McCain Unsure How Many Houses He Owns

August 21, 2008
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Sen. John McCain 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.

Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain’s wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.

Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain’s houses.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico’s Ben Smith that it was McCain “who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state."

And David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists “on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona — or maybe in one of his six other houses.”

The Obama campaign seized on the house issue Thursday with an ad called "Seven," claiming that's the number of houses McCain has. The ad closes with a shot of the White House and the narration: "Here's ONE house American can't afford to let John McCain move into."

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in 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?

“The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.”

At a campaign appearance in Chester, Va., on Thursday morning, Obama said: "Somebody asked John McCain, 'How many houses do you have?’ And he said, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check with my staff. True quote: I’m not sure, I’ll have to check with my staff. So they asked his staff and he said, at least four. At least four! ...

"If you’re like me and you’ve got one house – or you were like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so that they don’t lose their home — you might have a different perspective. By the way, the answer is: John McCain has seven homes. So there’s just a fundamental gap of understanding between John McCain's world and what people are going through every single day here in America."

McCain’s comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million — a careless comment he quickly corrected.

In the interview, McCain did not offer an alternate number, but had a new answer ready.

“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

McCain, by anyone's measure, is well-off, if you account for his wife's fortune. Cindy McCain inherited control of her father’s beer distributorship, the largest in Arizona, and has an estimated worth of more than $100 million.

this makes me want to puke.

it must be rough.

how can we plebs ever understand the struggle of McCain? Poor poor unforunate McCain.

Copycat said:

He probably owns 1 home. The rest are owned by his wife.

Remember - their finances are completely separate.

like he just can't keep track! i'm sure it has to do technically with his wife's name (and $), etc.

how many of his houses were bought for him, as a gift, wirth Rezko's crooked money?

How many houses does nancy Pelosi own? Kerry? Harry Reid?
And lastly, how many houses has Bill Ayers blown up or plotted to blow up?

At least the McCains bought their homes on the up-and-up. Obama got his with some help from a guy who was just convicted of six counts of wire fraud, six counts of mail fraud, two counts of corrupt solicitation, and two counts of money laundering.

And he wants people to vote him in to run a country







O M G

It's also interesting that folks who have a problem with McCain's wealth (or, more accurately, the wealth of his wife) had no problem whatsoever with another presidential candidate who owned five homes worth (at the time) $33 million dollars.

The candidate? John Kerry. Who Barack Obama supported in 2004.

Genesia said:

Genesia said:

HiinEnkelte said:

like he just can't keep track! i'm sure it has to do technically with his wife's name (and $), etc.

evenstar3 said:

Genesia said:

It's also interesting that folks who have a problem with McCain's wealth (or, more accurately, the wealth of his wife) had no problem whatsoever with another presidential candidate who owned five homes worth (at the time) $33 million dollars.

The candidate? John Kerry. Who Barack Obama supported in 2004.

so you missed that this is only being pointed out because such a fit was made at the time over the houses john kerry owned, and his wife's inherited money, right? if the right doesn't like it being done to them, they shouldn't have made it an issue in 2004.

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.

Cindy's got some jugs.

Something tells me thats not all that hes "unsure" of. The guy is getting up there in age.

McCains Bought Second Beach Condo At Around Time McCain Said Struggling Homeowners Needed To Skip Vacations
By Greg Sargent - August 21, 2008, 2:37PM
Here's a fun little find that is likely to give Dems more ammo to blast away at John McCain's number-of-houses gaffe.

It turns out that a few months ago, a McCain family corporation closed on a second multi-million-dollar beach condo in the same building in exclusive Coronado, California -- at around the same time that John McCain offered his somewhat tone-deaf observation that struggling homeowners were "working at second jobs" and "skipping a vacation" in order to make mortgage payments on time.

Cindy McCain discussed the timing of the second condo purchase in a June interview with Vogue magazine (not online) that's newly relevant in light of the explosive controversy over John McCain's inability to recall how many homes the McCains own.

And in another fun fact that could pour fuel on this controversy, Cindy told her interviewer that the reason they needed a second beach condo in the Coronado building was that the first was too crowded because her kids were staying there and as a result she "couldn't get in the place."

Cindy continued: "So I bought another one."

Here's the relevant passage, from the start of the Vogue piece:

It is a late Sunday afternoon in April, and I am sitting in a condominium in Coronado, California, taking in the view of the gorgeous San Diego Bay with Cindy McCain. She closed on the place just two weeks earlier, and the only things unpacked so far are the family photos that dot almost every surface. It's her family's second condo in the building. "I like the ocean, and the kids love it here, and I love that," she tells me, curled up on a nondescript couch that looks like it might have come with the apartment. "When I bought the first one, my husband, who is not a beach person, said, 'Oh, this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go.' Then it got to the point where they used it so much I couldn't get in the place. So I bought another one."

According to a July story in The Politico, a McCain family corporation spent a combined $4.7 million on the two condos in Coronado.

If the interview was conducted sometime in April, and she'd closed on the condo two weeks earlier, that means that the latest the closing could have happened is mid-April, and the earliest is mid-March.

On March 25, John McCain said:

"And 51 million homeowners are doing what's necessary: working at second jobs, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets to make their payments on time.
So at around the time McCain said this, the McCain family corporation was either actively in the market for, or had closed on, a second multi-million-dollar beach condo in the same building which was necessary because the first one was too crowded with their children in it."



http://tpmelectioncentral...ach_ho.php

Is this a failing memory story or an elitist story?

Maybe his accountant should sketch the number of houses in the dirt with his foot and then erase it.

2the9s said:

Is this a failing memory story or an elitist story?

Maybe his accountant should sketch the number of houses in the dirt with his foot and then erase it.

On another note, Cindy McCain has one helluva cast for an injury purportedly caused by someone shaking her hand too hard.

Have any of you actually listened to the clip in question? McCain doesn't say he doesn't know how many houses he and his wife own - that is Obama campaign spin.

What he says is that he'll have someone from his staff get back to the reporter. There have been differing reports on the number of properties they own - with some reporters reading the Senate disclosure forms incorrectly. He was trying to avoid a debate about it - and a potential "gotcha" situation.

But as an aside, is there anybody who didn't know the McCains (Cindy, in particular) have a lot of money? Aren't they entitled to do with it as they wish? Exactly when did having money become a crime?

This is nothing but class envy.

I hope his helpers have all their papers.

Genesia said:

Genesia said:

RodeoSchro said:

IrresistibleB1tch said:

Genesia said:

HiinEnkelte said:

how many of his houses were bought for him, as a gift, wirth Rezko's crooked money?


And lastly, how many houses has Bill Ayers blown up or plotted to blow up?

Accujack said:

HiinEnkelte said:

how many of his houses were bought for him, as a gift, wirth Rezko's crooked money?


And lastly, how many houses has Bill Ayers blown up or plotted to blow up?

Game. Set. Match.

Genesia said: