The Issue Behind McCain's Houses

One of the wise regulars on Daily Kos takes a hard look at the real importance of John McCain's major gaffe re his/Cindy's housing inventory:

"Note that 60% of taxpayers would see less than a 1% cut in taxes under the McCain/Gramm plan.

If McCain's plan mirrored that of Barack Obama--in other words, if his economic philosophy reflected the notion that the government should aid those Americans who need it the most, not those who need help the least--then whether McCain remembers if he owns one house or one dozen houses would be a simple campaign gaffe rather than a major story.

However, where, as here, a candidate's economic worldview is so skewed in favor of the super-rich, of those 147,000 families which make of the top .1% of taxpayers, and when that candidate's economic policy provides no real relief to millions of American families struggling to make ends meet in one home, then a gaffe becomes an inadvertent confession of irrelevancy."

The graph comes from a story in the Washington Post and is based on independent, nonpartisan think tank research. Obama has tried without any real success to make the case for this sharp difference in tax policy for some time now; yesterday's flap has given legs to this issue. One interesting question: will this impact McCain's reported leaning toward Mitt Romney, another multimillionare with multiple housing? Democrats probably hope not.

- Richard Holcomb