As the Washington Post detailed Sunday, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute have filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall. With Palin, the groups seek to reverse Kempthorne's decision to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act:

They object to what they call the "Alaska Gap" in relation to the special rule the federal government issued in May in conjunction with the polar bear's protected status. The rule, meant to prevent the polar bear's status from being used as a tool for imposing greenhouse gas limits, exempts projects in all states except Alaska from undergoing review in relation to emissions.

It should come as no surprise that NAM, which issued a hagiographic press release lauding Palin's selection by McCain Friday, was quick to line up with the Alaska governor. After all, she has been more than willing to deploy pseudo-science and outright deception to expand drilling at all costs.

From the beginning, Palin has peddled snake oil and bogus claims in her crusade against the polar bear. On August 4th, she announced her suit by declaring, "We believe that the Service's decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available." Earlier this year, Palin blatantly lied about the scientific consensus while appearing with CNN's conservative talk show host, Glenn Beck:

"In fact, the number of polar bears has risen dramatically over the past 30 years. Our fear[(is] that extreme environmentalists will use this tool, the ESA, to eventually curtail or halt the North Slope production of very rich resources that America needs."

Sadly for Palin, the overwhelming body of evidence, including findings from her own Alaska Department of Fish and Game, contradict her falsehoods. Ian Stirling, an emeritus scientist with Canada's Department of the Environment and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta, has been studying polar bear populations for 37 years. As Wired detailed, his conclusions are a clear rebuke to Palin:

"Polar bear populations have not been increasing for the past 30 years, and that's a well-known fact."

In fact, the polar bear population has actually declined by 20 percent in Alaska's Southern Beaufort Sea since the mid-1980s, he says, referring to peer-reviewed research that he's conducted with other scientists for the US Geological Survey. The reason: Loss of their habitat in the form of melting ice.

The research reports with this information have been available to Palin for more than a year, Stirling says.

Even the state of Alaska's own biologists disagree with Governor Palin. As the Anchorage Daily News documented in May, email shows the scientists at the state's Department of Fish and Game contradicted Palin's public statements:

The state's marine mammal scientists agreed last year with federal researchers who concluded polar bears are threatened with extinction because of a shrinking ice cap.

A newly released e-mail from last fall shows that the state's own biologists were at odds with the Palin administration, which has consistently opposed any new federal protections for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act.

The state's in-house dispute seems to refute later statements by Gov. Sarah Palin that a "comprehensive review" of the federal science by state wildlife officials found no reason to support an endangered-species listing for the northern bears. The governor invoked the state's own scientific work both in a cover letter to the state's official polar bear comments, and in an opinion piece published in the New York Times.

Nonetheless, Palin went forward with her lawsuit in August. As it turns out, her Lysenkoism doesn't end with polar bears. While even the Republican Party platform cites "human activity" as having "increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere," Sarah Palin has concluded otherwise. When it comes to global warming, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made."

Despite campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin's claim that "the governor is going to support senator McCain's policies" for protecting polar bears, Sarah Palin in ways large and small will apparently continue her war against them. On Thursday, Palin chose the grizzly bear over the polar bear and other candidates for the state's commemorative quarter.

On Sunday, Cindy McCain announced she was "offended" by Barack Obama's critique of her husband as an out-of-touch politician of privilege who "doesn't know" about the economic challenges Americans face. If so, Hurricane Gustav may provide her just the opportunity to refute the point. With the GOP hoping to capitalize on the potential tragedy by converting the Republican National Convention into a massive telethon, the McCains can give early, often and generously. And then, Cindy McCain can come clean about her top-secret charitable giving.

While there's no ambiguity about the McCains' fantastic wealth, the amount (if not some of the recipients) of their charitable giving remains shrouded in mystery. Just two weeks after claiming she would "never" release her tax returns, Cindy McCain in May released a two-page summary featuring $6 million in income earned in 2006. (Her disclosure did not include her 2007 IRS return, for which she had filed for an extension.) But her meager document dump shed little light on her charitable donations.

But while that summary did not add up Cindy McCain's contributions to charity, the McCain campaign web site did provide some information:

"In 2006, Senator and Mrs. McCain donated $129,390 from community assets to charity, of which Senator McCain's one-half allocation was $64,695. This is 19% of his adjusted gross income."

If that statement covers the totality of her giving, that would mean Cindy McCain gave only about 1% ($64,695 of $6,066,431 in adjusted gross income) to charity in 2006. That figure is less than half the 2.2% of their incomes Americans on average give to charity.

In her defense, it is important to note that Americans can't gauge the full scope of Mrs. McCain's charitable contributions based solely on the limited disclosure in May. Her itemized deductions totaled almost $570,000, of which her giving to charity would be part. But without access to her Schedule A form (which she did not release) detailing those contributions, it is not possible to know what she claimed. So, Cindy McCain may well have given more than 1% of her $6 million income to charity in 2006 from separate assets. But without either the release of her full return - or a statement from the McCain campaign - we'll never know.

Perhaps more damning, though, is where the money goes. As Harper's reported in February:

Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to the [John and Cindy McCain Family] foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period, the McCain 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.

Documents released by the campaign show where the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation distributed its money in 2006. Of the $187,639 in contributions made by the Foundation that year, $50,500 went to the Brophy College Preparatory School, previously attended by their sons Jim and Jack. Another $42,639 went to Christ Lutheran School, where Bridget and Jim once went. Interestingly, in 2007, distributions from the McCain Foundation dipped to $78,250, most of which went to Operation Smile and the HALO Trust for clearing land mines.

In contrast to the publicly disclosed 2% combined charitable giving of the McCains, Barack and Michelle Obama donated 5.7% of their 2007 income to charity. As the New York Times noted, the Hillary and Bill Clinton have not always met the 5% goal President Clinton set for himself. Nonetheless, the Clintons gave $3 million to their foundation last year.

Of course, book sales produced a windfall for the Obamas over the past two years, a windfall which has let them substantially ratchet up their support of charities. But the $100 million beer heiress Cindy McCain, too, is set to earn a staggering multi-million dollar pay-day from the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgian beverage giant, In Bev. As the Wall Street Journal reported in July, Mrs. McCain runs the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributorship in the nation, and owns between $2.5 and $5 million in the company's stock. (Amazingly, while Missouri's politicians of both parties lined up to try to block the sale, John McCain held a fundraiser in the Show Me State even as the In Bev deal was being finalized.) Apparently, this Bud's for her.

