$100 Million Man McCain: Rich Not Defined by Income
By Jon Perr Wednesday Aug 20, 2008 1:30pm
Eight years ago, then Governor George W. Bush revealingly joked about his backers at the 2000 Al Smith Dinner. "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores," Bush said, adding, "Some people call you the elites; I call you my base." With his own quip Saturday night that "$5 million" is his definition of rich," John McCain made no mistake that he is Bush's natural heir.
Now, there is nothing wrong with being happily rich and utterly detached. Nothing, that is, unless you make criticizing your political opponent as "elitist" and "out of touch" a centerpiece of your campaign. Which is why McCain beat a hasty retreat in an interview today with the Politico. (In that same interview, McCain with no sense of irony called lobbyists "birds of prey.") Without naming a number, McCain said:
"I define rich in other ways besides income. 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."
Of course, by any accounting, the $100 million McCains are fabulously well-off (see the gold-plated details below the fold). But John McCain's staggering detachment from the real lives of the American people can truly be measured in dollars – and sense.
For starters, McCain in April declared that there had been "great progress economically" during the Bush years. On more than one occasion, he diagnosed Americans' concerns over the dismal U.S. economy as "psychological." (Phil Gramm, McCain's close friend and adviser supposedly excommunicated over his "whiners" remarks, was back with the campaign last week.) McCain, a man who owns eight homes nationwide, in March lectured Americans facing foreclosure that they ought to be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time." And when all else fails, McCain told the people of the economically devastated regions in Martin County, Kentucky and Youngstown, Ohio, there's always eBay.
In his defense, McCain's shocking tone-deafness may just be a matter of perspective. When you're as well off as he is, anything below a $5 million income (a figure exceeding that earned on average by the top 0.1% of Americans) seems middle class by comparison.
The $100 Million Man. Courtesy of his wife Cindy's beer distribution fortune (one her late father apparently chose not to share with her half-sister Kathleen), the McCains are worth well over $100 million. (In the two-page tax summary she eventually released to the public, Cindy McCain reported another $6 million in 2006.) As Salon reported back in 2000, the second Mrs. McCain's millions were essential in launching her husband's political career. Unsurprisingly, the Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti, who four years ago called Theresa Heinz-Kerry a "sugar mommy," has been silent on the topic of Cindy McCain.
The Joys of (Eight) Home Ownership. While fellow adulterer John Edwards was pilloried for his mansion, John McCain's eight homes around the country have received little notice or criticism. His properties include a 10 acre lake-side Sedona estate, euphemistically called a "cabin" by the McCain campaign, and a home featured in Architectural Digest. The one featuring "remote control window coverings" was recently put up for sale. Still, their formidable resources did not prevent the McCains from failing to pay taxes on a tony La Jolla, California condo used by Cindy's aged aunt.
The Anheuser-Busch Windfall. As it turns out, the beauty of globalization is in the eye of the beholder. While John McCain apparently played a critical role in facilitating DHL's takeover of Airborne (and with it, the looming loss of 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio), Cindy McCain is set to earn a staggering multi-million dollar pay-day from the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgian beverage giant, In Bev. As the Wall Street Journal reported in July, Mrs. McCain runs the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributorship in the nation, and owns between $2.5 and $5 million in the company's stock. Amazingly, while Missouri's politicians of both parties lined up to try to block the sale, John McCain held a fundraiser in the Show Me State even as the In Bev deal was being finalized.
McCain's $370,000 Personal Tax Break. Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress analyzed John McCain's tax proposals. The conclusion? McCain's plan is radically more regressive than even that of President Bush, delivering 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of American taxpayers. McCain's born-again support for the Bush tax cuts has one additional bonus for Mr. Straight Talk: the McCains would save an estimated $373,000 a year.
Paying Off $225,000 Credit Card Debt? Priceless. That massive windfall from his own tax plan will come in handy for John McCain. As was reported in June, the McCains were carrying over $225,000 in credit card debt. The American Express card - don't leave your homes without it.
Charity Begins at Home. As Harpers documented earlier this year, the McCains are true believers in the old saying that charity begins at home:
Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to [their] foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period, the McCain foundation made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More than $500,000 went to his kids' private schools, most of which was donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children.
Ironically, the McCain campaign last week blasted Barack Obama for having attended a private school in Hawaii on scholarship. That attack came just weeks after John McCain held an event at his old prep school, Episcopal High, an institution where fees now top $38,000 a year.
