August 19, 2008 11:02 AM
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DNC Looks To Exploit McCain's "$5 Million" Comment
At Saturday evening's forum at Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren asked both Barack Obama and John McCain what it meant for someone to be rich.
"I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," said Obama. "You are doing well."
McCain, however, spoke for a minute and a half and then threw out a much higher number.
"I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?" he said.
McCain was laughing as he made the comment, and added, "I'm sure that comment will be distorted." His campaign later said the candidate was joking.
Still, it's worth noting that nowhere in his response to Warren, other than in the comment above, did McCain explain what he considered rich.
He did say this: "The point is that we want to keep people's taxes low, and increase revenues…it doesn't matter really what my definition of rich is because I don't want to raise anybody's taxes." (You can watch the full exchange here.)
Now the Democratic National Committee has released a video spotlighting McCain's comment.
It opens with McCain's "$5 million" statement and then fades out as the words "Only 1 Out Of 1,000 Americans Make More Than $5 Million" appear onscreen.
McCain's claim that the "comment will be distorted" is not shown in the video.
The spot goes onto spotlight McCain and his wife's 2006 income and claim the candidate will save more than $370,000 under the McCain tax plan. It then cuts to former McCain advisor Phil Gramm's comments that "we've sort of become a nation of whiners."
It concludes with the words, "The point is John McCain is out of touch."
UPDATE: A response from Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson: "Despite the DNC's attempts to divert attention from Barack Obama's shifting economic policies, voters can count on the fact that his plans will further hinder our struggling economy by raising taxes on American families and small businesses."
"I would argue that if you are making more than $250,000, then you are in the top 3, 4 percent of this country," said Obama. "You are doing well."
McCain, however, spoke for a minute and a half and then threw out a much higher number.
"I think if you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?" he said.
McCain was laughing as he made the comment, and added, "I'm sure that comment will be distorted." His campaign later said the candidate was joking.
Still, it's worth noting that nowhere in his response to Warren, other than in the comment above, did McCain explain what he considered rich.
He did say this: "The point is that we want to keep people's taxes low, and increase revenues…it doesn't matter really what my definition of rich is because I don't want to raise anybody's taxes." (You can watch the full exchange here.)
Now the Democratic National Committee has released a video spotlighting McCain's comment.
It opens with McCain's "$5 million" statement and then fades out as the words "Only 1 Out Of 1,000 Americans Make More Than $5 Million" appear onscreen.
McCain's claim that the "comment will be distorted" is not shown in the video.
The spot goes onto spotlight McCain and his wife's 2006 income and claim the candidate will save more than $370,000 under the McCain tax plan. It then cuts to former McCain advisor Phil Gramm's comments that "we've sort of become a nation of whiners."
It concludes with the words, "The point is John McCain is out of touch."
UPDATE: A response from Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson: "Despite the DNC's attempts to divert attention from Barack Obama's shifting economic policies, voters can count on the fact that his plans will further hinder our struggling economy by raising taxes on American families and small businesses."
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Brian Montopoli Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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