Back in 2004, the Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti branded Theresa Heinz Kerry a "sugar mommy." (Of course, he's remained quiet on the topic in 2008, even as the record shows Cindy McCain bankrolled her husband's political career). And to be sure, with the too-many-to-count homes, the $100 million plus fortune, the $2 million divestment in holdings linked to Sudan, the $520 shoes, her corporate jet ("in Arizona the only way to get around the state is by small private plane"), $130,000 budget for domestic help, the $225,000 monthly credit card debt and the potential $370,000 bonanza from the McCain tax plan, it's easy enough to paint the McCains with the same brush.

At the end of the day, it's not his eye-popping wealth but his jaw-dropping statements and gilded-age policies which lead Americans to conclude that John McCain "doesn't get it." The "$5 million" line between middle class and rich, the "great progress economically" during the Bush years, the "psychological" economic downturn, the nation of "whiners," the demand that Americans facing foreclosure should be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time" and the suggestion that eBay is the solution to poverty all combine to show a blissfully unaware John McCain out-of-touch with the hardships American families face every day.

For her part, Cindy McCain apparently considers that spotlight an offensive. But with her husband John planning to appropriate a potential national disaster in Hurricane Gustav for partisan political purposes, the very least the McCains can do to give generously to Hurricane relief now and open the books on their charitable giving in the past.

UPDATE: In case there's any doubt how the Republicans plan to spin a looming natural disaster for hundreds of thousands of Americans, the Politico offers two news articles titled "GOP sees potential redemption in Gustav" and "McCain: Convention now a call to action."

With his unexpected selection today of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain stayed true to form. Not as the mythical maverick, but as the craven opportunist willing to do anything to capture the presidency. Desperate to pander to whatever disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters may remain, McCain turned to a 44 year old woman virtually unknown on the national stage. More important, by putting his campaign and not the country first, the now 72 year old McCain has taken his signature issue - national security experience - off the table.

Choosing symbolism over substance, McCain's reached out to Clinton voters by picking an anti-abortion stalwart and lifetime NRA member, a woman certain to back McCain's planned transformation of the Supreme Court and his war on reproductive rights. An economic conservative with close ties to the Alaska oil industry, Palin could signal a coming change from McCain on drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve (ANWR), a reversal which would follow closely on the heels of his flip-flop on offshore drilling. It's not a stretch to imagine John McCain endorsing Palin, a one-time Alaska beauty pageant contestant, to join his wife Cindy in vying for Miss Buffalo Chip.

But with a single stroke (no pun intended), John McCain celebrated his 72nd birthday today by removing experience as an issue in this campaign. The claim that Barack Obama is "not ready" to be commander-in-chief has been a central McCain talking point. Just days ago, the McCain campaign debuted a misleading ad which distorted Obama's foreign policy statements, concluded that he is "dangerously unprepared." Now, in his desperate gambit to win the White House, John McCain has turned to a green small state governor who just two years was the mayor of town with under 10,000 people. At most, Palin earned her national security chops by keeping Canadian moose from crossing the Alaskan border.

At the end of day, the only surprising aspect of McCain's VP choice was her name. That McCain would turn his back on the defining theme of his campaign is sadly typical. As a doddering John McCain said on June 3rd, "that's not change we can believe in."

UPDATE: Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, herself passed over by McCain for the #2 slot, said of Sarah Palin, "I don't know too much about her."

During the Democratic Convention, the desperately seeking second Mitt Romney has been John McCain's faithful attack dog. On Tuesday, Romney announced that John McCain had "earned" his too-many-to-remember houses with his "hard work," while playing the false Rezko card against Barack Obama. On Wednesday, Romney upped the ante, suggesting that McCain's multiple mansions were reasonable compensation for "being homeless for five years." But as it turns out, back in January Mitt Romney sounded a lot more like Democrats Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer and Dick Durbin in warning Americans that John McCain's dangerously out-of-control temper made him unfit for office.

Romney's top 10 list includes some of McCain's greatest hits - literally. In addition to dropping the f-bomb on fellow Republican Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and John Cornyn (R-TX), McCain "repeatedly" called New Mexico's Pete Domenici an "a**hole." While the Romney list features some comparatively minor McCain blow-ups towards Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell and other leading lights of the GOP, it also claims that in 1995, John McCain "had a scuffle" with then 92-year old Strom Thurmond.

Here are the Romney campaign's top 10 episodes of "the McCain way" of rage and fury. Only the heading for each is shown below; the details and list of references are provided in the full memo, which is available at the Boston Herald:

1. Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And Screamed, "F*ck You!" At Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).


2. In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton.


3. Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) an "A**hole," Causing A Fellow GOP Senator To Say, "I Didn't Want This Guy Anywhere Near A Trigger."


4. Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A "F*cking Jerk."


5. In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A "Scuffle" With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor.


6. Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of the "Most Egregious Incident" Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate.


7. Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign.


8. Sen. McCain Attacked Vice President Cheney.


9. Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer.


10. Sen. McCain "Publicly Abused" Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).

During his first president run back in 1999, John McCain tried to defuse the growing concerns over his hot temper, insisting, "Do I insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that? No, I don't." But when the Washington Post in April detailed, John McCain's legendary temper, pundits, politicians and armchair psychologists alike weighed in on the Arizona Senator's litany of f-bombs, fisticuffs and frothing. But while McCain spokesman Mark Salter called the Washington Post piece "99% fiction," one national Republican leader had already taken great pains to back up its account.

That would be John McCain's would-be running mate, Mitt Romney.

UPDATE: On the VP rumor front, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is said to be clearing his schedule, while security is being stepped up around Mitt Romney's family. His past attacks aside, Mitt's mansions and the Romney riches could be a powerful argument against putting him on the ticket.

