Republican John McCain distanced himself from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States “a nation of whiners” in a “mental recession” as Democrat Barack Obama turned the remarks against his rival.
“I strongly disagree” with Phil Gramm’s remarks, McCain told reporters in Belleville, Mich. “Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.”
The Arizona senator said a person who just lost a job “isn’t suffering from a mental recession.”
“America is in great difficulty. And we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others,” McCain said, seeking to stem the fallout of Gramm’s comments.
Gramm, a former Texas senator who is a vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Times. Gramm has a doctorate in economics.
