People like Gramm have an ideological fixation on a school of thought and no empirical evidence will EVER change their minds. We have way too many dolts like this in our government. I hope BO will be different.

Oh, and you can bet that the former "esteemed Senator from Enron" goes out of his way not to get it. Not only does he refuse to accept that his policies and theories might be wrong, but the most damning aspect of him is that he simply refuses to accept how thoroughly hated he is, especially by members of his own party. Without fail, that rabid snapping turtle convinced himself that he actually had anything to say that anyone wanted to hear, to the point of his deciding to run for President in 1996 because he knew better than anybody else.

(If in case you don't remember, his Presidential run was at that time the best-funded campaign in US history, but that didn't keep Phil from getting his ass kicked in every state during the '96 primary. He even managed to get Louisiana's caucus date pushed up because he figured that he would have a better lock on the racist redneck vote; if I remember, correctly, he still only managed about 6 percent of the vote.

Honestly, the best thing to do with Phil Gramm is to ignore him. Molly Ivins noted how she and former Dallas Morning News Marilyn Schwartz were almost literally stomped by Gramm at the 1992 Republican National Convention because they happened to be between Gramm and a TV camera. If he were ignored, really ignored, he'd probably return to Hell that much sooner out of pure shock.

the best thing to do with Phil Gramm is to ignore him

It would be better to keep him front and center on the GOP stage, lights on, camera on, explaining to everyone exactly what values that the GOP represents.

Lest, once 2010 mid-term elections roll around and a new Gordon Smith-ish message of moderation gets crafted and sold to them, people forget what these were about.

Hear, hear. Sarah Palin, too, please.

Sure....its alway's the Republican's fault. Not holding my breath for your post on what an idiot Barny Frank is....

All of this must be what the last days of the dinosaurs were like. It sounds ridiculous now, but there are a lot of Republicans who truly, truly believed what they were selling.

If you're a Grover Norquist, a George Will, a Jack Kemp, it has to be hard to be proven so utterly and thoroughly wrong. For 30 years now, they have been members of the Flat Earth Society; they've spent their lives telling everyone that the sun revolves around the earth.

But we now conclusively know, without question, that unregulated markets don't work. We know conclusively that "trickle-down economics" doesn't work. Both have been thoroughly tested; both thoroughly failed.

Will, at least, tries to acknowledge what went wrong. Others are calling this "the Obama recession."

Wow, the street referenced in that article is four blocks from where I grew up. And it's still full of morons who think like this guy does.

Not holding my breath for your post on what an idiot Barny Frank is....

Or Chris Dodd. I heard this morning that he got a couple sweetheart mortgages from Countrywide right before they went belly up.

Hilarious! Even other republicans can't stand Gramm's stench, but Butch is right there to defend him. Keep on cheering for your dream ticket, Butch: Palin/Gramm '12.

Butch may be a Repug cheerleader, but what he said was:
"Not holding my breath for your post on what an idiot Barny Frank is...."

And given what I have read of JackBog, I think Butch is smart not to hold his breath on that one. Nor for Sen. Chris Dodd.

Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, and their issues, have nothing to do with what a turd Phil Gramm is. I don't let my kids get away with the "what about them" gambit, and I certainly don't why adults think they are exempt.

I guess if you don't like what Jack covers in his blog, then you should start your own? Then you can blast Barney and Chris all ya want.

Now now, let them vent. They'll need to compose themselves for the inauguration. Oprah will be reading a poem.