That's the word from the architect of John McCain's health care proposals, John Goodman. No one in the United States is uninsured, Goodman, pronounced, because Americans have access to emergency room care. As the Dallas Morning News reported:

Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American - even illegal aliens - as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care. So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

For a candidate who diagnosed the economic downturn as "psychological", the semantic solution to the crisis in medical coverage is unsurprising. And to be sure, with its GOP "Emergency Room" health care plan, the McCain campaign is just following in the footsteps of Republicans deniers George W. Bush and Tom Delay.

During a July 2007 visit to Cleveland, President Bush unveiled his emergency room cure for the ills of the U.S. health care system. Rejecting the expansion of the successful - and even more popular - State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), Bush assured Americans that there was no crisis in medical coverage:

"I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room."

In November, indicted former House majority leader Tom Delay took Bush's health care clown show overseas. Speaking in the UK, Delay announced:

"By the way, there's no one denied health care in America. There are 47 million people who don't have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America."

But while his comments were greeted in England (as the AP reported) with "derisive laughter," no one was chuckling back home.

As it turns out, of course, millions more Americans are denied - or are forced to deny themselves - health care each year. Just days after Delay spoke, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute showed a dramatic decline in employer-provided health care. That drop-off from 64.2% of Americans covered through workplace insurance in 2000 to just 59.7% in 2007 added 2.3 million more people to those without coverage. And in June, a devastating new assessment from the Commonwealth Fund showed fully 25 million Americans are now "underinsured," a staggering 60 percent jump since 2003. All in all, 42% of the people in the United States under age 65 have insufficient insurance - or simply none at all.

(As it turns out, the recent dip in the number of uninsured to 45.7 million is due almost exclusively to expanded state and federal government insurance programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP. Of course, John McCain joined President Bush in opposing the expansion of the popular program providing coverage for children.)

And to be sure, America's overflowing emergency rooms do not have the capacity, staffing or funding to be the health care solution of last resort. A 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine revealed that U.S. emergency rooms can barely cope with the volume of patients in the best of circumstances:

The study cited three contributing problems to the rise in emergency room visits: the aging of the baby boomers, the growing number of uninsured and underinsured patients, and the lack of access to primary care physicians.

The report found that 114 million people, including 30 million children, visited emergency rooms in 2003, compared with 90 million visits a decade ago. In that same period, the number of U.S. hospitals decreased by 703, the number of emergency rooms decreased by 425, and the total number of hospital beds dropped by 198,000, mainly because of the trend toward cheaper outpatient care, according to the report.

And that's in the best of times; the forecast for the worst of times is grimmer still. A March 2008 study from the House Oversight and Government Reform showed an American ER system woefully unprepared to handle a "predictable surprise" of a terrorist attack on the scale of the 2004 Madrid bombing:

The results of the survey show that none of the hospitals surveyed in the seven cities had sufficient emergency care capacity to respond to an attack generating the number of casualties that occurred in Madrid. The Level I trauma centers surveyed had no room in their emergency rooms to treat a sudden influx of victims. They had virtually no free intensive care unit beds within their hospital complex. And they did not have enough regular inpatient beds to handle the less severely injured victims. The shortage of capacity was particularly acute in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Particularly acute in Los Angeles, indeed. As CBS reported, security cameras captured the death last year of Edith Isabel Rodriguez in a Los Angeles emergency room lobby, a woman who lay without help on the floor for 45 minutes as hospital personnel passed by.

And the scene was repeated on June 19 in New York, where 49 year old Esmin Green collapsed and died while waiting almost 24 hours in the emergency room of a psychiatric hospital. (The video of the CBS segment is available here.)

Later this summer, John McCain will address the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. There, he will talk in glowing terms about the McCain health care plan, one virtually identical in its outlines - and dismal shortcomings - as that of President Bush. As Minnesota Public Radio recently detailed, the emergency rooms of Minneapolis and St. Paul are prepared to handle the GOP faithful should they become sick before, during or after McCain's speech.

Then again, in the America of George Bush, John McCain and the Republican Party, no one is denied health care, not even the "whiners." They can always go to the emergency room.

As ThinkProgress just reported, CNN earlier today showed a deceptive chart which wrongly suggests that John McCain's tax plan provides more Americans with greater savings than that offered by Barack Obama. But CNN's upper-crust income brackets starting at $161,000 conceal the inescapable truth that Barack Obama's proposals offer working and middle class Americans steeper tax benefits at every income level up to $110,000. And according to a new Gallup poll released today, that truth isn't lost on American voters.

By 48% to 43%, Americans surveyed by Gallup say Obama would better handle the issue of taxes than John McCain. And with good reason. As the Washington Post detailed, an analysis by the Tax Policy Center showed:

"Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy."

Those whose income is under $67,000 - 60% of all American taxpayers - would see substantially larger tax cuts under the Obama plan. While McCain's plan concentrates 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans, Obama's rollback of the Bush tax cuts above $250,000 produces tax increases for that group.

Sadly, Obama's story is not getting through. In the face of the TPC's analysis showing that 95% of American taxpayers would see savings under the Obama tax plan, 53% of the Gallup respondents wrongly believe their tax burden would increase under President Obama. Meanwhile, despite the same analysis showing McCain's plan to make permanent and expand the Bush tax cuts would produce a staggering $2.8 trillion in red ink for the federal budget, the Republican still claims the mantle of fiscal discipline.

And to be sure, CNN did American voters no favors today.

In Denver, an estimated crowd of 75,000 people will fill Invesco Field on Thursday to hear Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination. The symbolism of Obama, the first African-American nominee of a major American political party, harkening back to Dr. King's "fierce urgency of now" won't be lost on the convention delegates, some of whom saw King deliver his speech in Washington, DC on August 28th, 1963. (No doubt, that symbolism is lost on the National Review, which proclaimed "quite probable that King, were he alive today, would not vote for Barack Obama." John McCain's country club economics, dismal record on civil rights and consistent opposition to the creation of the Martin Luther King holiday itself suggest otherwise.)

That debate aside, McCain's image management problems begin in earnest the next day with his scheduled VP announcement in Dayton. McCain's decision to highlight his birth in 1936 can only resurrect the age issue, one which he has tried to laugh off by joking, "I am older than dirt, with more scars than Frankenstein." Whoever McCain picks - Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman or even Colin Powell - the timing is not without risks, to say the least.

And it only gets worse.

