On Monday, July 21st, a protest was held outside the Michigan campaign headquarters of Senator John McCain. This protest – with a heavy presence by members of ACORN – was launched in response to the financial connection between McCain and the law offices of Trott and Trott – a law firm that owns the building in which McCain’s HQ has taken up residence and has also carved out a reputation as one of the most brutal, cutthroat foreclosure practices in the state, as pointed out by Eric Baerren and Todd Heywood of the blogs Michigan Liberal and Michigan Messenger, respectively.

Given the fact that McCain’s camp has chosen to either pay rent to or receive generous “in-kind” contributions from a law firm that profits off of the suffering of so many Michiganders who have lost their homes, it’s perhaps not surprising that the McCain camp responded to the protest by pleading ignorance. A spokeswoman for the campaign stated that she was “unaware” of the protest outside: a statement which only served to further reiterate the image of the ostrich with its head firmly planted in the sand attitude that seems to be a defining mainstay of McCain’s approach to the issues.

Displaying this kind of obtuse “bunker” mentality demonstrates just how truly out of step McCain’s perception of the real world seems to be. From 2006 to the end of 2007, Southeast Michigan had seen its foreclosure rates jump a staggering 90%, and Michigan’s overall rate of home foreclosures pushed us into the third place slot in 2007, only trailing Nevada and Florida in terms of the highest number of state-wide foreclosure rates in the nation. By aligning with those who profit off the backs of others who have lost or are losing their homes, McCain is affecting an attitude much like the administration of George Bush before him – see what you want to see and ignore everything else.

The groups called on McCain to move his HQ and stand with the people of Michigan, not firms that profit from predatory lending. To date, McCain has failed to respond…surprised?

You, too, can tell McCain to move by going to: http://www.progressmichigan.org/mccain.