After former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) explained his belief that he lives in a “nation of whiners,” because Americans are unsatisfied with the state of the economy, the McCain campaign scrambled to argue that Gramm’s opinion does not reflect that of the Republican presidential nominee. Soon after, we were told that Gramm would no longer speak on behalf of the campaign.
Bob Novak, however, reported in his latest column that McCain and Gramm have “patched up their relationship,” and that the former senator “will continue as an adviser and surrogate” for the McCain campaign. The Obama campaign used the Novak item to continue to needle McCain.
In response, late yesterday afternoon, aides announced that Gramm had resigned as the co-chairman of McCain’s presidential campaign.
“It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” Mr. Gramm said in a statement issued by the campaign. “That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country.” […]
Since the start of his campaign, but particularly since the onset of the most recent economic turmoil, Mr. McCain has been struggling to convince voters of his ability to manage the economy, an area he has acknowledged in the past as a weakness. Mr. Gramm, in addition to being a close friend, helped design his economic program and, until last week’s gaffe, was being mentioned as a possible treasury secretary in a McCain administration.
Democrats quickly criticized Mr. Gramm’s blaming them Friday for his resignation. “The question for John McCain isn’t whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years,” said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the campaign of Senator Barack Obama.
That’s right, but there’s also another question: Gramm may not be a campaign co-chairman anymore, but is he still advising McCain on economic matters?
Gramm’s resignation prompted plenty of headlines, which is presumably what the McCain campaign wanted — people are supposed to know that Gramm said something crazy, and now he’s no longer on the team as a result.
But the co-chairman designation was little more than an honorary title. The real problems were more substantive, most notably the fact that McCain was shaping his economic worldview on Gramm’s guidance, and that the campaign’s economic policies were the result of Gramm’s advice.
Is Gramm gone, or is he only kinda sorta gone?
Yesterday, the McCain campaign disputed part of Novak’s report, saying that Gramm would no longer be a surrogate. But the report also said Gramm would advice McCain on economic matters, and on this, the campaign said nothing.
Gramm’s decision comes after word that, in his weekend column, Robert Novak was to report that the Gramm and McCain had talked subsequent to the ill-time remarks and that he’d stay on as a surrogate and adviser.
But McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said earlier today that Gramm would no longer represent the campaign.
Gramm’s move tonight appears to be a move to clarify his status. But when asked whether this meant he’d no longer advise or represent McCain, Bounds only said that it was Gramm’s decision to step down from his co-chair post.
So, it’s just another round of double-talk from McCain. First the campaign agrees with Gramm, then it doesn’t. Gramm is a surrogate, then he isn’t, then he is, then he isn’t. Gramm is an advisor, then he isn’t, then he might be.
I can understand the campaign’s embarrassment, but this is ridiculous. Gramm not only thinks we’re a “nation of whiners,” he’s also, more importantly, the man whose financial deregulation efforts made the market meltdown possible.
That he’ll still be offering McCain advice on matters of economic policy tells us quite a bit about McCain’s reliability.