Private Jet Setters. As the New York Times detailed back in April, John McCain enjoyed the use of his wife's private jet for his campaign, courtesy of election law loopholes he helped craft. Despite the controversy, McCain continued to use Cindy's corporate jet. For her part, Cindy McCain says that even with skyrocketing fuel costs, "in Arizona the only way to get around the state is by small private plane."
Help on the Homefront. In these tough economic times, the McCains are able to stretch their household budget. As the AP reported in April, "McCain reported paying $136,572 in wages to household employees in 2007. Aides say the McCains pay for a caretaker for a cabin in Sedona, Ariz., child care for their teenage daughter, and a personal assistant for Cindy McCain."
Well-Heeled in $520 Shoes. If clothes make the man, then John McCain has it made. As Huffington Post noted in July, "He has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop - from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA." It is altogether fitting that McCain wore the golden loafers during a golf outing with President George H.W. Bush in which he rode around in cart displaying the sign, "Property of Bush #41. Hands Off."
And so it goes. John McCain proclaims $5 million finally makes you rich. Meanwhile, ABC's Charlie Gibson thinks a $200,000 income makes you middle class. And his colleague Cokie Roberts claims Barack Obama's vacation to his home state of Hawaii was "exotic."
(For video details of John McCain lifestyle of the rich and famous, visit here and here.)
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Daddy War Bucks
Platitudes from the aristocracy. How many millionaires are so "poor" that they die from not being able to pay for the heat in the winter?
Don't you love how rich people say they are not defined by income? WTF? I'd rather be rich and miserable than be poor and miserable anyday of the week. McCain is so out of touch it's disgusting. If people elect him, we are screwed!
Che's@2, Just wait when the Fall comes around and people cant afford to pay the oil man. I live in the NorthEast. Let's see how many people support rich man McCain when they can't afford to heat their homes.
check this out if you haven't seen it. tax cheats hiding
about 100 billion u.s. dollars in taxation in foreign tax shelters....two banks one of them ubs illegal tax shelter.
they say were whining pay your fair share according to the law maybe we won't have to talk taxes
http://www.americannewsproject.com/videos/101
It's like the old addage, 'whomever said money can't buy you happiness was clearly a very wealthy person.'
with phil graham being close friends of the McCain's i wouldn't be surprised if they've got some money squirreled away in those UBS accounts....
Okay, so when is someone going to bring up the number of servants he has? $136,000 for household employees deserves more than a tiny mention doesn't it?
Are you kidding? So under his tax plan, the IRS will start asking how happy you were this year and tax you based on that? The question was how is rich defined in regard to taxation, not what is your definition of a rich person. What a total fuck-wad. He is trying to skirt the question. A Question that Barack Obama gave a clear concise answer to with the only exception being regional differences in wealth. (Which was appropriate since he was in O.C. at the time)
Excellent commercial.
I think the Dem ads should focus on two main issues:
The Real Out of Touch Rich Elitist
And a whole series on McCain hypocrisries.
The US economy is doing so well, people should work second jobs and skip vacations to make ends meet. Did I get that right?
real doozy @ 8:
That obviously doesn't include outside services like house cleaning, gardening and such.
Wealthy is not being able to remember how many houses you owned...like John McCain, who tells the press he'll have to have his staff get back to them on that question: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080821/pl_politico/12685
If he has more money than god, that's his business. If he has no clue what is going on with the economics of our country right now, that's my business and yours too. If he thinks this country is economically sound he is either clueless or a liar. We know what having a person like that in the white house is all about.
Here's some experience Obama can talk about. He knows what it's like when someone has to work, earn a living and struggle to work their way up the ladder. More people can identify with that than they can a man who was born into comfort and then later married even more comfort.
Of course, you know that Cindy isn't scrubbing the toilets in 10-12 houses. We aren't that dumb although I'm sure they'd like us to be.
BigD145 @ 11:
Yup, and if you get a third job to pay for your kid's school supplies, the economy will just get better.
Fuck McBain, fuck rich people, fuck the GOP, and FUUUUUUCK George MOTHERFUCKIN Bush!
Speaking of UBS, they were the bank that hid the name of 18,000 American account holders from IRS scrutiny. Wouldn't it be a kick to find Cindy's name on that list? Wonder if anybody is demanding the release of the names of those tax cheats?