Three years ago, as Hurricane Katrina barreled ashore the Gulf Coast, McCain joined President Bush on the tarmac at Luke Air Force base near Phoenix. Even as New Orleans was being inundated, McCain and Bush were all smiles as the President helped his former foe celebrate his 69th birthday. Their literal "let them eat cake" moment is one of the indelible images of the Bush administration's disastrous handling of the catastrophe.

To be sure, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina didn't redound to John McCain's benefit, either. During a June 4th, 2008 town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, McCain turned revisionist historian about his own role in the reconstruction:

"I've supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I've been here to New Orleans. I've met with people on the ground. I've met with the Governor...I've been as active as anybody in efforts to restore the city."

As it turns out, not so much. McCain's rewriting of the record neglects to mention that in 2005 and 2006 he twice voted against a commission to study the government's response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of Medicaid benefits. And as ThinkProgress pointed out in June, "until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005."

For John McCain and the American people alike, August 29th is a day of great symbolic import. He would do well to postpone his Friday running mate choice by a day. Instead, he and his family could quietly share his birthday cake at one of his homes.

(This piece originally appeared at Crooks and Liars.)

UPDATE: Fox News, among others, is reporting that McCain might move up his VP announcement to Thursday. It's a tough choice: trying to rain on Barack Obams'a parade or reminding voters that McCain stood with President Bush as the rain fell on New Orleans.

Monday was a miserable day for the Dow, with the market suffering a 242 point drop. But rather than joining "so-called market analysts" in attributing the sell-off to credit market woes, higher oil prices and a fluctuating dollar, the National Review's resident class warrior Larry Kudlow found a predictable villain. Despite the inescapable history that the stock market does better under Democratic presidents than Republican ones, Kudlow blamed the market steep slide on the opening of the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Unsurprisingly, the reliably Republican Kudlow faithfully regurgitated every GOP talking point in laying the Wall Street's woes at the door of the DNC:

"Are the Denver Dems downing the stock market today? The Dow is off 230 points, starting right from the get-go. So-called market analysts are blaming financials and the credit crunch as they always do. But there’s more.

Obama and Biden gave us plenty of class warfare in their Springfield, Ill., get together on Saturday. Tax the rich. Redistribute income and wealth. Go after all those corporate meanies. Trade protection...

...With the Denver Dems strutting their stuff, this could be a bumpy week for stocks. Did anyone say free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity?"

Of course, as the record shows, the best path to prosperity is to elect Democratic presidents.

The superior performance of Democratic presidents covers virtually the entire spectrum of economic indicators. As Elliott Parker of the University of Nevada, Reno detailed in a 2006 paper, since 1949 Democratic administrations have done better than Republican ones when it comes to unemployment (5.2% to 6.0%), job creation (-.0.4% decrease in unemployment, compared to 0.3% increase), GDP growth rate (4.2% to 2.9%), and even corporate profits as a share of GDP. And to be sure, he found the Dow benefits from Democrats in the White House.

There's no shortage of studies to show that stock market returns are higher under Democratic leadership. (As it turns out, Wall Street's performance is also better when Democrats control Congress.) In 2000, Pedro Santa-Clara and Rossen Valkanov of UCLA's Anderson School of Business concluded that "that the average excess return in the stock market is higher under Democratic than Republican presidents - a difference of 9 percent per year for the value-weighted portfolio and 16 percent for the equal-weighted portfolio." As the New York Times noted of UCLA study in 2003:

"It's not even close. The stock market does far better under Democrats...

...Professors Santa-Clara and Valkanov look at the excess market return - the difference between a broad index of stock prices (basically the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index) and the three-month Treasury bill rate - between 1927 and 1998. The excess return measures how attractive stock investments are compared with completely safe investments like short-term T-bills.

Using this measure, they find that during those 72 years the stock market returned about 11 percent more a year under Democratic presidents and 2 percent more under Republicans - a striking difference."

In 2002, Slate similarly concluded that "Democrats, it turns out, are much better for the stock market than Republicans":

Slate ran the numbers and found that since 1900, Democratic presidents have produced a 12.3 percent annual total return on the S&P 500, but Republicans only an 8 percent return. In 2000, the Stock Trader's Almanac, which slices and dices Wall Street performance figures like baseball stats, came up with nearly the same numbers (13.4 percent versus 8.1 percent) by measuring Dow price appreciation. (Most of the 20th century's bear markets, incidentally, have been Republican bear markets: the Crash of '29, the early '70s oil shock, the '87 correction, and the current stall occurred under GOP presidents.)

According to almanac editor Jeffrey Hirsch, the presidential party figures are among the most significant he's found. If the stock market were random, we'd expect such a result only one-quarter of the time. "I don't know why people are convinced Republicans are good for the stock market," Hirsch says.

Why? Because Republican water carriers like Larry Kudlow continue - with great success - to perpetuate the myth that the regulation-free policies of the GOP that so benefit them personally somehow help the American people overall.

Back in April, CNBC's Kudlow compared the economic downturn to an enema, declaring, "Recessions are therapeutic." Needless to say, Kudlow's "let them eat cake" pronouncement is not true. Then again, neither is his myth that Republicans are better than Democrats for the stock market.

Almost three years after his indictment on conspiracy and money laundering charges, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay may escape prosecution. Thanks to a technicality in Texas' money laundering statute, the man who once compared himself to Jesus may walk out of court, if not on water.

The Austin Statesman reported this morning that the charges against Delay and his two co-conspirators John Colyandro and Jim Ellis "may be dismissed because the 2002 campaign finance case involved checks and not cash." Delay's possible get-out-of-jail free card, the paper reported, may be found in the fine print of the state's 1993 law:

The state's 3rd Court of Appeals on Friday actually upheld the money-laundering indictments against DeLay's two campaign associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of Washington.

But the ruling contained a silver lining for the trio's lawyers because it concluded that the state's money-laundering statute - written in 1993 to combat illicit drug activity by focusing on the cash in the criminal transactions - did not apply to checks at the time DeLay is accused of laundering corporate money into campaign donations

Should the Texas' courts ultimately rule in his favor, it would mark the second time Delay would be beneficiary of legal technicalities. In December 2005, a Texas judge threw out a charge of conspiracy to violate the election code by making an illegal corporate contribution. That ruling was upheld by an appeals court panel which concluded that timing is indeed everything:

Last summer the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed the dismissal of a separate indictment against DeLay and his associates on a charge of conspiring to violate the state election code. The court ruled that conspiracy did not apply to election code violations until 2003 - a year after the $190,000 exchange - when the Legislature changed the law.

