Are Senator and Mrs Kerry more wealthy than Mr & Mrs GW?

[mourningdove92]

I mean, is that why the right wing keeps harping on Kerry's wealth? You would think he had committed a crime because he is not poor and did 't have to pull himself up, like President Clinton did. Are they intimidated by his wealth and heritage?

[Pale_Rider]

1. Maybe it's because he married ...

... into money and didn't inherit it.

[Josh]

6. Kerry is independently wealthy -

his wife is wealthier but Kerry comes from one of the richest families in America.

[NMDemDist2]

9. not exactly

he came from a "good" family (his mom is a Forbes & a Winthorpe) but not the big $$$ side of the family

"His parents, a U.S. diplomat and a homemaker, turned to a wealthy, childless great-aunt, Clara Winthrop, to help pay the bills."

snip

The finances on the Kerry side of the family were more modest. Kerry's grandfather, a Czech-Austrian Jew and brewery worker named Fritz Kohn, changed his name to Frederick A. Kerry in 1902 and emigrated to the United States. In 1921, apparently despondent over mounting debts, he shot himself in a restroom at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel.

Kerry's father, Richard Kerry, was a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. Invited to the Forbes estate in France by a friend, Richard Kerry met Rosemary Forbes. They married, and he later took a post in the diplomatic corps, bringing home the salary of a government worker while his wife volunteered for community service.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/democraticconvention/2981845/detail.html

[silverweb]

10. That's debatable.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4685276

[JI7]

11. priveledged but not wealthy

his parents didn't have all that money themselves, and got help from family members to help pay for many of the expensive schools kerry attended.

[Josh]

2. They are more wealthy, yes -

the whole "look how much money they have" is to try and cast Kerry as a liberal elitist and make Bush the friend of the 'working man', when in fact neither fit the bill of the latter.

[lastknowngood]

3. The shrub is stealing trillions

n/t

[blm]

4. They may be legally, but I have no doubt that the BFEE has BILLIONS

stashed away in offshore banks and in Swiss accounts that will NEVER see an audit.

[PfNJ]

5. it's because.....

he's a traitor to the rich, just like FDR :-)

[HawkerHurricane]

13. Yes... and FDR's cousin, TR.

The last great Republican to be President.

(Note: Ike was a good President, but he wasn't great.)

[yardwork]

7. Typical Republican smear tactics....

they made fun of Clinton because he was poor and southern. Now they make fun of Kerry for being rich and northeastern.

They don't care that they look like moranic (sic) hypocrites. They fling mud and hope that some will stick.

[aquart]

8. Nah. They despised Clinton because he wasn't wealthy.

And tried to break him economically.

[NMDemDist2]

12. Mrs Kerry is very wealthy (but they signed a pre-nup)

here is the tax info for both

http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/thpwebsite.nsf/Web/PresidentialTaxReturns?OpenDocument

[pacifictiger]

14. if you go back about 8

generations they have a common ancestor. Money is just a tool. More than how much you have, it's how you use that money that is the most telling thing about character.