THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR MCCAIN!!!

"I'm John McCain and I was a POW ... oh, yeah, and I approve this message."

In the words of Bart Simpson: "Boooring!"

What the hell does Grampy Golddigger McCain know about family budgets.

To me this seems like a comdey routine between the straight guy (McCain in this case) and the funny guy (Obama) where the straight guy says something stupid and the funny guy knocks it out of the park.

I can see it now:

Narrator: McCain likes to talk about family budgets, but how many families buy their daughter a $700,000 condo for graduating college? How many family budgets include $300,000 in household servants salaries?

Mana from heaven people. And Grampy Goldddigger McCain keeps digging the hole deeper.

Weak.

The celebrity angle losses a lot of punch when you can't even count your McMansions.

This is the "click the heels of our ruby red slippers together and maybe yesterday will go away" line of attack.

this celebrity stuff is getting old as well.

McGolddiggolo's campaign's celebrity meme has been effectively pivoted back by the Obama camp.

They are now making total jackasses out of themselves by perpetuating it.

As of yesterday, 'celebrity' has zero mojo. I doubt the cable nets will even give this one much play because they've presented the idea ten times already. There's just nothing new here.

This ad further reinforces that McCain's media shop has nothing left, except maybe Wright. Once Obama gets his VP bounce, McCain will be forced to respond with Wright or lose even more ground.

The true impact of McCain's gaffe has yet to be truly measured, but it's going to be a lot bigger than it's already gotten. It could be the single thing that lost the election.

One would also think they would be smart enough not to release this during the housing flap. Anyone who does not even know how many houses they have is not too concerned about their family budget either. They really think this is the message to lead with?

Again with the Happy Music?

Can we have an ad mentioning the quarter of a million that the McCains spend on household help a year?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7PfSEtiXPw

McCain = POW = Person Of Wealth.

ANNOUNCER: Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets, but we sure do. We're the McCains.
We're paying more in salaries for household staff in 7 homes, more for property taxes in 3 states - do you have any idea how much the landscaping alone costs us? But does a mere celebrity know about these things? No!

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain. I was a POW and I approved this message.

I'm so confused--by Mc's own definition O wouldn't even be considered 'rich' since he made less than $5 million & his insane 'help' budget is more like 6x's more than what the average person makes--what a putz!

"But we sure do."

No you dont. You have 11 houses John McCain. You havent worried about money since the day you met the rich Cindy Hensley/

This is priceless. So who has the celebrity problem when Robin Leach--yeas of The Lives of the Rich and Famous--defends McCain to the LA Times. It was 'confusion about who holds the title' no biggie. Per Ben Smith.

yawn. Find some new material, John.

UPDATE: A Democratic source emails this tidbit, undermining the idea that Obama (a celeb) doesn't have to worry about family budgets but "we" (presumably including McCain) does. "McCain spends MORE a year on house STAFF ($273,000), than the average person's home is worth ($218,000)."

This is according to personal financial disclosure forms.

Man, TPM has missed Tena the past week.

Obama needs to start tying in the "houses" message to his tax increase for the incredibly wealthy.

People who have 8 - 10 houses are going to still be able to afford those homes with the salary they make, but they'll pay more towards our society than those struggling to afford one.

Even say that his tax increase raises the taxes on himself because he makes more than the average family, and he has no problem contributing towards a better America.

Hey SFC which candidate needs a 9 car motorcade to get a latte? Hint it aint the one you want it to be

Obama Hits Back With Success and Richness:

Commentator: In some countries wealth depends on being born [flash Cindy's face] or marry into exorbitant wealth [flash POW's face]-- an accidents of birth or a calculated marriage.

In America, incredibly hard work is rewarded. [flash Obama's face].

Barack Obama will work hard for all Americans as President.

Obama: I'm Barack Obama, I approve this message, and I look forward to going to work for the American people. Together we can make the American dream a reality again.

"Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets, but you sure do if you don't dump your first wife and live as a gigolo!"

