Gramm’s Back
When last we checked, Phil Gramm felt the United States of America was experiencing no real economic problems, only a “mental recession” and he was concerned that we’d become a “nation of whiners”:
At this point, John McCain decided to throw his longtime friend under the bus, joking that rather than a high-level administration post, Senator Gramm “would be in serious consideration for Ambassador to Belarus.” As it happens, I think that might be a fun job, but the point was clear enough. Now, though, Jackie Calmes reports that “associates say the senator still dials up former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas . . . [c]urrent and former advisers say they still consider Mr. Gramm, now UBS investment bank vice chairman, a top prospect for treasury secretary in a McCain administration.”
26 Responses to “Gramm’s Back”
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August 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Even more reason to fear a McCain presidency.
August 16th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Nice casual insult of a foreign country.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
oh, come on–it’s just a small country that used to be part of the soviet union–there’s lots of them.
obviously mccain knows that places like belarus don’t matter much, and he’s smart enough to know that the fate of a former soviet republic is not the most important international crisis since the end of the cold war.
right? i mean–he didn’t say anything stupid like “we are all georgians now”, did he?
August 16th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I don’t appreciate the quick-edit / hit-and-run style of this video clip. Surely there was more to his sentiments than this? Isn’t the progressive blogosphere trying to move away from sound-bite news dominance?
August 16th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Isn’t the progressive blogosphere trying to move away from sound-bite news dominance?
No.
August 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Great, we’ve got commentators whining about how those nasty liberals are using a snippet from Gramm to smear him as some kind of economic royalist. And they might have a point if it weren’t abundantly clear from his actual legislative record , his expressed policy preferences, and his more extended musing on the current economic situation that Gramm (who helped engineer the lax regulation that got us into this mess, and cashed in to work for a big investment house that benifited in the short term) very much is an economic royalist.
Complain about sound-bite news dominance when those sound-bites are used ot misrepresent peoples’ views, please. Otherwise you’re just whining.
August 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
“economic royalist”
That’s hilarious. I can’t believe people write it with a straight face.
August 16th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Complain about sound-bite news dominance when those sound-bites are used ot misrepresent peoples’ views, please. Otherwise you’re just whining.
Amen, brother…
besides, I KNOW it’s hard for the upright Republicans to see the nasty Democrats use sound-bites, but perhaps they will learn to do the same. I have faith in them.
August 16th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I don’t appreciate the quick-edit / hit-and-run style of this video clip. Surely there was more to his sentiments than this? Isn’t the progressive blogosphere trying to move away from sound-bite news dominance?
Of course, NE1! The progressive blogosphere must be unswervingly dedicated to defeating ourselves, or we aren’t real progressives.
Of course there’s more to Gramm’s sentiments than this. More of the same. What is noteworthy about this clip is that Ole Phil isn’t couching it in jargon or other safe language – he’s just flat out saying what he really thinks. I’m sorry to sound angry, but…geez, pop your head out of your butt and read a little GOP economic rhetoric/policy – there’s tons of it out there. Or, you could just read a newspaper, since we’re living in the apotheosis of 25 years of Gramm-o-nomics.
August 16th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
This is why there was never any danger of the “elitist” b.s. harming Barack Obama: because the elitism inherent in the Republican view of economic issues – as exemplified by Gramm’s words – make it just so glaringly obvious where the elitism comes from in this society.
When the economy turns bad, the eight-digit figure on Phil’s Gramm’s Fidelity statement is a little smaller, and that’s the only consequence it has on his life. What are all these little people whining about?
August 16th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Whatever. I read Yglesias, DBaker, and Delong because they consistently provide the polemic (see #6) with links, clips, and text to support it. Then I read the comments in the sometimes vain hope that whatever biases present will be taken to task.
There is absolutely no substance in this clip. No context for the sense in which he might have meant whiners. Maybe he was talking about a game of monopoly. I really don’t care that someone who said “America is full of whiners” is back with the McCain campaign, except that the point was apparently that McCain was just pulling a fast one about the dismissal.
The clip is useless, and Matt doesn’t add much.
August 17th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Context is indeed the problem here, NE1. Do you live in one or do you need one provided for you? When DeLong et. al. provide background information, does it make any persuasive difference to you? Do you really think Gramm was talking about a game of monopoly? He was talking about the American economy. He’s an economics professor.
But, you know, you do have a point, in a sense. This quick clip is certianly a political item. We’ve all seen the longer version, and already know all about Gramm’s economic philosophy besides (don’t you?), so this is just a refrain. So what? The point is that this is inept economics perfectly married with inept politics. It’s your comments here which have no substance, since you aren’t arguing an economics or even political point of view.
August 17th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Enough context to choke on, from a GOP-friendly source. “More of the same” is right.
August 17th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Maybe they can have Phil Gramm back, if we can have Samantha Power. Suffice to say, a visionary like Power is harder to replace than a third-tier supply-sider like Gramm. Thus a low tolerance for gaffes objectively favors the side with the lamer, more tired ideas.
In Gramm’s case, he only expressed himself clumsily; obviously, his social Darwinism is shared by everyone in the McCain camp, from McCain himself down to the kids manning the call center. It’s not like, if McCain is forced to erect a firewall between himself and Gramm, that he’s going to start asking Joseph Stiglitz for economic advice.
August 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
“mental recession” is a term loaded with meaning coming from Gramm.
August 17th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Mark Adams, is Google somehow blocked on your computer? All the context you might want is jsut a few clicks away, otherwise. Meanwhile, let those of us who already know the context talk in peace.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Some guy calls us a nation of whiners, and the overwhelming response is whining about his comments. The irony could only be made more delicious if it were wrapped in bacon.
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