Reply #41: define rich...

[radfringe]

Who's rich? McCain and Obama have very different definitions
To Pastor Rick Warren's question, Obama says someone making more than $250,000. McCain gives a figure of $5 million per year. His campaign says he was joking.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 18, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-rich18-2008aug18,0,1063695.story

WASHINGTON -- The rich may be different for John McCain and Barack Obama.

On almost every issue, the two presidential candidates have staked out opposing positions. Their contrasting views on wealth surfaced during their back-to-back appearances in Southern California on Saturday night when each was asked to define "rich."

Obama didn't hesitate. "I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," he said. "You are doing well."

McCain took a far more discursive approach to answering the question but ultimately settled on a dramatically higher figure: "I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?"

The Arizona Republican quickly added that he was "sure that comment will be distorted," and his campaign said Sunday that he was joking.


(..........funny guy, ha ha ha ................................)

----snip-------

But their positions were likely also driven by their tax policies. The Illinois Democrat has proposed tax hikes on individuals with incomes exceeding $250,000, while the Arizona Republican has declared his intention to extend the tax cuts begun by President Bush and make new cuts to corporate tax rates -- both moves that would benefit the very wealthy. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center has calculated that the middle-income earners would get a $325 tax cut from McCain's proposed changes to the tax code, while the top 20% would have their taxes reduced by $6,500.

The Obama campaign jumped on McCain's definition of rich.

"It should come as no surprise that John McCain believes the cutoff for the rich begins at $5 million," said spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "It may explain why his tax plan gives a $600,000 tax cut to the richest 0.1% of earners."

In responding to Warren's question Saturday, McCain sought to broaden the discussion, saying that "some of the richest people I've known in my life are the most unhappy" and that rich should be defined "by a home, a good job and education and the ability to hand our children a more prosperous and safer world than the one we inherited."


....mmmmm maybe we should have a "happy tax" and a "sad tax break"?
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they should run a disclaimer at every mccain event "Sen. McCain doesn't speak for the John McCain Presidency campaign"