House flap manna from heaven for Obama, Dems
Have you had the feeling that the Obama campaign has seemed troubled of late? They’re on the ropes, slipping in the polls? Maybe they could use a little spark to help shake up the race?
Based on the last few hours, I think they got one.
We talked earlier about a reporter from the Politico asking John McCain yesterday how many homes he owns. “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain said. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”
In an impressive display of rapid-response, the Obama campaign already has a new ad out, capitalizing:
Around the same time the campaign was unveiling the ad, Obama was hosting a town-hall event in Virginia, and kept the pressure on.
“I guess if you think that being rich means you’ve got to make $5 million and if you don’t know how many houses you have
, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy was ‘fundamentally strong,'” Obama said. “But if you’re like me, and you’ve 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, you might have a different perspective… 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.”
This is a pretty devastating message. That McCain has so many homes he’s lost track of the number is embarrassing, but what’s damaging about this story is the way in which it ties into McCain’s misguided economic worldview.
McCain has opposed increases to the minimum wage, he opposes universal healthcare, and he blamed the housing crisis on homeowners. At the same time, McCain thinks the economy is strong, that Bush has been a good steward of the economy, and what the nation really needs is more tax cuts for millionaires.
I’m not watching the networks, so I have no idea if this story is getting major play right now, but it has the potential to humiliate McCain in a very serious, lasting way.
It’s not about wealth and elitism; it’s about being out of touch. This narrative looked pretty compelling when McCain described our economic problems as “psychological,” but this house flap takes the issue to a whole new level.
I’m sure the surrogates will be all over this — they already are — but it sure would be entertaining to have Democrats everywhere doing events nationwide , asking members of the audience if they know how many homes they own.
Barack Obama’s campaign, moving rapidly to exploit what they see as a major opportunity, is deploying high-profile surrogates in 16 states across the country today to highlight John McCain’s uncertainty yesterday about how many houses he owns, the Democrat’s campaign tells Politico.
Governors
, members of Congress and state legislators will hold conference calls and press conferences in front of homes to draw attention to the issue. Party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
, on the stump in Ohio and Iowa respectively, will move to incorporate the matter into their remarks on the campaign trail today in an effort to draw local media attention to the story.
Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don’t know how many houses they own.
And in other states, ordinary citizens who have been victim of the mortgage crunch will hold press availabilities to contrast their plight with McCain’s wealth.
The McCain campaign is trying to hit back, saying something about arugula. Please. Note to McCain gang: your guy just admitted he doesn’t even know how many homes he has. The proper response is to change the subject
, not try to engage on the same topic.
I’ve been thinking all week that Obama needed a break to help shift the race a bit. And here it is.
Sweet, merciful crap! That is a damn good ad! And, to be honest, it doesn’t even feel all that negative to me. Maybe it’s because there’s no creepy music. And it’s pitching some nice, easy facts.
And the punchline is so suh-weet. Break me off another piece of this stuff.
If the Obama campaign doesn’t play this up big hard, fast, and CONSISTENTLY for at least a week (into the convention)…
then they don’t deserve to win.
How many bloody noses can Obama take without hitting back EFFECTIVELY?
OMG, I can’t believe they mentioned arugula. Life imitates snark.
And that is an excellent negative ad. Thanks to Karl Rove and the crap Camp McCrank is putting out, whining that it’s negative and mean will make them look pretty damn feeble.
And the proper response after this ad is to ask your staff to glue your ass back on.
I’d love to see Obama talk about Phil Gramm who is responsible for a lot of this mess. Even though he stepped down from his position as campaign co-chair, he’s still involved and might be a Pres. McCain (gagging as typing) Sec of Treasury. What kind of judgment does McCain have when he trusts Gramm?
Now produce one that hits McCain over and over on his lack of judgement.
This misstep of McCain’s is a powerful one for us: It’s simple, it’s clean, it’s devastatingly symbolic of how much the GOP doesn’t get it. It even lends itself to a wide variety of jokes. Just the sort of thing that has real staying power.
Hannah, great point! In fact, I’d go one better and tie McMav-rickety’s trust of Charles Keating to his trust of Phil Gramm. One lead to the S&L crisis, the other to the current mortgage crisis.
Old King John McCain and his Royal House Counter…
I bet the media will spin the story as, they’re CINDY’s houses.That’s why he doesn’t know.
“The McCain campaign is trying to hit back, saying something about arugula”
Memo to the McCain campaign:arugula was on sale at the grocery store this week,buy one get one free. Its not exactly elite anymore.
Definitely need to keep hammering this one hard, for as long as possible. Who the hell doesn’t know how many houses they have? Only a few people. And with few exceptions, those people are all Republicans.
