Here’s a story I’ve been asleep at the switch on. One of John McCain’s chief economic advisers is none other than former Senator Phil Gramm. Phil Gramm was the father of the modern bank deregulation era that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. And more than that, he’s a lobbyist for UBS, one of the largest transnational corporations embroiled in the subprime mess:

Talking Points Memo | Great Company He Keeps

On the McCain/Gramm/UBS front (noted in yesterday evenings posts), it seems that not only is Sen. McCain’s top economics advisor, fmr Sen. Gramm, lobby and work for UBS, but according to today’s Financial Times the company is advising members of its private banking team not to step foot in the United States in order to avoid indictment.

The original story from MSNBC’s Countdown is here for your entertainment. Gramm was a tireless lobbyist against just about any reform measures or relief measures the Congress wanted to pass in the wake of the economic disaster he was largely responsible for. So now we know why John McCain’s economic policy where the subprime situation is concerned was, “you’re on your own, losers.”

It’s almost fun watching Republicans lap up the Democratic primary controversy in a thinly-veiled hope that they can win what is ultimately an unwinnable Presidential contest in the fall. Peggy Noonan, always the voice of reason, takes her time deliciously pouring over every last word from Democratic insiders, painting a Randian picture of despair. You can almost see the billboard illuminated with the words, “Who is John Gault?”

Declarations - WSJ.com

The question “Who will tell her, who can make her go?” is really the question “Who will save the Democratic Party in 2008?” It cannot be doubted at this point that real damage is being done to its standard-bearer and to all those who will be on the ticket with him.

Yeah, it’s just a shame no one really gives a crap about the Republicans right about now. John McCain isn’t competing against anyone specific in this race yet, and he’s still losing to both potential nominees in the polls. The Republican Congressional Committee is in shambles, torn asunder by controversy and failure, leaving Congressional Republicans to fend for themselves against a hoard of angry constituents and an army of well-financed Democrats. There’s no election funds from donors who are keeping their powder dry; the Dems are out-registering voters two and three to one across the country; John McCain is counting on George Bush to eliminate his self-afflicted public financing problem before he gets crushed under the tracks of the Obama funding machine.

And because more people have involved themselves in the Democratic Primary process than voted in the 2004 election for either candidate, she thinks it’s the Dems that have the problem? No, she doesn’t. We know what she thinks, so let her have her psycho-drama fantasies in the WSJ.

With all this talk about Hillary Clinton bringing her fight to the Democratic Convention and to the Credentials Committee, it’s worth wondering who, exactly, will the Credentials Committee be made up of?  Maryland Politics Watch did a bit of reporting on this a little over a month ago, and guess what?  They’re the same freakin’ superdelegates that the Clinton camp has been fighting for all along.  And but for the chairpersons, none of the members of the committee have yet been determined.  They will be picked by Howard Dean.

The article points out that two out of three of the chair people for the Committee are former Clinton White House officials.  But also keep in mind that one of the former Clinton CC chairs, Alexis Herman, is also a member of the Rules Committee, the group that is largely responsible for the fate of Florida and Michigan’s primary do-overs.  Is she going to overturn herself?

And once again, Clinton’s relentlessly spiraling, confused attacks on the superdelegates, the DCCC and anyone standing in her way are not going to help once she gets to the convention.  Congressmen who’ve had their campaign money dangled in front of their eyes may not react kindly to Mrs. Clinton’s  appeals.

Rochester Turning has filed a report from the latest Eric Massa press call. They’re reporting that Mr. Massa has decided to give the money he got from Spitzer away to charity rather than keeping it. Below is the relevant text of the post, with some minor formatting:

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

Q, Jill Terreri, D&C: Why were you compelled to donate the money he gave to you?

A: I want to sever all ties with Eliot Spitzer and myself. I am not going to return the money to him so he can continue using it for whatever purpose he is using his money. We donated the money to battered women in Steuben County to put it to some good use.

