Exactly how many homes does McCain own?

August 21, 2008

We know that John McCain owns so many homes, he’s lost track of the exact number. But as long as it’s the topic du jour, maybe we should go ahead and answer the question McCain is struggling with — how many homes does McCain own?

The McCain campaign conceded that the senator owns “at least four.” The new Obama ad puts the number at “seven.” There’s one estimate that points to 10 homes

NVivo blueprint. Köpa Airet – Ventolin På Nätet Receptfritt They appear them to me without any absence of place.

, and I saw one count that pegs it at 13 properties.

Yglesias noted, “I’ve seen a lot of liberals giving John McCain a hard time about not knowing how many homes he owns. But this is a genuinely difficult question to answer!”

It actually is tricky. First, McCain owns a lot of homes. Second, he owns a lot of properties with multiples homes on the properties. And third, in a couple of instances, McCain has bought two homes, only to start tearing down walls to create super-duper homes. (Do we count the $700,000 condo McCain bought for his daughter as a graduation present? Decisions, decisions.)

The estimable Jed Lewison put together a very helpful Google Earth tour that helps sort through the presumptive Republican nominee’s extensive portfolio.

I’d just add that the McCain campaign’s odd “arugula”-based response chastises Obama for having made “$4 million last year.”

Maybe the McCain gang can clarify — doesn’t that make Obama

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, by McCain’s standards

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, middle class?

Post Script: Alas, there is no video of McCain struggling with the question, but there is an audio file. I’m expecting some clever audiophile to have a remix available in 5…4…3…

Love the Jed Lewison tour!!

Now, if only it could get some traction in the MSM.

  • Your average MIDDLE CLASS voter making 5 Million or less year is gonna totally empathize with McCain here.

    This type of befuddlement could happen to anyone.

    As a matter of fact does anyone know if Yatchs count? See, it can happen.

  • I understand the liberal pushback on this.
    I just don’t think it will get traction in the greater media.

    Here’s why in a one-two punch:

    1) In America, being elite isn’t about money and homes. Rather, being filthy rich is the ultimate yardstick of success. We worship the rich and famous.
    2) In America, being elite is about being smart, doing your homework, and reading books.

    Just as nerd-teens are scorned by their peers for being elite-smart in school and doing their homework, so too does the American mass-mediocre culture scorn a wannabe President for being thoughtful.

    In a wing-nut shell:

    McCain is filthy rich. That’s good.
    McCain finished 894th out of 899 fellow students at Academy.
    He is dumb as dogshit. That’s good too…

    Ergo, this won’t get traction.
    Nice try though.

  • The subtext is that it’s his wife’s money, although I’m sure he’s used his legislative skills to further enrich them.

  • But it can be sooo hard to keep track…

    And, as we all of course know, the only thing worse than forgetting how many homes you own is forgetting where you parked one of your cars!

    “Cindy, hon*, you seen the town car? I can’t find it. Is it behind the Bentley? Under the Hummer? Did I leave it at the summer house? In the Hamptons? Oh mumsies, I just don’t know.”

    “Just call the driver, honey, that’s what we pay him for. Or just take the plane already, mmm-k?”

    Please forward to any email chain lists sending ‘Obama is a child of a single mom who received food stamps uppity negr…holy crap, Mr. Rove, we can’t type that an elitist’ emails.

    *not always the term of affection used

  • ROTF, but didn’t this elitism tag stick to Kerry in 2004? Somewhat similar story in marrying into wealth.

    And lets face it, there ain’t no poor boys running for president anymore and there probably never will be. The ruling elites are for the most part in the upper crust and very much out of touch with the common folk. And through the revolving doors most of them continue to accrue greater and greater wealth.

  • There’s always been a difference in the attitude towards ‘poor boy becomes rich’ and ‘child of privilege inheriting wealth’ or ‘marrying wealth.’ So this will work for Obama and against McCain.

