Loose chipleader calls? U make this one?

[Snarf]

Five player home game. Start w/ 2500 chips. Four remaining.

After recovering from my early shortstack I have built up a nice chip stack of around 7000. One player has about 3500. The other two have 1450 and 1700. For the last 20 minutes or so I have been running over the table winning pot after pot pre=flop or on the flop. Given the general passivity of the table, my raising standards have decreased somewhat. I'm very well known by my friends for playing ultra-aggressively in spurts but then taking people out with significantly better hands than they've given me credit for - or for making good calls on re-steals against me.
One other helpful comment: the people I play against now how to release hands pre-flop, but are harder to bully out after they flop to something. For that reason - I like the raise/chop out small pots line here better than the 'call' and play post-flop line.

Hand in question:

Blinds at 100 200. The two 'shorties' in the blinds - I'm UTG w/ A8o. I raise to 550. Other decent stack folds.

Small blind thinks and goes all-in. Big blind feels desperate and also goes all-in with mediocre cards. (I got this read on the BB when they ANNOUNCE 'I have nothing but I guess I need to do this at some point here.')

Action to me: Pot now @ 3700. I need to call 1150 more. I'm fairly certain my Ace high beats big blind - though I'm concerned small blind has a better ace or mid-pair...I know he doesn't have AA so I figure I can win the hand by hitting EITHER an lonely ace or a lonely eight. Plus this is a player who will re-steal against me with a low low pair or a suited king type of hand. So...Easy call right?

If I lose - I'm down to 4500 and bump one of the shorties up to even with the other stack.

If I win I control 85% of chips in play.

Plus if my reads are right - I'm priced into calling as a 3:1 dog.

Easy call right?
Anyone see these calls as chip-spewing?
(aware of +EV / folding behind arguements in general --- looking to this example specifically for help.)

(Wow - as I type this out it seems like I'm looking for someone to hold my hand and nod their head....)

If this hand is too easy - what do you think of loose calls with chip leads? what if losing the hand left with me with only 2000 in chips?

I probably call now that I've gotten here, but what I do differently is notice that there are desparate short stacks in the blinds...and not raise with marginal hands like this. Your mistake was chosing this hand to steal and getting caught.

Steal with crappy hands that you can fold to a resteal or with good hands that you can call a resteal with...not marginal hands that are going to be priced in by your previous mistake in stealing from desparate players.

[Lottery Larry]

A8 in a 4-handed game isn't a crappy, steal-only hand