yes

"Is the press really going to let him get away with this?"

Gee, that's a tough one! YES, THEY ARE.

It seems very dangerous for John McCain to have his finances set up like this. What happens if his wife decides she's tired of being married to a very old man and starts banging a younger guy, then leaves John for that younger guy?

It's not an unheard of scenario. And if it happens, there goes his private jet, his Sedona ranch, everything...

Is this different than John Kerry and Teresa Heinz?

Is this different than John Kerry and Teresa Heinz?

yes, completely.

John StBBQ is a Republican.

John only has one real asset--Cindy. He left his wife and kids for the young blond beer baroness and has never looked back.

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

Let's see if the Drum gang is up to task:

He won't be the first republican to hide behind a woman's skirts.
Can you name some of the others?

To expand on cleek:

It's Okay If You're A Republican. That's the credo of the liberal mainstream media. Those dirty liberals!

cleek - what tax disclosures to the press did Teresa Heinz make before October of 2004?

Have to disagree with Buckethead. McC would be by far our wealthiest president since JFK, and none of the three Texan presidents in that period have been anywhere near eligible for food stamps. There's a substantial story here, which various enterprising types (McClatchy?) will pick at until it begins to seem Wifey might be richer than the Saudi royal family. McC will then agree to some limited disclosure, even though same will probably reveal the real secret: that they pay a lower tax rate than a large chunk of Americans.

Would it be in bad taste to play up the prenup Cindy had him sign?

If Cindy doesn't trust him, should we?

Rather than asking whether the media will let him get away with it (obviously they will), maybe we should speculate on what it would take for the media to turn on him? Short of genocide, I can't really think of anything. My guess is that if John McCain burst into the Senate chamber and started mowing people down with an M-16, the media would say, "oh that's just John having a 'senior moment'. And he's saving the taxpayers money on Senate salaries."

There's only one reason for a politician to make sure that all his assets are in his wife's name: it's to make sure that no one knows anything about his assets. It's not as if McCain is the first pol to try this, after all.

Oh, that's a bunch of baloney.

You put your assets in your wife's name in case you're indicted--your spouse cannot testify against you and the courts have a much harder time seizing your assets.

Any businessman worth his salt has assets in the names of his wife or his ex-wives, in the names of all of his living children or their dependents, and in the names of any common-law spouses. This disperses your net worth and allows you to transfer or hide wealth as needed when negotiating with prosecutors, lawyers, rivals or tribesmen. If you need to hide it, then you need blood relatives whose names you can use to mask the true control or ownership of the asset. If you ever want to get in on that Indian gaming casino action, and I know, we ALL do, then you'd better figure out what I'm talking about first, otherwise a gaming commission is going to light you up like a Christmas tree at a licensing hearing. This is what trusts are for, for crying out loud. How many trusts has McCain set up for his children? That's what I want to know.

Senator McCain is just foolish enough to get caught doing something perfectly legal, so that a lot of silly liberals can delude themselves into thinking they won a game of "gotcha!" This is why I have little or no enthusiasm for McCain--he cannot have been truly smart in any sense of the word for marrying into a situation where the wife could not adequately give his net worth the proper cover. I mean, I know that politicians have it rough, hiding wealth from prying eyes, but I had no idea that it was this bad.

I guarantee you one thing--SHE doesn't "own" any of what the McCains have on the books. He probably had to take it all away from her to keep her from snorting it up her reconstructed little nose.

Yes. The press will give him a pass.

also,

Would it be in bad taste to play up the prenup Cindy had him sign?

He is a flawed candidate, which is why I want to see Barack Obama against John McCain. Except, the whole time, this annoying Hillary Clinton is continuing to cost the rest of the team the prize. Arrgh.

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

The fix is already in, Kevin.

Unless:
a) you have some suggestions about how the Democrats can circumvent the media; and / or
b) how to get rid of the current media ( not criticize - destroy, got it ? )

then you might as well speculate as to what is on Gibson's and Stehpanopolus's tax returns.

You did not hear this from me, but I live in Washington D.C. and I "hear" things.

McCain has been carrying on a sordid affair with Hillary Clinton since 1997.

