RICH OLD WHITE GUYS JUDGE US, FIND US WANTING

So Phil Gramm gets fired by John McCain for calling the American people "a bunch of whiners." This former Congressman and United States Senator from Texas who is now cashing in big time as vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank somehow caught the ear of the John McCain presidential campaign. They recruited Mr. Gramm to promote McCain's message to the common working people of America. Odd choice. Here's some of Mr. Gramm's famous quotes from well before he shot himself and Mr. McCain in the foot with his "nation of whiners" diatribe.

"Has anyone ever noticed that we live in the only country in the world where all the poor people are fat?" - from his first Senate campaign in 1984

"Most people don't have the luxury of living to be 80 years old, so it's hard for me to feel sorry for them." -responding to new Social Security proposals that would hurt people over 80, presumably life hogs who ought to just graciously die, all five and a half million of them.

"We're going to keep on building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." - referring to the Texas Republican Party.

"I'm carrying so much pork I'm beginning to get trichinosis." -bragging about all the millions of dollars in Federal taxpayers' money he siphoned off for unnecessary vanity projects in his home state of Texas.

"I have as many guns as I need but not as many as I want." -presumably he was hoping to acquire the new Democrat Terminator hunting rifle from Smite & Lesson.

"Anybody with 2.1 billion dollars has to be taken seriously." -referring to fellow rich old white Texan, H. Ross Perot, no doubt wondering how he could relieve the scary crazy Mr. Perot of some of that dough.

So while Senator McCain's campaign quickly told Mr. Gramm thanks but no thanks, you'd think they'd have done their homework on the guy. It seems that rich old white guys with a lot of power aren't subject to the same scrutiny as the rest of us when applying for a job. Look at John McCain himself, worth upwards of 30 million and claiming to be the voice of the working classes (!), somehow pulling off that masquerade to become the Republican nominee for president. McCain has had a long political career that has seen him abandon his principles again and again in his quest for the brass ring of the presidency.

So to pick a sleazy piece of work like Gramm to be his spokesmen seemed natural, even though war-hawk Gramm sat out the Vietnam War with 5 draft deferments, the same number of years McCain spent being tortured in a Prisoner of War camp in North Vietnam. So even on such a basic and personal level, McCain has sold his political soul to the rich old white guys in this nation who judge the people of America and find us wanting. How they have the balls to do so is another matter, since they are blessed with the finest, hardest working and most basically decent set of citizens on the planet, men and women whose life labor, sacrifices in war and generous spirit have made their privileged and powerful lives possible. You'd think these guys would be falling all over each other to thank Americans and to offer them honest service in the high offices they occupy.

Guess again. These fat cats complain that we're not making them even fatter and more secure, and then ship our jobs overseas to impoverished nations who will kick back the lion's share of their workers' salaries to these corporate princes. John McCain also opposes expanded rights for wounded veterans, inexplicably forgetting the years of surgery and physical rehabilitation the United States Navy paid for to make him whole again after his hellish ordeal. He also opposes education benefits for veterans, maybe figuring they can all go to the U.S. Naval Academy for free like he did because his father and grandfather were admirals. Doesn't work that way in the real world you were never a part of, sir. Neither the military, as honorable as it is, or Congress, as dishonorable as it can often be, are a part of the real working world of ordinary citizens.

So we find McCain's campaign team and close advisors chock full of the kind of people he once claimed to oppose; lobbyists, political saboteurs and rich old white guys bent on preserving and making permanent the ruling elite created and nurtured by the Bush The Younger administration, a ruling elite that has managed to place over 90% of the nation's wealth in the pockets of less than 1% of its people, where 30 million citizens, 10% of us, are living below the poverty line in the most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. Time to ditch these old bozos and send them off to the golf course or one of their many palatial homes while many of us move heaven and earth in order to hang on to our own. We don't need another parade of gray men in gray suits reeking of ulterior motives. Obama for President in '08 and defeat for as many entrenched Senators and Representatives as possible. Public office is not a guaranteed job for life, nor it is a license loot the public treasury.