There've been diaries on this, but piling on is the point.
McCain's two gaffes in the last week--his inability to remember how many homes he owns and his expressed belief that people worth 4.9 million are middle class--are an enormous gift to Obama. And Dems, for a change, seem to smell blood.
First, at Rick Warren's gathering, he said people making $5 million and up are rich. Attempting to explain his remark, he said:
I define rich in other ways besides income Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they're billionaires.
Then, as you know, asked how many houses he owns, he said:
I think -- I'll have my staff get to you It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you.
In a perfect world, McCain's economic policies would be sufficient to demonstrate his elitism and lack of concern for the less lucky. But this is politics, and gaffes like this do what a million press releases can't: they expose the truth in a visceral way that people immediately grasp. I'd guess it's inconceivable to most people that someone could not know how many houses he owned and think multi-millionaires are middle class.
The DNC has sent out a press release hitting McCain for both quotes. On the first, it says:
John McCain's Message to Working Families: Money -- Don't Worry About It -- You're Rich in Other Ways.
On TV Tim Kaine, showing a touch of attack-dog promise, hit him on the second gaffe:
He couldn't count high enough apparently to even know how many houses he owns.
I don't think the importance of these gaffes can be overestimated. The dovetail with Obama's increasingly populist pitch. I suspect that most speakers at the convention next week with make fun of McCain for one or both of these comments. We may look back at these gaffes as defining events in this election.
UPDATE: And now Obama himself has weighed in, with style:
I guess if you think that being rich means you’ve got to make $5 million, and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong!
UPDATE: And here's the ad everyone's going to be talking about. Hee Hee!
UPDATE: kulba000 directs me to this piece in Politico, which tells us that Obama isn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. He knows a game-changer when he sees it.
Barack Obama's campaign, moving rapidly to exploit what they see as a major opportunity, is deploying high-profile surrogates in 16 states across the country today to highlight John McCain's uncertainty yesterday about how many houses he owns, the Democrat's campaign tells Politico.
Governors, members of Congress and state legislators will hold conference calls and press conferences in front of homes to draw attention to the issue. Party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, on the stump in Ohio and Iowa respectively, wil move to incorporate the matter into their remarks on the campaign trail today in an effort to draw local media attention to the story.
Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don't know how many houses they own.
And in other states, ordinary citizens who have been victim of the mortgage crunch will hold press availabilities to contrast their plight with McCain's wealth.
The aggressive move on Obama's part is in keeping with a shift in campaign tactics since his vacation. Obama and his campaign aides have both ramped up their rhetoric in recent days. This latest effort reflects a willingness to hit McCain much harder and to veer from conventional issue-based attacks to the sort of character assaults that have marked the GOP's campaign against Obama as well as their effort against John Kerry in 2004
If Dems can't, uh, take this to the house, we should all pack up out toys and go home. (I'm so giddy I'm not making much sense.) Every speech next week should be required to include at least on "house" quip. I offer these, free of charge:
John McCain was against Bush's tax cuts for the superrich before he supported them. And he opposed torture before he supported it. And he supported a sane and humane immigration policy before he got to know Tom Tancredo during the primary. No wonder John McCain owns so many houses--there are so many John McCains.
Maybe you've heard that John McCain can't remember how many houses he owns. Now, I understand not remembering how many umbrellas you own. Or how many fishing rods. But houses? Either John McCain owns a lot of houses, or his memory isn't what it used to be.
Any other suggestions for "house" quips?
UPDATE: synuclein alerted me to this Washpo piece, which shows the McCain camp in full freak out mode. Desperate, they're trying to use...wait for it...Tony Rezko. Check out this quote, it's really a thing of ugly beauty:
"We're delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama," said spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the press should focus on Obama's house. "It's a frickin' mansion. He doesn't tell people that. You have a mansion you bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon."
Somehow I don't really think they're "delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama."
Also, this--from dave1042--is terrific:
McCain: Home is where the heart is. Now if I could just remember which house I left it in....