On Friday, ex-senator for Texas turned lobbyist Phil Gramm issued a press release explaining why he quit as Sen. John McCain‘s presidential campaign co-chair. It wasn’t because he’d called Americans “A nation of whiners.” No, it was because Democrats had challenged the author of McCain’s economic policy over calling Americans “a nation of whiners.”
ARLINGTON, VA – Today, former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm issued the following statement: “It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country. 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. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as Co-Chair of the McCain Campaign and join the growing number of rank-and-file McCain supporters.”
Those ranks seem to be getting swelled all the time: not by recruits, but by senior staffers getting demoted or dropping out. This month campaign manager Rick Davis got shoved aside in favor of Karl Rove’s acolyte Steve Schmidt, but he’s one of many (Mark McKinnon, Doug Davenport, Eric Burgeson, Craig Shirley, Doug Goodyear, etc etc etc) to start looking for a new day job. It’s like the campaign pro equivilent of trickle-down economics.
In fairness, McCain then went on to turn attention back to his economic policy by saying that Iraq and Pakistan share a border.
This article appears in July 18 • 2008.