Fixed.

nd got a $800,000 loft at graduation

This is really obscene. I didn't know that McLame was this obscenely wealthy. Jesus fucking Christ - no college grad should be handed an $800K loft just for graduating.

God fucking god.

Snooooore. This really seems to be so freakin' weak it looks to be the product of a Dem mole working within McCain's camp. This and the "Housing Problem" ad show how pathetic these guys are when they are up against the wall and have to quickly respond.

BTW; McCain was the grandson and son of admirals (who were pretty amazing men...but that is another story).

I'm pushing my idea for a bumper sticker / chant:

One House, One Spouse, Obama, '08.

Use it as you will...

Celebrities don't need to worry about budgets, but POWs like me sure have to. That's why Cindy keeps our interest-free American Express card balance hovering around $750,000, and that's why when things get tight, we just buy another home for great investment tax breaks. That really saves money. And with the price of gas out of reach for most of us, Cindy and I decided to stop driving and start flying our own private plane. You know I was a pilot before I was a POW, right? Right now, jet fuel is cheaper than gas. And those coupons we get from Nordstroms, Nieman-Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue really help keep us looking sharp. See these shoes, Ferragamo's. Regular price $1200, got 'em with a coupon for $520 with my POW discount!

Hey Tena, Why didn't you just jet across to one of your other houses during the flood and get your manservant to clean up the mess?

McCain's ads are all terrible. How much is he paying these guys?

BTW, has anyone managed to really wrap your head around the massive scale of a 6,000 sq ft high-rise condominium residence? Would this occupy an entire floor? Do they have their own elevator? What floor level or levels do they occupy?

I wonder if Cindy sits there high above Phoenix (like Harry Helmsley was described by Leona atop their NYC penthouse) and points out her real estate properties, "I own that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one ..."

When you also consider the fact that she has two half-siblings out there that she has effectively managed to ignore, this really is an obscene display of opulence and greed.

In my younger years I did home remodeling for the wealthy in North Dallas and Highland Park.

Property in Highland Park was at a premium due to the limited size of the community. So as folks reached retirement age they moved to condos on Turtle Creek to free up the family mansions so the heirs could fight over who would have a Highland Park address.

Even back then, circa 1980, the condos sold for 1/2 a million and the new owners would dump at least that amount into the property for renovations.

Just because the selling price on a condo was 750,000 or so, does not mean they moved in as is. Johnny and his reptilian looking wife most likely dumped another 750K into the properties to make them more comfortable.

This ad is proof that the Republicans' flawed campaign strategy can be used as a weapon against itself.

I'm beginning to suspect Obama's campaign has mastered implementing this strategy.

What do you know about family budgeting if you don't even know how many homes you own? McCain has probably not paid a single bill in 30 years, much less sweat over how to pay the bills and still feed the family. He and his cronies are completely out of touch with America.

I like the comment by a guest on Olbermann last night: McCain is a modern-day Marie Antoinette. "Let them eat cake."
I also think McCain has a Napoleon-complex. A short guy who needs to prove himself through war.
Two French similarities...very unAmerican.

It just occurred to me that if McCain was leaning toward picking Romney, the House-gate flap might cause some reconsideration of that decision. Romney is also uber-rich and made much his money through acquiring, downsizing and flipping businesses. To be sure, that's an ugly background to be courting the coveted white working-class vote. First question up for Mitt: How many houses do you own?

"He is someone who purports to campaign as a man of the people, but who resides in a whole series of wealthy million dollar chateaus and mansions," said Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt in the summer of 2004. "It's just one more contradiction and example of him being out of the mainstream with America."

Yeah right. Lets talk about family budgets and start with how much the Mccains spend on household help. Do you think $250,000 per year would be in-line with what the average americans pay for the same service? Hell, its more than the value of the house for any average americans! How about a credit card bill of more than half a million dollars? Would this sit well with the electorate? I do hope that Obama's campaign would hit McCain hard on this.

Pathetic. The GOP can't even run good smear anymore, much less a country.