November 23, 2008 2:56:22 CST
(Newser) – After Phil Gramm, a ranking economic adviser to John McCain, described America as a “nation of whiners” suffering from a “mental recession,” the campaign trail is lit up over the topic, Time reports:
Sources: Time, Time, Washington Post
Jul 23, 08 4:13 CDT Conservative columnist Robert Novak triggered a frenzy of speculation that John McCain was about to announce his choice for runningmate just as Barack Obama was grabbing favorable headlines on his trip to Iraq. Novak now believes he may have been manipulated in a tactic to steal attention by the McCain campaign, reports the Los Angeles Times. More »
Jul 18, 08 8:02 PM CDT After a week of fallout from his gripe that Americans are "whiners," Phil Gramm stepped down today as John McCain's national co-chair, Politico reports. "It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me,” Gramm said. The “distraction hurts not only Senator McCain… it hurts the country." McCain's camp refused to comment on rumors that Gramm will stay on as an unofficial adviser. More »
Jul 12, 08 12:31 PM CDT When John McCain aide Phil Gramm said America is in a “mental recession,” not a real one, he was speaking with much-needed honesty and accuracy, Amity Shlaes writes in the Washington Post. Gramm has faced an avalanche of bad press for speaking candidly rather than from the perspective of campaign econ, which “says the economy is a certain way because Americans think it is.” More »
Jul 10, 08 12:11 PM CDT One of John McCain’s top economic confidantes said yesterday the country is in a “mental recession” and the US has “become a nation of whiners,” constantly “complaining about … America in decline.” The Democratic National Committee moved quickly to condemn Phil Gramm’s remarks—which are likely to hurt efforts, Mike Allen writes on Politico, “to convince working-class Americans that McCain feels their pain.” More »
Jun 29, 08 12:54 PM CDT The key issue in the presidential election won’t be national security or Iraq, as many once believed—it will be how to fix our ailing nation at home, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. “We are a country in debt and in decline—not terminal, not irreversible, but in decline,” Friedman notes. What we need is a president who can restore a broken political system. More »
Barack Obama • John McCain • recession • Dr Phil • Phil Gramm • Belarus
