Dark horse Mike Gravel wins by several lengths

Mike Gravel, Democratic presidential candidate

Although I am a "political news junky," I never heard of him before yesterday's debate. Now that I have, I must say, I am extremely impressed! What a sad commentary on the state of America that hearing plain truth spoken on the mainstream media (and to Power) comes across as SO brisk and refreshing, and that this culture's default reaction to hearing anyone speak with fire against the vicious, murderous lies that pass for the "consensus reality" is that the speaker is "kooky" or some kind of "crank" or - dog forbid, the worst epithet of them all - "unelectable."

I need to look into the details of his specific policy proposals, past accomplishments and public appearences more closely, but my gut reaction tells me he just converted a die-hard Kucinista from 2004. Although since you're 77 years old, you should keep Kucinich around as veep. Or Ron Paul.

Initial red flags include eliminating the federal income tax (unconstitutional already) in favor of a national sales tax, which will be regressive, favoring national referendums/initiatives, (which in many cases - California especially - have proven to be easily manipulated by Big Money, not People Power as hoped), and SOS's allegations at Democratic Underground that he spoke at the 2003 Barnes Review Conference and denied that the Cambodian autocide/genocide/policide occured while he was Senator.

Then again, he did help get the Pentagon Papers published and filibusetered solo to end the draft!

All the due diligence background check to come aside, during the debate I heard righteous anger spoken with precision and force against candidates and a political-economic-military system all-too-accustomed to letting uni-party, blow-dried, finger-to-the-wind, cardboard cut-outs get away with saying nothing whatsoever while sustaining the imperial program of endless war and corporate rapine.

That critique is what I want to hear more of, and lots of it. Gravel, give me hope in America again. Maybe then this blog will stop calling America Amerikkka.

The MSM is already started to manufacture the Conventional Wisdom - "the debate was a yawn and Gravel doesn't exist."

"No Breakout Candidate" (ABC)

"I'm not sure there was a stand-out in this...You didn't see any blood spilled. You didn't see any real confrontation." (CNN)

Did we watch the same fucking debate?!

What utter horseshit!

Breakout is exactly what Gravel did - out of the field and, more importantly, out of the mold.

Confront "emperor wannabes with no clothes" (paraphrasing Zogby quoted in the Boston Globe) is exactly what Gravel did too.

For example, he said that "the military-industrial complex not only controls our government, lock, stock and barrel, but they control our culture." Strong words, especially spoken on a channel owned by war pimpateers General Electric.

Spot on! What other democratic presidential candidate would possibly say something like this (besides Kucinich)? None of them. Because they are under no illusion that they are auditioning before the voters of a free sovereign nation giving their informed consent but rather for that very military-industrial complex. The so-called "top-tier" candidates know perfectly well that complex not only expects endless war (and unconditional fealty to the least humane elements of Israeli society) but that they also, with the JFK assasination, set down some very clear parameters that they, as the Board of Directors, will not let their CEOs/presidents cross.

I heard the plain truth, obvious to the 0.1% of Americans still capable of critical thought, which never gets an airing in the MSM. He made everyone (except Kucinich) look like the vacuous whores they are, especially the "top-tier" candidates, whose primary goal at the debate and strategy for next year and a half is to say as little of substance as possible and to not fuck up greviously.

Obviously, the MSM is going to ignore or "Dean" him.

For example, Keith Olberman compared him on the night of the debates to that reactionary rascist scumbag Zell Miller (and Olberman is one of the only people in the MSM I have any respect for). Or, if he gains traction, the MSM's Hive Mind will circle their wagons around the very worst epithet of all, the key to the gates of political oblivion - "unelectable."

(Similar to how Kerry's 2004 campaign went from utterly dead-in-the-water to Annointed Frontrunner within a matter of weeks because the MSM suddenly began a drumbeat that he was "electable.")

In spite of how the media is going to jerk him around and TPTB are going to do their best to keep him out of as many future debates as possible, Gravel is getting a lot of sudden respect on the blogosphere. He is LIGHTING UP You Tube. One montage video has nearly 30,000 views and over 300 comments within two days of being posted! By the third day it had skyrocketed to over 160,000 views and over 600 comments!

Astonishing!

He's feeling the love on "lefty" blogs (boy, how I hate labels) like Smirking Chimp, Democratic Underground, Truthdig and MyDD and even on "libertarian" blogs like Reason, albeit heavily interspersed among the appreciative (or even ecstatic) comments are tons of the usual "he's a crazy old man" epithets. Fucking pseudo-liberal nitwits who I used to love and now can no longer stand, NPR (via their Washington Week program's weekly podcast for April 27, 2007) , ridiculed him with their sanctimonious twaddle.

Stick to your guns, Gravel. America is hungry for your message. Just be careful you don't get "Wellstoned."

Posters on the http://gravel08.com/ website said he wasn't being allowed to participate in the June 3rd debate in New Hampshire. Following the lead other other posters there, I emailed the decision-makers asking that he be allowed in. Charles Perkins, executive editor of UnionLeader.com and New Hampshire Union Leader, emailed me back right away to say that "Senator Gravel has been invited and has accepted."

Awesome! People power! Hurray for "the internets!"

My post on Gravel's campaign website "You'll be called a 'kook' or, the worst epithet of all - 'unelectable.' But you stick to your guns." was quoted in the New York Daily News! Can I add that to my clip file? Am I a pundit now?

Excuse me, I have to go wait for phone calls from the Sunday morning political talk shows...

6:43 minute montage video of his performance at the April 26, 2007 debate in South Carolina.

Video of his April 29 appearence on Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room. Toned sown some of the anger that alot of blogospherians said they were turned off by. To quote Borat: "niiiiice!"