Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous: Senate Celebrity Edition

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Do you know how many homes John McCain owns?  Apparently, neither does he.  In an interview with Politico.com, McCain was asked how many homes he owns, and he had to concede that he did not know – "I think — I’ll have my staff get [back] to you."

McCain’s campaign did get back to reporters. USATODAY reported that "McCain’s campaign says the Arizona senator has four residences: condos in Phoenix, Arlington, Va., and Coronado, Calif., and a house in Sedona, Ariz. All are owned by his wife, Cindy, and their children, who also own eight other residential properties. Those include four other houses at the 15-acre Sedona spread and four more condos, according to real estate records and the senator’s financial disclosure reports. The dozen properties are worth more than $10 million, current assessments show."

The average American does not own so many homes that they can’t remember. Unless they’re fabulously wealthy, or they are losing their mental faculties.  Most Americans would answer honestly, "the bank owns my home" (and many of you may be behind and facing foreclosure).

I can just hear Robin Leach, host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous intoning "champagne wishes and caviar dreams."

According to TheRawStory.com Homes McCain doesn’t remember having worth nearly $14 million:

The McCains famously like to vacation on their Sedona ranch — in fact, the Arizonan senator is heading there this weekend for a few days away from the campaign trail. The 15-acre ranch where McCain hosted members of his press corps this year holds six separate houses, so does that count as one home or six?

In Phoenix, the McCains’ primary residence is a nearly 7,000 square foot condominium worth about $4.66 million. The McCains purchased two condos in 2006 and knocked down some walls to create the massive space in a high-rise that features valet parking, a rooftop swimming pool, personal spa services and on-staff housekeepers, among other amenities.

Whenever John or Cindy want some sun, sand and surf, they simply need to jet off to either of their two beachfront condos in Coronado, CA, worth a combined $4.8 million, according to property records. Coronado, a small island near San Diego boasts the second best beach in the country.

If they need a different view of the Pacific than Coronado’s, the McCains simply have to head about 15 miles up the coast to La Jolla, CA, where they own another condo estimated to be worth about $1.1 million that’s been in Cindy’s family since the early 1970s.

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Thanks in large part to Cindy’s fortune, the McCains sleep easy in Washington’s quiet suburbs whenever Capitol Hill beckons. The Cindy Hensley McCain Family Trust puts them up in an $847,000 condo in Arlington, where the couple has lived while in Washington since 1993.

There’s also the matter of the McCains’ daughter, 23-year-old Meghan. While many 20-somethings are lucky if they get a car for a college graduation gift, Meghan’s present for finishing at Columbia University was a $700,000 loft in a hip section of downtown Phoenix.

Then there was the McCains’ former swanky estate featured on Inside Edition:

I believe this was the same swanky estate featured in Architectural Digest in July 2005 Architectural Digest Visits Senator and Mrs. John McCain (see cover photo above).

Astute readers may recall this story from Newsweek in July: "When you’re poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you’re rich, it’s hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It’s a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees."

Oh, and let’s not forget the private jet that McCain flies around in, paid for courtesy of his wife’s company.  Nice ride!  How many lobbyists can it seat?

So what was the McCain campaign response to his gaffe?

Unbelievably, McCain continues to try to fool the public into believing that he is a common man, and it is his opponent who is a wealthy "elitist." This is called "projection" for any of you Psych 101 students, or as any kindergartner will tell you "I know you are, but what am I?" Or the classic "I’m rubber your glue; whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you."  Sadly, this actually is the intellectual level of GOP politics.  They took too literally the saying "All I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten."  Only they learned the wrong lesson – how to be the schoolyard bully.  (John McCain’s nickname was McNasty in school).

The Obama campaign responded to his nonsense with "If you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy [is] fundamentally strong. 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," Obama said. USATODAY

In a pissing match to see who is the wealthiest elite, there is no contest.

"McCain, who has portrayed Obama as an elitist, is the son and grandson of admirals. The Associated Press estimates his wife, a beer heiress, is worth $100 million. Obama was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps, and [he] went to top schools on scholarships and loans. His income has increased from book sales since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention."  USATODAY

The plight of the common man vs. the privileged elite McCain is illustrated in Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films video, "McCain’s Mansions":