Phil Gramm McFired

By GottaLaff

Ohh, I love it when they use words like "ignominious":

Add former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm's name to an ignominious list -- Susan Rice, Billy Shaheen, Geraldine Ferraro to name just a few -- of campaign surrogates forced to step aside after making an impolitic comment.

I'm sure he took it like a man. Wrong. Self pity alert!

John McCain's campaign just released the following statement from Gramm:

"It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country.

"Sniffle, sniffle. Nobody likes me. I'm gonna go eat worms. Waah!" Well, buck up, Phil. Maybe Grandma McMealTicket will take you in. There must be a spare bedroom somewhere in one of her many grand-staircased homes.

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."

Mmmyeah, but it doesn't hurt the country at all when you call its citizens a bunch of whiners and suggest their money woes are all in their heads. "Mental recession", my Fannie Mae. It only hurts when you have less influence, right McFired?

A few quick thoughts:

* Gramm's resignation is the inevitable byproduct of the modern political game best described by John Harris and Mark Halperin in "The Way to Win" as the "freak show." Once Gramm's comments made the cable television rounds for a few days, it was something close to inevitable that he would resign.

* It's a near-certainty that Democrats won't give up on the issue. The reality is that Gramm was one of McCain's closest confidantes when it came to the economy and simply because the former Texas Senator is no longer affiliated with the campaign does not mean Democrats won't remind voters of his comments in the fall.

* The position of Treasury Secretary in a McCain Administration is now WIDE open.

One more Enron loophole closed.