  • The real question is whether JOHN McCAIN owns any houses at all, or whether these are all CINDY’s houses. The Cindy Hensley McCain Family Trust owns most of them (Phoenix primary residence, 2 of the Oak Creek (Sedona) properties, the Arlington, VA condo). Another of her trusts (Hensley Surviovors’ Trust) owns the La Jolla condo. An LLP owns the third Oak Creek property and LLC owns the Phoenix condo they bought for Meagan, and another LLP owns a rental condo in Phoenix. The two Coronado properties are owned by “Dream Catcher Family.” Maybe he has an interest in that one.

    The McCains evidently entered into a pre-nuptual agreement in which they agreed to keep her property separate (and probably agreed not to create any community property as a result of the marriage. This allows him to claim relatiive poverty on his Senate disclosure forms, and keeps her dealings spearate and private.

    The point is, though, she is clearly a businesswoman and some of these are incvestment properties. All the real wealth comes from her. So does John McCain own any houses? Probably not. He lives in his wife’s houses.

    Maybe that’s why it is such a sensitive subject.

  • I want to see Obama bring this up during a debate. I love the potential:

    “Senator McCain is so out of touch with the needs of real Americans that he doesn’t even know how many homes he owns.”

    “That’s great coming from a guy who made $4 million last year.”

    “According to you, that makes me middle class.”

    “Well… well… you eat arugula!”

  • So what are the odds on Hannity saying something along these lines tonight?

    “The looney left is making a big deal about nothing again…I can think of one home he had for five and a half years! FIVE AND A HALF YEARS COLMES!!!!

    FIVE!! AND!! A!! HALF!! YEARS!!!!!!!!!!

    (i’m thinking it’s even money at this point.

  • also – correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Obama’s “arugula” comment made to arugula farmers during the primary?

    that elitist bastard – now he’s listening to the concerns of farmers (those radical populist socialists!)

  • Lets get systematic about this. How many seperate building structures that contain at least one bathroom with running water does McCain (and/or his wife) own?

    Separate question: How many of those structures has McCain actually spent more than four consecutive hours in?

    And can he name the approximate locations of the ones he has spent some appreciable time in?

  • RE: #11….

    Too late…. someone already said it. This is from a post on Talking Points Memo:

    “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison,” spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.”

  • Prup:

    There’s always been a difference in the attitude towards ‘poor boy becomes rich’ and ‘child of privilege inheriting wealth’ or ‘marrying wealth.’ So this will work for Obama and against McCain.

    Yes. But not in this case. McCain is the golden POW boy. We are far enough along to see that questions about his character will be “under media carpet swept.” Our best chance was the Wes Clark attack on McCain’s military leadership fitness. And that got pushed back by Barack himself.

    Like it or not, Barack is going to try to win this thing by playing decent.

    I understand his thoughts on this.
    He actually wants to try to get something done if he becomes president.
    He realizes the problems are huge, and that ultimately, it is going to take a return to the ideas of statesmanship to make it happen. So there won’t be any attacks on McCain’s wealth or marriage, or the fact that McCain finished almost dead last in a hyper-competitive class of 899 future naval officers. Holy smokes!

    Barack won’t make it personal. And that is damn risky because the repugs do make it personal. In fact, that’s all they got.

    All this is not to say Barack won’t attack. He will. More thoughts on what I think such an attack should look like will be forthcoming…

  • Here we go again with you liberal wienies attacking the patriotism of John McCain. A real American hero does not need to keep track of how many houses he owns. If you pseudo-intellectual liberal wackjobs weren’t so jealous of Senator McCain’s success, you wouldn’t even bring this into discussion.

    It seems as if all that Obama has left is to attack McCain’s patriotism. Even the liberal MSM will see through that and not allow it to continue.

    Grow up. Real Americans support a Real American Christian Hero like John McCain. Only you pinko liberals support Arrogan Elitist African Muslims.

