Schumer: “I would answer back hard. What do you mean [Obama’s] not one of us? It’s John McCain who wears $500 shoes, has six houses, and comes from one of the richest families in his state. It’s Barack Obama who climbed up the hard way, and that’s why he wants middle-class tax cuts and better schools for our kids.”
Again, across the board, the media grades McCain on a curve. Since the ‘media’ is often used as a generic and non-specific phrase, let’s break it down. McCain has spent two decades cultivating the press — specifically, the cadre of several dozen reporters based in Washington who report for the leading national newspapers and television networks. They know him. They’ve liked him. In part this is because he’s made a concerted effort to appeal to them, by making himself accessible. He’s also a pre-babyboom military man, a profile that has a special appeal to many boomers who never served. But familiarity and affection, as it does in all our lives, leads us to ignore faults. Not only is McCain an extremely wealthy man who didn’t have to work for any of his wealth, he’s also a man of very expensive tastes. Little facts capture the story. According to financial disclosure statements released in June, the McCain’s are currently carrying between $135,000 and $335,000 in credit card debt. Given their wealth, which is in the many tens of millions of dollars, that means either that they spend a tremendous amount of money on themselves — and this is just the ‘carry’ on an average basis — or they have real problems managing their money. In any case, yes, McCain’s an extremely wealthy man, with fancy clothes and houses across the country. But he got his money from marrying into it.
Of course, patricians can make presidents. Franklin Roosevelt is the prime example. But as McCain continues his campaign to define Obama as a high-living fancypants, let’s not forget the McCain was born into a life of privilege and continues to live that life today.
McCain question of the day: Do you own your own private jet? McCain does.
New York Times claims that Obama is “struggling to maintain parity” with McCain in the polls.
Keep an eye on this nutjob meme, one McCain is stoking: Obama as harbinger of anti-Christ.
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Must be grand to be flying in your private jet and trying to decide which of your eight homes to fly to.
Late Update: Here’s the Obama camp’s response to the new celeb/”Must Be Grand” ad from McCain. Frankly, I think mine’s better.
Latter Update: TPM Reader YF is royally pissed …
When the hell is Obama’s camp going to break up this pattern of McCain Attack Ad Released-Obama Spokesoman Responds? If Obama spends all his time on his heels the content of the McCain Ads hardly matter.
Obama needs to hit this son of bitch in the gut. Let’s start with an Ad featuring the 8000 parents that no longer have children because of John McCain’s favorite misadventure.
Where is the counterattack?
My own thought is that a more populist retort — along the line of McCain’s high-living ways and fancy lifestyle — would be much more on point.
Late Update, 3rd Edition: This ain’t bad either.
Even More Update: I post this comment from TPM Reader CN not because I agree with it or disagree with it, but I thought it was a novel way of capturing what’s happening …
Watching an endless stream of dirty McCain attacks, countered by tepid replies from the Obama campaign, I have to conclude that Obama is deliberately employing the rope-a-dope strategy. He’s laying back, letting McCain unleash everything he has — and counting on the fact McCain’s stuff isn’t strong enough. Obama won’t be knocked out, McCain will be left with no more punches to throw, and then Obama will have his way.
I don’t know if the rope-a-dope will work for Obama, but it’s a good explanation for what his campaign is doing. And it’s kind of what he did with Hillary, right? He got so far ahead on points that he couldn’t lose except by knockout, then he laid back, punching just enough to avoid getting sent to the mat.
The problem with the Hillary analogy is that a national election is all about one day. So there’s no saving up points from September for November. And recent experience doesn’t say much for the strategy of holding back and taking his punches and wear himself out. But I have heard that the Obama campaign doesn’t think these attacks or working. So I don’t rule out the possibility that something like this strategy is what they’re employing, wise or not.
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For you iPhoners out there, take a look and let us know what you think.
The situation on the Russia-Georgia border today is a undoubtedly a complicated situation. But it would be difficult for John McCain to give a credible response since his top foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann, was until recently a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government.
MoveOn and good government group ask the Justice Department to open criminal probe into the Hess oil and Harry Sargeant bundled contributions to McCain.
McCain Campaign: Telling people about the workers our campaign manager helped get laid off is unfair to the people who got laid off.