Aug 27, 2008 11:18am
Does It Matter?
Email The possibility of Mitt Romney as McCain’s VP choice has two questions buzzing out there: 1) Does it matter how many homes a candidate has – or if he/she has lost count of his/her assets?
2) Does it matter if a would-be VP roundly criticized his running mate during the primaries? (See Joe Biden questioning Barack Obama’s fitness for office; or the long run of vitriol Romney spewed Mccain’s way) What do you think? Romney says his attacks on McCain are not as bad as Biden’s on Obama.
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Let me take you back to 2004 – or does any Democrat really want to go there? John Kerry was arguably the wealthiest candidate ever to run for president, including – and far out-stripping – McCain. I didn’t hear the questions then? Does it matter? Here’s where I think it may matter in the long run – after the presidency, the country is still responsible to provide security for the life of the former president. What is the price tag for that coverage when the previous president is a wealthy man with numerous residences? Second “does it matter?” I don’t know if we civilians really have enough accurate information to answer that. VPs are chosen for their ability to help get the presidential candidate elected. Period. I don’t really know if it matters if they even like each other. Probably not. Should it be that way? Absolutely not. They should be a real team. And, under that (unlikely) scenario, yes, it should matter what the VP candidates have said prior to their selection. Does it? In the real world? No.
Posted by: Trish Jones | August 27, 2008, 11:34 am 11:34 am
Seriously? After running a solid week of “But Biden said this! And Hillary said that!” stories, NOW you’re asking does it matter what your opponents said during the primary?
And yes, it does matter if you don’t know how many homes you own. If the GOP wants to run on the party of th “little guy” and as someone who knows our struggles, you damn well better be able to know how many homes you own. Must of us are in the one or less category.
Posted by: Leroy | August 27, 2008, 11:34 am 11:34 am
What’s disturbing, is not that he couldn’t remember how many houses he owns, but that he couldn’t handle such a easy question — he had to punt it to an adviser. I sure hope the Red Phone doesn’t ring at 3 a.m. with McCain in the White House. Here’s how the conversation might go: Ah duh this is John, I mean President John. What did you say, um er duh I don’t remember how many houses I own.
(I wonder if he knows how much his staff is paid? “McCain spends MORE a year on house STAFF ($273,000), than the average person’s home is worth ($218,000).”)
Posted by: James | August 27, 2008, 11:41 am 11:41 am
I have known people who have had more money than they know what to do with. If you asked them at any given moment how many homes they own, they wouldn’t be able to tell you. Mostly because their investments are so diverse that they have someone handle it so they can do what they do best. I believe it was a smart and proper answer for McCain to give because it showned his willingness to not give a false answer. If he had said that I own 6 and it was really 5 or 9 wouldn’t the press have jumped on him for that too? I think that it is really a non issue. How many houses does Obama have and how did he get them? There is a question that should be asked, McCain probably got them though his wife’s fortune and so what. I find it amazing that the press doesn’t look deeper into his links with the poeple he surrounded himself with.
As far as the running mate non-issue, it was the primaries, everyone needed to explain why he or she would be the better choice. Whether it’s Biden, Clinton or Romney doesn’t matter, they all play the game the same way. Obama could never have asked Clinton to be his VP, because she tore into his character, neither Biden or Romney did that, that I know of anyway.
Personally, I’ve always been an Independant Republican. I’ve crossed the party line on a few occasions and feel proud that I’ve voted for who I thought was best. Had she won, I would have voted for Hillary. As it stands I still don’t know who I’m voting for, but I know it won’t be Obama. To many questionable people in his background and his record in the Illinois government shows he has neither the backbone to standup for what he truly believes in nor the ability to stop people from helping him that he claims he doesn’t want helping him.
Posted by: Advisor | August 27, 2008, 11:58 am 11:58 am
JAMES,
what McCAIN should of said,”ah,
ah,ah”just like Obama!
Posted by: vinnie | August 27, 2008, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
Getting back to the blog questions: A candidate’s assets are a red herring. If anything, financial success shows leadership ability. About a VP criticizing his running mate – it depends on what he/she said. Pointing out past comments, principled positions, mistakes and weaknesses is par for the course. If the jabs are deep and profound – character ineptitude, lack of patriotism, deep ideological rifts – then we have serious compatibility issues. Biden’s calling Obama ‘not ready to lead’ seems to approach the red line.
Posted by: Concerned_Citizenry | August 27, 2008, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm
We’ve all seen Romney jump aboard McCain’s campaign, turning from a “long run of vitriol” – in other words, running a primary campaign – to publicly serving his candidate. Any apparent hostilities were appropriate and normal, coming as they did in their proper context – among compatriots in the Repub party.
Posted by: Concerned_Citizenry | August 27, 2008, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm
John Kerry was wealthy because he married not one, but TWO wealthy women.
So please spare us about McCain. Kerry would have no idea of his investment properties either, but no one bothered to ask him.
