The Obama campaign has seized on an answer that John McCain gave at the Saddleback Forum on Saturday defining the line between middle class and rich as income over $5 million a year.
Here is the exchange between McCain and Warren from Ben Smith’s Blog:
WARREN: Everybody talks about, you know, taxing the rich, but not the poor, the middle class. At what point, give me a number, give me a specific number. Where do you move from middle class to rich? […]
MCCAIN: How about $5 million? No, but seriously, I don’t think you can, I don’t think seriously that the point is I’m trying to make, seriously, and I’m sure that comment will be distorted but the point is…that we want to keep people’s taxes low, and increase revenues. … So, it doesn’t matter really what my definition of rich is because I don’t want to raise anybody’s taxes. I really don’t.
McCain was joking, but he did dodge the question completely. That was a through non-answer. Barack Obama said today in New Mexico that he thought maybe McCain was joking, but by McCain’s definition a person making $3 million is middle class. Obama said that McCain’s skewed idea of wealth is reflected in his policies. Why is McCain afraid to define his idea of middle class? Is it because he has chosen, much like President Bush has, to ignore the working people of this country.
John McCain has been living the rich life for so long that he doesn’t know, or even worse, doesn’t care about the middle class. It is the spending of the middle and lower classes that keeps this economy going. We have had eight years of trickledown economics under George W. Bush, with the same results we experienced under Reagan. The rich got richer, and the poor and middle class got squeezed. This is what John McCain is offering America more of.
I am not in favor of overtaxing, but it is time for those who make the most to pay their fair share. They have been getting richer off the backs of the rest of us for eight years, and now it is time to return the favor. How can anyone trust a candidate who is afraid to speak directly to those who are hurting most in this economy? John McCain only sees the world of wealth that he lives in. The rest of us don’t exist, and I, for one, am tired of being invisible.
Obama lives in a house costing close to $2,000,000
which he got on a special low cost mortgage deal.
He earned $4,200,000 last year.
He went through high school and college and law school on freebie payments from others.
He has never initiated a single bill in Congress in two years but has had time to supposedly write 2 books to make himself a fortune.
He flies around in large private jets and talks about “saving on energy” and “global warming”.
Where does this man get the nerve to present himself as a “man of the people”?
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Let’s not forget McCain was in the services until he was in his 40’s — not a job known for big pay checks
and how do we pay him for the five years of torture.
In his 40’s he married a person who came from a wealthy family [totally self made if you bother to check].
That is the American dream. It is stupid to resent it. He didn’t earn that much in Congress.
Does anyone mind the $100 million Bill and Hillary Clinton are now worth — compliments of their experience in the US government and their books and their speaking fees?
Does anyone resent the athletes and movie actors who make $20,000,000 for pretending to be someone else?
Let’s get real on this.
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*Political Eye
Measuring Wealth of the ‘08 Candidates
Perhaps only one word can be used to describe all of the leading presidential contenders: multimillionaire.
Not only that. With one exception among the three leading Republicans and three leading Democrats, the contenders each appear to be worth tens of millions.
The exception: Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). As a community organizer-turned-law professor-turned-state senator-turned U.S. senator, the bulk of Obama’s wealth has come only in the past few years, with the huge success of his second book, ” The Audacity of Hope.”
Sen.John McCain(R-Ariz.)
Net worth: $25-$38 million
Sen.Barack Obama(D-Ill.)
Net worth: $1-$2.5 million
His one and only home in Chicago is worth approx. 1.6M.
Nothing worse than a stupid American who can’t get the facts accurate – that coming from an American who cares about the truth. It would be nice if we used information as a tool and not a weapon like you have. Both candidates are too wealthy!
Semper Fi
*Source:
Zachary A. Goldfarb
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, March 24, 2007; 8:40 AM
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GROW UP
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