Mr. Massa is definitely one of those guys who would make this sort of decision on his own, purely on integrity. But does it concern him at all that the NRCC has already made calls for Democratic candidates to release Spitzer’s “dirty money?” This action may come across to voters as a capitulation to Republican pressure, though his opponent Randy Kuhl has thus far not made the same demands. And what about other candidates, are they likely to follow suit?  Jared Smith at Massa for Congress was good enough to pass along my questions.

The Massa camp reiterated Eric Massa’s “disgust” for Eliot Spitzer’s actions, and said he shared those feelings with all New Yorkers.  They further responded responded that, indeed, their decision to donate the money to The Net Domestic Abuse Program in Steuben County was Mr. Massa’s own decision and not based on any outside pressure. They pointed out that Randy Kuhl is among those Republican politicians who have not returned the money taken from the indicted Tom DeLay, so NRCC pressure does not seem to concern them much.  As for pressure on Democratic candidates, the Massa campaign responded that they can only speak for and act on their own behalf.

I also spoke with Jon Powers‘ campaign manager, John Gerken. He indicated that Mr. Powers supported calls for Spitzer to resign as the best way to resolve the issue for voters in the state. When I asked about Eric Massa’s decision to donate Spitzer’s money, Mr. Gerken said that Jon Powers has not accepted any money from Eliot Spitzer.

Exile at RT picked up on a gem this morning which I’m only just now catching up to. Apparently, Tom Reynolds is in trouble again for his role as Republican Congressional Committee chairman. I suppose that it’s only to be expected that the man at the top of the sleaze heap should be found guilty of still more sleaze. Hopefully, some will stick on him for good this time.

These things are acceptable - at minimum - to be used on human beings deemed to be enemies of the state according to John McCain, presumptive Republican Nominee to the Presidency of the United States (of America, I think).  Threats to your family, if there is some reason to suspect you might be the enemy, are OK.  Threats, presumably to kill your children, presumably to rape your wife, presumably to destroy all those things you’ve devoted your life to.  These things are entirely appropriate, if you’ve been found by an arbitrary body to pose some hypothetical risk to the United States.

Waterboarding, on the other hand, is right out.  That is, of course, if the Administration keeps its solemn and here-to-fore unsullied word that they won’t use it.  If they don’t, thanks to his vote, there will be no legal protection for you under the law.  Whoopsies.

George Bush fails to nominate members to the Congressionally-empowered Privacy and Civil Liberties Commission, just at the same time as Congress is working to approve even more powers of eavesdropping for the president.

OK, so I know impeachment would take longer than they have left in office, but what say we just stop making the situation worse?  Or is that too much to ask?

The Congress is coming at Attorney General Mukasey pretty hard, as well they should.  In an exchange with Senator Biden, Mukasey basically told the Senate that the Detention Act’s “shock the conscience” language is basically all relative to the reason for torturing; that there is no hard-and-fast definition of that mandate and therefore no solid way to say that waterboarding is illegal.  And anyway, he insists the CIA isn’t doing it anyway.

Dick Durbin tried again to pin him down, and this time, Mukasey basically told him that the Congress would need to pass an entirely new law that specifically forbade waterboarding.  Can you imagine that this is the state our nation has come to?  We need a law to prevent torture.  Then, by all means, let’s have the law.

H/t to Crooks and Liars for this one, Harper’s Online discusses the sad and predictable state of ethics reform in Washington.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Eric Massa has been needling incumbent Randy Kuhl over that representative’s support of the president against the SCHIP bill, which would have expanded support of children’s health care under the Congressional plan.  Because the president vetoed the recent bill, and because Congress has been unable to muster a override in part because of representatives like Kuhl, the SCHIP program not only did not get expanded, but was actually defunded.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been receiving mailers from the Massa campaign wherein he’s challenged Kuhl to a debate, which now according to the most recent mailer, looks to be possibly happening in March sometime.  If it actually happens (I have my doubts), it should be an interesting exchange.  It will change nobody’s mind on much of anything, I don’t think, but it would be great to see a nice pre-election debate on the issue.