Apparently, we all just need to shut the f**k up. We're all just bitchin', pissin' and moanin' for nothing. At least, according to John McCain and his surrogates we are.

A firestorm of controversy was set ablaze this week when Phil Gramm, McCain’s top economic advisor and his presumptive choice to be his Secretary of the Treasury, in an interview with the Washington Times said that the country was suffering not from an economic recession, but a "mental recession."

Said Gramm...

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession..."

So see? Apparently, the fact that our dollars don't stretch nearly as far, the fact that people are quite literally having to decide between feeding their children or putting gas in their car or heating their homes during the winter, the fact that the cost of groceries is skyrocketing, the fact that people are being forced out of their homes at a record clip... I could probably go on all day with all of the indicators that our economy is in trouble... but Phil Gramm assures you that IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD!!!! Yes, that's right... millions upon millions upon millions of people aren't really struggling financially, nearly killing themselves to make ends meet, those are just symptoms of this "mental recession. Just fu**ing brilliant.

As if it weren’t already bad enough, Gramm went on...

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline... despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy

Gramm thinks we’re just a nation of whiners? Seriously? Wow. Now there’s a hell of a campaign slogan for you… “Quit your whining and vote for John McCain.” Seriously, can somebody say “out of touch?” Just a wee bit? To me, this just really underscores the contempt McCain and the Republican party hold the American people in. Throughout his campaign, McCain has been trying real hard to position himself as a man of the people, as somebody who’s been where we are and somebody we can relate to. Yeah, okay. McCain is about as much of a populist as I am a Christian Fundamentalist. Neither Gramm nor McCain knows what it is to struggle, to live paycheck to paycheck, to know that something like a serious illness or a car accident would be absolutely catastrophic for your family. Neither one of them knows what it is to slog to work every single day, doing a job you loathe and despise because you have people depending on you to feed and clothe them or because you simply weren’t able to afford an education, thus limiting your opportunities for better employment. This lack of understanding and this contempt for we, the unwashed masses, became a central piece of the Republican philosophy under Reagan and it has become a near art form under Dubya. Though he says the opposite, comments like Gramm’s simply show that this is a philosophy that McCain promises to perpetuate.

And wait a mintue... an export boom? Does anybody else know anything about an “export boom?” So far as I can tell, the only thing we’ve been exporting in mass quantity these last eight years have been JOBS.

I know, I know… a candidate can’t always be held responsible for something one of their surrogates might say. Fair enough. And I'd be willing to go along with the idea that this was a campaign surrogate going off the reservation and popping off if McCain himself hadn't expressed similar views already.

In speaking about his proposed "gas tax holiday" which would have suspended the federal gas tax of about 18 cents a gallon, thus saving consumers less than 50 bucks this summer, McCain had this to say...

I’m very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it’s been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically — and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological — the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost. Let’s have some straight talk, it’s not a huge amount of money.

So the problem isn't really that the big oil companies are screwing us all and that the policies of the current administration have been like a jar of KY-Jelly, no, it's just a "psychological" problem. And McCain thinks that throwing us a bone... a rather small bone at that considering the fact that even with his "gas tax holiday" we're still going to be paying more than $4/gallon... is going to give us all a psychological boost and make us happy campers again, huh? Yeah... sure... okay.

Keeping with the theme that this is all in our heads, McCain was speaking about the necessity to start drilling offshore for oil...

"I don't see an immediate relief, but I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist -- and in view of many experts that do exist off our coasts -- is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial."

So see? The problems aren't really that bad and in fact, they're mostly in our heads anyway! It's nothing that a little "psychological boost" can't cure. We don't need immediate and real solutions to the very real problems facing Americans each and every day. No, don't be silly. We just need something that's going to make us feel all better.

For his part, McCain has done his best to distance himself from those remarks (while not actually doing anything to actually distance himself from Gramm). McCain has said that Gramm does not speak for him and has assured us that Gramm’s presence on the campaign trail will be “minimized.” Minimized? Gee, that's real big of you, John. The only problem in you saying that Gramm "doesn't speak for you" is that he was giving an interview on behalf of your campaign... ergo, he was in fact, speaking for you. And the problem with "minimizing" Gramm's role in your campaign... which basically means he won't be giving interviews or going out on the stump with you... is that he's still a central part of your campaign and will undoubtedly hold a high cabinet position in your administration. If Gramm really believes that we're just a nation of whiners and complainers, is it really that unreasonable to believe he'd carry that belief into his new gig in the Treasury Department and that that very belief might color his policies? If McCain had really wanted to send a message, to show American voters that he was "change we could believe in," he would have sent Gramm packing. Period. No questions asked. But the simple fact that McCain is going to simply hide Gramm under the stairs like some crazy, disfigured uncle only to trot him back out later and stick him into his administration's cabinet is truly telling.

Let me give you a little straight talk here, my friends... if there was any lingering doubt that McCain was just another out-of-touch, elitist Republican that could care less about the people of this country, let's just go ahead and lay that to rest now.