Fortunately, Sen. McCain has excellent healthcare coverage and can get checked out for early signs of Alzheimer's disease! Via Media Matters:
In what will, no doubt, be a recurring trend from Senate Republicans as they fight health care reform, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) decried the Senate Democrats' legislation by using faulty and fact-less rhetoric. McCain falsely accused the Senate health care reform of using "Enron accounting" measures. His comments are ironic, however, in light of his close, personal relationship with Phil "Mr. Enron" Gramm.
Gramm Was National Co-Chairman Of McCain's Campaign. Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm is the general co-chairman of McCain's presidential campaign. [JohnMcCain.com, accessed 6/3/08]
- McCain Was Chairman Of Gramm's 1996 Presidential Campaign. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported that in 1996, "McCain was national chairman for the presidential-nomination bid of U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas." [Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 9/3/07, via LexisNexis]
McCain: As President "I Would Rely On" Gramm. During the January 24 Republican debate in Florida, John McCain said, "But I as president, as every other president, rely primarily on my secretary of the Treasury, on my Council of Economic Advisers, on the head of that. I would rely on the circle that I have developed over many years of people like Jack Kemp, Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman, Pete Peterson, and [think tank] The Concorde Group." [New York Post, 1/26/08, emphasis added]
McCain: Gramm Is "Smartest" Politician. John McCain said the following about Phil Gramm to the Houston Chronicle: "He's probably the smartest - not just economist, but politician - there is." [Houston Chronicle, 2/25/08, via LexisNexis]
McCain Praised Gramm's Strategic Advice. The Houston Chronicle reported, "In an interview with the Chronicle, McCain called his friend's ability to frame issues and come up with clever campaign tactics 'just remarkable.'" [Houston Chronicle, 2/25/08, via LexisNexis]
- McCain Looked To Gramm When Campaign Was Floundering. The Houston Chronicle reported, "After working in the background for months, Gramm stepped into the center of the McCain campaign at its nadir last summer. Gramm said McCain 'asked me to come to Washington to look at the books and see what we needed to do to straighten them out.' The man famous for the Gramm-Latta budget cuts of the Reagan era recommended deep cuts in the McCain campaign budget and a radical change in strategy so that voters would hear the old 'straight-talk express' again. It worked. In January, Gramm stepped out of the shadows. He traveled with McCain in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and stumped solo for his friend in his native state of Georgia." [Houston Chronicle, 2/25/08, via LexisNexis]
McCain Said Gramm Was His "Mentor" On Economic Issues. New York Times business and economics columnist David Leonhardt wrote, "Mr. McCain begins the story of his economic education in 1982, when the country was in recession and he was first elected to the House. Once in Congress, he worked with Jack F. Kemp and Phil Gramm, who conservatives who were also in the House then, and Martin Feldstein, a Harvard economist who was an aide to President Ronald Reagan, to pass tax cuts and spending restraints. Mr. McCain said that Mr. Gramm - 'a guy who taught economics for 12 years at Texas A&M' and has endorsed Mr. McCain - had been an especially important mentor." [New York Times, 1/26/08, emphasis added]