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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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September 2, 2008
PHIL GRAMM REEMERGES.... We haven't heard much from Phil Gramm lately, despite speculation that he, despite his record, might be considered to lead the Treasury department in a McCain administration. Apparently, calling the United States a "nation of whiners" makes one something of a political pariah, even in Republican circles. And yet, he's back, and he's as off-message as ever.
I see. So, the rest of the country is made up of "whiners," but if you're at the Republican National Convention, you're exempt from the label. It's not enough to Gramm to reemerge from political exile, he also feels compelled to return to the subject that gone him in trouble in the first place. Barack Obama tends to use Phil Gramm's line in his stump speech, so it wasn't a surprise to see this statement this afternoon from a campaign spokesperson: "Today, the man who wrote John McCain's economic plan further insulted struggling Americans by suggesting that if they are not attending the Republican Convention, they are not only whiners, but economically illiterate. From the campaign whose candidate has said that we've made 'great progress' economically under George Bush and believes that the fundamentals of our economy are 'strong', that's pretty rich." Just as an aside, I'm curious about something else. Gramm spoke earlier today to the Financial Services Roundtable. Given that Gramm's financial deregulation efforts were largely responsible for the recent market meltdown, couldn't they have found a better speaker? Wouldn't anyone else have more credibility on the issue? —Steve Benen 3:33 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (32)Comments
Doesn't that mean that noted economic illiterate John McCain is against John McCain? Posted by: Former Dan on September 2, 2008 at 3:37 PM | PERMALINK"Given that Gramm's financial deregulation efforts were largely responsible for the recent market meltdown, couldn't they have found a better speaker? Wouldn't anyone else have more credibility on the issue?" John McCain is running on his foreign policy judgment. Posted by: gussie on September 2, 2008 at 3:39 PM | PERMALINKThe reason the naation is a bunch of whiners is that only the people who have not benefited from teh American economy over the last decade complain about it - which is about 98%. Posted by: Phil Gramm on September 2, 2008 at 3:40 PM | PERMALINK"Given that Gramm's financial deregulation efforts were largely responsible for the recent market meltdown, couldn't they have found a better speaker? Wouldn't anyone else have more credibility on the issue?" But Republicuns don't believe that the "meltdown" is the result of a lack of regulation. They blame everything BUT a lack of regulation. In fact, they probably think the meltdown would not have occurred if there had been no regulation at all. Posted by: CT on September 2, 2008 at 3:49 PM | PERMALINKWell, just as a matter of logic, the claim "If you're here, you're not an economic illiterate" does not entail "If you're not here, you are one." So Obama's spokesperson isn't being scrupulously accurate. But it is fair to say that Gramm is an idiot. Posted by: DrBB on September 2, 2008 at 3:52 PM | PERMALINK"Given that Gramm's financial deregulation efforts were largely responsible for the recent market meltdown" The rest of your post is fine, but this isn't correct. The entrance of the Fannies into the sub-prime market--largely at the urging of Democratic Congressmen, was at least as 'largely responsible' for the the recent market meltdown as Gramm's acts. Posted by: Sebastian on September 2, 2008 at 3:58 PM | PERMALINKSebastian which dem congressmen would that be and when did they do that.Also who exactly did they urge. Some facts would be nice. Posted by: Gandalf on September 2, 2008 at 4:04 PM | PERMALINKPretty "rich"? Damn, these guys are good. The entrance of the Fannies into the sub-prime market--largely at the urging of Democratic Congressmen, was at least as 'largely responsible' for the the recent market meltdown as Gramm's acts. But even if the Fannies entering the sub-prime market was "at least as 'largely responsible' for the the recent market meltdown as Gramm's acts," it doesn't follow that Gramm's acts were not, in fact, largely responsible. (And if Fannie did so at the "urging" of your anonymous Democratic congresscritters, it nevertheless did so as an independent, not a governmental, body, so one is probably safe at viewing that irrelevant tangent as a feeble attempt to distract from Gramm's role in pushing discredited conservative economic policy. Shame on you, Sebastian.) So no, you haven't supported your contention that Steve's statement isn't correct. Care to try again? I found it fascinating that Wes Clark was apparently still considered too toxic to speak at the DNC for suggesting awhile back that McCain's survival of his POW years didn't by itself constitute a credential for leadership... but Phil Gramm can call everyone struggling to make ends meet "a nation of whiners" and it's supposed to now be an applause line at the RNC. WTF!?!? Posted by: short fuse on September 2, 2008 at 4:28 PM | PERMALINKDr BB said :'Well, just as a matter of logic, the claim "If you're here, you're not an economic illiterate" does not entail "If you're not here, you are one." So Obama's spokesperson isn't being scrupulously accurate.' True, but how many in America will make that distinction? Almost all could, even w/o logic training, but too many are lazy, stoned, or ovine. Kind of clever, actually. What thug wants the base to start thinking rationally? Posted by: Michael7843853 on September 2, 2008 at 4:59 PM | PERMALINKPhil (the mole) Graham eventually had to surface again. I love the whiskers Phil! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Close-up_of_mole.jpg Posted by: William the trollop on September 2, 2008 at 5:15 PM | PERMALINKIf the definition of economic literacy is that you want to amass as much money as you can by whatever means possible, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, then I guess Republicans are by definition economically literate. Interesting that historical literacy is not considered as important. Little lapes don't count like, oh, maybe, thinking that the pledge of allegiance was written by the founding fathers. Posted by: dcsusie on September 2, 2008 at 6:11 PM | PERMALINK"...Couldn't they have found a better speaker? Wouldn't anyone else have more credibility on the issue?"-Benen on Phil Gramm. When are you going to accept it Steve...It's not ignornace, it's not stupidity...they just don't care. Gramm's got money and this is a private club which does not include the American people. They only come around when they need our vote and they believe that by telling you what you should do that you will do it because they told you to. Like tolerating a rich old relative at Thanksgiving dinner..you must change because they sure as hell won't. The RNC is merely a traders market. Expecting these attendees to be other than what they are...that they wil have some kind of awakening is utterly ridiculous. They don't care what you think, or what is right or just, only how to keep power and maximize profits. And if you are not like this then you can call yourself a republican but you really are not one. These are the Enron republicans and stealing your way to wealth and power still gets you there. Win at all costs and justify it later. Posted by: bjobotts on September 2, 2008 at 6:28 PM | PERMALINKasrmb fjducko fgecn fgecn yihkt thsf oxqj yihkt thsf oxqj 
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