McGaffe Express

In Arizona did Kubla McCain
7 stately pleasure domes decree:
Where Abramoff and sleazebag lobbyists, ran
Through bribes measureless to a working man
Among the elitist GOP...

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LOLHousez

Kagro X:

Yeah, McCain. Let's "get into a debate about houses."

Are you sure you're ready for it? We won't be laughing with you.

Let's go to town, people.

McCain’s Housing Crisis Worsens; Campaign Responds With References To Vietnam, Hawaii, 9/11

Blue Texan:

It appears the McSame campaign is having difficulty, erm, managing McSame's "I have no idea how many houses I own" gaffe. The level of whining and shrieking is an indication of just how bad a day it's been for Multimansion McSame. [snip]

And finally, McSame mouthpiece Brian Rogers played always effective POW card:

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

Getting a little desperate over there, I'd say.

McCain Flubs it Again!

Kagro X:

Unbelievable! Those $500 loafers must taste like ambrosia, because McCain can't keep his feet out of his mouth!

What's the supposed money line in McCain's new ad?

"Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets. But we sure do."

Hahahahaha!

Neither do kept men like John McNopoly!

Here's something most people with family budgets don't have to worry about, either:

That's right. The McCains pay $270,000 per year for butlers and maids--that's $50,000 more than the median value of an American home.

Ohhhh, Johnny! A quarter mil on servants?

Let me guess? P.O.W.?

Noun, Verb, POW

Trapper John:

Cloak of invincibility ON!

The McCain campaign is road-testing a new argument in responding to Obama's criticism of his number-of-houses gaffe, an approach the McCain camp has never tried before: The houses gaffe doesn't matter because ... he was a POW!

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

Lord. McCain is Giuliani-like at this point in his single-minded determination to cling to the one positive association that his campaign retains in the public mind.

McCain response continues to be Teh Suck

Kagro X:

The McCain Dungeons & Dragons gang fails its saving throw:

Group to spend $2.8 million on anti-Obama ad

The ad was supposed to be the response to McCain getting his ass whipped over weaseling out of answering questions about his four seven eight twelve houses by pretending not to know how many he had. (A-duh. That's so much less elitist!)

But, uh... didn't work.

Organizers sought to air the ad on Fox News Channel, but a Fox spokesman said the network declined to run it.

Too sleazy for Fox. Hilarious!

How dare they suggest, ummm... something, something, P.O.W., blah-blah! Grr!

FOUND: John McCain - Get out of Gaffe Free Card (UPDATED)

tbctbc:

In honor of the fact that every time McCain screws up, the McCain campaign predictably deflects the gaffe by using the fact that he was a POW 40 years ago to silence any criticism...

this is the card that the McCain campaign quietly slips to the media to insure that it will not be covered:

McCain's Misfire

Devilstower:

Hoping to appeal to the middle-class voters who make $4.9 million a year and have only a single beach front vacation home in their collection, McCain rushed out an ad trying to reanimate the corpse of the long discredited Obama-Rezko real estate connection. Newsweek teamed up with Factcheck.org to slice and dice McCain's ad, and they detected the fine odor of pure BS laced with the rancid stench of desperation. [snip]

Oversimplified, misleading, careless, and false. Hmm, that sounds like the McCain (and Bush) we know.

McCain Eats the Seed Corn

Kagro X:

With his campaign suddenly in a flaming tailspin, John McCain goes to the well one too many times, and dilutes his brand:

Time's Cox:

The McCain campaign's constant invocation of the candidate's POW past is weird bordering on irrational....

It's a head-spinning non sequitur, designed to distract us from something mildly troubling with the assertion of something impressive.

John McCain Needs to Lay Off the POW Talk

Brandon Friedman:

When John McCain revealed that he didn't know how many houses he and his wife currently own (they have at least eight properties), the Obama campaign pounced. They accused him of being elitist and disconnected and launched an ad within hours. The McCain campaign--realizing this was trouble--retorted the only way they knew how: With a truly stupefying response from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers:

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

Yes, you read that right. McCain justified not knowing how many houses he has by saying he was a POW in Vietnam, four decades ago. I have some things to say about this:

1. Being a POW is not an excuse for everything.

Using the POW Argument One Too Many Times OR When Being A POW Become THE Reason He Should Not Be President

Lauren, TPM cafe:

Clearly having been a POW has affected McCain in ways that cause him to have a poor memory, lack competence, experience confusion, have trouble keeping the facts straight, embellish the truth, be reckless in his judgement, be challenged in his ability to lead.

