Mike Gravel, soon to be a household name

[ck4829]

Mike Gravel made such an impression in the first Democratic debate last week that his name is the 15th most popular search in the blogosphere.

Furthermore, the most popular video clip among bloggers is Gravel saying Congress should make it a felony for the United States to stay in Iraq. At mid-day, Technorati reports 59 blogs have linked to the clip in the last 48 hours, for a total of 151 links overall.

Some of what bloggers are saying: "He's no kook" and "His speaking style is very forceful."

For those still unfamiliar with this White House hopeful, Gravel is the long-ago senator from Alaska whose name is pronounced gra-vell' .

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/mike_gravel_soo.html

[Echotrail]

1. People want real dialogue!

This is encouraging.

[originalpckelly]

2. I have to say, I have even reviewed his tax plan.

It's going to give normal people less of tax burden. Is is a progressive taxation regime.

Now, the problem with it, is that it leaves income that goes to non-purchases and instead goes to investments untaxed. This is worse than the current system, wherein the tax rates are just lower for investments held for a year and investments in general don't have be taxed with payroll taxes.

I propose modifying the fair tax proposal, the tax should also include sales of stocks and other investments.

If that is done, then the fair tax system is actually better than our current system. But a key component of that system is non-taxation of investments. That's how billionaires make most of their money. And as long as that stands, I have a feeling that they are just trying to pull a fast one.

[dave_p]

16. It's not the answer

"It's going to give normal people less of tax burden. Is is a progressive taxation regime"

I have to say, I don't know where you're getting this from.

A flat tax simply can't be progressive unless it's pitched absurdly high and offset by lavish transfer payments that consume much of the revenue. That's why we have something called income tax: it needs strengthening, not dismantling.

The proposed flat tax rates just aren't high enough to keep government going and compensate average earners for their losses via transfers. Who wants to live on disguised Welfare anyway?

"a key component of that system is non-taxation of investments. That's how billionaires make most of their money"

Would that this were the case. In fact most of the divergence since the early 1980s has taken the form of risk-free compensation voted itself by an increasingly parasitical managerial class.

The answer to today's Gilded Age is raising top income tax rates and applying them ruthlessly to such income rather than hitting genuine investment (productive risk-taking). And Estate Tax should be restored to levels that check socially corrosive extremes of inherited inequality.

I'm not trying to knock Gravel down - I like him more than the front-runners on the issues that matter most to me. But he's wrong on this tax.

[IronLionZion]

20. Gravel wants a national sales tax

Saying his plan is the flat tax is dishonest, disrespectful, and just plain wrong.


http://www.gravel2008.us/fair_tax

[Alexander]

28. No, you haven't.

Otherwise you'd realize it is a total crock of shit.

[trumad]

3. Mike Gravel will be forgotten by July

[iamthebandfanman]

25. maybe you will be too

[trumad]

29. What here on DU?

LOL---listen Junior...bump past 500 posts before you act all that.

[MonkeyFunk]

4. umm...

he's a footnote, not a household name.

He's the 21st Century Admiral Stockdale.

[Lex]

19. "Gridlock!!"

--Stockdale.

That's all I remember.

[Clark2008]

27. You just defeated your point.

The fact that you and I and everyone else knows who Admiral Stockdale is means that he's a, well, household name.

You didn't have to say who he was or who he ran with. We all knew.

[progressoid]

31. You're funny...

And that Admiral Stockdale was...ummm...who was he again? Oh well, it doesn't matter, he was a "household" name.

Hell, by ten thousand to one, more people know who Sanjaya is than Gravel. And Sanjaya still lost.

[roguevalley]

33. Admiral Stockdale was a man of honor who got bamboozled out

of loyalty and gratitude for Perot trying to help veterens into running for VP. He was a good man who was harmed and didn't deserve it. That is who he was. RIP, Admiral.

[Clark2008]

36. You're correct about the CURRENT situation.

More people probably do know Sanjaya over Mike - but, at the time, everyone knew who Stockdale was, too.

That was my point.

[scarface2004]

5. go mike go!

you got my vote! say no more!

[Selatius]

6. He'll be forgotten if he isn't allowed into future debates.

That's for sure.

I'm not saying that we should muzzle him, but what I am saying is that it's a real possibility he will be excluded from future debates due to arbitrarily set standards.

[MonkeyFunk]

8. all standards are arbitrary

the California recall ballot had 135 candidates. Should any debate have included all of them?

[Selatius]

11. It's near impossible to have a debate with that many people.

At that point, the only sensible thing to do would be to ask all the candidates to publish a white paper detailing their positions on the issues. Then let the voters decide.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. ok, then we agree

there must be some standard, which will necessarily be arbitrary, to decide who deserves to be on stage.

Or are you suggesting that when we exceed x number of candidates, the debates be canceled?

Do you know how many third-parties there are in the US?

