Here's a great example of the kind of eye-rolling stupidity we are forced to endure during Presidential campaigns.
The press, still smarting from The Chosen One's crummy performance at last week's Saddleback Forum tried to trip up John McCain (and insinuate that he is an "elitist," whatever that means) by asking him how many houses he and his wife own. McCain didn't know, and said that he'd have to check out the answer.
For the informationally challenged, here is a little background. Cindy McCain (née Hensley) is the daughter of James Hensley, who owned and operated one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributorships in the United States. When John McCain married Cindy in 1980, they signed a prenuptial agreement, whereby she retained control of her family's assets. When her father died in 2000, Cindy became chair of Hensley & Co, which is currently valued at around $300 million; before that time, she was not involved directly with the family business. Because of their prenup, John McCain doesn't manage her money or her investments. And it's pretty obvious to me that these homes are investments, not residences.
Naturally, John McCain doesn't know all the details of his wife's business.
Now if you want to make a big deal out of this, here are fair questions to ask, if you want to compare McCain and Obama on this issue:
1. How many of McCain's homes were purchased at 15% below list price, in conjunction with an adjacent land purchase made by a future convicted felon? The press wants you to forget this little inconvenient fact about Barack Obama's residence on the south side of Chicago.
2. Since these homes are investments and not residences, maybe we should ask Obama about his investments. Could he lay out his and Michelle's entire portfolios from memory for us? Could he tell us, without review, what all of the sources of income on his and Michelle's 2007 income tax returns were? I doubt it; I also doubt that anyone in the press would ever ask this of him.
Now, how many of you "average" people out there had a shady real estate developer join you in the purchase of your homestead and its surrounding property? How many of you have so many sources of income that you probably couldn't name them all off the top of your head? Is Barack Obama really "one of you?" Is anyone, once they reach the level of Presidential contender? By the way, the closer you inspect the Obama money trail, the dirtier it looks.
Further, how many homes do John Kerry and Tereza Heinz (Kerry?) own? And isn't it interesting that no one asked John Kerry how many homes he owned during the 2004 campaign?
For that matter, how many homes does the Kennedy family own? Or the Rockefellers?
And for those of you who keep missing the irony, here it is. You see, Republicans are supposed to be rich, evil snob bastards. But Democrats, well they are the friends of the downtrodden, the advocates of the poor, the protectors of starving children, etc. They eat, sleep, and drink the plight of those mired in poverty. Yet four years ago, the Democrats nominated a haughty, arrogant playboy married to a gazillion-heiress, who then chose a sleazy millionaire trial lawyer as his running mate.
Solidarity with the poor? I don't think so.
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