Obama . WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO THIS COUNTRY.


How can you Even support Stupid GOP after 8 years of Blood , WAR , ECONOMIC DEPRESSION , SHREDDING CONSTITUTION AND SO MUCH MORE DISASTERS ???????


YOU SHOULD HAVE SHIT INSTANT OF BRAIN TO EVEN CONSIDERING REPUBLICANS .


OBAMA PLEASE stop taking a high road and hit this SOB Hard and give him HELL.

will be pulling the strings for McCain, too.

like gangbusters!

Welcome to DU! It's a most worthwhile and appropriate question to ask. We should be putting that question out - EVERYWHERE, at EVERY imaginable opportunity.

i own exactly 0 houses. i rent.

mcold is unsure where he is at the moment.

I can't wait until I own so many houses that I can't remember them all. I love having the opportunity that anything is possible! I wish this for every American.

Just keep on swallowing what we're shoveling, and some wonderful magic fairy-tale day, it'll all happen to YOU, too!

Get in line! Behind us! Do as we say, and vote for who we tell you to! And you'll surely get rich like we are!











...someday...

it matter this time?

You: lost your house and/or must make choices like food vs. mortgage payment/rent vs. gasoline vs. electricity vs. heating costs

MCondo: Private jet, 7 or 10 expensive homes totaling $13 million, wife worth something like $100 million, kid gets gift of $700K loft, money to burn.

THIS issue is not as complicated as Iraq (stay vs. leave), the economy, or energy (domestic drilling vs. developing renewables). THIS issue is SIMPLE.

You know, like does he own them and lease/rent/whatever them out? If that's the case then I'll have a hard time being annoyed with that. Then it's business and I'm not gonna hold that against anyone, not even him.

However, if they are sitting empty for his own personal use, then I do find that bothersome.

I dunno though.

any legislation he's actively sponsored or supported to up his investment.

Could be true, of course. But WHY would you want to give mcsame the benefit of the doubt - ever? We must cut him NO slack! NONE! This isn't some gentleman's tennis match. This is war!

Republicans still fervently believe:

If you're rich, you deserve it, if you're poor, you deserve it.

They'll blindly follow him because he hasn't joined the war on Christmas,
or for some other phony non-issue they'll make the centerpiece of their campaign.
Competence, mental awareness, quick thinking and an ability to absorb and process
information rapidly, an ability to step into the mind of your adversaries without
letting your prejudices alter reality, things like that are non-issues with
Republican voters. That's why Obama is even with McCain in the polls when logic
dictates that he should be up 80-20.

Why do you ask?

How many mentally challenged billionaire presidents do we need?

Maybe he has trouble counting.

Can't remember which lawn he hollered at those damn kids to get off of!!

I'll be here all week.

trying to distract people with the fact Obama has a mansion, I'm just waiting it for it now to blow up in their faces when its pointed out that atleast Obama and his wife worked for theirs.

He can't remember how many homes she owns. She can't remember how many half-sisters she has. Ken and Barbie. The Alzheimer's edition.

His staff doesn't even know. At least four, they say. Maybe his staff should do a search on delinquent tax properties in all three states since Ken and Barbie also can never remember whether the accountant pays the property taxes or they do and so of course really don't know if the property taxes have been paid. Especially for the homes they can't remember whether she owns or not. So many homes, too few brain cells. But then Ken and Barbie aren't supposed to be smart. They are just supposed to look pretty. Pretty is all. Even when you're old. And have Alzheimer's.

The real question is whether he knows what state he's in when he's home. But the answer might frighten even the Republicans so no one will ask it.

The Republicrats aka the neo-con artists who hijacked the Republican Party and now are hijacking the Democratic Party wanted John McCain for the obvious reason. He would lose to Hillary Clinton.

And then along came Barack Obama....

Maybe it's just that he's senile or has some type of dementia, but the guy can hardly open his mouth without lying.

NEVER take this off the homepage. At least not until after November 4th.

I don't mind people being rich. But, Jesus, you should know what you own....I mean on the scale of a house or condo. It's not like asking how many socks or pants you own, y'know. This is rich like Cheney is rich: insanely. And SMUG. "I'll have my staff find out." What, do they have to go thru the family papers on Belle Reeve stretching back hundreds of years?

Having 5 to 9 (I heard 9 somewhere) is extravagant to be sure. But not being able to remember them is SENILE! The man is too old to be president. Like I've said before, another card board cut-out PR president who's unelectable cronies will run things as they please.

Amne$ia! Good one!

And Welcome to DU!

The bush baby does....

Having the Bushes is bad enough. Mommy and Daddy even declared a hotel suite as their homestead for awhile.

The McCain tax returns are probably false ones anyway put out for public view knowing the IRS isn't going to confirm or deny whether those are the real tax returns or not. In all probability they file a joint return and she ends up paying his taxes for him. She pays for everything else. He must be dynamite in bed.

Last time I checked, it was NOT A CRIME to own several houses in America, since when did that change? If there were no rich people, who is going to employ you bums?