Gramm’s out, and it’s not just a mental thing

He’s back in. Oops, not so fast: He’s back out.

Friday was that sort of day for Phil Gramm, a John McCain backer and former Texas senator.

McCain distanced himself from the Texan earlier this month after Gramm opined that America was a “nation of whiners” and that the economic downturn was just a “mental recession.” That put his role as a McCain economic advisor and campaign surrogate in limbo.

Then, early Friday, columnist Robert Novak reported that McCain and Gramm had patched up their differences and that the Texan was back in the campaign fold.

If so, his return was short-lived.

Barack Obama’s campaign pounced on the McCain-Gramm rapprochement. In a statement, it faulted McCain for proposing tax relief for oil companies but not for millions of middle-class families -- and added that the Republican’s policies “shouldn’t come as a surprise, since today we learned that Phil Gramm will continue to advise Sen. McCain on economic policy.”

By evening, Gramm was done.

“It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Sen. McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” he said in a news release.

“That kind of distraction hurts not only Sen. McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems; it hurts the country,” Gramm said. “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.”

-- Stuart Silverstein