John McCain had to fire his top economic advisor – Phil Gramm – last week when the former Texas Senator said America is “a nation of whiners” about the current economy. But Gramm was just expressing core Republican economic philosophy, as the Grand Old Party has never had anything else to offer people struggling to make ends meet. Back in the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover famously said “prosperity is just around the corner” – while at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger urged Americans not to be “economic girly-men.” McCain admits he doesn’t know much about economics, letting people like Gramm dictate his agenda – while he calls Social Security “an absolute disgrace.” But don’t expect the mainstream media to make these connections. They’re too busy talking about how the left feels disillusioned with Barack Obama on Iraq – even though he hasn’t changed his position at all.

It’s easy to despise Phil Gramm, who left the U.S. Senate six years ago and hasn’t been missed. In the 1980’s, when he was still a Democrat, Gramm would go to party Caucus meetings to learn about their inside strategy – and then share it with the Reagan White House as they pushed tax cuts for the wealthy. After switching parties, Gramm pushed energy deregulation while his wife was on the Board of Enron – and as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee championed bills that caused the subprime mortgage crisis. Gramm thinks we’re all a bunch of “whiners” – because he created the mess we’re in.

But Gramm’s statement was just a moment of candor – spoken by a retired ex-politician who will never have to face the voters again. It really is what the Republican Party thinks about anyone struggling to keep their jobs, provide health care for their families, and pay the rent or mortgage payments. They’re usually good about masking this contempt with optimistic rhetoric (see Ronald Reagan’s “morning in America”) or with patriotic fervor that frightens “middle America” about brown-skinned people. But at the end of the day, the G.O.P. has nothing to say to those who are getting screwed by our economy.

Saying we’re a nation of whiners is no different from what California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told the Republican National Convention in 2004. “One way you can tell you’re a Republican,” he said, “is your faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people, and faith in the U.S. economy. And to those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say ‘don’t be economic girly men.’”

Over a million Americans sunk into poverty that year, as George W. Bush became the first President since Herbert Hoover to see a net loss of jobs. But Schwarzenegger said they’re just “economic girly-men.” Just have faith in the free market system, as Hoover told us in the Great Depression that “prosperity is just around the corner.” Having to sell apples on the street corner just makes us a bunch of whiners.

This is why McCain can’t put this problem behind him by firing Phil Gramm. He may not have said we’re a “nation of whiners” – but he did say three months ago that our economic woes are “psychological.” Speaking to Fox News’ Neil Cavuto about escalating gas prices, McCain said “a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological — the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home.” But when the rich have psychological problems, they can afford a therapist. The unemployed, however, are simply on their own.

McCain even admits that he doesn’t know much about economics. But don’t worry, he said in December 2007. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.” That’s not much of a consolation – as the former Federal Reserve Chairman supported Bush’s tax cuts on the wealthy and advised homeowners to get adjustable rate mortgages. Forget about McCain’s inability to use the Internet – he has to rely on Republican hacks to make economic decisions.

McCain went so far as to call Social Security an “absolute disgrace.” He’ll say he was commenting on its financial situation, but the entire quote in context demonstrates his basic misunderstanding of how the program works. “We are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today,” he said. “And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace and it's got to be fixed.” Last I checked, funding this New Deal program has always required taxing young workers today.

The press has left McCain off the hook for his economic insensitivity after he jokingly fired Gramm. “I think Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador of Belarus,” he said. But compare that with the shellacking they gave Barack Obama for allegedly shifting his views on Iraq. As Randy Shaw wrote, the New York Times has front-page stories about how the “far left” is “disillusioned” with Obama’s positions on getting us out of this quagmire, even if there’s really nothing there to complain about.

In a speech yesterday before heading to Iraq, Obama re-affirmed his commitment to getting our troops out in 16 months – and his vow to “end the war.” Last week, the media inflated his statements about “refining” his position on withdrawal – which got him in trouble with the Left. Now McCain is accusing him of being too inflexible about getting out. Regardless of what Obama says or does, he can never win in such an environment.

But McCain gets the kid-glove treatment after getting rid of Phil Gramm. The more basic problem is that Gramm represents the fundamental economic mindset of the Republican Party. And it’s a legacy that goes back for decades – something that John McCain simply can’t wash away. Especially when he admits he needs help understanding economics.