Delay's indictment arose from his unprecedented - and successful - 2002 scheme to redesign Texas state legislative districts to ensure a Republican majority in the state. Since Texas law forbids corporate contributions to candidates, Delay's co-defendant Colyandro sent $190,000 in checks collected by Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) to the Republican National Committee. Days later, the RNC then funneled the $190,000 directly back to seven GOP candidates. Ultimately, the gambit worked perfectly, as Delay's new map produced a 21-11 Republican majority in 2004, a sweeping change from the 17-15 Democratic edge previously. (In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Delay's redistricting dirty work by a 7-2 vote.)

Once again, it's looking like Tom Delay will get away with it. Having left the House of Representatives in disgrace, the pioneer of the Republican "criminalization of politics" defense may yet enjoy a political resurrection. Given his past comparisons to Christ and his insistence that God speaks to him, Tom Delay will no doubt consider that altogether fitting.

No doubt, history will not be kind to George W Bush. And to be sure, Bush is already returning the favor. Apparently stunned by the Russian assault on Georgia, President Bush forgot his invasion of "sovereign" Iraq and declared, "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century". As it turns out, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice and Mitt Romney all failed the same test on 21st century history.

While unwilling to acknowledge that he had misread Vladimir Putin's soul back in 2001, President Bush on August 11th issued a tough statement about Moscow's massive retaliation against Tbilisi:

"It now appears that an effort may be underway to depose Russia's duly elected government. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

While Bush misspoke in describing "Russia's duly elected government," his point about a nation threatening a democracy was a none-too-thinly veiled effort to distinguish Moscow's invasion of Georgia from his own in Iraq.

For her part, Secretary of State Condi Rice didn't even bother with that feeble distinction. Rice, who in a replay of her pre-9/11 failure apparently missed the memo "Putin Determined to Strike in Georgia," also selectively edited the Iraq war out of the 21st century. On August 18th, she said:

"But I just want to emphasize again, Russia is a state that is unfortunately using the one tool that it has always used, that will make it - that - when it wishes to deliver a message, and that's its military power. That's not the way to deal in the 21st century."

Bush's would-be successor John McCain, too, got it wrong. On August 13th, McCain as part of his effort to capitalize on the Georgia crisis pronounced:

"In the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations."

That's McCain's selective amnesia would extend to the Iraq war is unsurprising. He wasn't merely wrong at almost every turn in the run-up to and the occupation of Iraq, he also happened to be one the war's biggest cheerleaders. Quick to cite the September 2001 anthrax attacks as a potential pretext to attack Saddam, in January 2002 McCain simply exhorted Americans, "next up, Baghdad!"

Then there's Mitt Romney. Rumored to top John McCain's list of potential running mates, Romney told right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt that Russia's assault on Georgia should cost it the 2014 Olympic Games:

"Well, Hugh, my own view is as the Caucuses are a hot spot, and as Russians have shown their willingness to act militarily against a sovereign nation, that the International Olympic Committee ought to revisit locating the Games elsewhere."

(Romney's willingness to parrot John McCain's talking points as part of his transparent effort to join the ticket borders on the comic. When Romney endorsed the Arizona Senator in February, he signaled his desire to follow John McCain follow Osama Bin Laden to the "gates of hell.")

With the leading lights of the Republican Party having failed 21st Century History 101, the task was left to the ever-excreable Dick Morris to explain it away on Fox News. Appearing on Hannity and Colmes, Morris comically argued that the American invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq came at the request of a democratically-elected government in Baghdad. Attacking Barack Obama's self-evident message to the Russians that "it helps if we are leading by example," Morris argued:

"Where he's wrong is that we went into Iraq at the invitation of the government, not as an invasion."

"We're in Iraq as the result of a democracy asking for us to come in there. It's not an invasion."

And so it goes. The best and brightest of the GOP fundamentally misrepresent recent history, yet theirs is labeled the party of national security. And John McCain, the man who repeatedly failed the commander-in-chief test on Iraq, gets glowing grades from the media just the same.

By the time it was revealed late Friday night, Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate came as no surprise. Even more predictable is the response of Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington Bureau Chief, Bush cheerleader and almost McCain aide, that Biden is the "ultimate insider" who represents a rejection of Barack Obama's own campaign of "change." But as it turns out, once upon a time Joe Biden was himself the Democratic candidate of change and a new generation of leadership.

Back in 1983, then Democratic pollster (and sadly, current Fox News shill) Pat Caddell polled voters about match-ups between a hypothetical younger, new generation Democrat and front-runner Walter Mondale on the one hand and Republican President Ronald Reagan on the other. As Time recounted, the data suggested such a "generational" figure would present a compelling candidate in 1984:

One was dedicated to traditional politics and special interests; the other, young and imaginative, stressed new ideas and called for a new generation of leadership. Caddell professed surprise at how many people chose the Hart-like candidate in his loaded formulation.

And the man Caddell wanted to embody his new generation of leadership was Delaware Senator Joe Biden. But despite Caddell's entreaties, Biden opted to sit out that campaign. And as The Atlantic reported, "Biden's decision not to run in 1984 cleared the way for Hart to use the generational theme."

The rest, as they say, is history. After a surprising second place showing in Iowa, the candidate of "new ideas" and a "new generation of leadership" Gary Hart shocked Walter Mondale in New Hampshire. But for a few thousand votes in Georgia on Super Tuesday and subsequent slip-ups in Illinois, New York and New Jersey, Hart's change campaign might have won the Democratic nomination in San Francisco that July.

As for Biden, he picked up the change baton during his ill-fated 1988 presidential run. As the Atlantic noted, after Hart's implosion over the Donna Rice affair, the generational torch was passed to Biden:

On many issues Biden sounds a lot like Hart, particularly when he criticizes the role of special interests in the Democratic Party. But there is a lot more feeling in Biden's critique. Biden has become something of a contrarian in the party. He goes before labor groups and women's groups and peace groups and Democratic Party groups and says, "I want to say some things to you today and some of it you may not like"...