Shhh!

It isn't as though the press called Kerry on it...

National war hero hides behind wife's skirts.

Here's John in 2003 on tax-cuts....

MCCAIN: “Well, I think it will. But when you look at the percentage of the tax cuts that—as the previous tax cuts—that go to the wealthiest Americans, you will find that the bulk of it, again, goes to wealthiest Americans. … A lot of Americans now are paying a very large a—low and middle-income Americans are paying a significantly larger amount of their income in taxes. I’d like to see them get the bulk of the relief.�

—NBC’s “Today,� Jan. 7, 2003.

"I will make Bush's tax-cuts (for the wealthy) permanent." JM 2008

No wonder he wants to hide his wife's assets.

The press needs to hammer him on his flip flops.

How can he be considered a POTUS if he has no ability to be credible? Pandering to a small constituency is not presidential, it's sleazy.

God McCain America! Land of the filthy rich and nothing but the obscenely rich, so help us god!

Kevin: "Is the press really going to let him get away with this?"

Buckethead: Gee, that's a tough one! YES, THEY ARE.

As Atrios would say, simple answers to simple questions.

Which do you like the sound of better?

John Hensley McCain?

or John McCain Hensley?

or how about Mr. Cindy Hensley?

Yes. You can be sure that if Obama pulled something like this, or something legal, but ethically-dubious like using his wife's private jet for campaigning, there'd be no end of hearing about it from the teevee punditariat.

But what about the children, Kevin? Who's going to protect the privacy of those (not so) poor, innocent kids...?

Better wait until the General to come up with the interesting stuff.

cleek - what tax disclosures to the press did Teresa Heinz make before October of 2004?

beats me. i know the press in general and the wingnuts had a conniption about the entire matter, though. and what have they said of McCain's failure to disclose in 2008? oh, nuttin.

and that's the point.

"Is the press really going to let him get away with this?"

Kevin, why do you persist in asking questions that have obvious answers? The press lets him get away with talking about "the gooks," fergawdsake.

How can he be considered a POTUS if he has no ability to be credible?

This thread seems to be full of really hard questions.

McCan't show you my real financial status.

Yes. The media is his base.

Here's a question I'd like the Press to ask of the 3 remaining President Contenders:

Which one of you signed a pre-nup for your current marriage?

cleek - you mean "nuttin" like this from the Wall St. Journal? Plenty of press in general and wingnuts are having a conniption:
http://s.wsj.net/article/SB120852774944126269.html

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

If by press, you do not include blogs, then yes. Yes, they will.

It just proves that McBush is really just a regular guy like Dubya. He is not one of those elitists. (snort) (roll eyes).

Plenty of press in general and wingnuts are having a conniption

utter nonsense

Did you read the WSJ article? Maybe it's just LEFT wingnuts this time around.

Question:

If the MSM is giving JM a free pass for his flip flops, like with tax-cuts, how come Obama is villified for being associated with Wright?

It's as if it's OKAY to change your tune as a GOP guy... but you are forever damned by your past if you are a democrat.

Think about it. We let John M blow his stack, he does have a fiesty temper. Yet John Dean was crucified for his display of anger.

It's as if the GOP doesn't have to be credible, since the human side of the democrats is... is incredible.

John's family values pale when compared with Obama's, yet he gets a free pass.

Wow. No wonder Cindy's dollars are NOT discussed, not mentioned, and simply won't be a factor in the grueling campaign ahead.

Hay, Norman Rodgers, I 'read' things at the checkout line and McCain is having an affair with Connie Stevens, its true, National Enquirer said so.

Neener Neener!

I seem to recall that John Kerry had considerably more substance in his financial reports. Granted, anything that might have raised questions could have been moved over to Teresa's ledger, but what was shown gave a much more complete financial picture than what we're getting from McCain.

Did you read the WSJ article?

i read the first 10 lines, beyond which they won't share.

Maybe it's just LEFT wingnuts this time around.

maybe LEFT wingnuts are ___what___ this time around?

please don't tell me that all the wingnut outrage in 2004 was manufactured bullshit... how could i ever bring myself to trust the media ever again ?

