[ Bob Herbert ]
Herbert: “This is not a party that can be trusted with the leadership of the country. John McCain was ready to have Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office and reportedly wanted Phil Gramm to be his Treasury secretary. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has the strategic sense and attention span that you’d expect to find in a frat house on Saturday night.”

“Americans are aghast at what happened to the country while the G.O.P. was in charge. Iraq and Katrina come to mind, not to mention the transmutation of the Clinton surpluses into the Bush budget deficits and the collapse of the entire economy.”

“Trickle down. Weapons of mass destruction. Torture. Deregulation. You name it. The Republican-conservative know-it-alls of the past several years (all-too-frequently with feckless Democrats following closely behind) brought destruction and heartbreak to just about everything they touched.”

“…And yet the G.O.P. behaves as though nothing has changed. Even in the face of a national economic nightmare, the party is offering nothing in the way of policies or new ideas that might give a bit of hope or comfort to families wrestling with joblessness, housing foreclosures and bankruptcies.” [ READ MORE ]

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If the election were a football game…It appears that Senator John McCain just ran the ball into his own endzone: McCain told a Pittsburgh television station that he recited the names of the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line while under interrogation in North Vietnam.

One problem with that remarkable anecdote? Every other time McCain has told that story… He’s named the Green Bay Packers instead.

The Straight Talk Express — is heading for a massive wreck?

   John McCain’s Straight Talk Express

   Pic: Courtesy ClubAfrika.com

Gramm’s Slam: Barack Obama was handed a political gift — one that had the potential to keep… on… giving, when Phil Gramm (McCain’s Top Economic GURU) suggested that economic woes are basically a figment of America’s collective national imagination. Maybe Phil had just inhaled a “Gram” of POT!

Phil Gramm: ‘Mental Recession… Nation of Whiners’

Obama on Gramm Comments: ‘America Already Has One Dr. Phil’

BONUSES:

Fox News PORN

Former Republican Vice President – Indiana’s ‘Own’ Dan Quayle

….just another of the idiots Republicans have been parading in American
politics — and guess what, the dumb Appalachians have been electing them!!

….and the latest Moron!

   Phil Gramm
“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline.” — Phil Gramm, Sen. John McCain’s chief economic adviser

McCain has acknowledged on more than one occasion that the economy is not his strong suit, he relies heavily on economic advisers. It’s not unfair to hold McCain responsible for the “let them eat cake” attitude of his surrogate.

“‘I strongly disagree’ with Phil Gramm’s remarks, McCain told reporters in Belleville, Mich. ‘Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.’” — Quotation from AOL News

It’s not enough for McCain to repudiate Gramm’s remarks, he must break all ties with the former senator. Perhaps McCain should hire a blue-collar worker to take his place, I’m sure he would let the presumptive Republican presidential nominee know what a terrible shape the economy is in.

Gramm is a multimillionaire and vice-chairman of the USB Investment bank, how dare someone in his privileged position label Americans as “whiners.”

Americans, by and large, are not whiners, but we have every reason in the world to complain about the Bush domestic policies that have wreaked havoc with the economy.

When I go to the gas station and pay over $4 a gallon, that outrageous price is not a figment of my imagination and I have a right to complain. When a small bag of groceries sets me back almost $50, that’s not a mental inflation, that’s a very real inflation that is taking a huge bit out of my wallet. When an elderly person has to decide to buy food or prescription drugs, that’s not a mental recession, that’s a very real economic crisis that is particularly hard on senior citizens living on a fixed income. Multitudes of Americans have seen their American Dream confiscated by banks, that’s not a mental recession, that’s an economy in turmoil.

Americans have been patient beyond belief with the incompetence of the Bush administration. I’m surprised we haven’t seen mass demonstrations against Bush’s failed economic policies.

Americans aren’t whiners, but we shouldn’t accept anything less than a decent chance of realizing the American dream. I hope that the electorate will remember Gramm’s words when they vote in the general election.

REFERENCE: The buying of the President 1996 – Phil Gramm