...Biden aims his pitch at the Baby Boom generation. His appeal, repeated in almost every major speech, is moving and evocative: "The cynics believe that my generation--having reached the conservative age of mortgage payments, pediatricians' bills, and saving for our children's education--are ripe for Republican picking. These experts believe that, like the Democratic Party itself, the less-than-forty-year-old voters are prepared to sell their souls for some security, real or illusory. They have misjudged us. Just because our political heroes were murdered does not mean that the dream does not still live, buried deep within the broken hearts of tens of millions of Americans." At more than one Democratic forum that passage has brought down the house.

Ultimately, of course, Biden's own undisciplined 1988 campaign foundered over the Kinnock flap, in which Biden delivered a speech featuring unattributed passages from the British Labor Party leader.

Despite the failures of its past messengers, the message of change is alive and well in the Democratic Party. While an embittered, contrarian Pat Caddell sold his soul to corporate masters from Coke to Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, Gary Hart was an early and enthusiastic endorser of Barack Obama. As for Joe Biden, he isn't merely now a more seasoned complement to Obama's insurgent candidacy. Joe Biden was, and is, a kindred spirit.

Mitt's Mansions. To be sure, Mitt Romney may not have as many houses as John McCain, but he does have more money. The son of auto magnate George Romney, the former Massachusetts governor is worth an estimated $500 million. His stable of homes includes his tony Belmont, Massachusetts estate in addition to "two vacation homes, a lake house in New Hampshire and a ski house outside Park City, Utah." (Mitt's declaration of his Utah property as his primary residence almost disqualified him from his 2002 gubernatorial run in Massachusetts; the crisis was resolved when he paid Utah back the $54,000 his earlier claim had saved him.)

Mitt's Illegal Immigrant Workers. During the Republican primaries, Romney's tough talk on immigration was undermined by the presence of illegal aliens working at his home. As the Boston Globe reported in December 2006, Romney hired a landscaping firm that routinely utilized illegal alien workers to tend to his 2-1/2 acre family residence just outside of Boston. The firm also tended to the grounds of his one of his five sons, Taggart. The Globe team interviewed four undocumented workers in Guatemala who confirmed that Romney never asked for them or their employer to produce immigration papers. Confronted by Globe reporters at the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, Romney simply said, "aw geez," and walked away. Given John McCain's own confused position on illegal immigration, the addition of Romney to the ticket would only further cloud the issue.

His Sons Serve America By Serving Mitt. The image of the Romney clan doesn't merely communicate "idle rich," it represents incarnate a rejection of John McCain's supposed "Country First" campaign theme. In Iowa in August 2007, Romney answered a question about why none of his five sons were serving in Iraq by responding that they served America by serving him:

"My sons are all adults and they've made decisions about their careers and they've chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

As for Mitt's own military service, he avoided duty in the rice fields of Vietnam while performing his Mormon mission outside Paris.

Swallowing $45 Million in Campaign Loans. Speaking of Mitt's sons, a large part of their massive inheritance has already been spent. In a sign of both his immense wealth and his desperation to be John McCain's running mate, Mitt Romney in July decided against recouping the staggering $45 million he personally loaned his own campaign. While that frees Mitt to raise money for McCain and McCain alone, voters can only wonder in amazement what they might have with that $45 million.

Downsizing Workers in Indiana. Romney would also be a liability for John McCain in the hard-fought but usually Republican state to Indiana. Romney's ostentatious wealth is one thing, but his 1990's business deals that drove layoffs in the Hoosier State is something else. The tale of SCM, a northern Indiana-based stationery company purchased by Ampad, a firm owned by Romney and a group of investors, came to dominate his failed 1994 campaign against Ted Kennedy:

Management has shed 41 of 265 blue-collar jobs, cut wages, tripled some workers' health insurance payments, abolished most of their seniority rights and junked the prior management's union contract, which had two years to run.

Losing the Dog Vote. There are roughly 60 million dogs in the United States and their owners will be none too happy with Mitt Romney. Even Fox News' Chris Wallace took Mitt to task for taking family vacations with his Irish Setter Seamus in a kennel tied to the roof of his car. After an incredulous Wallace said of his own Yellow Lab, "I would no sooner put him in a kennel on the roof of my car than I would one of my children," Romney claimed ignorance of the Massachusetts law he had violated with his penchant for rooftop canine waterboarding.

Romney's Mac Attack. During the GOP primaries, the man who would be John McCain's running mate decried "the McCain way" of uncontrolled fury towards friends and foes alike. As his make-or-break Florida primary contest against John McCain approached in late January, Mitt Romney abandoned his pledge that "I'm not going to talk about the character of the people I'm running against." Instead, the Romney campaign produced a video and an accompanying memo titled, "The McCain Way: Attack Republicans - A Top 10 List." Echoing many of the episodes detailed in an April Washington Post piece, Mitt Romney refuted John McCain's past claims of serenity ("Do I insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that? No, I don't.") going back to 1999.

Still, the buzz continues around the choice of Mitt Romney as John McCain's #2. But more than the fact that the two men hate each other, Romney's own gin-and-tonic sipping lifestyle is exactly what John McCain doesn't need right now. With his pledge to expand the GOP to "Sam's Club, not just the country club," Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty must be looking pretty good right now.

Sometimes, a single gaffe - real or imagined - comes to symbolize an entire presidential campaign. With Americans struggling as unemployment topped 7% in 1992, President George H.W. Bush saw his reelection prospects dimmed by his reported amazement at a simple grocery store checkout scanner. But while Bush 41's defining out-of-touch moment may be the stuff of political mythology, John McCain's stunning ignorance about how many homes he owns may soon come to define his run for the White House.

To be sure, the $100 million man did not endear himself this week to Americans under siege from high gas prices, skyrocketing home foreclosures and rising unemployment. Having defined Saturday the line between middle class and rich at $5 million, John McCain then declared Wednesday "I define rich in other ways besides income." But in the course of that same interview with the Politico, McCain made what could be a momentum-stopping misstep:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."