Okay, maybe McCain does have something in common with a lot of Americans. They don't know how many homes they own either because the bank may be drawing up foreclosure papers on the home they are living in and they may soon own no home.
McCain says he'd have picked Cheney and Rumsfeld: "Our Strongest Team"
"Life is like a shit sandwich: if you've got lot of bread, you don't taste the shit."
--Jonathan Winters
1 Vinny Corpuscle Says: Daddy War Bucks
How about:
"Grandpa War Bucks"
I think there has been a search for a short, pithy label for McSame. This sounds about right.
Ron@12, The media won't focus on the subject of servants. Many in the media are rich themselves. Hannity, O'liely all of them claim they are just like the average Joe, but in fact, THEY are the elitist snobs. Billo and his ilk have made a fortune spouting hate and bigotry and rally for the white guy, but it is an act. These SOBs never pay their fair share of taxes and all have profited because of Bush's policies. They will do anything to see McCain win because they know the Democrats are going to implement a fairer tax policy.
remember this gem from the double talk express
regarding knowledge of the economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OunCv-7qvA
The low price of jet fuel in Scottsdale this week is $6.69. How much do you figure that jet of Cindy's sucks up in a month, and why isn't anyone asking?
Is McDepends trying to claim that several million (at the very least) , won't make being miserable a bit easier on anyone/someone ?
What a stupid old fart...........
Why hasn't the DNC released a video styled after "Lifestyles of the Rich and famous" (including music) about McCain? The stuff they've put out is milquetoast to what they should be doing.
And those evangelicals sit there and yuck it up while they listen to a old rich guy talk about how he's going to cut taxes for old rich guys.
WWJD?
mccain receives $1,930.00 per month from the "broken"
social security program. mccain should be an expert on social security he has been receiving payments since he was 65. senator mccain...how would you fix/change the
social security system...i see you are receiving s.s. paymnets so you understand the program?
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/07/14/daily79.html
real doozy @ 26:
There was another segment, in which they asked McCain how many homes does he own and he could not give a straight answer. Something on the lines of "at least 4 or five, I will have my staff follow up on that..." I mean he owns so much shit, he can't keep track of it.
How many people can't remember how many homes do they own?
WTF isn't Obama's using the almost daily rate of gaffes by this McCain jackass?
They should actually re-edit that ad to cut in Bush's comments about the haves and the have mores. That way you get McCain, Gramm and Bush all together.
The most impressive thing about this is that he was essentially asked "How much money does a middle class American make?" and he didn't know! Since it's been 25 years since he's had to worry about money, he just had to GUESS what constitutes rich, and what constitutes middle class. So he scrambled to think "Gee...how much do 'regular people' make these days?" and guessed it must be around a million a year. HAH!
Gosh...middle class people must make around a million dollars a year. I can't imagine anybody getting by on less than that. What do the poor make? The $5 minimum wage is only for "teenagers," and I'm sure all those people picking oranges in Florida must be getting at least $100 000, what with the cost of houses in Florida these days.
The other thing I loved was Phil Gramm waving his diamond cufflinks around as he's talking about American whiners.
Social Security? he's personally bankrupting the VA and the Senate medical plan. In 1999 he released 1,500 pages of his medical file, withheld his Vietnam era service record estimated at 2,500 pages, and recently released 1,500 pages of his file since 1999. After all that, he refuses to release his pharmacy records. I bet we could fund health care in the ghetto for a year on what we spent keeping him healthy.
BTW if McCain was a Dem the media would be hounding him daily over the fact that Gramm has slithered back into the campaign.
Now McCain is saying we need to bring back the draft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4saMYrLXJI0
Yes! Make this about money. We've endured eight years of shameless class warfare by the uber-wealthy; it's time to point it out - repeatedly. I hear the $10 million-plus market in The Hamptons is hot.
Weaseldog @ 33:
Of course he will, how do you think the ultra-rich make their money? run low on cash, buy stock in Halliburton, start a war, collect dividends, laugh all the way to the bank.
But the old cliche`really IS true:
"Money isn't everything, -when you've got it."
I'm all for a draft. No exceptions. None. It's the only hope we have of stopping these bloodthirsty ghouls from starting yet another war.
"Poor man wants to be rich; rich man wants to be king..."
