’)Oh, you guys are making it so easy.
On MSNBC, conservative pundit Joe Watkins (one of those black conservatives who exist almost exclusively on tv) has the unenviable task of defending John McCain forgetting how many houses he owns. Watkins first reaches for the POW card, because we can’t think John McCain is an out of touch elitist who isn’t like the rest of us because of his military service. That doesn’t make any sense, but that’s the line they’re going with. But where Watkins digs himself in deep is in arguing that lots of Americans have multiple homes and investment properties. Lots.
That’s like Karl Rove’s ham-handed swipe at Obama as the snooty guy at the country club, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of us do not have country club memberships (and frankly, couldn’t tell you where the nearest one is).
They’re not like us.
Uncle Joe absolutely looked like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his own face. He looked ashamed of himself. As well he should be, especially when he accused Obama of “attacking McCain’s wife.”
Yeah, I peeped this out.
And dude had the NERVE to imply that most Americans have rental property. WTF?
Again, the GOP is concerned about the economy, it is called “THEIR ECONOMY”, and keepin’ it the way THEY want it.
Joe Watkins is a sellout elitist.
Every race and ethnicity has its equally proportionate number of buckleheads that can be brought for peanuts, throw their momma under the train, eat their own young, and perform on cue.
Go Joe, do your pitiful song and dance.
Joe Watkins is no better than the women who serviced diaperite Vitter
Is there something wrong with being in real estate? Making money? And if McCain does or doesn’t own a bunch of houses, how does that effect any of you negatively? And I don’t really hear any griping about the mansion Obama lives in or the real estate deals he got from a crook either.
I sense some class envy. Pathetic.
Success should be encouraged, not scorned.
Point———————————>
mccann
No one disagrees with “Success should be(ing) encouraged” but when you are a multi-millionare and then call someone effete or elitist, it just sounds really, really stupid.
Criticizing your opponent for being an out of touch elitist but then not being able to remember how many houses you have is what’s being scorned. And I’m not envious. I have enough trouble taking care of my one-bedroom apartment.
There is no recession.
Anybody who says so is a whiner.
Obama is an out-of-touch elitist.
…
I can’t remember how many houses I own.
Nobody would be willing to pick lettuce for $50 an hour.
…
You’re right, McCann. Pathetic’s the word.
No one disagrees with “Success should be(ing) encouraged” but when you are a multi-millionare and then call someone effete or elitist, it just sounds really, really stupid.
—PD100
Obama is a multi-millionaire and he’s doing just that, PD100.
So they’re both being silly, and I guess by extension, so are all of us. I don’t know the the acceptable word to describe it here, but I have to roll my eyes when Obama somehow includes himself as one of those struggling in this economy when he says he only has one home as opposed to McCain’s seven.
This author at SLate makes a good analogy. They’re like two opposing basketball players pushing and shoving at each other- starts with a few jabs and slight elbows, then soon escalates into something a little more. Looks like we may have hit that point.
Aw,
I think I love you.
The question wasn’t “how much real estate”, it was “how many homes”. The answer could have been, “Three, and a couple that are in our names but relatives live in them, plus some investment properties.” Controversy avoided. Instead his non-answer suggested either something to hide, or be ashamed of. Or memory issues.
Either way, not his finest moment.
If anyone can show me a powerful yet “poor” politician in recent memory, let me know, particularly one that’s ran for president. Truth is, we have little in common with either McCain or Obama, and this whole elitist crap from either of them is off base. Neither of these guys are eating Taco Bell for dinner. I’ll just leave it at that.
If you can’t remember how many homes you own but attack your opponent for swimming at non-exist private beaches, that’s the problem.
J Mccann,
Exactly! Both are rich and neither are eating at Taco Bell, so calling each other elitist is ridiculous… and that is the point that the Democrats are making by giving McCain a taste of his own medicine (mudslinging). In reference to wealth and elitism, the biggest difference between the two candidates is that one of them is proposing policies to help and class of people who DO eat and Taco Bell. Do you know who this man is? (Hint, despite all of his holier-than-thou arugula-bashing, it AIN’T John McCain).
“Success should be encouraged, not scorned.”
Agreed, but the McCain campaign can’t have it both ways. If the houses belong to Cindy, and McCain keeps his finances so very very separate from hers, he can’t claim to be succesful at anything but marrying well. If that’s the case, he should have simply said, “Several, but most of them are investment properties, you’ll have to ask my wife.”
On the other hand, if he is partially in charge of family finances, he should have known the answer. Did he not WANT to answer, like in the Viagra/birth control question a while back? Why not? What is he ahamed of? What is he hiding? Or can he simply not remember, like the difference between Sunni and Shia, or who’s training al-Qaida?
Vanessa, that’s just where we differ. For example, cities that have been ran largely by Democrats for decades (detroit, milwaukee, cincy, cleveland, newark, nj are a few coming to mind) are complete disasters. I don’t want those policies that have created situations like those being implemented on a national level. Imo, things would just end up worse than what they already are. At some point, we’ve got to realize that many of the people eating Taco Bell are doing so because of the sum total of the decisions they’ve made in their life. And from my experiences with people, that’s usually the case. Not every poor person is some sort of victim.
More to come……
I’m all a-quiver with antici…..
pation.
“Not every poor person is some sort of victim.”
Agreed. And not every rich person deserves their fate, either. What is the “sum total of the decisions” Paris Hilton has made that got her where she is today? And poor people, whether because of the “sum total of the decisions they’ve made” or not, don’t deserve to be punished over and over again.
It’s expensive as hell to be poor. You pay high interest on a note for a crappy car to take you to your crappy job (or two). The grocery stores in your neighborhood charge more. If you bounce a check (easy to do if you’re making anywhere near minimum wage) you get hit with a $35 fee. Bounce three and it’s half your week’s paycheck. If you want to buy a TV, the only way you can get it is one of those “rent-to-own” ripoff stores. If you’ve got kids, try paying for daycare when you net $195/week. If you really run short, you might have to borrow from a “payday lender” and God help you after that.
Well, j mccann, your two favorite rich people made some choices in their younger days, too. Both George W Bush and McCain CHOSE to perform poorly in school. Both chose to carouse and party and drink way too much.Both challenged authority, and generally made their respective fathers miserable. In Bush’s case, cocaine was a choice he made, over and over until, reportedly, he had a religious epiphany at about the age of FORTY FREAKING YEARS.
Many people would have been doomed to a life of poverty after making these choices. Not your heroes, though! Luckily for them, they had well-heeled family connections!
Something about 299 million of us don’t have. Spare us the sermonizing about how people deserve their poverty, please.
Joe watkins gives new meaning to the term self hatered.
He’s another one of those black uncles that is ashamed of being black to the point that he will do anything to please
white people including hating his own kind.
Joe Watkins is so pathetic! I realize now that he was never pro-Clinton or is now pro-Mc Cain, he is simply anti-Obama. He will say anything as long as it is negative about Obama. Whenever I think of Harriet Tubman’s famous quote regarding freeing slaves, “I could have saved more if only they had known they were slaves” I think of Joe Watkins.
In the 161 year history of the Chicago Tribune, the paper has NEVER endorsed a Democrat for president. This year the paper endorsed Barack Obama, sighting McCain’s judgement in picking Sarah Palin as his running mate to be a contributing factor.Colin Powell said the same thing and some right-wing extremists are accusing Gen.Powell of endorsing Sen.Obama because of his race. These people, like Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, and Joe Watkins are cowards. They essentially are calling Gen.Powell a liar.I dare them to say that to his face.