The impact of idle rich presidential candidates appearing oblivious to the hardships of working Americans can't be understated. On February 5th, 1992, the New York Times reported on George H.W. Bush's scanner snafu in a piece titled, "Bush Encounters the Supermarket, Amazed." Attending the National Grocer's Association convention in Orlando, Bush was impressed:

"If some guy came in and spelled George Bush differently, could you catch it?" the President asked. "Yes," he was told, and he shook his head in wonder.

Then he grabbed a quart of milk, a light bulb and a bag of candy and ran them over an electronic scanner. The look of wonder flickered across his face again as he saw the item and price registered on the cash register screen.

"This is for checking out?" asked Mr. Bush. "I just took a tour through the exhibits here," he told the grocers later. "Amazed by some of the technology."

For days, the White House protested that President Bush has seen such scanners "many times" and, as the Times reported on February 13th, 1992, "that he was impressed by a new generation of high-technology devices and not the type most people see every time they go to the supermarket." But the damage was already done. Reviewing the videotape, the Times concluded "Mr. Bush seemed unfamiliar with even basic scanner technology." And the image of the aloof, gin-and-tonic sipping, anyone-for-tennis Bush 41 came to define his failed reelection effort.

Two weeks ago, blogger Brendan Nyhan criticized the Los Angeles Time and the New York Times for perpetuating a myth about Bush the Elder and the dreaded scanner. "The Times," he argued, "had not been at the event in question but instead based its story on a pool report, which indicated that Bush was impressed by new scanner technology that could weigh groceries and read damaged bar codes." So when the New York Times on August 3, 2008 mocked the computer illiterate John McCain as "the analog candidate," Nyhan insists its comparison below to Poppy was unfair:

"Mr. McCain's sense of wonder evoked the episode in the early 1990s when George H. W. Bush became overly impressed upon seeing a price scanner at a supermarket check-out counter. It suggested to some people that the president, who had spent four years in the White House after spending eight years as vice president, was out of touch with the lives of average Americans."

But whatever happened in 1992, there can be no question about John McCain's shocking disconnect from the lives of real Americans. While he can't keep track of the 7, 8 or even 10 homes he owns, millions of Americans are struggling to hold onto the one they know they have - for now.

UPDATE: Marc Ambinder asks the question, "McCain Is To Houses What GWBH Was To Grocery Store Scanners?"

John McCain has finally and definitively answered the question, how do you define "rich?" After first joking that "$5 million" marked the line between middle class and rich and then arguing, "I define rich in other ways besides income," John McCain provided the real answer Thursday. A rich man doesn't even know how many houses he owns.

That moment of clarity for American voters - if not for McCain himself - came in an interview with the Politico:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."

As Matthew Yglesias points out, with McCain in some cases owning many homes on a single massive estate, it's hard to keep count. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine came to McCain's defense, noting the $100 million man "couldn't count high enough." For its part, the Obama campaign was only too happy to help out, producing a devastating ad today that tells John McCain the answer is "seven."

Back in March, John McCain lectured desperate Americans facing foreclosure that they ought to be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time."

That's easy to say when you don't know how many homes you have.

For the gold-plated details of the detached lives of John and Cindy McCain, see:
"The Haves, The Have Mores and the McCains."

UPDATE: The Politico now claims McCain has 8 homes, while Progressive Accountability counts 10.

The announcement today that the United States will deploy up to 15,000 more troops to Afghanistan is just the latest signal of the Pentagon's seeming support for Barack Obama's strategy to fight Al Qaeda in the region. Following by just weeks Obama's latest call to send at least two more brigades of American troops there, the request by U.S. commanders again confirmed Obama's assertion, one denied by John McCain, that Iraq represents a "zero sum game" for scarce American military resources.

That request by General David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, comes on the heels of Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen's agreement with Senator Obama that the situation along the Pakistan frontier is "precarious and urgent." The need is urgent indeed: in July, 9 American troops were killed in an insurgent raid that overran a U.S. border outpost; yesterday, 10 French soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack. In response, General McKiernan hopes to bolster the 101st Airborne Division with up to three brigades.

But as U.S. News reported this morning, the challenge for McKiernan and his staff is finding the needed troops. While their ask has been approved, a defense official noted, "Now that means we just need to figure out a way to get them there." As McKiernan himself made clear, the only "way" is to get the troops from Iraq:

Finding those particular troops to supplement the 101st, however, depends on conditions and troop levels in Iraq, adds McKiernan, who took over the NATO command in June. "That's really a zero-sum decision."

In early July, Admiral Mullen admitted as much. On the very day that 2,200 U.S Marines learned their tours in Afghanistan will be extended by 30 days, Mullen told reporters that the United States could only deploy more forces there by first drawing down from Iraq:

"I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach, to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq. Afghanistan has been and remains an economy-of-force campaign, which by definition means we need more forces there."

And on that point, Barack Obama and John McCain part company. From almost the inception of his campaign, Obama has argued that the diversion of U.S. military assets from Afghanistan to Iraq meant that "the people who were responsible for murdering 3,000 Americans on 9/11 have not been brought to justice." In a June speech, Obama highlighted McCain's denial of this inescapable point:

"We had al Qaeda and the Taliban on the run back in 2002. But then we diverted military, intelligence, financial, and diplomatic resources to Iraq. And yet Senator McCain has said as recently as this April that, 'Afghanistan is not in trouble because of our diversion to Iraq.' I think that just shows a dangerous misjudgment of the facts, and a stubborn determination to ignore the need to finish the fight in Afghanistan."

McCain's denial - and disagreement with the Pentagon - over the trade-offs in sending more U.S. forces to the Afghan-Pakistan frontier doesn't end there. While McCain reversed course and mimicked Obama's call for more troops in Afghanistan, he fudged as to whether they should come from the United States or its NATO allies. Cornered on the question of where he intends to come up with the needed reinforcements, McCain feebly responded:

"We need to work that out. We need to have greater participation on the part of our NATO allies, as I said in my opening remarks today, and we need a lot more help."

Still, McCain's confused and contradictory statements didn't stop him from calling for "surge for Afghanistan" on July 15. (As Steve Benen rightly noted, a "surge" is now John McCain's prescription for all ills, foreign and domestic.) But as General McKiernan reiterated today, the United States doesn't need a surge in the fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but a long-term commitment:

He disputes the notion that the three brigades on the way represent a troop "surge" for Afghanistan, predicting the need for an extended involvement of a larger force. "I've certainly said that we need more security capabilities," he says. "But I would not use the term 'surge,' because I think we need a sustained presence."

