Elitism Problems
The McCain family owns almost a dozen properties, only one of which has ever been featured in Architectural Digest magazine. John Aravosis has the highlights including the shot of McCain’s pool, which looks big like it’s supposed to serve a whole hotel or something. This, as John says, explains why the press really covets invitations to the old McCain BBQ. At the same time, the fact that only one of McCain’s houses is a mansion worthy of an Architectural Digest spread probably explains why we haven’t heard nearly as much about this as we’ve heard about John Edwards’ house — lots of the time maybe McCain is forced to stay in one of his other nine or ten properties.
UPDATE: I’m hearing that McCain doesn’t actually own this particular house anymore.
32 Responses to “Elitism Problems”
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August 12th, 2008 at 9:37 am
So what if some people just know how to live?
August 12th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I know that the conventional wisdom is that Obama has
some secret plan to hit McCain hard at the most
opportune time, but I have the sinking feeling that
Obama will end up like Kerry.
What a shame, especially given that McCain provides
so much ammunition for Obama to make some really
mocking ads.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:41 am
You have to like AD’s headline . . .
Architectural Digest Visits Senator and Mrs. John McCain
. . . considering that it was Mrs. John McCain’s money that actually bought all these goodies for Mr. John McCain (quite literally–she has a prenup).
August 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am
You know, I do not begrudge a man his comforts or material success. But when he has the gall to attack his opponent of elitism… Well he’s just setting himself up for some grade A ridicule. I look forward to seeing Johnny Boy get what he deserves.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Bush bought a multimillon dollar ranch for his run to the Presidency and the press never noticed. Don’t expect them to notice this.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:09 am
This has come up before. “Elitism” as used by the right has nothing to do with wealth or status. It’s about calling your opponent a fag. Or in Obama’s case, an uppity fag.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:25 am
But you all don’t understand!
John McCain doesn’t care about poor people or anything, so it’s OK that he lives like French royalty.
Because John Edwards cared about poor people, he should have lived like a monk in a sod house.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I have done some lite google searching to try to find out where McCain’s homes are located to no avail – wish that someone would give us a little more details. The world wants to know…
August 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Holy elitist, batman!
The initials “MC,” for “McCain,” were hand-carved into a mantelpiece made in Guadalajara for the master bedroom.
That’s a lotta hubris right there.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The difference with Edwards was one of basic hypocrisy. A man who cries himself to sleep every night over the plight of the poor shouldn’t be building himself 30,000 sq. foot houses or getting $400 haircuts. We’ve since learned, of course, what a liar and slime ball Edwards is, but the McMansion charge is still legit.
McCain married a very rich, much younger woman. Geez, what kind of idiot would want to do that?
August 12th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
The earlier poster made an excellent point — they’re not really John McCain’s houses. They’re his rich wife’s houses.
It’s really too bad that Cindy doesn’t smoke — then we could all enjoy the sight of John constantly leaping up to light her cigarette.
That’s why Paris Hilton was so coolly amused at John’s slurs — why should a wealthy heiress care what a kept man says?
It would be like getting financial advice from someone’s pool boy and pretending to take it seriously.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
A fill in the blank quiz.
When the inane right writes inane things about John Edwards’s house, they are being inane.
When the [FILL IN THE BLANK] left writes inane things about John McCain’s house, they are being inane.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
… divorcing his first wife to do so, a former beauty queen who was no longer so beautiful after a horrific car crash, who says McCain abandoned her because:
The lesson from that, I guess, is that John Edwards should have divorced his wife? That he should have been sleeping around more widely until he landed an heiress?
More likely that John Edwards should have had the press over to a BBQ for his housewarming when his new house was finished.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
The Architectural Digest photo spread is the house John and Cindy sold a couple of years ago. It’s actually Cindy’s childhood house. With most of the family gone, they bought pricy condo in a high-rise close to Phoenix’s Biltmore area.
They asked over $4 million for the house and eventually sold it for just over $3 million. I wondered at the time if some mega-rich oil billionaire wouldn’t buy the place just to score points, or lay claim to an aspect of McCain’s history.
It’s useful to think back to 2004 and the nonstop mockery of John Kerry for his marriage to a wealthy heiress. Unlike McCain, Kerry didn’t divorce his first wife in order to marry the second. We can guess about his heart’s reasons, although for the right, the “answer” was obvious. He was a gold digger.
The right is notoriously aggressive with its ridicule about the other side. Democrats don’t have the echo chambers, so our counterthrusts seem rather anemic. Obama’s ridicule of McCain will appear shrill and whiny for that reason. The best advice is to steer clear of this stuff while pointing out the other’s side exclusive reliance on it. At some point, the media do notice. Instead of droning their standard equivalency stories, they note the disparity. The high-road strategy works when it becomes clear that the other side’s tactics reminds voters of why they don’t like bullies.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
The initials “MC,” for “McCain,” were hand-carved into a mantelpiece made in Guadalajara for the master bedroom.
Which almost proves that he’s not an elitist. Only someone who was middle class at heart would do something so tacky as to have a monogrammed mantlepiece.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
“Elitist” means “tells you that you don’t get to call someone a nigger”, actually. Read Nixonland….
August 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Tyro,
Agreed–McCain may be pretentious, but there is nothing particularly elite about him.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Agreed–McCain may be pretentious, but there is nothing particularly elite about him.
Which chimes in with Mark Ames’ point in 2004 about spite-voting.
The McCain’s aren’t as rich as the Waltons, but they hide their property portfolio and AmEx bills well. And while Meghan McCain might have an air of the bennies that come from having rich parents (graduation gift apartment, anyone?) she manages to rein in the whole privileged-heiress thing.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Take a look at a photo of the late billionaire Sam Walton, a dried-out Calvinist in a baseball cap and business suit, and you’ll see why. If Republican billionaires enjoy their wealth, they sure as hell hide it well.
This is, I suppose, the flip side of the old saying that, “The best revenge is living well.” Rich Democrats live well, which is, of course, why they’re Democrats– the want everyone to live well. But living well, and running on a platform that other people, possibly people you don’t like, should be able to live well, tends to piss off certain segments of the voting public.
On the other hand, people look at Sam Walton and think, “he’s rich, and his life sort of sucks, just like mine does.” We can live shitty lives together by voting Republican.
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