By the way, why in the hell is ABC not even reporting on how Obama has gotten his lawyers to pounce on the Ayers ads? Trying to even get the justice dept involved in censoring them??
That’s not NEWS to you guys?? Why don’t you all just wear your Obama for Prez buttons and be done with it?
Posted by: Jo | August 27, 2008, 12:25 pm 12:25 pm
Great two guys worth 100 million trying to tell us not to whine about the current economic climate.
Posted by: Ben Straub | August 27, 2008, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
John Mclame can’t even balance his check book! But why should he have to he isn’t going to run out of money.
Posted by: Joe | August 27, 2008, 12:35 pm 12:35 pm
First of all, never forget this fact: Obama is rich. He lives in a mansion. He had a privleged childhood. He was caught in a private conversation to rich San Franciscans talking about “them”, those poor bitter people clinging to guns. He has already proven himself as elitist and out of touch.
But then, let’s talk about previous candidates. Are you going to say that JFK didn’t come from an elitist background, and turned out to be one of our greatest presidents? And what about FDR? He had one of the wealthiest and well known legacies in American history, also one of our greatest.
so, does it matter? Nope. McCain has always been wealthy; why is Obama making an issue of it now? Right, desperation, there is nothing else for him to seize on, so he is making a mountain out of a molehill.
by the way, regarding, the 3 am phone call to Obama, this would be his likely response:
“Uh, that is out of my pay grade, please call my VP, he has the experience to deal with this”.
Done.
Posted by: decentAmerican | August 27, 2008, 12:38 pm 12:38 pm
As for a persons assets, the election of 2004 clearly shows Americans do care about a person’s assets. Remember all the talk about Kerry and his wealth making him out of touch. I do.
As for a VPs attacks, yes it does matter. In today’s world, hearing audio clips or seeing video clips of a supporter clearly criticizing the candidate stands in our minds. Who can forget when McCain questioned Bush on foreign policy and Bush responded with, “I may not be a foreign policy expert, but at least know Czechoslovakia is no longer a country”.
Posted by: Dan | August 27, 2008, 12:46 pm 12:46 pm
ABC shows its media bias once again with this ridiculous blurb. Go find some real news
Posted by: JRS | August 27, 2008, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm
What matters is that Obama bought land from Rezo while he was under federal investigation for influence peddling.
Rezko on December 31, 2005 was reported to be under federal investigation by Patrick Fitzgerald for influence peddling.
So what does Obama do? The next month he tells rezko to put up a fence and sell him a portion of his lot. This was a huge favor from Rezko because it devalued the rest of his lot by selling a portion of it.
Rezko had been in trouble in the papers for years.
Obama then lied saying he there was no way anyone could have known rezko was having problems. He told this to the washington post and GMA.
Well it turns out Obama did know Rezko was under federal investigation for influence peddling. It turns out that Obama even called him about it. Obama still did a land deal with him.
This is leadership? This is someone who will appoint the attorney general of the united states
Wake up america.
Posted by: David | August 27, 2008, 12:55 pm 12:55 pm
Obama did a land deal for his home while Rezko was under federal investigation for influence peddling.
Obama should be disqualifed for that.
So if Obama goes after Cindy lets not make Michelle Obama out to be poor.
Michelle Obama said she would use 600 dollar rebate checks for earrings.
Obama called McCain an elitist because his father was an admiral.
This shows Obama’s disrespect for the military. McCain traveled from rental home to rental home as a little kid. His parents were not wealthy.
The McCain family believes in service. McCain’s 19 year old son just came back from Iraq. Another is set to graduate from the navy academy.
Posted by: Jason | August 27, 2008, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
It doesn’t matter how many homes he owns or his personal wealth, but when you are so wealthy that you don’t know the price of gas then you get out of touch with most of us.
I also know how many homes I own – part of one. I don’t need a team of advisors to ‘get back to you’. McCain may be a nice guy, but he has fortunately (for himself) become dissociated from real world money concerns.
Posted by: MIguy | August 27, 2008, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
about mccain and the house question; if he had gotten it wrong you guys would be all over him, calling him a liar, like you all did with hillary everytime she mispoke.
they say wisdom is the man who knows what he doesn’t know, he didn’t know, he admitted it, end of story.
look obama got it wrong on how many states their are, i didn’t see the media bleed that story.
Posted by: sonia trevino | August 27, 2008, 1:09 pm 1:09 pm
the more often the media treats mccain like they did hillary the more we remember the way our candidate was railroaded, it keeps the wound festering, and works in mccains favor.
hillary supporter
Posted by: sonia trevino | August 27, 2008, 1:15 pm 1:15 pm
By the way, why in the hell is ABC not even reporting on how Obama has gotten his lawyers to pounce on the Ayers ads? Trying to even get the justice dept involved in censoring them??
posted by jo.
excellent question yes why is abc snuffing out the questions that matter? i heard moveon had its membership send out millions of emails demanding censorship of the AYERS ADS now that is a real story.
Posted by: sonia trevino | August 27, 2008, 1:23 pm 1:23 pm