At every turn, the Pentagon has backed Barack Obama's approach to defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions. While John McCain in February ridiculed Barack Obama's call for unilateral American strikes against Al Qaeda targets within Pakistan, the Bush administration and the Pentagon soon adopted Obama's thinking. (Just today, an apparent U.S. missile strike killed 18 militants in South Waziristan.)

Earlier this week, the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy released their annual "Terrorism Index." Their survey of 100 bipartisan foreign policy analysts found that 51% believe Pakistan will be the next Al Qaeda stronghold; exactly zero said "Iraq." 80% said the U.S. had not dedicated enough resources to Afghanistan, while 69% called for redeploying the majority of American troops from Iraq over the next 18 months.

All of which sounds like it could have come from Barack Obama. Or, as was made clear again today, from the Pentagon.

Now, there is nothing wrong with being happily rich and utterly detached. Nothing, that is, unless you make criticizing your political opponent as "elitist" and "out of touch" a centerpiece of your campaign. Rick Davis, speaking on behalf of his $100 million man John McCain, earlier this month offered the latest formulation of Barack Obama as an effete, aloof denizen of the upper class:

"Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand 'MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew - Black Forest Berry Honest Tea' and worry about the price of arugula."

Of course, Davis' "arugula war" is just another attempt at misdirection. After all, John McCain's $5 million threshold where "you move from middle class to rich" is just the latest episode of his enduring disconnect from the real lives of the American people.

For starters, McCain in April declared that there had been "great progress economically" during the Bush years. On more than one occasion, he diagnosed Americans' concerns over the dismal U.S. economy as "psychological." (Phil Gramm, McCain's close friend and adviser supposedly excommunicated over his "whiners" remarks, was back with the campaign last week.) McCain, a man who owns eight homes nationwide, in March lectured Americans facing foreclosure that they ought to be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time." And when all else fails, McCain told the people of the economically devastated regions in Martin County, Kentucky and Youngstown, Ohio, there's always eBay.

In his defense, McCain's shocking tone-deafness may just be a matter of perspective. When you're as well off as he is, anything below a $5 million income (a figure exceeding that earned on average by the top 0.1% of Americans) seems middle class.

The Joys of (Eight) Home Ownership. While fellow adulterer John Edwards was pilloried for his mansion, John McCain's eight homes around the country have received little notice or criticism. His properties include a 10 acre lake-side Sedona estate, euphemistically called a "cabin" by the McCain campaign, and a home featured in Architectural Digest. The one featuring "remote control window coverings" was recently put up for sale. Still, their formidable resources did not prevent the McCains from failing to pay taxes on a tony La Jolla, California condo used by Cindy's aged aunt.

The Anheuser-Busch Windfall. As it turns out, the beauty of globalization is in the eye of the beholder. While John McCain apparently played a critical role in facilitating DHL's takeover of Airborne (and with it, the looming loss of 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio), Cindy McCain is set to earn a staggering multi-million dollar pay-day from the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgian beverage giant, In Bev. As the Wall Street Journal reported in July, Mrs. McCain runs the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributorship in the nation, and owns between $2.5 and $5 million in the company's stock. Amazingly, while Missouri's politicians of both parties lined up to try to block the sale, John McCain held a fundraiser in the Show Me State even as the In Bev deal was being finalized.

McCain's $370,000 Personal Tax Break. Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress analyzed John McCain's tax proposals. The conclusion? McCain's plan is radically more regressive than even that of President Bush, delivering 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of American taxpayers. McCain's born-again support for the Bush tax cuts has one additional bonus for Mr. Straight Talk: the McCains would save an estimated $373,000 a year.

Paying Off $225,000 Credit Card Debt - Priceless. That massive windfall from his own tax plan will come in handy for John McCain. As was reported in June, the McCains were carrying over $225,000 in credit card debt. The American Express card - don't leave your homes without it.

Charity Begins at Home. As Harpers documented earlier this year, the McCains are true believers in the old saying that charity begins at home:

Between 2001 and 2006, McCain contributed roughly $950,000 to [their] foundation. That accounted for all of its listed income other than for $100 that came from an anonymous donor. During that same period, the McCain 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.

Ironically, the McCain campaign last week blasted Barack Obama for having attended a private school in Hawaii on scholarship. That attack came just weeks after John McCain held an event at his old prep school, Episcopal High, an institution where fees now top $38,000 a year.

Private Jet Setters. As the New York Times detailed back in April, John McCain enjoyed the use of his wife's private jet for his campaign, courtesy of election law loopholes he helped craft. Despite the controversy, McCain continued to use Cindy's corporate jet. For her part, Cindy McCain says that even with skyrocketing fuel costs, "in Arizona the only way to get around the state is by small private plane."

Help on the Homefront. In these tough economic times, the McCains are able to stretch their household budget. As the AP reported in April, "McCain reported paying $136,572 in wages to household employees in 2007. Aides say the McCains pay for a caretaker for a cabin in Sedona, Ariz., child care for their teenage daughter, and a personal assistant for Cindy McCain."

Well-Heeled in $520 Shoes. If clothes make the man, then John McCain has it made. As Huffington Post noted in July, "He has worn a pair of $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes on every recent campaign stop - from a news conference with the Dalai Lama to a supermarket visit in Bethlehem, PA." It is altogether fitting that McCain wore the golden loafers during a golf outing with President George H.W. Bush in which he rode around in cart displaying the sign, "Property of Bush #41. Hands Off."

And so it goes. John McCain proclaims $5 million finally makes you rich. Meanwhile, ABC's Charlie Gibson thinks a $200,000 income makes you middle class. And his colleague Cokie Roberts claims Barack Obama's vacation to his home state of Hawaii was "exotic."

(For video details of John McCain lifestyle of the rich and famous, visit here and here.)

UPDATE: In an interview with the Politico Wednesday, John McCain refused to name a dollar figure marking the line between middle class and rich. "I define rich in other ways besides income," he said. More amazing, McCain was unsure how many homes he and wife Cindy actually own:

"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."