McCain Adviser: ‘US Is Nation Of Whiners’
From the Washington Times:
McCain adviser talks of ‘mental recession’
Patrice Hill
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
With the economy on the top of voters’ minds, Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s top economic adviser said the Arizona senator will lay down a detailed program to revive dynamic growth with dramatic tax and spending reforms.
In an interview with the Washington Times, Phil Gramm, a former Texas senator who is now vice chairman of UBS, the giant Swiss bank, said he expects Mr. McCain to inherit a sluggish economy if he wins the presidency, weighed down above all by the conviction of many Americans that economic conditions are the worst in two or three decades and that America is in decline.
"You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet."
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
"We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today," he said. "We have benefited greatly" from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.
Mr. Gramm said the constant drubbing of the media on the economy’s problems is one reason people have lost confidence…
"Misery sells newspapers," Mr. Gramm said. "Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day."
Mr. McCain’s economic program will seek to enliven growth by enabling taxpayers to opt into a new, simplified tax system with two low rates of 10 percent and 25 percent and no itemized deductions, he said.
Mr. McCain would tackle intransigent budget deficits by wrestling down burgeoning benefits programs and aggressively attacking wasteful spending whether it’s in the Pentagon’s procurement and weapons budget or congressional pork-barrel bills, he said.
A proven "instrument" of bipartisan reform and change in many areas, Mr. McCain would seek out Democratic leaders like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to fashion a bipartisan reform of Social Security.
Mr. Gramm said a bipartisan deal might include raising the retirement age to 70 over 30 years, indexing the benefits of wealthier retirees to inflation rather than the more generous wage rate, and creating a private account program for younger workers…
Mr. McCain also will pursue immigration reforms that would start with effective border enforcement but include a possible doubling of legal immigration, including no limits on scientific and technical workers and a generous sized guest worker program, he said.
"The American story is a story of immigration," he said. "I would be the last person who would say immigrants are not important to America." Mr. Gramm noted that Albert Einstein was one prominent immigrant who might have been excluded under an anti-immigration regime.
For crying out loud. (Which is sort of what we do here.)
What a lot of great talking points for the Democrats.
Of course some of what Gramm says makes sense, especially about the economy. And forgetting about Social Security and amnesty, for the moment.
But those statements will be studiously ignored by the Democrat media. All the great unwashed will be told is that a McCain surrogate just called them "whiners."
What is wrong with these people? Does everyone in the McCain camp have a tin ear?
16 Responses to “McCain Adviser: ‘US Is Nation Of Whiners’”
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July 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I don’t know about that. Talking to people today pretty much all of them agreed that WE ARE A NATION OF WHINERS.
And the younger the group, the bigger the whiners they seem to be.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Phil Gramm is right. We have become a nation of whiners and it’s damn time someone said so. I remember thinking exactly the same thing back in ‘92 when people were whining that it was “the worst economy in fifty years.”
Gramm may have a tin ear, but he speaks the truth and I appreciate it.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
We are a nation of whiners. We have whiners in D.C. We have activist groups that are whiners. We have the NEA teaching our kids to be whiners. The baby boomers are reaching retirement age and they are whining about Social Security and “free” health care. The New York Times, the cable news networks, et al are whiners. And behold… the Democrat Party. Tell me they aren’t the biggest conglomeration of whiners that there has ever been. Gramm was right and, frankly, I wish they’d all just STFU! I don’t like whine and we don’t need any more cheese!
July 10th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
McCain “wants to seek out democrap Harry Reid for reform help”…..
Oh, good Lord….
How recognizable does the signature have to be when signing in at the polling place to verify I.D.??? I may need to be so sloshed that I may not be able to hold the pen upright. Will EMS be on hand in case I decide to just jab the pen into my jugular rather than enter the curtain and pull the lever for this lib-tard.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
It looks like Mr. McCain wasn’t too thrilled with Gramm’s remarks. From MSNBC:
Ouch.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
So, McCain is slamming another Republican! Ho-humm, Anything new?
July 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Whining about whiners is ok. It’s whining about people who whine about whiners that crosses the line.- No that would be whining about people who whine about people who whine about whiners… Never mind.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Will everyone just quit whining and start drinking? The election is right around the corner!
July 10th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
It is unfortunate that McCain feels that way about Sen. Gramm’s remarks. But then when is McCain ever right, except by accident?
Ugh, definitely a four-martini moment.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
This whole nation is becoming whiners and it is about time someone said it! Starting from day one in public schools, the liberals who control academia teach the children that life is not fair so whine until the government comes to give you a handout.
McCain = phoney conservative who will do anything to be president
Obama = Marxist
Either way we are screwed…..
July 10th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I’m not sure if there is enough Jack Daniels in the world to make McLame seem Electible to me. But then … it may take all that And a CYANIDE CHASER to get me to vote for Comrade B Hussein Obama.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
fiddle-dee, (or twiddle dumb)
I’m not whining. I’m pointing fingers at the guilty parties. Guess which ones they are…
July 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Phil Gramm said:
“When I said we’ve become a nation of whiners, I’m talking about our leaders. I’m not talking about our people,” he said. “We’ve got every kind of excuse in the world about oil prices — we’ve got speculators, the oil companies to blame — but too many people don’t have a program to get on with a job of producing.”
“If you listen to our leaders, we can’t compete against Mexico, for God’s sake,” Gramm added. “If they don’t think we can compete against Mexico, who can we compete against?”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....s-whi.html
Like others have said, the news media and liberals keep trash talking about how bad things are and investors and consumers become more cautious. It’s like causing a run on a bank by saying they are doing badly. The bank will do badly if everyone goes and takes out their money due to the lies being told against the bank.
The liberals who speak lies against the United States to undermine us are guilty of treason.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Is this Ironic?
Whiners whining about being called whiners.
How could this possibly be disputed?
July 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
This is just like the South Park episode ………the children are forced to vote for a new school mascot - either a crap sandwich or a douchebag.
July 13th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Lighten up. The media constanly bombards us with how bad everything is. It’s how they sell. So what do you expect? An objective look at the facts? Boring. Why should politicos be any different?
“The sky is falling!” sells more newspapers than “Unemployment remains at historic low.”
Not that anyone would ever admit any of this.
It’s gonna take more than a few martinis. Maybe an IV of Everclear.