McCain adviser Gramm quits after 'whiners' remarks

View from a booth: Well, what's this? Another after-hours newsdump (last week it was the 3rd largest bank failure in history, Indymac), and this time, it's Phil Gramm trying to skulk away from weekday 24/7 news cycles. I thought that Mr. McCain had tossed Mr. Gramm under the "Straight Talk Express" bus. I guess he really did lay between the tires, because he went back to work for the McCain campaign. Frankly, I am a bit confused about the message here: they rehired him after throwing him under the bus, or this is a resignation from a job he did not hold. Personally, I am sad to see him go. It was fun to see the Obama campaign and others hit that pinata. I'm sorry, but the things Gramm said recently and what he has said before require this. Now, it will be interesting to see whether or not Mr. McCain will likewise jettison the economic package that he, Gramm, wrote and who, it could be argued, was the singular face of the present economic difficulties. Not to mention the odious actions he took to protect UBS and Enron while he was a Senator. By the way, Gramm's former employer, UBS in Zurich, has passed a memorandum around forbidding its US Bankers from offering Swiss banking to its American customers. TSeems they're in a bit of a bind legally at this point because of the DOJ investigation.

Randy Shiner




NEW YORK (AP) - 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."
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