The boneheaded comments from McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm must be of serious concern to a McCain campaign already faced with daily questions over how much experience McCain as on domestic matters and if he truly believes the economic crisis the country is now in is, well, really a crisis. McCain and his staff have fought hard to present a compassionate and informed front on the economy, but Gramm’s quotes from a Wednesday interview - it’s all over the news by now - just about killed it, at least for now.

Gramm’s comments…

Gramm stirred up controversy when he called the nation’s economic malaise a “mental recession,” then added, “We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline.”

This hits hard as such ideology has become associated with the Republican party - and, by way of guilt sharing, McCain - over the course of the Bush presidency, where Pres. Bush and those around him famously tossed out any concerns over the economy both during the ‘01 recession and the recent slide as mere partisan trifles. The term “rosy outlook” became the permanent status of the economy according to the Bush administration.

With Bush’s approval rating in the tank for years and McCain needing to run away from Bush on most issues, such a callous statement from a McCain campaign adviser (and close personal friend) come s as a hard blow. Does the campaign really want to see Dem ads out very soon with images of distressed families and foreclosed homes slapped behind Gramm’s quote of “whiners”? It could be a serious blow…

McCain, to his credit, mobilized very quickly and distanced himself from his friend Gramm with a few quotes, including a trademark caustic McCain joke.

McCain said he didn’t agree with him and even proposed a position in a McCain administration – ambassador to Belarus, “though I’m not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that,â€� McCain said.

“I don’t agree with Sen. Gramm,� McCain said at a news conference this afternoon. “I believe that the person here in Michigan who just lost their job, isn’t suffering from a ‘mental recession.’ The mother here who is trying to get enough money to feed her children, isn’t ‘whining.’� 

“Phil Gramm doesn’t speak for me, I speak for me. I strongly disagree,� McCain continued, speaking of the man who some speculated could be Treasury Secretary in a McCain administration.

But Gramm has made matters worse by brazenly standing by his views on the U.S. economy.  He pulled a Wes Clark after McCain’s angry outburst over the comments and made it clear that he stands by what he said.

Former senator Phil Gramm — under fire for saying the United States has “become a nation of whiners” — said in an interview today that he meant the nation’s leaders were whiners, not its citizens.But the top adviser to Sen. John McCain repeated his assertion that the economy is not in recession, and he declined to retract the comments quoted yesterday in the Washington Times.

“I’m not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true,” Gramm said.

“Look, the economy is bad. It is far below what we Americans have a right to expect, but we are not in a recession,” he said. “We may or may not have one in the future, but based on the data we are not in a recession. But that does not mean all this talk does not have a psychological impact.”

Gramm did say that the exact quote of “whiners” may have been a Washington Times misquote. Does it matter at this point?