Exactly.

This was a stupid statement all along. I could not believe Americans ever thought Obama was the 'elite one' in this race. All Presidential candidates are wealthy, it is how you got your wealth that matters. McCain was born with it, and married much much more.

If you are born with a silver spoon, how can you possibly relate to the rest of us? Reading Cindy McCain's statement about how "our condo became so busy with children visiting, so I just bought another one...." tells us a lot. So, off the cuff, so, doesn't everybody? No wonder John doesn't know how many homes they own. They buy them like the ordinary person visits the grocery store.

Gee, when my home gets busy with guests, I buy more sodas. Or chips and dip. Or beer. We sleep on the sofa.

How about you guys? Any one else in America get to buy a condo just because you have extra guests over from time to time?

John Kerry looks and acts like an elitist. George Bush doesn't, preferring to affect a Texas goodolboy style, and despite his wealth and preppy background. Neither does Johnny U.S. Pilot McCain, who is full of flyboy machismo and bonhomie. Obama does, due to his discursive, detached and thoughtful, almost professorial style. Background matters a lot less. He would do well to look and act less like a professor and more like a heavyweight boxer. That's the game he's in.

If Americans are truly voting on how someone looks like an elitist rather than what they do and say then we are indeed stupid, stupid, stupid. I believe many are actually voting that way.

Glenn Greenwald's latest book should be required reading.

i think it's important to reframe the elitism question in terms of origins because i don't think that's how most americans perceive it. i think for most americans, class has to do with how you act and handle yourself and the activities you do, things you surround yourself with, visible habits, etc. everyone knew that both bush and kerry were incredibly wealthy, but bush's "down home texas beer drinking brush clearing" act gave off the signifiers of the country, the everyman, etc. etc. while kerry gave off the signifiers of MASS, windsurfing, and other common images that are associated with old wealth. of course both of these images were crafted by the GOP machine and ignored the basic fact that both of the candidates lived lives that were incredibly removed from the lives of most americans - as do the current candidates. obama has to be able to counter the ridiculous claims that paint him as essentially an upper middle class yuppie harvard type. his race and origins should be enough, but apparently they're not. it's absurd that karl rove can call obama the guy at the country club considering how many country clubs have historically excluded blacks from membership, but if there is no counter to that image, then it will stick - because obama sends his kids to private school, he "eats right," and all this other stuff. technically it is the stuff of the upper middle class lifestyle, but he should be able to use his community work past and origins to negate that stuff.

Many seem to be confused by the fact that "elitist" is based on the word "elite". "Elite" does refer to a particular segment of society - those at the top. It could be argued that both Obama and McCain are among the elite, although Obama did not start out his life among this group, while McCain did. "Elitism" is the belief that you deserve special treatment because you are in that favored class. McCain does not seem to be asking for special treatment because he is rich. He served in the military and even reputedly refused early release by the North Vietnamese because they only offered it because of his family connections (is this true, by the way? Any inside info?). One who practices "elitism" is an "elitist". You can be an elitist without being elite, and you can be elite without being an elitist.

Obama has been accused of being "elitist". Now, they are trying to turn the charge around on McCain, but they are doing so by suggesting that not knowing how many properties you own is an indication that you are an elitist. That's a marginal argument, at best. If they seriously want to turn this around, then they're going to have to find a better argument.

Although, in all honesty, I think this is just a practice diversion to see how quickly they can spread a meme about McCain. I can't see why they would be stupid enough to release a serious attack just days before it would be completely eclipsed by the VP announcement and then the Convention.

Flyboy machismo and bonhomie? McCain looks to me like an old geezer who tosses stale crumbs at the duck pond and smells like Depends undergarments.

The question I have about the 7 or 8 houses issue is: Why did it come up now? This matter has been hiding in plain sight since the 2000 presidential election. I saw one interview with a pundit on TV last night in which the pundit admitted that he "had been in 2 or 3 of those houses."

OK, so the press knew McCain had a real estate empire for -- oh, I don't know, the last 5 years or so -- and they let the GOP drag Obama through the mud on the elitist issue without a peep.

I know the press is not supposed to get involved in political squabbles, but when you have a piece of information in your back pocket that would destroy a campaign tactic, shouldn't you say something about it?

"...by suggesting that not knowing how many properties you own is an indication that you are an elitist. That's a marginal argument, at best."

Dear Lord you are dense.

I'm on a politics mailing list where I work. The participants are mostly conservative engineers. Two weeks ago the mail was all about how Obama was a rich elitist out to tax the middle class.

When I posted the same point (in so many words) that Lawrence did the response from the list was "well, you liberals hate rich people".

It's like exchanging emails with monkeys.