Posted on 07/18/2008 5:11:48 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
McCain Adviser, Phil Gramm, Leaves Campaign NEW YORK (CBS) ― Phil Gramm, a top adviser to presidential candidate John McCain, is resigning from the role as campaign co-chairman after his comments that the United States had become a "nation of whiners" who constantly complain about the state of the economy.
The former U.S. senator from Texas and past presidential candidate made the remarks earlier this month. McCain immediately distanced himself from the comments, but they have been criticized constantly as McCain tries to show he can help steer the country past its current financial troubles.
Gramm had also suggested that the country was facing a "mental recession" instead of real economic problems. Gramm said in a statement late Friday that he is stepping down as a co-chair of the campaign to "end this distraction."
(Excerpt) Read more at wcbstv.com ...
Yeah, okay...you just made an unsupportable slam, and then get prickly when you're questioned on it. Gotcha.
Ping
Yeah, but Meg's a "maverick," after all...donating to John Kerry, Maria Cantwell, etc.
With Apologies,
a contrite pleb
Spot on Gondring once again you hit a home run.
Sounds to me like Gramm made an honorable, campaign-savvy decision. Whether true or not, his words were a distraction.
In a sense they cut both ways. The economy that is projected by economists, the fed, and major financial players is an economy that is still “growing,” so there is no crisis with the economy.
The economy that most independent and middle class voters is facing is a lousy economy with runaway inflation. For whatever insane reason, economists don’t include items like food and fuel in their inflation statistics, so they can proclaim a strong economy when it feels like hell to those living on the consumer side of it.
Fuel prices are out the roof, food and basic items have followed fuel up, and those precarious incomes that worked as a source of food, clothing, and shelter are now too low.
It’s not whining for those folks to be POd about prices and the “lousy economy.” And that’s why at this time Gramm has made a gaffe, and he’s gonna have to bite the bullet.
McCain practicing major damage control. The whine comment was bad enough. Wait until the media and Obama go full court on the UBS off shore tax dodge debacle that Gramm is ostensibly tied to in his executive position with that company. A very stupid play, considering current economic conditions. McCain just gave Obama a huge class warfare gift allowing him to walk away with blue collar votes. McCain can’t distance himself from Gramm fast enough.
It seems to me that McCain is against freedom of speech (or opinion) just as much as the DemocRats are!
Thanks for the ping.
In other news...
I guess Medal of Honor hero Col. Bud Day will be the next person McCain throws under the bus for speaking the truth.
I don’t think I ever went into the Black Sheep but in my drinking days we used to close Garland’s pub every night. Couldn’t beat the chili cheeseburgers from Frank’s.
Thanks Thread Monitor.
Well, I'm a mechanic, no debt, no kids, plenty of work, wave as I pass gas stations on my motorcycle, and only work a 4 day week, I don't listen to TV or radio news. I think the economy is fine.
A burger is still a buck at Wendy's, dry beans are cheap at wally world and I bought ammo back when it was cheap.
My house has gained about 35% in value in 5 years, (lower Alabama) and my taxes are low. Why depressed?
yeah, god forbid people give up their $6 cup of coffee on the way to work to pay for actually getting there and back.
Watch now as McCain turns to the budget-balancing paradigm that Newt and Kasich used, which destroyed popular support for economic growth policies.
I'll vote for McCain because there is some small hope he might nominate Supreme Court justices who believe in the Constitution, and, in my opinion, with Obama there is no hope of this.
One expects betrayal with McCain, but I expected his nod to supply-side wing of the party to at least last more than one week.
I agree with your point of view. I agree with Gramm, too, though members of our TV-driven consumer culture cannot bear to hear the truth.
Poor people here would qualify as rich people in most of the world, and the economy, while suffering from government caused dislocations, is growing.
Gramm's sin was not elitism, it was misjudging the public's hair trigger for firing off the charge of elitism.
Dems had no problem with Robert Rubin, a career Wall Streeter, or George Soros, a professional speculator.
Gramm is gone as the target, but a new target will chosen soon. Any Republican with capitalist ideas is portrayed as the Monoply man lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills.
Running from the class warfare argument hasn't worked yet. Standing up to it, as Reagan did, is the only hope.
“The remaining advocates of Reaganomics in public life can be counted on one hand, and Phil Gramm is one of them. “
Wrong! Gramm is part of the balance the budget/tax increase gang even more than Kasich and Gingrich.
1) Gramm Rudman was about deficit reduction, not tax reduction
2) Gramm was a key player in 1990 Budget Agreement (but voted against the final package at the last minute)
3) is an open borders advocate (i guess that counts as “supply side” on labor supply)
That's funny. Every month when they release the inflation figures, I always see one that includes food and fuel.
We live in the best country in the world. What is there to cry about.
The McCain campaign is being run like he wants to lose.
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