Last week, I predicted that this election would become a contest of which house Americans most associated John McCain with:

So which meme will the voters choose?  John McCain as rich out-of-touch white guy?  That is what Barack Obama wants you to think.  Or John McCain as heroic former POW?  That is what McCain wants you to think.

The reality, of course, is that both are true.

But only one is relevant:  no matter how great McCain’s heroism, the key question to most Americans is not whether he survived torture but whether he can make their lives better.  To put it another way, heroism can make someone more admired, but extreme wealth can make them less liked.

Sure enough, later that day, the McCain campaign started beating the Hanoi Hilton drum.  Now we have this:

And this:

First Read quotes unnamed McCain aides suggesting that McCain’s prisoner of war experience may become his first response to the attack on his having lost track of his real estate holdings — a non-sequitur, perhaps, but emotionally powerful.

They will be prepared to show McCain’s “home” in Hanoi by using images of his cell. They claim they have not overused the POW element and insist they have “underused it.”

And sure enough, McCain goes there on CBS: “I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair, and I know what it’s like to be blessed by the opportunities of this great nation,” he says in response to a question about his houses.

I knew that this would be an issue, but who knew it would be this pervasive?  Here’s my favorite response to this so far, via Down with Tyranny:

Heh.

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