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“McCain For President” Adviser: America Is “a nation of whiners” Who Are Mired In An Economic “mental recession”
Of course, the blogosphere is going off today on former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm’s offensive comments, as the ONLY United States Senator in history who was born in the nation of Panama only to eventually settle in the Great State of Arizona’s campaign adviser opened his mouth and inserted his foot by offending, well; pretty much everybody aside from the “McCainiacs” who are, of course, few and far between.
To paraphrase the millionaire’s comments and apparent attitude toward his fellow Americans:
“Whahhh… sniff, sniff, SNIFF. The sky is falling. Boo-hoo and oh-woah-is-me.”
And Senator Obama’s reaction? Frankly, very few would disagree:
“… “He said we’re in a mental recession, I guess what he meant was it’s a figment of our imagination, these high gas prices,” Obama said. “It’s not just a figment of your imagination, it’s not all in your heads, when people are struggling with the rising cost of everything from gas to groceries … this economic downturn is not in your head.”
Turning to the GOP nominee himself, Obama said “this comes after Senator McCain recently admitted his energy proposal for the gas tax holiday will have mainly ‘psychological benefits.’ Now I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil, we don’t need another,” he said. …” — The Washington Post (A H/T goes to MemeOrandum for the pull)
As indicated by the title of my post, I do believe I know what must have happened here. I’m fairly convinced Senator Gramm must have accidentally (understandably enough under the circumstances) stumbled across the economic numbers for Señor McCain’s country of origin, Panama, where the economy has been demonstrating steady growth numbers, year after year lately versus our own stagnant economic numbers. Perhaps, “Panama John” had accidentally left them lying around the campaign headquarters during a moment of wistful homesickness. This is the ONLY reasonable explanation I can come up with at this time.
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Other MUST-READ (in their entirety) blogger reactions…
Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic:
“… Gramm’s statement is technically true but contextually meaningless. We haven’t seen two consecutive periods of negative GDP growth, but that doesn’t mean that how we measure recessions in a globalized economy is valid; if our financial system’s in crisis, gas prices are $4.50 a gallon, grocery bills have doubled, consumes are changing their behavior and homeowners are defaulting… it really doesn’t matter whether the academic definition of a recession is met or not. It’s not entirely clear to me why the media focuses obsessively on the formal definition of a recession and not on other, more appropriate metrics… “
Exactly. Who gives a rat’s behind what definition of “recession” some egghead came up with when many of my fellow Citizens are hurting and barely making it from paycheck to paycheck right now while the lesser fortunate are making hard choices between fuel and food or even medical care…
Blue Girl, Red State’s Warren Street: The title alone should be enough to warrant your visit — “McCain Throws Gramm Under His Bus, Backs Up, And Runs Over Him Again”
Our friend Ron Beasley of The Newshoggers:
“… Phil Gramm’s fingerprints can be found on the mortgage crisis, Enron and the gasoline crisis and this is the man who could be the Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration. …”
“… So after eight years of disastrous Republican policies, all the McCain campaign has to offer is a blame-the-victim, suck-it-up attack on average Americans. I’m sure a continuation of George Bush’s tax cuts — ya know, the ones that used to offend McCain’s conscience — will get us back on the right track. Then we can all stop “whining”… “
Just more spin of less is good for you from the right wing my friend. Great post…
Who gives a rat’s behind what definition of “recession” some egghead came up with…
So then, you concede that what we are experiencing economically is not a textbook recession meeting the standard economic definition?
It sounds as if your definition is no more technical than if people “feel like” or “think” it is a recession… which actually supports Gramm’s original statement!
You can’t go around making stuff up as you go… a goose is not a duck just because you feel like they walk and talk the same.
Considering that our offical statisitcs use “hedonistics” to inflate the value of goods recently produced and only measure “core” inflation as real, I doubt that we will ever see two consecutive periods of negative GDP growth. At least, not as long as there is an electon coming up…
…and there’s always an election coming up.
GTL
A little help here my friend. A PhD in Economics points out something that is demonstrably correct, and the Leftists pooh-pooh the statement by saying..”Well, it sure feels like it”. Of course that’s also the answer given when anyone that supports the “Global Warming” hypothesis is challenged, so why am I surprised. Is there anyone on the Left who has access to the internet and a basic understanding of Economics?
This is exactly why every Democratic President with a Democratic Congress has wrecked the US Economy, at least in my 50 years. When you make BIG economic decisions based on how something “feels”, the results usually bypass “feelings” and go straight to bad.
Chuck, my good friend; you do bring up one great point; one I’ve often thought about, believe me. We’ve seen what a Republican Congress, Senate and President will do to America and I’m not so sure the opposite situation will bring any more positive results to this country than the Neocons did. Remember, I’ve not jumped on the Obama bandwagon — yet. It’s way too early and frankly, I’m anti-BOTH McCain and Obama to some degree at this point — admittedly moreso the former than the latter, but definitely “anti” thus far.
I’m still hoping and praying for an independent, third-party to burst upon the scene to rescue America from the two-party cartel but you know what they say — wish in one hand, defecate in the other and see which one fills up the fastest
Thanks to free market fanatics like Phil Gramm, the American middle class is rapidly disappearing.
http://rightdemocrat.blogspot.com/2008/06/st-petersburg-times-middle-class.html
Del McCoury’s new song Moneyland sums it up well.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=154165063
RD
With all due respect, over the past 50 years, what population would be larger, “Free Market Fanatics” or Big Government/Big Business shills? Perhaps to put it a different way without the vitriol,whose hands have been at the levers of power? I would suggest that, when looked at as objectively as can be, the free-market types haven’t held up so well. I say this based on, if nothing else, the size of the Federal government. Of course I could go into the myriad ways government intrudes into the market, but I have a short attention span and …oh look, a shiny rock.