[mikelgb]

18. I think they should let me decide who debates

I have just as much a right as them

[MikeE]

7. Regardless of whether or not he even comes close

to the nomination, maybe he can motivate Clinton and Obama to take more of an agressive and progressive stand on the issues.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. progressive?

like a flat-tax? :shrug:

[IronLionZion]

21. How about dishonest?

Gravel wants the national sales tax, not the flat tax.

[roguevalley]

34. Mike Gravel has value in a number of ways. He says what a lot of

people want said in the manner they want it said. He is a man of ideas that is running against the machine candidates. He has a right at the table because he speaks for the frustration of many.

RV, who voted for him back in the day.

[bonito]

9. Or we can have a corporate sponsored DLC republican lite

Running this country into the ground some more.
I can't see anyone supporting the DLC that has a family member's life on the line in the military.
Most probably are corporate or AIPAC sponsored operatives.

Both Clark and Gravel fit the bill for the interest of this country and in turn the rest of the world.:thumbsup:

[MonkeyFunk]

13. ooh!

AIPAC and DLC in one post!

Too bad you couldn't fit Skull & Bones in there - the trifecta's paying off 536-1 today.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[reprehensor]

15. Audio: Laura Flanders had Gravel on Saturday Night - 4-48-2007

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=788415&mesg_id=788415

[pberq]

17. Yes - it's time we heard an alternative to Republican-Lite

[NoPasaran]

22. Maybe somewhere

There's a middle ground bewteen Republican Lite and Maximum Strength Crazy?

One can only hope.

[WI_DEM]

23. He is an asset to the debate but doubtful he will be a household name

[the other one]

24. I hope he can stick around for a while

I like his style

[loudsue]

26. I think this is GREAT!!! I've so had it with all the PLASTIC candidates

who are afraid to get their hands dirty with the REAL issues that confront this country.

Gravel & Kucinich are the ONLY TWO that won't continue to sell this country to the highest bidder.

REAL REFORM is what we need now. Not more corporate money buying our politicians.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Breeze54]

30. Mike Gravel, soon to be a household name...again!

Pentagon Papers Figure Bids for Presidency

Posted 04/14/2006

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=77509

snip-->

Mike Gravel, who represented Alaska as a maverick Democratic Senate from 1969 to 1981, will announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination with a press conference at the National Press Club.

Gravel came to national prominence in 1971, during the struggle over the Pentagon Papers, the secret official study that detailed how missteps and manipulations by successive U.S. administrations and their agents had created the quagmire that was the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, provoked a national uproar when he put the report in the hands of the New York Times, which published portions of it in June of that year. The Justice Department moved to block further publication of information from the Pentagon Papers and to punish newspaper publishers who revealed the contents. At that point, Gravel, a war critic, stepped in. The senator tried to read the contents of the study into the Senate record and to release them to the public, arguing that he had the authority to do so as a senator communicating with his constituents. He then sought to publish the papers in book form as The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers . When Justice Department went after the senator and his publisher, Gravel fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court. While lower courts expressed sympathy for the Gravel's stance, the high court rejected his claim that as a senator he had a right and a responsibility to share official documents with his constituents. Fortunately for Gravel, publicity surrounding the case was so damning to the administration's position that it finally backed off.

[Parche]

32. MIKE GRAVEL 2008

Resume Mike Gravel ;Pronounced :Gravel; :p
Mike Gravel
Born in Rock Island IL
Married to Pebbles Flintstone
Lives in a turquoise colored house
4 Children Ruby ,Opal Stone, and Crystal
Works in the Rock Island Quarry,with a big conglomerate drilling firm, Mr Slate, his boss, says that Mike is a very hard worker, down to earth,and a real gem.
His hobbies include playing marbles, listening to rock music
pumping iron,and collecting quartz watches.
His favorite food is rock lobster
Favorite beverage is mineral water.

Mike Gravel "A road to the future"

Mike Gravel President 2008
Randi Rhodes Vice President

GRAVEL/RHODES 2008

[a kennedy]

35. Question.......why is this guy so different from say.....Eagleton

running mate of Ralph Nader???? and not to bring up Ralph Nader, but ......Eagleton was a POW, and was kinda loud and bodacious too.....so what's the infatuation with gravel???

[Jacobin]

37. I'm old enough to remember how he helped get us out of Nam

He published the Pentagon Papers in the Congressional Record and almost went to jail for it. He filibustered for days to end the draft.

He's the real deal. Not a mouth piece. A real live human being who is passionate and forceful, understands the dangers of the military industrial complex that is killing this country is isn't afraid to do something about it.

More on google

[unkachuck]

38. interesting....

"From the floor of the senate, Gravel (a junior senator at the time) insisted that his constituents had a right to know the truth behind the war and proceeded to read 4,100 pages of the 7,000 page document into the senate record."

http://www.gravel2008.us/bio


....the man has enthusiasm....