Earlier today, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign tried to distance itself from top economic adviser Phil Gramm’s claim that America is a “nation of whiners” by claiming Gramm’s words were “not representative” of McCain’s views. But as Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reports, the McCain campaign originally had a different response, in which a campaign official told Politico that Gramm was “simply saying that we are laying out the economic plan this week”:
But in an initial statement published by Politico and then, seemingly, removed from its site, a McCain campaign aide actually stood by Gramm’s remarks, saying the interview as a whole was merely meant as a preview of the Senator’s economic agenda.
“Mr. Gramm was simply saying that we are laying out the economic plan this week,” the piece quoted a “McCain official” as saying. “The plan is comprehensive, providing immediate near-term relief for Americans hurting today as well as longer-term solutions to get our economy back on track, secure our energy future and deliver jobs, prosperity and opportunity for the next generation. We’re laying out that plan this week with an emphasis on the critical importance of job creation, and it’s been a great success so far.”
Gramm is standing by his comments, telling the Washington Post, “I’m not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true.”
Update
In an interview with CNN, Gramm stood by his “mental recession” comments, but claimed he only meant that America’s leaders are “whiners“:
“The whiners are the leaders, hell, the American people are victims, but it didn’t quite come out that way in the story,” Gramm said. These national and congressional leaders “blame speculators and oil companies for our problems, instead of presenting concrete programs for using energy more efficiently, or leaders who don’t think we can compete with Mexico.”
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