We’re talking about “Bush’s Base”. And the rest of us need a break from the way those people have been running things.
Here’s the next question to ask everyone (including McCain): How many millions of dollars are you worth? If you don’t know the answer to that, you’re probably a Republican.
The rest of us need a break.
Slightly OT
But man, that footage from the campaign stop in Virginia is great! With the sun shining, the flag behind him, and the sleeves rolled up…know how he looked?
Presidential.
oh how wonderful it would be to see that footage on the news tonight…
There are two ways that McCain could have become rich.
He could either marry it or he could trade his political influence for sweetheart deals.
I am not sure if Obama is “RICH’ but I know he ain’t poor.
However, I would be interested in seeing how Obama’s wealth compares with the wealth of other editors of Harvard Law Review.
I also wonder how McCain’s wealth compares with other graduates of the Naval Academy or other POW’s.
My guess is that Obama is slightly below average and that McCain is one of the richest. Of course, I am just a Republican troll so I could be completely wrong.
ARUGULA???!!!!!!
TPM has a link to an Architectural Digest piece on visiting the McCains in one of their seven houses a couple of years ago.
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/features/archive/mccain_slideshow_072005?slide=1How many “ordinary folk” can say that.
Can you spell e-l-i-t-i-s-t boys and girls?
Terrific stuff.
CNN just ran the Virginia speech, mentioned Grandpa Simpson’s confusion over how many homes he owns too. This has legs.
Thank goodness someone woke Obama up. He needs to do this every day for the rest of the election cycle.
Beautiful, just beautiful. I can’t wait for the explanation about this one from Fox News.
As for getting play on this, literally just before I clicked on this, my wife — who was watching CNN — asked if I’d heard about it, or seen Obama’s response.
This is the kind of coordinated approach to attacks that Dems have long been lacking. They’ve never been able to the message game as well as Republicans who can have 50 talking heads reading from the same hymn book within 24 hours.
It looks like the Obama campaign is finally learning to do the trick. Making certain that EVERY Democrat is saying the same thing to reporters and making certain they are all on message.
#9:
“I bet the media will spin the story as, they’re CINDY’s houses.That’s why he doesn’t know.”
Why is that spinning? It’s almost certainly the reason he’s not sure.
I don’t know if this will work. Out of touch is a good theme, but beyond that? It’s the American dream to be rich, whether by hard work, marriage, inheritance or the lottery.
I don’t think anyone is going to begrudge a war hero, a man who endured five years of grueling torture in heroic service to his country a few million bucks. I just don’t think so. I read some comments on another site about the forty million bucks Michael Phelps is going to get in endorsements for swimming a few lengths of a pool. They cheered loud and long for him. America loves a winner, and money is winning. And McCain is a war hero, a POW. He deserves it. That’s my take.
Now as for not appreciating, understand how ordinary Americans live and work hard and are just scraping by, if that – well, that’s another matter. I watch the wealthy pundits on these political cable shows, and it’s absolutely clear to me that they are clueless, and I have no doubt that McCain is, too. Gas money isn’t even chump change to these people. It’s like a penny in the street you can’t be bothered to stoop over and pick up.
But how do you make that point? I think it’s a delicate line here. Class envy is the obvious retort from the Republicans.
Beautiful, just beautiful. I can’t wait for the explanation about this one from Fox News.
“John McCain is simply doing his part to prop up the housing market, just as any good patriotic wealthy American would. This just goes to show the wisdom of President Bush’s policy of giving tax breaks to the richest Americans.”
Wow … a Democrat is actually taking the lead in trying to control the narrative.
I honestly don’t think I’ve seen that in my lifetime. Honestly. Never.
Granted, whether or not McCain’s Base will actually cover this like they do flag pins remains to be seen.
But … damn! It sure is nice to see a Dem on the offensive, acting quickly and decisively to get out the message.
More of this, please. Lots more.
Actually, according to McCain’s definition, at least the one he gave at Saddleback, Obama, the evil elitist, isn’t even rich. Even by Obama’s standards Obama barely is. McCain on the other hand blows his own standards away by more than a million dollars. Just putting that out there.
Neil – (Re #13)
C’mon, man, just ’cause some folks get cranky here, don’t take it personally. I’ll bet most people here enjoy a different point of view, as long as it’s intelligent. I’ve enjoyed your comments, and I liked #13. Although I’ll bet Obama’s better off than you say.
See you at Poltical Animal?