McCain is living a particular version of the American Dream: trade your shopworn middle-aged wife for a 25-year old blond who owns a liquor store.

The media has a ginormous mancrush on the doddering old fool. He could sodomize a goat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the press would find a way to spin it favorably.

I'm not the first person to point this out, of course, but:

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

Yes.

SASQ.

He could sodomize a goat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and the press would find a way to spin it favorably.

"Hey, since Mickey Kaus blows goats, isn't it time we reconsidered the whole notion of Republican-goat sex? Kudos to McCain for taking such a bold -- dare I say maverick? -- stance on a controversial issue!"

Gah. 4:40 and 4:47 are by me. Since when does the comment system allow totally anonymous posting?

gcochran - "McCain is living a particular version of the American Dream: trade your shopworn middle-aged wife for a 25-year old blond who owns a liquor store."

No, no, no - the American dream is to trade that shopworn middle-aged wife for a 25-year-old blond bisexual nymphomanaic whose father is a Columbian drug lord and whose mother owns a liquor store.

McGrampa may have missed on a couple of those, but give the man credit for trying.

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

Those are the questions they know the answer to.

Norman Rogers: How many trusts has McCain set up for his children? That's what I want to know.

That depends on what you define as "for his children" (HT Ken Silverstein):

NYT: Over the past two years, Senator and Mrs. McCain donated about $340,320 from their community assets to charity, the campaign said. Most of Senator McCain’s contributions were made to the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation. It contributes to a number of groups including Operation Smile, an organization that provide reconstructive facial surgery to poor children and others, and The Halo Trust, an organization involved in mine-clearing.

Silverstein: That’s true, but [..] the John and Cindy McCain Family foundation “made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More than $500,000 went to his kids’ private schools, most of which was donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children.�

[unless] you have some suggestions about how the Democrats can circumvent the media

Oh come on you make it sound like only the pentagon has surrogates and the addresses of local TV stations. Just don`t bother with plain old "conflicts of interest" stories. Stick to all the sex, "foreign" and less-than-Christian transactions you can find.

Plenty of the lobbyist on the McCain team must have FARA registrations because of their work for foreign governments. Just find a majority Muslim country and whack him around with it Dubai ports style. Sure its the work for Pharmaceutical companies and secular dictators that actually helped kill people, but lobbying for Muslims just is better TV.

Hell 10 bucks says he is in touch with someone who helped/supported the Iranian republican guard fly weapons into the Balkans. There is a "helped radical Muslim group XYZ" angle here.

The media never gave Teresa Heinz Kerry a pass on not disclosing her assets. Her reasoning for not disclosing her wealth was also to protect her children's pivacy. Why should they give John McCain a pass?

The media never gave Teresa Heinz Kerry a pass on not disclosing her assets. Her reasoning for not disclosing her wealth was also to protect her children's privacy. Why should they give John McCain a pass?

So after more than two decades of making a hefty six-figure salary, a salary that puts him among the top income-earners in this country, McCain has managed to save no more than a pathetic $15-50K in a savings account? Really? If that's how poorly he handles his own finances, how can we possibly trust him with the American worker's hard-earned money? The man's obviously a financial incompetent.

We all know Republicans hate taxes like a vampire hates sunlight, but I care more that John McCain has unresolved PTSD and committed war crimes while serving in Viet Nam. The sicko dropped napalm on civilians and bombed civilian targets, such as lightbulb factorys. I don't want my president waking up sweating in the middle of the night, wanting to drop a nuke on Charley to alleviate his nightmares...

The answer of course is Hell, yes. AFAIK not one major news organization is even thinking about this. They're too busy wondering why Obama doesn't give up now because of the Rev Wright "scandal".
File this in the IOKIYAAR Folder.

And how about his health records, while we are at it? Two occurrences of melanoma is a bad general prognosis.

stonetools:

The Wall Street Journal is not "one major news organization"? Teresa Heinz Kerry only disclosed two pages of her 1040 in OCTOBER of 2004, so there's nothing hypocritical yet.

The man's a hero, for god's sake! If he wants to steal us blind, isn't that HIS business?

Johnny always says one thing and does another...no surprise there.