NYT: “We’re the only nation in the world,” Mr. Gramm once said, “where all our poor people are fat.”
During one of the many Republican assaults on Social Security, the issue of cutting back benefits for the elderly came up in the Senate. “They are 80-year-olds,” howled Mr. Gramm. “Most people don’t have the luxury of living to be 80 years old, so it’s hard for me to feel sorry for them.”
John McCain, whose Straight Talk Express ran out of gas long ago, tried to paper over the implications of Mr. Gramm’s unseemly outburst this week about the very real suffering that has descended on millions of Americans. “Phil Gramm does not speak for me,” said Senator McCain. “I speak for me.”
But the truth is that Mr. Gramm, a close friend of Senator McCain’s for many years, has had a very loud say in the economic policies of the McCain presidential campaign. And those policies are an extension of the G.O.P. orthodoxy that is threatening to sink the ship of state, even as the very wealthy are dancing mindlessly to the music of another Gilded Age.
Columnist Bob Herbert goes on to slam Obama for not taking full advantage of Gramm's lameness. I think the point Herbert's trying to make, at the expense of Obama, is democrats should be taking the message to the streets -- that a republican economy doomed us and will do further harm if McCain and his crew are elected. Agreed.
I think Obama's been doing a pretty good job at getting his message out. Though, I don't think he has a lot of backup from the democrats.
In fact, from what I've seen, the democrats are really still sleeping. It's kind of like Obama is out there on his own, forging his way, the only man with a voice. If the democrats actually got behind him, McCain wouldn't stand a chance. But McCain, with his bumbling campaign, is actually making inroads.
In fact, from what I've seen, the democrats are really still sleeping. It's kind of like Obama is out there on his own, forging his way, the only man with a voice. If the democrats actually got behind him, McCain wouldn't stand a chance. But McCain, with his bumbling campaign, is actually making inroads.
I don't know why the democrats are so meek. Perhaps it's that Jesse Jackson Jealousy thing. But that is a whole other blog post. Perhaps, many are still pining for Hillary, which goes to show, politicians don't really care about "the people."
Americans need to hear the economy message loud and clear. It's why we have a whole new class of super rich, who are displacing the millionaires. Before long, the middle class will be invisible because there won't be one. The poor? Who knows.
Americans need to hear the economy message loud and clear. It's why we have a whole new class of super rich, who are displacing the millionaires. Before long, the middle class will be invisible because there won't be one. The poor? Who knows.
