Surprise surprise, one of the wealthiest men in the Senate has a lot of money:

For 2006, Senator McCain paid $72,771 in federal income, alternative minimum, and self-employment taxes (LINES 57 and 58) on taxable income of $215,304 (LINE 43), which is a 33.8% tax rate. View

For 2007, Senator McCain paid $84,460 in federal income, alternative minimum, and self-employment taxes (LINES 57 and 58) on taxable income of $258,800 (LINE 43), which is a 32.6% tax rate. View

McCain earns upwards of $200,000 a year, putting him far above what most Americans make. In fact, John McCain’s taxes are higher than most American’s yearly salaries.

And that’s just his own income–McCain’s wife Cindy is an heir to the Anheuser-Busch brewing fortune, worth well over $100 million. The McCains have eight homes together, and John often flies around on private jets. In other words, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to John McCain’s wealth.

In 2004, the media savaged John Kerry for his wife’s wealth, portraying him as an upper-crust, out-of-touch aristocrat. Will they apply the same standards to John McCain, or will this be another sad, shameful case of IOKIYAR?*

* “It’s OK If You’re A Republican”

UPDATE: Also keep in mind that Cindy McCain hasn’t released any of her tax returns, so we don’t know exactly how much wealth she has (or where she invests it). But there’s no question that John McCain might not have even had a political career–let alone a Presidential run–without his wife’s inheritance:

Nearly 30 years before John McCain became the Republican presidential nominee, he worked in public relations at his wife’s family company.

Within a few years of marrying Cindy Hensley, the daughter of a multimillionaire Anheuser-Busch distributor, John McCain won his first election. He was new to Arizona politics and fundraising in the 1982 House race, and his campaign quickly fell into debt. Personal money — tens of thousands of dollars in loans to his campaign from McCain bank accounts — helped him survive.

Anheuser-Busch’s political action committee was among McCain’s earliest donors. Cindy McCain’s father, James Hensley, and other Hensley & Co. executives gave so much the Federal Election Commission ordered McCain to give some of it back. McCain’s campaign used Hensley office equipment such as computers and copiers, and Cindy McCain personally paid some of the campaign’s bills.

The campaign gradually reimbursed Hensley for use of its equipment and Cindy McCain for her expenses. The loans — described initially by John McCain as coming from him and his wife — caught the eye of the FEC, which repeatedly questioned him about them; spouses are held to the same donation limits as everyone else.

John McCain owes his Presidential campaign and–most likely–his entire political career to his wife’s money. Without it, who knows whether or not he would have even gotten elected, let alone become a Presidential candidate.

Kerry got attacked for benefiting politically from his wife’s money, even though he became a Senator long before he married Theresa Heinz. So why isn’t McCain being attacked for benefiting politically from his wife’s money, especially since it’s an intrinsic part of his entire political career?

Just wondering.