Obama Blasts McCain Over Advisor's 'Mental Recession' Comments

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Sen. Barack Obama blasted his Republican rival today after one of Sen. John McCain's top economic advisors said the nation was in a "mental recession" and complained America is "a nation of whiners."

Although McCain attempted to distance himself from the comments of his economic advisor former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Tex., Obama pounced, quipping that the nation already has one "Dr. Phil."

"Today, one of top economic advisors, former Sen. Phil Gramm, said that we're merely in a 'mental recession,'" Obama told a crowd of about 2,800 at a town hall meeting in Fairfax, Va., Thursday.

"He didn't say this, but I guess what he meant was that it's a figment of your imagination, these high gas prices. Sen. Gramm then deemed the United States -- and I quote, 'a nation of whiners.' Ho! A nation of whiners. This comes after Sen. McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals for the gas tax holiday and the drilling will have mainly, quote, 'psychological benefits,'" Obama said.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5350099&page=1

[Purveyor]

1. I'm shocked but pleased to see CNN is covering this story. eom

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Obama is kicking their ass. It's all good.

[truthisfreedom]

3. McLame's whole crew is completely inane. They don't have a clue how to win this election.

He'll be forced to resign his campaign during the nomination. That's the thugs' only hope.

[Demeter]

4. America IS a Nation of Whiners, But We Are in the Greater Depression, Too

so there's good cause for that whining, although doing some of the untouched dirty work around here would get the nation forwarder a whole lot faster....

[MadrasT]

5. YAY

GO-bama, GO-bama, GO-bama!

:woohoo:

[nevergiveup]

6. I hope they have video

of Graham's statement. This sound bite used in an Obama ad could likely make a huge difference in several swing states. Thank you Thank you Senator Graham.

[Riddler]

7. Gramm has refused to apologize for the remarks, which plainly shows the difference between a repuke

and a dem.

The repuke has brass balls and will not apologize for absurd comments, even when they're wrong, whereas a dem has no balls and will cower and apologize even when they're right.

[Canuckistanian]

10. But when a Dem makes a dumb remark

The cable news shows will run a timer clock and a chiron saying "When will he apologize to America?"

And some new theme music and graphic will be created.

Oh, and Hannity will devote THREE shows to it (or four, if it's actually a factual quote).

[Baby Snooks]

8. No doubt he said the same thing about Enron...

Much of the legislation which allowed Enron to engage in unregulated energy trading which cost consumers in California and is now costing consumers throughout the country was legislation Phil Gramm sponsored and got passed and of course his wife was on the board of Enron.

No doubt he said that same thing about Enron that he's saying about the economy. That the shareholders and other investors, not everyone got rich off the 2,000 plus partnerships that Enron put together to rip everyone off with, and of course the employees were just whiners.

The world is whiners and winners to someone like Phil Gramm who has no ethics and no respect for the law as do the other winners who belong in prison with the rest of the Republican Party "leadership" of the past 28 years. Just his association with Enron should have reason enough for John McCain to have distanced himself and John McCain, and the Republican Party, appear to want to rub their disregard for ethics and law in this country in everyone's faces. They represent those who believe in oligarchy. All for a few. Everyone else, well, let them eat cake. How the French Revolution began. And how the second American Revolution may begin. The middle-class has had enough of taking care of the poor AND the rich in this country.

No doubt Phil Gramm was among the "unnamed co-conspirators" that the Justice Department referred to at the conclusion of their investigation into Enron.

The translation of "unnamed co-conspirators" was and is those who were either too rich or too powerful to risk retaliation by this administration if indictments were sought against them.

[defendandprotect]

9. Gramm has had a lot to do with putting American into difficult economic throes ---

[pleah]

11. K&R Keep these stories out there, because you know the MSM won't.

[AmyCamus]

12. "America is a nation of whiners"?

He must be reading the Internet.

[RedLetterRev]

13. Nice lip from the

sonofabitch who helped engineer the Enron loophole and numerous other machinations that ensured that wealth zoomed from the middle class to the upper 10%. This, from the "economic advisor" to one of the Keating Five.

Never, ever let the swing voters forget this, not for a minute, not for a second. The entire McKook camp is a nest of vipers, nothing more and nothing less. They're not only thieves, lobbyists, engineers of the destruction of the middle-class, enemies of the Constitution, and pirates on the grandest scale -- they're damned proud of it. They even stick their chins out and say, "so what of it? Kwitcherbitchin."

Da noive.

There are very few expression that fit this sort of continuous behavior and public bragadoccio Chutzpah springs readily to mind as does cojones. As was pointed out up-thread, it was exactly this sort of behavior -- mass pillaging and mass abuse of human dignity -- that leavened both the French and the Russian Revolutions. Neither worked out so well for the "ruling" classes, and Russia is still dealing with deep internal battles with exactly the same kinds of criminal elements over control of resources (oil, coal and mineral mafias).

Do we really want another 100 years of battling them here like they've had to do over there? It really hasn't worked out so well for them. I expect that it would work out even less well for us, given the gullible right-wing, who fall for rapchah-talk in exchange for throwing their rights and lives away. (sigh) I'd rather impeach, convict, and clean out the lot of them once and for all. Cut to the bone, all the way down to dog-catcher, if need be. No more of this "unindicted co-conspirator" crap running around making stupid comments and further meddling in politics and public policy. It amazes me that characters like McKook and Gramm (let alone Rove, Rumsfeld, DeLay, and hundreds more overt, in-your-face criminals) are walking around loose.

Is Gramm admitting he really doesn't GAF or is he another typical, pitiful Republic politico: catchit-crazy, sunbaked, and/or senile? Or, as I suspect, is he just one more symptom, one more public face on a criminal element that has gotten very, very deep into our government?

----

(Note on above, just because it's something that bugs me: "cojones" {balls} is not to be confused with "cajones" which are the drawers in a chest of drawers.)

[question everything]

14. "nation already has one "Dr. Phil."

and, in my opinion, that's one too many..