http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/10/mccain.gramm/index.html

John McCain repudiated remarks by Phil Gramm depicting Americans as whiners.

Tough call. Clearly the remarks were intemperate. But as I told someone yesterday, people who lose their jobs and their homes are in economic crisis. On the other hand, I've heard radio commentators bitching about the high cost of a cup of latte at Starbucks, and heard acquaintances complaining because their half million dollar homes aren't selling fast enough and they want them gone so they can buy a bigger and better one. That's hardly a fiscal crisis. That's the whining of the pampered. From that standpoint, Gramm's right. But given the ease of misinterpretation, it probably should have gone unsaid.

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Tough call.

How so?

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Clearly the remarks were intemperate. But as I told someone yesterday, people who lose their jobs and their homes are in economic crisis.

"Intemperate"? Try politically suicidal, which is why McCain quickly distanced himself from one of his "top economic advisors."

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On the other hand, I've heard radio commentators bitching about the high cost of a cup of latte at Starbucks, and heard acquaintances complaining because their half million dollar homes aren't selling fast enough and they want them gone so they can buy a bigger and better one. That's hardly a fiscal crisis. That's the whining of the pampered. From that standpoint, Gramm's right.

Your penchant for anecdotal rebuttal raises its ugly and semi-useless head. The fact that you may have heard bitching from the pampered doesn't refute the facts that an increasing number of Americans are in economic crises. Calling them "whiners" may play to the country club crowd, but for the Americans who are suffering, it just adds insult to injury.

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But given the ease of misinterpretation, it probably should have gone unsaid.

Gramm said America was "a nation of whiners." How was that misinterpreted?And given the obvious political ramifications, how addled and politically tone deaf do you have to be to use the word "probably"?

If Gramm considers us a nation of whiners now, I'd like to know how he'd characterize the Founding Fathers and the other colonists who supported the fight for independence.