    Keep attacking Senator McCain’s patriotism and after his election, you may just end up getting your just rewards – in Gitmo!

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton) said:
    “There’s always been a difference in the attitude towards ‘poor boy becomes rich’ and ‘child of privilege inheriting wealth’ or ‘marrying wealth.’ So this will work for Obama and against McCain.”

    Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to fit thru the eye of a needle than for a poor man to go to heaven.”

    This will quickly become a non-issue due to the corporate media not covering it. The corporate media has already decided upon their narratives for the campaign and this does not fit. Unfortunately, the corporate media gets their narratives from the rethugnican party!

  • @7: I don’t even fall into Obama’s “well-off” category (although we thought we did, here we’d been feeling pretty darn comfortable and grateful to be somewhat protected from the disintegrating economy), but I’ve got no problem with rich guys running for office–and you’re right, none of us regular folk will ever be able to break into the political ranks on a national level. As long as the rich guy’s smart I’m happy to have him in office.

  • If you want proof of my point on why McCain’s homes are at best a “treading water” tactic go to the current front and center HuffPo article:

    McCain Doesn’t Remember How Many Houses He Owns

    There is a video on that page of Barack. It is one of the most lifeless Obama campaign events I’ve ever seen. He is trying to attack McCain. He is out of character. It’s duller that McCain’s infamous green background speech.

    Attacking is not Barack’s forte. It is a side issue thrust for him. It should only come to the fore for him as a segue into his vision of the future. To try it make it his main thrust is a mistake. Of course, we are in a holding pattern right now, and trying to bird-shit a little onto McCain’s pate isn’t necessary a bad thing. It is just not what Barack does best. Does anybody remember that George Carlin joke about pigeons having their song stuck in their throat?

    nuf said.

  • jsacto@6 – ROFL

    Poor Karl. Imagine having all this incredible evil genius, only to be surrounded by felonius neophytes, and having only nincompoop candidates to work with. I feel sorry for his pets.

  • Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, Okay, okay, we get it, McCain owns several homes. So F’en what? There’s not a law saying that people can only own one home, there’s nothing wrong with investing in real estate. Ask any realtor how many homes they have listed at any one time and you won’t get a straight answer, it’s a moveable market. But that’s not my point, my point is the hypocrisy that’s rampant on here. Not one mention of John Kerry’s many homes, nor Teddy Kennedy’s? I’m sure there are other uber-rich libs that own more than one home. So lets hear the excuses why McCain’s situation is so much worse.

  • Chad,

    It isn’t how many he owns, it’s that he doesn’t know. Perhaps you don’t know how many homes you own either? Most of us are pretty clear, though — 0 to 1 — and quite a few of my neighbors are looking
    at that number going down when they lose their jobs. There’s a vacant house across the street now, the people walked away from the mortgage, and I see potential buyers about once a week. It’s not moving, maybe because, after the bank advertised it, somebody came along and stripped it of everything salvageable.

    This is not unusual, either, now. It was unheard-of even ten years ago. It’s amazing how having a grown child move back in after losing their own house is turning some pretty staunch Republican voters around here into angry Democrats.

  • Chad — It’s not just that he has 4 or 7 or 11 homes; it’s also that he DIDN’T KNOW, and then babbled out his stock answer about having his staff get back to you. Most people can’t even dream of owning more than one home; to have so many that you can’t bothered with counting them is just beyond the pale. And then to say that you’ll have your “staff” count your freaking houses for you? Good grief.

    This is what makes this gaffe so beautiful; it’s a three-fer. (1) He owns lots of houses; (2) he has NO idea — not even a wild guess — how many; and (3) he’s going to have his STAFF count them and report back. It’s hard to imagine how this could have been worse. This is as bad as GWB and the supermarket scanner.

    It’s almost like that old joke about the rich guy who didn’t bother to have his Bentleys air-conditioned — he just kept a dozen cold ones in the freezer.