The idea of the Obama campaign accusing John McCain, a former POW, of being an out of touch elitist who doesn’t know what rich is and can’t count his own house collection, a former POW, and a half crazed hothead ready to fire off the nukes like firewords, means they just don’t understand that he’s a former POW and because he’s a former POW this is outrageous!!!
oops, fireworks. sorry.
BuzzMon:
me get cranky?
If I were upset at the comments then I wouldn’t post.
My serious concern is that some of the absurd comments that people make on these blogs will help push the undecideds away from our side.
If you aren’t sure about this race but then you see crazy people make crazy posts then you will probably feel more comfortable voting against the crazy people.
obviously, people like me are going to vote for Obama anyway so it doesn’t really matter.
In my case, it won’t matter at all because I am moving to Texas and there is no way that Texas will be close.
Neil: You make a point i have been trying to for a while — and wait till you see how bad it gets over at Political Animal — which is why i wonder how much commenting I’ll be doing over there. Hopefully enough of us can try to ‘change the culture’ there that we will make it more like TCBR.
McLame really is out of touch. Arugula is in the bagged salad mix at my local Kroger. Oh yeah I forgot, he’s so wealthy he doesn’t do his own grocery shopping so he would know that He has the “help” do it for him.
And don’t be surprised if Texas is closer than you think.
Kudos to Obama and his campaign staff for putting in proper perspective the absurdity that McCain has any credence in “knowing” what “ordinary, average Americans” are going through to make ends meet or to keep themselves from losing their homes through foreclosure!
Just remember, fellow Americans, McCain is only concerned that his “average–rich” supporters must get their “hard-earned” tax breaks–and keep their multitude of homes that they can’t keep track of–while other Americans are burdened with not only exorbitant taxes that, during this current Bush administration’s reign means only funding wars that this administration and McCain are much enamored with, but are also struggling with ordinary problems such as paying their food, education, and housing bills, medical expenses, and, well, keeping their homes and means of livelihood–their jobs!!
Why are we so selfish that we aren’t willing to understand the “plight” of the very rich to keep their wealth as well as keeping them immune from fighting in the wars the warmongering Republican government officials create? Shame on us!!?!!
This is fucking gold! Obama the Populist emerges. Watch that clip of him in Virginia. He’s channelling Hillary. “I only own one home.” More of this, PLEASE!
Ok! Everyone who knows how many houses your spouse owns, raise your hand! And NO GOOGLING!
Strange….that looks like everybody.
Well, everybody except YOU, John McCain.
More than the economic message is that it caught McCain hemming and hawing about something he knows can be used against him. There’s that little bit of doubt when it’s brought up, as if it’s touched a nerve that likens him to John Kerry and Al Gore. And it kills his brand as a “straight-talker.” It says: this guy has something to hide.
I’m not watching the networks either, but I’d bet dollars to donuts they’ll give this sorry episode the same lack of major play they give every other edpisode that had the potential to humiliate McCain in a very serious, lasting way.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if CBS edited the tape to substitute a better answer.
Man, I looked at the Architectural Digest piece. Personally I’d ask the decorator for my money back. With all that money, you’d think they wouldn’t hang a picture that John painted when he was eight-snark, snark, snark.
It’s actually pathetic really. This is Obama’s retort to the celebrity ads? Sounds like, “Uh yeah, I’m a filthy rich liberal, but look at him, he’s even richer than me.” Sour grapes Obama, Sour grapes.
This is Obama’s retort to the celebrity ads?
No, it’s Senator John McCain not knowing how many homes he has. Pretty straightfoward stuff, even for a Republican candidate for President of the United States.
Chad, keep hyping how rich John McCain is, please, because “let them eat cake” has proven such a successful campaign slogan in the past.
Where is the Obama retort, anyway? This is not an Obama retort. This is John McCain in all his weasel worded glory, so rich he can’t figure out a relative figure to indicate middle class, can’t give even a general estimate of how many homes he owns, and even says as an excuse that it doesn’t matter what he thinks rich is.
I happen to think that there are many Americans who believe it is very important for the president to be familiar with what being rich means.
Wait a minute, there is something I don’t understand about John McCain, and that is if he has seven houses, flies in his wife’s private jet, is getting a Senate pay, WHY IS HE GETTING A DISABILITY PAY? If he were a honorable man as he claims, he would give the disability pay back and only use the medial part. Something is very wrong with this picture.
The second thing I ask is: If he is such a honorable man, why does he claim credit for vetrans bills, that he did not vote for or was agaist?
The third thing is why is he claiming to be religous when he did not even evote the name of Christ in his answers in the so called forum Saterday? and even lied about a story that was his to claim?
Finally, why did he own up to the truth that he wasn’t in the dome of silence when he was not and get angry at NBC because they raise the question?
