Gramm rebuked for 'whiners' comment
BELLEVILLE, Mich. - John McCain sharply broke from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession" as the Republican presidential candidate sought to counter criticism that he is weak on the economy.
Sensing an opening, Democrat Barack Obama tried to turn the remarks against his rival.
"I strongly disagree" with Phil Gramm's remarks, McCain told reporters in what amounted to nothing short of a smackdown against one of his top surrogates and longtime friends. "Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me."
The Republican presidential candidate said a person who just lost a job or a mother struggling to pay for a child's education "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 from Gramm's comments.
Gramm, a former Texas senator who is a vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS and has a doctorate in economics, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Times. McCain and Gramm have been friends and colleagues for years. McCain served as a top surrogate when Gramm ran for president in 1996, and the Texan has returned the favor this year, campaigning frequently on McCain's behalf.
The economy is the top issue for voters and the number one subject in the presidential campaign. McCain and Obama are seeking to portray the other as out of touch with the country's struggles while arguing they are the leader best able to pull the nation out of tenuous times.
Gramm's comments became a distraction for McCain and gave Obama an opportunity.
Campaigning in Fairfax, Va., Obama seized on Gramm's comments as he tried to paint McCain as out of touch: "America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy."
He drew boos and hisses when he read Gramm's quotes to his audience. He contrasted them with rising gas and food prices.
"It's not just a figment of your imagination," Obama said at a town hall event focused on helping women advance economically. "Let's be clear. This economic downturn is not in your head."
"It isn't whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief," he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cindy McCain, Huckabee are traveling to Rwanda
WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain and Mike Huckabee are in a bipartisan group headed to Rwanda next week to see how US investments have helped some of the world's poorest people and what steps the next president can take to fight global poverty.
Former Senate majority leaders Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, and Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, will lead the delegation for the ONE campaign, an organization that uses grass-roots efforts to pressure world leaders to address poverty and preventable diseases.
McCain is the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and Huckabee is a former Arkansas governor who challenged McCain during the GOP presidential primaries. The two will join John Podesta and Leon Panetta, both of whom served as chief of staff in the Clinton administration. Former representative John Kasich, an Ohio Republican, will also make the trip, which is planned for July 17-23.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
No evidence of tampering found on Obama's plane
WASHINGTON - An initial examination of the plane that had maintenance problems while carrying Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama found no evidence of missing parts or tampering, federal investigators said yesterday.
The Midwest Airlines MD-81 made a precautionary landing in St. Louis on Monday after leaving Chicago for Charlotte, N.C.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings from the on-scene investigation yesterday.
The pilots of the Midwest Airlines MD-81 felt it took more than the usual amount of force to manipulate the aircraft controls, said Bridget Serchak, NTSB spokeswoman. The federal agency stated that an emergency evacuation slide located in the tail cone of the plane partially inflated and that an inflation bottle, typically containing a mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, was empty.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
