Phil Gramm: Back From Belarus?

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Ousted **John McCain **campaign co-chairman **Phil Gramm **is back with the campaign’s top advisers this weekend, as the campaign gathers top supporters for a series of briefings in scenic Aspen, Colo.

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The former Texas senator **stepped down **from his position after he said in an interview last month that the country is in a “mental recession” and that we had become a “nation of whiners.”

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Gramm was seated in the front row, with other top supporters, this afternoon as McCain addressed the Aspen Institute in a “conversation” with Walter Isaacson, president of the institute and a former editor of Time magazine.

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Asked what his role in the campaign is now, Gramm said in an interview, “I’m a supporter.” As for whether he continues to advise McCain, he said, “We’re friends. I haven’t stopped being his friend. If he asks me, I’d give it to him.” He added, “I’m not an official adviser.”

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He also defended the comments that got his friend into trouble in the first place, saying there is a technical definition of a recession and the economy does not meet it. “We have leaders who are doing too much whining and not enough leading,” he said. “I never apologize for telling the truth.”