Some of you guys are missing the point. Its not about being wealthy. So the fortune of McCain's wife or the fortune of Kerry's wife is irrelevant. Its the irony of having a candidate say "I don't know" when foreclosures are talked about daily. That doesn't play well with voters who may be saying "I'm struggling to keep my house and he doesn't even KNOW how many he HAS."

 

Most don't begrude wealth. As long as it was gained legally more power to them. However, voters want to feel somewhat connected and "I don't know. My staff will have to get back to you" doesn't give a warm and fuzzy connected feeling.

 

THAT's the point.

 

 

Well said. The appearance of being "out of touch" at a time when there is high economic anxiety is not politically helpful for McCain.

Oh baloney. Please take 5 minutes and do a little research on the Keating 5 investigation and you'll find the Senate ethics committee's special investigator (a Democrat by the way) recommended no, zero, zilch, nada, action or sanctions be taken against McCain and felt he did nothing wrong or improper. Let me repeat that: he did nothing wrong or improper. What did the Senate do (led by Democrats by the way again) sanctioned him anyway. Why? Pure dang politics. The other 4 of the Keating 5 were also Democrats and the special investigator did recommend sanctions against them. There was no way in Hades that the Democrat controlled Senate was going to sanction the 3 Democrats and not do something against the one Republican even though their own investigator found he had done nothing wrong and recommended no action against him. Jeesh.:irked:

 

 

I'll reply to both of your posts on this one.

 

You aren't getting what I'm saying. It's PERCEPTION. I'm not arguing validity, I'm arguing perception. How did Clinton win in '92? He was able to take a downturn in the economy (nowhere near the downturn we have now), create the perception that Bush cared more about Kuwait than the American economy (It's the economy stupid), and then allowed gaffes by Bush (Not knowing the price of grocery items when he visited a store in front of reporters) to magnify the image that Bush was out of touch with the common person.

 

I don't think anyone here understands that I'm not advocating Obama (or Clinton), I'm saying that the issue of this thread (McCain's gaffe) is a real perception problem for McCain. If we polled the public I would say that 10% or less own any home other than their private residence. Another 10% might aspire to owning a summer home or property. That leaves 80% out of touch with the notion of multiple homes let alone the idea that you don't know how many homes you own. It won't be the deciding issue in this campaign but it is a PERCEPTION issue.

 

As to your remarks on Martinsville you are very correct. The wealthiest people and powers in the community kept other business out for decades because manufacturing labor costs would be cheaper. Once NAFTA was signed then it opened the avenues for these companies to move elsewhere or sell out. The problem we have here is a heritage of blue collar that does not value education (Jr. you can work at the mill with me for $12, you don't need learnin'!) and changing that climate is not done overnight. To compare Martinsville to NKY is apples to oranges. You have interstates, a large metropolitan area beside you, river access (back in the day), and education institutions nearby. Martinsville is a town of 15,000, a population in the county of 50,000, and is 60 miles from Roanoke, VA and Greensboro, NC. There are no interstates that connect us to anyone. Two state roads (58 and 220) are 4 lane highways but state roads that feed east/west and north/south. We have waited for funds to complete I-73 through here for 10 years and anticipate another 10 to 20 if we ever get it. Most transportation funds get diverted to Tidewater, Richmond and NVA as you can imagine.

 

All that said, I once more tell you that while Clinton and NAFTA hold more blame to the dam breaking on this area, they see that the effects really happened under Bush. It's not fair or accurate but then again many a president has been elected on the unfair blame laid at another's feet.

I always find it funny any politician would act like they are "in touch with America." This goes for both camps. Dumb response from McCain, obviously. The Obama camp should have just left it at the released interview from Politico.com and let the media outlets debate it and not bring it up at his first speech and then run an ad. As alluded to, this is going to open a can of worms Obama does not want opened.

You aren't getting what I'm saying. It's PERCEPTION. I'm not arguing validity, I'm arguing perception.

What will be the perception of the American public as they learn that Obama's younger half brother lives in a hut and claims to get by on one dollar a month while the Obamas push for higher taxes on Americans and spend $10,000 on music and dance lessons in a year? The Kenyan hut is another housing problem that Obama might want to explore because I am sure that the supermarket tabloids are going to be living with the younger Obama for the next few weeks.

