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.”