McCain Doesn't Even Know How Many Houses He Owns! Talk About Elitist And Out Of Touch!

Wow, you can file this one under "I'm so filthy rich I couldn't be more out of touch with normal people". When asked yesterday how many houses he owns, McCain...well...see for yourself:

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

Yes, that's right, money bags McCain has so many houses he can't keep track! He actually has no idea how many houses he owns!!!! Think about that!!! Also keep in mind that just a few days ago he had the audacity to say that people with an income of $5 million a year were middle class!! Of course it probably seems that way when you are worth at least $100 million, you wear $500 shoes, you and your wife fly around on a private jet, and have 10 houses/condos. Yes McCain, write this down, because I know it so you probably should too, you own 10 houses/condos. Here's a rundown from Huffington Post for you McCain, you may want to bookmark it...maybe number your keys...color code them perhaps...blue for beach houses, green for ranches, etc.

Two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.

You can even (barely) count all of your houses on two hands, it should be easy John!

Let's take a look at the elite life, courtesy of Vogue (h/t to TPM):

It is a late Sunday afternoon in April, and I am sitting in a condominium in Coronado, California, taking in the view of the gorgeous San Diego Bay with Cindy McCain. She closed on the place just two weeks earlier, and the only things unpacked so far are the family photos that dot almost every surface. It's her family's second condo in the building. "I like the ocean, and the kids love it here, and I love that," she tells me, curled up on a nondescript couch that looks like it might have come with the apartment. "When I bought the first one, my husband, who is not a beach person, said, 'Oh, this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go.' Then it got to the point where they used it so much I couldn't get in the place. So I bought another one."

Ahh, with the ease of how a commoner would say "I was still hungry so I bought another Hot Pocket", Cindy McCain decided to just buy a second beach front luxury condo. The price tag for both? $4.7 million. Middle class pocket change for the Howells. "So I bought another one!" Classic McCain.

Oh, and I do love that the Republicans tried to brand Kerry an elitist back in 2004 because he had 5 houses, which is a lot, but a one-hander is "middle class" next to Mr. 10 over here. And of course McCain is working overtime to try to paint Obama as some out of touch elitist. Yes, Obama who only recently was finally able to pay off his student loans, Obama who has one house, Obama who grew up in a single parent household on food stamps, Obama who could have worked for any corporate law firm to get rich quick yet chose community organizing instead, Obama who doesn't run around in $500 shoes and doesn't think a private jet is the only way to travel. And I think I get it now. This is classic GOP Politics 101. You have a weakness, so you pretend it is your strength and you attack your opponent ruthlessly on it. If you are rich as hell, have 10 houses, can't even count them all, think making $5 million a year is middle class, want to expand Bush's tax cuts for the rich and corporations while leaving over 100 million Americans hang out to dry, what better idea than to attack your opponent and make the media talk about how supposedly "out of touch" he is, even though the exact opposite is true. Classic diversion. And the media falls for it like a dog tricked into chasing a ball that never actually left your hand.

Let's face it, McCain is the elitist, it is no contest. He couldn't be more out of touch with everyday Americans. He has repeatedly said that the economy is doing just fine. The "fundamentals" are strong. This recession is all in our heads! We are a nation of whiners remember? And he plays us for fools by blatantly lying to us about Obama's tax plan (which actually cuts taxes for the middle class by 3-8 times McCain's, yet he lies and says Obama will raise taxes), and providing false solutions to our high gas prices (which he helped cause). All he cares about it getting his buddies rich. The rich people his tax cuts help. The rich corporations his tax cuts help. The oil companies who'll get even more while they already make record profits. That's his base. All of his policies and priorities SCREAM out of touch and elitist! Why the hell isn't the media reporting on ANY of this??!

I think it is obvious that McCain was counting on the media being characteristically unwilling to focus on his gaffe, but it looks like it is getting a little bit of traction, which is quite amazing. No doubt shocked at the media reporting negatively on him, McCain let's out his code him response:

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison,"

AKA McCain was a POW, so bow your heads media! He can get away with anything! It is almost comical how predictable and utterly transparent McCain's campaign is. Because of the whole POW thing the media has voluntarily given McCain a free pass on "experience" and anything related to foreign policy or national security, even though he has repeatedly shown he doesn't know a damn thing about these subjects. They have also voluntarily given him a free pass on most everything else. And when the media actually grows a tiny little fledgling spine and dares to report something negative about him for a change? He gives them a zap with their "I was a POW" shock collar, hoping to scare them back into submission. As TPM points out, he has been increasingly using the POW shock collar on the media as of late:

For those of you who haven't kept track, the McCain campaign just recently cited McCain's POW years in explaining away the Miss Buffalo Chip gaffe, and in dealing with the allegation that he broke the rules and listened in on Barack Obama during the Rick Warren forum.

[More examples of the POW-card in use here]

I guess we'll have to see if it is effective. I'm sure McCain suspects the media will run back to their pens with their tails between their legs, and await their next orders. Will they? We'll see. I'd say if this has less shelf time than Edwards' $400 haircut (for the record the haircut didn't cost anywhere near $400, he just left a huge tip because he could afford it and hairdressers aren't the richest people in the world), which as you may recall floated around the media for weeks, then its pretty good evidence than the media is still sticking with its HUGE double standard when it comes to sugarcoating McCain.

Oh, and McCain's campaign also said this in response:

In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story.*

Oh, don't worry, NO ONE has ever mistaken McCain for an intellectual, *GASP* god forbid the president be smart for a change!! (See: It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant!)

And seriously, what is the GOP's hangup on arugula? You gotta love it when the GOP expects people to find a leafy vegetable more elitist than a $500 pair of shoes and a bunch of beachfront luxury condos. Leave the poor plant alone.

*Note: I believe the "life story" they are alluding to here is McCain graduating 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy. For those non-pointy headed professor-types, that puts McCain firmly in the BOTTOM .006%. Put another way, out of a class of nearly 900 people, there were only FIVE people DUMBER than John McCain. And he wants to run the country. Talk about a third term of Bush.

Update: A retired Lt. General responds to the POW-card with a request for McCain to stop cheapening the service of members of the US Military by hiding behind his service and using it as a political tool.

Update #2: Yesss! The media is starting to get tired of the POW-card!! If that spell wears off of them, Johnny Boy is screewwwwed. Apparently they take offense to being taken for granted like beaten dogs. It's only a matter of time before they snap and turn on their owner!