It's very easy to second guess campaign managers. Once the mistake is made, the cheap seats are filled with experts ready to solve the problem after they have witnessed the gaffe and read thirty different pundits give their take on the problem.
Small example: some genius in the Obama campaign decided to move a couple of young ladies out of a "young folks of all nationalities huddled around the biracial candidate" photo op who were wearing traditional Muslim headdresses. Good move. No one who lives in the United States has ever seen such a getup. If that kid scares you, you have to move. Do you actually automatically assume these women are terrorists? You might also assume that Obama is a Muslim, and John F. Kennedy was murdered by the same man who shot Liberty Valance.
If you think the voters are that dense, if you think the voters believe that every teenage Muslim girl is a dynamite arsenal, then you should leave ethical politics and work for the RNC.
Which brings me to the Republican version of Scrooge (ah,so many choices,so little time). Every time a guy named Bush is president, the economy goes to the loo. So, when you are following this sort of disaster,don't let Phil Gramm or anyone who thinks like Phil Gramm near a microphone,reporter,or e-mail.
If I heard Phil correctly,this economic hell in which we have been trapped is all in our heads. Good point.That's where my brain is, and I THINK we are in trouble. You'd think someone with a Ph.D in anything would hear their own drivel and shut up at this point. Not Grammy. He proceded to call people complaining about the state of the economy "whiners". Less jobs, less pay, less security,all real, all there, all in fact. People aren't whining,Dr. Gramm, They are hurting,and you can't feel any of it. Can't and won't.
In 1996, Phil Gramm broke out of the gate for the GOP Presidential nod with a huge treasury, and then fell like a sleepwalker off of a pier. He ran a lousy campaign, scared small children, and was soon out of money and the running.
He went on to Enron, and if that weren't enough, he tried his darndest to create laws that place no restriction on suspicious lending practices that have ruined so many lives.
McCain is a smart politician. He didn't let his years of receiving brutal treatment rob him of the strength to throw Gramm's tired butt under the bus. From now on, this rule must be implanted in the brains of all surrogates and advisors: just wave and walk away. If you must speak, drop the name of a popular local athlete (that Van Zant kid,en fuego,huh?). You'll stay around longer, and most important, you won't be the leadoff joke for The Daily Show.