Robin Leach apparently leapt to John McCain's defense in a recent media schaden-session, deftly explaining why the geezer couldn't remember how many houses he owned. This unfortunate brain flatus was already a minor disaster for the McCain campaign, adding one more facet to the narrative of McCain's not-so-creeping senescence and seriously undermining his digs at Obama's elitism. What he really didn't need to help reassure voters that he can relate to their financial woes was for the Grand Poobah of pretentious dickwads, a man whose very existence is predicated on showcasing how much "better" some people live --nay, are -- than regular Americans, to cavalierly tell us "It’s nothing to get into a kerfuffle about."
[Leach said] he isn’t really surprised at McCain's odd memory lapse given the complex lives that the super-rich lead.
"He probably was confused as to which homes are in his name, his wife's name, or corporate names," Leach explained in his familiar, deep British baritone. "In his attempt to be honest, he put his foot in his mouth."
Well, if your dayjob is (well, was before he retired) touring opulent shrines to Mammon, it's rather easy to dismiss this incident as a common mishap among the fabulously wealthy. The problem is, voters don't like candidates to be fabulously wealthy (or, rather, they don't like to envision them so). Moreover, this incident has prompted many to investigate just how many houses the McCain estate does comprise, and their approximate value. And all this negative PR is being disseminated without the Obama campaign having to dirty their hands with innuendos or accusations. That is why this fuck-up is big; it has invited people to criticize McCain on their own terms. And Robin Leach's ill-conceived defense, in fact, the very notion that he saw fit to defend McCain at all, is most certainly not helping.
McCain: With friends like these, who needs enemies!
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