They Smiled While The Nation Whined

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

John McCain
September 15, 2008

"Losing a job is painful, and I know Americans are concerned about our economy; so am I. It's clear our economy has slowed, but the good news is, we anticipated this and took decisive action to bolster the economy, by passing a growth package that will put money into the hands of American workers and businesses."

President Bush
March 7 on news that the economy lost 63,000 payroll jobs in February


"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about loss of competitiveness, 'American in decline'...We've never been more dominant; we've never had more natural advantages than we have today."

Phil Gramm
McCain Economic Adviser