American people “THINK ABOUT IT”
I comment at Political Animal and I comment here. The two communities have different styles–I definitely drop more F bombs over there, but the trolls are no more annoying than some of their counterparts here. However, the idea that regular commenters here should go over there and “show them how it’s done” is fairly comical, both in its arrogance and in its lack of understanding that when Kevin goes to MoJo, PA will be different even before the influx of CBR commenters.
Commenting communities find their own tone and flavor. I’ve no doubt that Steve’s move to PA will result in comment threads that are clones of neither Kevin Drum’s PA nor TCR. That’s as it should be.
Maria–
As someone who also comments as both places, let me just say, “Bravo!”
There may be a few more trolls over at PA, but most of the commenters there are just as intelligent and thoughtful and interesting as those here. And, as you noted, there’s really nor reason to get into a “our comments are better than yours!” pissing match — last I checked, most of us are on the same “side.”
“…McCain has opposed increases to the minimum wage, he opposes universal healthcare, and he blamed the housing crisis on homeowners. At the same time, McCain thinks the economy is strong, that Bush has been a good steward of the economy, and what the nation really needs is more tax cuts for millionaires….”
That is what I wanted Obama to say to tie it together. Demonstrate what McCain has done to help cause this economic crisis. The above paragraph was perfectly worded to express that.
The “out of touch” McCain can only view the economy through the eyes of millionaires and their lobbyists and has stood for their interests alone and not the interests of the American people.
Obama needs more public exposure, more ads, more surrogates speaking on his behalf.
More Obama all the time since he will be the next president and has such a pleasing demeanor. His message is truthful, deliberative and based in reality…something long excluded from a presidential campaign and sorely missed.
The difference between this ad and McCain? Based on facts?
Is Obama the biggest celebrity? Opinion.
Is he ‘the One’? Pure stupidity.
Did McCain forget how many homes he has? Yes. FACT.
How many does he own? Seven. FACT
Is McCain forgetful and out of touch with real Americans? Opinion.
But Obama should HAMMER this meme up the wazoo because this is very believeable now. McCain the Maverick? McCain the Rich OLD coot.
Seriously — the Republicans must be cringing every day wondering what ridiculous thing he says next. Personally, I can’t wait.
The ad is pitch-perfect, especially the conclusion. The White House IS one house too many for McCain; he should be happy with the 7 he already has.
BTW… The reason he doesn’t know how many houses he owns? Can’t count them on the fingers of on hand and the other is busy pulling the money out of the Big Oil’s pocket.
I also thought his campaign response was amusing but not just because of arugula. More because of how he mentioned Obam’s own last year income, of 4 mil. Even though it’s a one-time deal (royalties), it is *still* one million short of McCain’s own definition of “rich”…
Nope, some McSurrogate already accused Obama of being a elitist rich arugula eating poopy-head.
Why should we care about what the Republicans will say? We’re talking about the guys who gave us SwiftBoats and attacked Obama for visiting the soldiers in Iraq.
Put another way, is there anything Obama could do besides give up and go away that wouldn’t spark screams and lies from the Republicans?
Let me answer that for you: No.
yes, Chad, Obama would sound jealous of McCain…if you’re stupid.
Meanwhile does everyone know WHY Obama ever brought up arugula in public?
He was talking to an arugula farmer. An AMERICAN farmer.
So if you’re wealthy enough to hire illegal immigrants to be your house staff, you’re living the American Dream. But if you discuss American crops with an American farmer, you’re elitist.
So I’m with McCain on this one! I’m not even sure how many homes I own and I’ve been thinking about it for two hours. I’ve got four on my own, im co-owner on two others with my father, then I have another where I own the home and my father owns the land. So how many would you say that was? seven? five and a half? Five? I’m not even sure! And I’m sure McCains assets are alot more complex than mine!
Congrats to John McCain for living the AMERICAN DREAM! I can only hope to one day be as successful as he is, because alot of Great men and women have died to give me that right!
I’m not even sure! And I’m sure McCains assets are alot more complex than mine!
At least you have an idea of what you’re about, rather than delegating to staff to “get back to you on that.” On that, you are ahead of Senator McCain. Perhaps you should run for President on the Republican ticket, it would be a visible improvement.
McCain is going to go down as one of the greatest Presidents of all time. His proven track record of eradicating corruption is a sure sign he means what he says, unlike the black racist/supremacist socialist/marxist fraud obama. America is awakening, and when they look at this black fraud they do not like what they see. Funny to see the panic taking over in his campaign. CNN just reported that two thirds of the 18 million who voted for clinton will never vote for an obama ticket, no matter the VP nominee selected. The democrat party with its underhanded corrupt politics will pay the price for selecting this obamanation!