Which candidate was asked a few elections ago how much a gallon of milk currently was and he guessed $5? It might be now, but it was not close then. These guys are all glory hounds, period. No agenda other than "I am/was president!" No one has an agenda to make us anything more than their backdrop to history's eyes! I wish we could just once get someone with a clue inside the white house. Won't ever happen, but it would be nice.

He should have just said "I don't know, that's above my payscale".

 

Good one. Or "my wife buys them - I don't know."

 

People could definitely understand that.

What will be the perception of the American public as they learn that Obama's younger half brother lives in a hut and claims to get by on one dollar a month while the Obamas push for higher taxes on Americans and spend $10,000 on music and dance lessons in a year? The Kenyan hut is another housing problem that Obama might want to explore because I am sure that the supermarket tabloids are going to be living with the younger Obama for the next few weeks.

 

To be honest, this will have zero effect.

I'll reply to both of your posts on this one.

 

You aren't getting what I'm saying. It's PERCEPTION. I'm not arguing validity, I'm arguing perception. How did Clinton win in '92? He was able to take a downturn in the economy (nowhere near the downturn we have now), create the perception that Bush cared more about Kuwait than the American economy (It's the economy stupid), and then allowed gaffes by Bush (Not knowing the price of grocery items when he visited a store in front of reporters) to magnify the image that Bush was out of touch with the common person.

 

I don't think anyone here understands that I'm not advocating Obama (or Clinton), I'm saying that the issue of this thread (McCain's gaffe) is a real perception problem for McCain. If we polled the public I would say that 10% or less own any home other than their private residence. Another 10% might aspire to owning a summer home or property. That leaves 80% out of touch with the notion of multiple homes let alone the idea that you don't know how many homes you own. It won't be the deciding issue in this campaign but it is a PERCEPTION issue.

 

As to your remarks on Martinsville you are very correct. The wealthiest people and powers in the community kept other business out for decades because manufacturing labor costs would be cheaper. Once NAFTA was signed then it opened the avenues for these companies to move elsewhere or sell out. The problem we have here is a heritage of blue collar that does not value education (Jr. you can work at the mill with me for $12, you don't need learnin'!) and changing that climate is not done overnight. To compare Martinsville to NKY is apples to oranges. You have interstates, a large metropolitan area beside you, river access (back in the day), and education institutions nearby. Martinsville is a town of 15,000, a population in the county of 50,000, and is 60 miles from Roanoke, VA and Greensboro, NC. There are no interstates that connect us to anyone. Two state roads (58 and 220) are 4 lane highways but state roads that feed east/west and north/south. We have waited for funds to complete I-73 through here for 10 years and anticipate another 10 to 20 if we ever get it. Most transportation funds get diverted to Tidewater, Richmond and NVA as you can imagine.

 

All that said, I once more tell you that while Clinton and NAFTA hold more blame to the dam breaking on this area, they see that the effects really happened under Bush. It's not fair or accurate but then again many a president has been elected on the unfair blame laid at another's feet.

 

I got your point and as I said, its an unfortunate reality that perceptions will decide what candidate some people vote for. Very unfortunate.

 

As for Martinsville, a possible silver lining to the textile businesses shutting down is that hopefully some kids that otherwise would have gone to work in the mills will now go to college. Hopefully some of them will become very prosperous and will own and manage successful businesses that they can relocate to Martinsville and bring prosperity to the region. I've seen that happen. Fedex is in Memphis I've been told because Fred Smith wanted to return to his hometown and help the people and economy there. Memphis' gain; Little Rock's loss.

Good one. Or "my wife buys them - I don't know."

 

People could definitely understand that.

 

Good point. I certainly would. I get my allowance today, I'm pumped.

This whole thing about the houses is a non issue that some are trying to make into an issue. I don't care how many houses McCain or Obama have. It just doesn't matter.

IF I had the money, I would own houses wherever I liked to stay or had to spend any large ammounts of time. How many people own multiple homes right now during the "flip this house" fad is smoking hot?

 

Good point. :thumb:I actually own 7 houses myself (though, not many people would even toy around with calling me rich). I hope to own 7 more in the coming years if not more, even though I know being a good landlord is hard work. I doubt mine are as pricey as McCain's, but I agree it is not unheard of or wrong for people to own investment property. There have been several times that I have had to clarify "which house?" people were asking me about. I don't think this makes me elitest.

I don't care how many houses either one of the candidates have. They're both self-made men, although I suppose marrying a beautiful heiress helped McCain's cause.

 

It's a bunch ado about nothing.