Mental Recession? What was John McCain’s Phil Graham Thinking?

In response to what many Americans are feeling and saying about the dire condition of America’s current economic downturn, Senator Phil Graham, with the McCain campaign, said, “You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession”. That’s a new one for me and for many others: “mental recession”.

Some consider Phil Graham the “econ brain” of John McCain. If that’s the case, then McCain really has a serious problem on his political hands. His primary economic policy craftsman is calling this pinch millions of us are feeling just a “mental” thing? Just a figment of our imagination? It’s all in our heads and not in our pocketbooks, bank accounts, and paychecks?

Tell that to my wife, the lovely Harriet, who would be glad to take Phil Graham to Wal-Mart to buy groceries for the Matally family. She tells me that our grocery bill has more than doubled; that’s 127% to be exact. I thought that was real. But Graham says we’re only dreaming? It’s all in our minds? Wow.

So, what’s mental about four-bucks-per-gallon gasoline? Actually it’s three pennies less, thanks to the Kroger Plus Shopper’s Card.

While Mr. Graham may call our economic woes mental, there is nothing mental about the damage he has done to his candidate. Ouch! If John McCain had been struggling to get a grip on America’s economic reality, then his econ brain has just set him way back and dug him into a very deep, dark hole. It will take much more than distancing himself from Phil’s remarks for McCain to begin to recover from this devastation.

To make matters worse, John McCain was the guy who confessed that the economy was not his strong suit.

If John McCain loses the November 4th election, it will be because of the economy. And the callous, careless bashing of hurting Americans by Phil Graham will be a big part of the reason for McCain’s great loss.

This election won’t be about Iraq or the war on terror, unless Iran does something really stupid or scary. The elections will be about the American economy and its woes, and if McCain’s econ brain considers that a fantasy problem, he’s in for a rude awakening on November 4th.

“Mental recession”! Tell that to the truck drivers. Tell that to the airlines. Tell that to Dana Corporation that has just closed its doors, leaving hundreds of employees in the heat. Tell that to the Executive Inn Hotel, and its workers, who just went out of business. Tell that to God’s Outreach, the food distribution warehouse in Western Kentucky, that has lost so many of its donors due to the sluggish economy. Tell that to the one million people who have just filed bankruptcy. Tell that to the millions facing the prospects of losing their homes, because they can no longer afford to make mortgage payments on their homes.

All this means one thing: real people are finding it hard to eat, pay their bills, and get around, Mr. Phil Graham. And you dare call it “mental recession”? Have you seen that the price for a barrel of oil hit $147 just this week? What is Phil Graham smoking? A cigar called Senatorium or something worse?

If McCain really understands the seriousness of this issue, he would not only distance himself from Senator Graham’s rants, but he would dump this guy who seems to have no clue. Phil Graham is the one who’s sleeping, who’s shielded by Washington’s veil from the every person’s plight on Main Street. This guy is imagining the recession away; he and McCain will need to do more than blast us for saying things are bad out here.

No, we are not acting like “a nation of whiners”, and there is nothing mental about our financial straights, except for the mental frustration some of us are experiencing. It is Phil Graham who is suffering from a mental non-recession. He is the one that needs to wake up.

Thanks in advance for your apologies, Phil, but I’m afraid you’re cooked. It’s over for you, man; you may be losing your Senate seat over this, unless you fight like hell to hold on with the skin of your teeth.

“Mental recession”! Boo…