Used2bdemocrat
Hey, I didn’t know that Joe Lieberman read this blog! (Re #50)
http://bp1.blogger.com/_p8KOFXprbnE/Rv6kSRX069I/AAAAAAAABE4/3_N9USHqQzY/s1600-h/yoostabe.jpg
So, the American Dream is cheating on your first wife, who remained loyal to you while you were a POW, and then dumping her for a beer heiress worth millions?
To Daniel who said:
Too bad McCain didn’t die in Vietnam; ONLY then would he have been a true war hero. Now? Not so much.
the moron used2bdemocrat said:
You’ve got that right…. McCain hired every single one of the ones he figured were corrupt. Ralph Reed anybody? If it wasn’t for Jack Abramoff still being in prison, he’d probably be on the payroll as well, along with all the other lobbyists.
You NEVER were a democrat, or progressive.
I’m one of those ex-democrats that are going to help vote your racist/marxist boy back to where he began snorting his coke and smoozing with terrorist and convicted felons.
Daniel makes the point that a coherent person who owns more than one house doesn’t have much problem describing about how many he owns. Why can’t McCain do that, Daniel? You want somebody as president who is so fumble brained he can’t just say, “well, I own five or six houses”? I believe that would have been an acceptable answer for a former POW.
to 55. You may have been a democrat, but you weren’t much of a democrat. And “racist/marxist boy” must have taken some heavy thinking.
One doesn’t have to be a thinker to vote against a racist marxist, as its a no brainer. What’s your excuse?
Used2bdemocrat
Capt. Kirk,
If McCain would have said “well, I own five or six houses” it would have still been the same result, Obama would have jumped all over it. I just asked my father how many homes he has and it took him several mintues to total them up, point being its not something he goes around bragging “I own five homes”, and I’m not even sure hes ever actually counted them, the actual “number” doesn’t matter to him.
But the question I’ve got for you all is this. What is Obama trying to prove here? That McCain is filthy rich? Or that hes out of touch with his finances? I’m not getting how this helps Obama, could somebody help out here?
Obama is just allowing McCain to show himself to the American people. If you can’t see why most Americans would not identify with a man who owns this many homes, I don’t know how I could explain it to you. Most Americans are not only not wealthy, they are far far from wealthy, and many actually believe that the reason they are poor is that wealthy people are obsessed with money and spend lots of time trying to make money and would have to be somewhat astute to become as wealthy as they are.
On the heels of joking at Saddleback that the upper ends of the middle class extend to $5 million dollars, McCain then demonstrates that apparently it’s not his keen mind that has made him rich. To me, it demonstrates what has been my experience: wealth in America is largely luck of the draw, wealth of McCain’s magnitude is the realm of generational aristocracy – the sort of thing that revolutions have been fought against. McCain is not an everyman, not a common man, but he wears his wealth in a bit of an uncomfortable way. I’m not sure what this looks like too most Americans, but I can’t help seeing McCain as some goof who married a sugar mama. If that’s not the way you want your candidate to appear, it’s not Obama proving anything, it’s just McCain being McCain.
Used2bdemocrat, you admit you are not a thinker and that explains everything.
Gathering from the house comment, its apparent that Cindy McCain controls the purse strings in the relationship, and probably calls the shots. Cindy got her pilot’s license without telling her husband, adopted a child without telling her husband, and apparenty, buys houses the same way. She or “his staff” must tell him where to go when he’s supposed to go home. Perhaps that’s why he’s such a “maverick” in his career, he doesn’t have any authority at home. Can any American relate to this type of lifestyle? This is presidential material?
Capt. Kirk,
“wealth in America is largely luck of the draw” What ever happened to hard work? Sounds to me that Obama wants to play the wealth envy card. I’m not sure about you but I know personally that I’ve never made a living working for a poor man, and I doubt anyone here has! But yes I fully understand McCain married a sugar mama, hell I would do the same thing, and I think every American man would too, so it just makes me identify with him more!
But what I don’t understand, and this is a big difference between the republicans and democrats, when I see someone as rich as McCain is, that doesn’t anger me. It actually does the opposite, it inspires me to do better in my life and work harder so I can acheive that kindof success. Correct me if I’m wrong but it seems to me that the democrats try to paint the wealthy as evil and if your rich you must have cheated someone, and I just don’t understand that philosophy.
As a matter of fact McCain has inspired me so much I’m going to go find some high-end swanky martini bar tonight and try my luck with the rich chicks, and I’m not kidding!