Yup, having a hundred million dollar fortune and six multi-million dollar homes isn't enough to satisfy John McCain. He craves the power to destroy the whole world next time somebody looks at him funny.
New Pro-Obama book coming out soon ...
Digg It :
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Obama_s_Challenge_by_Robert_Kuttner_Ch...
Pre-order at Amazon at Reduced Price ...
if mcfuckhead manages to steal this election,
we will be dry humped by him and his
lobbyists until forclosures will seem like
a teenage birthday party.
my heart is warmed today. it was a good day.
this is stupid again....
stick to a narrative and attack mccain on judgment
iraq.... BO said no mcworse said yes
targeting bombing of al qaeda inside pakistan... obama said no... mcworse said yes
more troops to afghanistan... obama said no.. mcworse said yes.....
attacking iran... obama said no.... mccain said yes
bo will not win in the gutter... go hard but stick with f*ing issues....
McCain was giving his Christian audience the answer they wanted to hear, obviously. He was implying money wasn't important. And it isn't - unless you're choosing between paying bills, buying food or getting medical care.
The shitweasel is clueless. I did like Obama's response though, about how by McCain's definition "middle class" meant earning 3 million a year.
Good Catch!!
This will turn the tide - no?
“I define rich in other ways besides income. 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.”
Maybe true in a hazy philosophical way, but McCain is not running to be our philosopher king. He is part of a party that has been waging class warfare against the poor for decades and his the-poor-can-be-rich-in-spirit trope is just a way of putting a happy face on the destruction. I've heard far too many conservative loudmouths (like Rush and O'Reilly) who state regularly in one way or another how, if you are poor, it is because you are an immoral loser. Take your platitudes and shove them, McCain.
Good ad, and fine roundup.
We all know people get rich because of their great minds and adherence to religious principles.
I'll opt for being a poor billionaire, that way, it's all up to me whether or not I live a "rich" life, not circumstance.
You know how people think their own experiences are normal? eg. People who grow up with a alcoholic think that's normal. I've found something similar with standard of living. If you're affluent and all your friends and family are affluent, you think that's an average standard of living. You think of yourself as average middle-class.
Che's Lounge @ 2:
DAMN STRAIGHT!! Couldn't have said it better.
Great quote..
The Democrats need to hit back strong. Yes, McCain's deep liabilities are manifest. Yes, the repeated "gaffes" (dangerous euphemism!) no one is quite willing to ascribe to early-onset dementia are manifest. And, yes, the U.S. corporate media will never raise these issues.
Re a previous comment, the problem lies, not just with the corporate fat-cat owners, but also with the featured on-screen and in-print sock-puppets. Granted, the "puppet" analogy fails quickly. As noted earlier, they themselves qualify by McCain's definition as "rich" and would consequently profit from his tax plan. But it's not that simple.
Lots of current jargon derives from academic discourse. Thus one hears about "narratives" and "memes" (and "discourse"!) and such. For persons outside the world of academe such jargon is mostly just distracting. What matters is what's been demonstrated via research in cognitive psychology: that the more one's impressions, perceptions, interpretations, etc. are reinforced, the more they become "hard-wired."
So what? The problem is that once the hard-wiring is in place, the mind filters out stuff that doesn't fit. Not consciously! It just flies past, without being seized and considered seriously. And what is seized? It's seen through...polarized? color-tinted? ... glasses. (Choose your favorite metaphor.)
Point? The major (U.S.) media will never, ever ask the penetrating questions. Get over it! They will never--can never--challenge their hard-wired perception of John McCain as a "straight-talking maverick." Remember the movie Wizard of Oz? McCain is the little man cowering behind the curtains to hide his lack of character, integrity, honesty, competency, and..... Well, let's leave it there. Point is, even if they looked behind the curtain, the major media would be incapable of seeing the pathetic little fraud McCain really is.
So how can McCain's fraud be made a part of the national conversation? Clearly, someone other than the corporate media will have to make it so obvious, pervasive, noisy, annoying, and grating that it will have to become part of the conversation. Who might that be? Who has a big enough megaphone? Who has sufficient courage?
As someone who lives from paycheck to paycheck, juggling utility bills and just scraping by on groceries, medicine, rent etc. I have the kind of friendships and family that make me consider myself very rich indeed.
Just not in the Republican free market consumer sense of the word.
Have you ever sat up all night worried about how Bush or McCain were going to be able to make that over-due car payment? Neither have they.
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