Recently News Hounds posted video from Jedreport that showed all the McCain homes, valued at around $12.7 million dollars, noting the lack of coverage of the Republican Senator's wealth and elite lifestyle. The accompanying GoogleMaps video was fuzzed out for the "Arizona Ranch" where McCain spends weekends and reportedly entertained VP hopefuls. Turns out the "ranch" is no such thing, not even a "ranchette," and the "Maverick" has a spacious getaway in a toney subdivision - or rather, his wife's family does.
The Washington Independent reports that
"McCain, in fact, doesn't own his little slice of mesquite-studded high-desert, on the banks of Oak Creek, a lovely stream that meanders into the Verde River, one of the state's rivers most endangered by development. McCain's "ranch" is part of a trust and a limited partnership controlled by his wife -- the Cindy McCain Hensley Family Trust and the Sedona Hidden Valley Limited Partnership. The property includes a couple of houses and outbuildings with an assessed value of $1.7 million, according to the Yavapai County Assessor's Office.
The property is located in a "subdivision" where there is no cattle roping, branding or herding of heifers. Far from a ranch, McCain's getaway is really nothing more than a retreat. But the retired Navy captain and surge advocate certainly doesn't want the media stating that McCain went to his "Arizona retreat" for the weekend, lest that conjure up images of French cowardice.
The article goes on to detail the romantic allure of rugged individualism and the past presidents who embodied that myth, and concludes
"McCain's no cowboy. And he's not a rancher. In fact, he's barely an Arizonan. He swept into the state in 1981, on the arm of his bride, Cindy Henley, a liquor distribution heiress. Within one year, he was a member of Congress, financing his 1982 campaign with hundreds of thousands of dollars in beer money. McCain's spent most of the next 26 years in Washington, as his wife raised the children in Phoenix and other locales.
McCain does not own or spend time at anything remotely close to an "Arizona ranch." Call it a vacation home, hideaway, getaway, compound or, perhaps, what it actually is -- a retreat."
Sounds like the straight-talk express has hit another bump in the road. Fortunately for him, the media is ignoring all these background details in favor of dissecting Barack Obama's life. On FOX we've heard all about John Edwards' home, the Clinton "carpetbaggery," John Kerry's wealthy wife, and the Obama's mortgage financing, but under the guise of "we've been covering McCain for decades" we haven't heard a peep about his rich wife or their lifestyle.
BTW, this property valuation brings the couple's holdings to around $14.4 million, 12 times the Obama home valuation.
http://www.newshounds.us/2008/07/30/mccain_arizona_ranch_more_like_weekend_retreat.php#more
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