  • Dismantling the phony double talk express one maverick house at a time. Each house a further disconnect from the concerns of the poor and “middle class” millionaires ($5 mil). Elitist really means those belonging to a group that thinks they are or should be the ruling class…considering everyone else as a peasant or…middle class. They are completely out of place in a grocery store.

    McCain has manipulated the wealth of others to get him into a position of wealth and owes favors big time. That’s why he is so easily manipulated by the lobbyists running his campaign. “Every lobbyist’s pet senator on a leash”.

    The right will say one doesn’t have to be poor to run for president (they always carry it to the extreme) but the point is that McCain’s wealth and excessive grandiose show of wealth makes him out of touch with the real economic problems facing “most” Americans. McCain’s extreme wealth and excessive home ownership does not prevent him from collecting $58k/yr in disability payments from the government tit. That is five times what most disabled Americans receive in a year. Greed and ambition mixed with selfishness and deceit are not the kind of qualifications that herald a decent principled man much less a president.

    Even if there were no Obama…McCain would be a disastrous President that would end up destroying our democracy.

  • Good grief. You are falling right into it. Don’t you see the set-up? How did Obama acquire his mansion (with Rezko’s help)? How is it that his brother lives in a hut in Kenya and Obama never helped him? How many houses does Ted Kennedy have? How many houses does John Kerry have? I suspect that the fact that John McCain has several houses is a big yawn of an issue. And to be honest, it is a whole lot like whining. Obama needs to man-up!

  • Thank you Hortenze, it is a whole lot of whining, but what’s new there eh? The left is really running with this, is it perhaps to deflect the recent criticism Obambi’s been facing concerning his abortion record? Sounds to me like they’re running with this and they can go ahead and do that, because that will raise the questions of Tony Rezko again and other Obama hypocrisies (sic).

  • How is it that his brother lives in a hut in Kenya and Obama never helped him? — Hortenze, @28

    Careful there, down that path… Where, do you think, the two sisters of “the only child” Cindy McCain live? For sure not in any of those houses John Sidney cannot count on the fingers of one hand…

  • I doubt they are living on $1.00/month!

    Sean Hannity is setting up a fund to help George Obama, though so don’t worry. Maybe you can set up a fund Cindy’s sisters?

  • Hortenze, Chad,

    Get a room or something. Nobody but the pathetically stupid thinks, anymore, that there’s anything to the Rezko matter. It’s all guilt by association, all the time, to folks like you.

    And it isn’t about the homes, it’s about the inability to answer a question that would be simple for anybody with half a brain, or, failing that, with finances that remotely resemble anything an ordinary person would have.

  • Chad, it’s not the fact that McCain owns so many homes. Heck, it’s the American Dream to get wealthy enough to own multiple properties. It’s the fact that McCain has been pushing the whole “elitist” and “out of touch” narrative on Obama. Meanwhile, we find out that McCain doesn’t know how many homes that he and his wife own! Who’s the person who’s out of touch?

    John McCain: Out of Touch with America.

  • Hey’ I have a question for the people on this website, Has Senator McCain ever done any honest everyday work, such as work in a garden, fix a car, or going shopping for everyday items at a local supermarket? Has he ever worked with common everyday people, such as a factory worker, or even in a company? Has John McCain ever mixed with ordinary everyday people, not those in his staff or Washinton people or those on Rodio Drive? Has John McCain ever gotton his hands dirty, such as fixing a car,or cutting the grass?
    What I am getting here is, how in the world can McCain say that he represents the everyday American when he lives in a totally different world. At lease Obama worked with everyday people as an community leader, had to pay back a student loan, had to work in firm and knows the people in his community. Under this narrivtive who is the elicts, and who is closer to the everyday man or woman?

    I don’t care how many houses he owns, but come on at least be real and know what you own. Let’s say for example if McCain was a CEO of any company and the question was asked of him what are the company stock status or how many divisions of products the company produces, and if he did know, would he be there very long?

