Two thoughts -- first, I was thinking of ways to tie McCain to Bush again in this fiasco.
I am no film editor, but I wish someone with a little bit of tech savvy and equipment could just substitute the word "keys" for "weapons" in the following famous Bush Correspondents Dinner slide show:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Flip it over:
It would help remind people of the following:
- Bush
- Bush is an idiot
- Bush is an insensitive, out of touch idiot
- So is McCain
Please help if you can?
Meanwhile, My second thought is about the Mccain camp's answer that Cindy actually owns the houses. Well, not so fast.
Arizona is a community property state which means roughly that both spouses own everything together.
Sure there are plenty of ways around the rule, but if the McCains were using those methods (trusts, specific quit claim deeds, sale to other partner, etc.) it would look even worse. They would look either like cheats (most likely) or it would look like John Hero McCain was a panty waist who wasn't even trusted by his own wife and family with money or property. Kinda goes aganst the manly man thingy.
By the way, my favorite paragraph from the link above regarding shared marital property is the following:
Q: I've Since Learned that My Spouse Spent a $200,000 of Our Community Funds Gambling Over the Years. Can I Make a Claim for that Amount During the Divorce?
A: Depends on your particular situation. The concept of "waste" could apply in this case, making your spouse liable to you for your portion of the wasted asset, i.e., half. However, waste is not always an easy thing to prove and varies from case to case. For example, if Bill Gates spends $200,000, it might not be considered waste because it's such a minor amount for him and his wife. For most people, throwing away that much cash is a serious matter and so a court might be expected to address the $200,000 in the divorce by either offsetting other assets and debts to make up for it or ordering the wasting spouse to pay the other.
Given McCain's gamblinch trips and thousand dollar crap shoots, Cindy should consider suing him for that when they split.