McCain says he doesn't know how many houses he owns RAW STORY

Published: Thursday August 21, 2008





Print This Email This Sen. John McCain (R-RZ) told Politico 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 reporters Jon Martin and Mike Allen. "It's condominiums where  I'll have them get to you."



The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, his staff told the site. Newsweek estimates that he has a total of seven properties. Excerpts:







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.



FULL STORY HERE.



A new campaign video, "McCain's Mansions: The Real Elitist," also attempts to make a case that McCain, who owns myriad homes and flies around Arizona in his wife's private jet, is an 'elitist.'



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The video, produced by Brave New Films in cooperation with the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, intercuts images of McCain's pricey residences and clips from his statements about the mortgage crisis with the account of a woman who lost her home because, even with her and her husband working four jobs, they were unable to meet their mortgage payments.







"It was tough to have to pack up and leave the house that we love," says systems engineer Eileen Gillis. "In the end, our mortage was 15.75% and we could no longer afford to make payments."







John McCain has boasted in his stump speech of how "homeowners are doing what's necessary, working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets to make their payments on time."







"If it was really just a matter of skipping vacations!" comments Gillis. "For us, it was a choice between whether we were going to put food on the table or pay the electric bill."







"Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who are irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't," McCain has insisted.







"I don't feel like I did anything irresponsible," Gillis says. "I did everything that I could to be able to make the payments, and I just couldn't do it."







McCain has also stated, "I've always been committed to the principle that it's not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly."







"I don't think unless you get in this situation that you can truly appreciate how hard it is for people," Gillis concludes.







An item in last week's National Review attempted to downplay the elitism issue, insisting that elitism "is not necessarily connected with wealth. The very wealthy Bush no doubt was brought up in greater splendor than was Kerry; but fairly or unfairly, he was more at home at NASCAR and Texas than wind-surfing. ... McCain looks like an old torn-cat pilot that doesn't much care what he eats, and Obama tip-toes down a plane's steps as if he is in a Ralph Lauren ad."







The National Review further attempted to suggest that the real issue is not elitism but hypocrisy, arguing that wealthy liberals are perceived as hypocrites, while "family values" Republicans can be charged with hypocrisy only if they get caught in sex scandals or abusing drugs and alcohol.







In a similar vein, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, asked to comment on the video, responded, "Considering Barack Obama lives in multi-million dollar house bought with the help of his buddy, Tony Rezko, who is now a convicted felon, it's odd that Obama's supporters would choose to make the candidates' homes an issue."