    I hope that some get’s my point here, and if this man wants to be president, he had better get his facts together and be honest in presenting them.

  • David K, You magnificent bastard. What the F does going grocery shopping or washing a car have to do with anything? Besides, your point is useless, I doubt Obambi does much shopping these days. If washing your car makes you connect to the common man, well good for you, but it doesn’t apply to everyone you dolt.

  • http://www.womenforjohnmccain.com/

    Has not just one, but *two* postings on the subject today. As on any blog, they have their better and not-so-super days but today, they’re splendid. The second (ie the one on top) posting is particularly good. I’ve been wondering if Maria (aka Insane Fake Professor) writes for them on their better days.

  • So lets hear the excuses why McCain’s situation is so much worse.

    Because he is running for President of the United States, and he doesn’t know how many homes he owns. Pretty straightforward stuff. It gets a lot harder after this, and he’s already screwed the pooch just by trying to answer a simple question most normal humans can answer simply. Being wealthy is no excuse to be ignorant about such a simple thing.

    I’ll go one further – what a great opportunity for McCain to strut his politician’s stripes – he could so easily have swerved into something like “Look, I’m well off and fortunate to live comfortably, but let’s talk about the people who are threatened by possibly losing their homes or their jobs. My economic plan will blah blah blah, and Americans will benefit by being able to keep their homes and blah blah blah.” Simple, forthright, and very attractive to the people who may not be as fortunate as he is.

    But, no. “I’ll have my staff get back to you.” Missed an easy throw, Senator, by a wide mark. This one is gonna hurt, and McCampaign’s SOLE response to go as deeply negative as American’s have ever seen.

  • Ignore the McCain apologists, folks. They have some perception issues. Remember, for eight years they have steadfastly believed that the grandson of a senator and son of a president who was a male cheerleader at the most exclusive prep school in the nation was “Mr. Regular Guy.”

    So, they cannot see the comedy gold in a guy not knowing how many houses he owns while blasting his opponent as an elitist.

    Quite clearly, their reservoir of irony ran dry a long, long time ago.

  • I guess there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy – it’s the American dream after all, right? But when you’ve run pretty much your entire campaign on your opponent being out of touch with ‘real folk’ (i.e. people who’ve been screwed over by the policies of the current administration), then not knowing how many homes you have is a major faux pas. Being rich isn’t the problem. Being so far out of touch and a hypocrite is the problem.

  • I am not sure if the homes for McCain count includes cottages but if it does, he has purchased three cottages in northern Ontario and is currently looking for a fourth.

    From my point of view John McCain is a good man who has served his country well and I am sure will continue to do so. But, I also think that Barack Obama will bring change and with that better relations with other countries of the world. I believe that America can once again regain the respect that has been lost and working together, Democrats and Republicans can solve the economic, energy, environmental problems that have not been dealt with until now. No one man, no one party can make the changes alone but working together under strong leadership and support it can be done. I believe that leader is Barack Obama.

  • Hey Jesus Is Coming:
    I believe the actual quote is “it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a RICH man to get into heaven.

  • It wont be long till his “lived in one house for 5 years” deal is done. He is clearly exploiting the very people that he votes against getting any money for. The soldiers. He has voted against every bill for money or healthcare for veterans that has come up in the last 3 years at least. He says its because “its not enough money”. Bullshit. This man clearly has PTSD and needs to address it. We dont need another stupid volitile idiot that will embarrass us or get us into more wars, at the helm of this country. McCain is a walking time bomb. He has anger issues and we dont have enough troops to go to war everytime he thinks we should attack a sovereign nation.

  • OMG. Can McBush, oops McIdiot, OOPS McCain even answer the simplist of questions. Here is a guy running for the highest office in the land and can’t remember how many homes he has. He can’t remember because he like the rest of the republicans have raped the American public over the years and does not care who they run over. IT’s ALL ABOUT THEM YOU KNOW! Republican Family Values at its best……..

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