Thanks, EastRiver. Goes to show how scrambled the story gets by the time it reaches the masses. I recall the pundits having a field day with that one. I wasn't reading Time or Newsweek at the time, I was reading the Village Voice, so you can imagine...

Anna, I saw the whole quote and it doesn't change the fact that most people are not like Obama. Maybe he should have just stuck with the second half of the sentence. He's trying to paint himself as "everyman" and he isn't. And he thinks he can get away with it because this election cycle it's the Democrat that has less money.

out-of-touch elitist, when he's far wealthier

Valid only if you assume that wealth equates being out of touch. I know plenty of people with far less money that are total elitists. And I know people with far more money than Cindy McCain and you would never know it from talking to them or observing their lifestyle.

For the record I didn't give a damn about Kerry's money in 2004 and i don't care about McCain's now. Both sides are being hypocritical. But apparently only some of us can see that.

And I don't like McCain's tax proposals but if you think the wealth and income gap in this country is mainly caused by tax rates you are going to be in for some disappoint over the next 4 to 8 years. Income gap was at it's lowest in the late 60s and early 70s. Globalization puts downward pressure on the manufacturing jobs and rewards those that require higher levels of education. Hell, there was a study reprinted in the Times last year that said women in the workforce is responsible for something like 20 percent of the growth in the wealth gap. High earning women marry high earning men. Not much you can do about that.

And on the deficit, I haven't seen one study that says Obama's plans will address the deficit. One study says McCain's plans would add about $4 trillion to the debt and Obama's would add $3 trillion. You'll have to excuse me if I don't get excited abut this.

i feel like there's so much dirt on mccain, just waiting to be unloaded during debate season. gonna be nuts.

#19 East River, you forgot the end of Obama's statement - is was an "or" sentence. Full quote (my italics):

"If you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong," he said. "But if you're like me, and you got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don't lose their home, then you might have a different perspective."

The points that Obama's trying to make are simple:

a) McCain has no business painting Obama as an out-of-touch elitist, when he's far wealthier than Obama - and has been in the ultra-wealthy circles for sometime. (Note that McCain married Cindy Hensley circa 1980, so he's been rolling in the dough and benefiting from the Hensley family's connections for a long time, in addition to having the Naval pedigree from his father's accomplishments.)

b) McCain's economic proposals, which include extending the "Bush tax cuts" that largely benefit the wealthy and further exacerbate the country's wealth gap at a time when the position of the middle and working class is tenuous, while seeking to paint Obama as someone who will "raise your taxes" betrays a fundamental lack of understanding about the nation's economic picture. More importantly, the fact that McCain has no real solutions to eliminating the huge deficits caused by policies in the Bush Administration (and backed by people like McCain), indicates that he really is out of touch with the needs of the "average American."

Just sayin.

You mean other than the fact that the Republicans painted him as a rich, out of touch, liberal elitist?

Well, to play devil's advocate they didn't say that being rich makes one out of touch or elitist. You can be pretty average and still be an elitist and/or out of touch.

I personally found Kerry to be an elitist but not out of touch.

4 years ago we did not care that Kerry was married to a BILLIONAIRE, but somehow it is important this time around how much one of the candidates wife's makes.

figures mr. bernie geotz would be so dense.

are you not "all American" or something?

Just because I think this is a stupid story doesn't make me an Obama hater. Funny how you are so defensive.

All of you haters better get used to it. President Obama. It's going to be your reality soon soon soon!!

Ah, so you don't actually know any of these "code words" yourself. Figures.

we get it, Bush buys his groceries at the supermarket and get's peeved when the bar code can't be read. just like us.

we get it, he's one of us, he's not elitist. he knows how to use a supermarket check out scanner.

I get so damn po'ed when those bar codes are torn, too.

During the 1992 election, George H.W. Bush visited a supermarket and was astonished by the scanner at the checkout lane. Everyone then wondered what planet this guy had been on for the last 20 years.

No, it was a grocer's convention, not a supermarket. Bush was being shown new scanning technology by an executive from NCR that could read torn bar codes as well as weigh items while scanning them. Video tape of the convention shows Bush clearly referencing his familiarity with what was the standard scanner of the time and how this was an improvement. Many witnesses said Bush was simply acting polite, not expressing amazement. The story did not get traction until picked up by a New York Times writer who wasn't even at the convention and embellished what had been written by one of the pool reporters that was there. Time and Newsweek called it a non-story.

During the 1992 election, George H.W. Bush visited a supermarket and was astonished by the scanner at the checkout lane. Everyone then wondered what planet this guy had been on for the last 20 years. He was seriously out of touch. So now comes John McCain, not even knowing how many houses he owns. Even the wealthiest people know how many houses they have. It ain't a nuke, but Obama's got a pretty good JDAM there.

The problem is that a man running for president doesn't know how many houses he owns. Nor does he know how to answer a simple question about how many houses he owns.

Why exactly is this a problem to you? How does this make him any more or less out of touch than the other rich men and women in Congress? Frankly, this is a non-issue. So much for "change".

Johnnye,

Furthermore, McCain has repeatedly accused Obama of being an elitist. The man who wants to maintain Bushes tax cuts for the richest 1%, the man who doesn't even know how many homes that he owns is calling Barack Obama an elitist...

...and Obama is swinging back. Get used to it.

No, johnnye, as has been clearly said by several of us, the problem isn't that John McCain, or more properly Cindy, is rich. The problem is that a man running for president doesn't know how many houses he owns. Nor does he know how to answer a simple question about how many houses he owns.

Obama didn't play the envy card. When you say that you make something up out of thin air. What Obama did was to use McCain's mistake to his advantage by pointing out that McCain is out of touch with the average American. I would expect no less out of a presidential candidate and expect McCain to take advantage of Obama when he makes a mistake.

So Obama played the envy card and you guys ate it up.

Not too hard to anger those who 'hate' 'rich' people!

4 years ago we did not care that Kerry was married to a BILLIONAIRE, but somehow it is important this time around how much one of the candidates wife's makes.

And I thought the wives were off limits?

That John McCain doesn't know how many houses bothers me. Why doesn't he know?

Why doesn't the press get off their asses and find out? I just watched Chris Matthews wondering the same thing and his possible explanations are that it's Cindy McCain that has the money so maybe she owns the houses and John McCain isn't involved in her investments. Well, as a member of the press maybe Chris Matthews could do something to earn his enormous salary i.e. tell an intern to do some research.

see previous political ads from the Reagan years.

why are you even asking? shouldn't you be playing with your squirrels mr. bernie Geotz??

if anyone ought to know these words it's mr. bernie goetz.

we all know the code words, even the main stream media knows them.

What the hell is a "code word" for the "N" word, Jackoff? Inquiring minds want to know.