http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/1...0761/361/569169
ladies & gentlemen, we have the money quote
by rasbobbo
Sat Aug 16, 2008 at 10:13:50 PM PDT
question: Give me a number, give me a specific number where

do you move from middle class to rich? Is it 100

thousand, is it 50 thousand, 2 hundred? How does anybody

know if we don't know what the standards are?

John Mccain's answer: So — so I think if you're just talking about income, how about 5 million.
this is an ad that writes itself.

rasbobbo's diary :: ::
how out of touch & elitist is the republican nominee? he thinks if you make more in a week than 75% of the american people make in a year, you are comfortably in the middle class. this quote needs to turn into an advertisement, like tomorrow. if not tonight. it needs to be played over & over & over. "my friends" my ass! what country are you living in senator?

pulled from the transcript of the religion forum posted by The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

ps: this not a distortion. i have edited out the extraneous b.s. with which the republican nominee embellished his answer. the question is clear, rev. warren asked for a specific number & mccain's answer was $5 million in income.

What a load.

I define "middle class" as the class that works and pays taxes.

I am middle class.

The rich OWN stuff and AVOID paying taxes.

The poor live on low-paying wages and can barely afford to pay for food and rent.

There is my assessment in 25 words or less.

As usual, the worse problems in the US can be traced to our misuse of language because
misusing language is our way of avoiding reality. After all these years of democratizing ourselves,
we still think of our brother and sister human citicens in terms of class.

In all fairness - if that is what we want here, that was an extremely edited version of what he said. His entire answer, and the tone of his voice were entirely different watching and listening to it. He was, on purpose giving just an exaggerated number. I actually like his answer when taken in the 'whole' - it made me chuckle - which I believe was the intent.

you seem to always feel sorry for his mistakes and friends and foibles...yet come down hard on the other guy for everything

oops, its 3am, John McCain just pushed the wrong button and obliterated Iran...oh that grandpa, doesn't know red from green when he has that senior moment

Wow..if that's the case, I must be totally poverty stricken. Where are my entitlements?

Two good takes on this.

There can be no doubt that the term "middle class" has been misused to the point of having lost its meaning completely.

I know middle class...

John McCain... you have no idea what middle class is.

No - you bring quotes from other board here and post them like they are facts.

I don't think he made a mistake at all, because there is no set answer. It was one of the areas that Obama had problems with - but you have always agreed with the the magic number of 250K that people pulled out of thin air.

McCain made his point to the audience he was supposed to, and it was a good answer.

Exaggerated points, that everyone understand as exaggerated are useful tools. He could have used 2, 3 5 or 10 million - it didn't matter. The crux of his point people understood (lie or no lie) is that he doesn't want to bring the upper income down, but would rather rise the lower income UP. That plays to the undecided people very well.

I wanted to puke the two times he mentioned Reagan, I wanted to choke him when he said chase OBL to the gates of hell.. my list of what I totally dislike about him is a long one so I'm not making excuses for him.

policy choices dictate that a dollar number be picked as to who pays more taxes and who pays less. McCain says we continue with the Bush policy of borrow and spend and leave the rich alone. Thats nice because he is rich. McCain evaded the question. He failed to answer the question as who is middle class in his mind. Perhaps he is out of touch and has no idea. That could be true.

If I were inclined to perceive/conceive in terms of class, I would see John McCain as socially
lower class and economically upper, upper class.