My friends, I am willng to accept that McCain being a POW is a reason to explain all of these things as long as the republican party and the McCain camp will accept that they have made the case for exactly why this man MUST NOT become president. Why? Because...

Yes, it's the economy, stupid

Doc Twain:

If I could write a stump speech for Obama, it would go something like this:

You want to talk about the economy? OK, let's talk about it. Let me tell you something ugly. Something people are not supposed to talk about. It's supposed to be a big secret, but you already know it all by heart. It infuriates you--it makes you disgusted at Washington. But politicians don't seem to want to do anything about it. And you figure you have a pretty good explanation why.

You might call it the elephant in the middle of the room...

It's called plutocracy. Government for and by the rich. Not for you and me--not for "we"--for the rich first and the rich only. And Republicans like John McCain are working their tail off for it. Because it pays...

McCain can't remember all his houses? The "I don't recall" routine is starting

Kagro X :

As we all know by now, McCain's really stepped in it with this nonsense about not knowing how many houses he has.

I mean, he might really not know, but what he was hoping to do with his non-answer was obfuscate the reality that he's kept and pampered by simply refusing to be the first one to put a number on it.

But could his flippancy be indicative of more than just not wanting to admit he collects houses like crazy old ladies collect stray cats? Isn't it really a sign that a McCain administration would bring us another four years of "I don't recall" governance? I mean, I know the play worked for Reagan, Bush I, and the Pretzeldent too. But haven't we had about enough of Republican "leaders" who can never recall a damn thing about anything they do? Puh-lease.

Anyway, in addition to laughing your ass off at how ridiculous McCain is, you should also take a moment to thank Brave New Films for sparking this latest round of questions for Mr. Furious. They did a lot of legwork and research that they put into a video about some of the vast real estate holdings McCain just can't seem to remember, and it's looking like that was what set off the questions that led McCain to stuff his $500 loafers in his mouth:

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I think America deserves an answer, to borrow a phrase too often annoyingly parroted by the other side any time they can gin up something as dumb as what a candidate drinks at breakfast. Only this time, we really do deserve an answer. We have disclosure laws for candidates in this country for a reason. And given that the best his staff could come up with was, "at least four," I think it's fairly clear they don't want to give us that answer. It ought to be an question he's asked everywhere he goes, and frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to hear anything else from him until he answers it straight up. People ought to remind him of the fact that if he's hemming and hawing on a pretty damned basic question, they're never going to be able to believe him on anything else.

So why not remind him that it's time to answer the question whenever and wherever you see him? Maybe just with something as simple as what another blogger well known to you all once suggested: holding up your own house keys and jangling them at him next time he shows his face in public?

Quick! Don’t Think of an Wounded Elephant!

Bill in Portland Maine:

Okay, okay, you win, we'll think of a wounded elephant. But only for the next 74 news cycles.

And just to recap what we know about The Real John McCain:

• He doesn’t remember how many houses he owns, and even the press can't figure out if it's 7, 8, 9, 10 or 12

• He needs a 9-car motorcade to buy a Cappuccino at Starbucks

• He needs to look at notecards to "remember" the price of milk

• His household budget includes $273,000 for servants

• He thinks $5 million is the line between the middle class and the rich

• He thinks our economy is basically sound

• He doesn’t think anyone would accept an offer to pick lettuce for $50 an hour

• He plans to announce his running mate with balloons and cake on August 29 while the rest of the country is mourning the victims of hurricane Katrina on the third anniversary of its arrival

A real man of the people---the top 0.01 percent of them, anyway.

Is it possible the Republican party has found someone more clueless than George W. Bush? Now that's what I call finding a needle in a haystack.

McCain also forgets his $5 million line

Kagro X :

So yeah, let's have that debate.

Question one: How many damn houses do you have, Grumpy?

Answer: Umm, umm...

Sorry, you lose.