Democracy for Vancouver

Hope you all missed most of the debate like I did (way too scripted and boring). It wasn’t worth watching except for one person. And that person is Mike Gravel. Timothy V. Gatto over at OpEd News wrote:

The surprise and the best I’ve saved for last. Out of the blue comes Former Alaskan senator Mike Gravel, who besides adding a little comic relief with his expressions and his biting wit, brought a breath of fresh air to the debate. He came out swinging about George W,’s “fraudulent war”. He then said that some of the candidates including Joe Biden want to tell the Iraqi’s how to run their country. He said that “Biden had a certain arrogance”. The best part of the entire evening for me was this statement from Senator Gravel when asked about the three most important “enemies” of the United States:

MR. GRAVEL: We have no important enemies. What we need to do is to begin to deal with the rest of the world as equals, and we don’t do that. We spend more as a nation on defense than all the rest of the world put together.

Who are we afraid of? Who are you afraid of, Brian? I’m not.

And Iraq has never been a threat to us. We invaded them. I mean, it is unbelievable. The military-industrial complex not only controls our government lock, stock and barrel but they control our culture.

That would have been my answer almost word for word. As much as the press derided what he said there, it was one of the most talked about statement and he seemed to get more press than anyone. Another part of the debate that got a lot of air play was this answer by Sen Gravel when asked if he believed in the “French Style” of using nuclear energy:

MR. GRAVEL: No, not at all. I think there has to be a maturation process. And I’m the one that started the nuclear critique in this country. I’m also the one that denied the boots on the ground for George Bush today when I filibustered the end of the draft. And I’m also the one that brought about the Alaska Pipeline by one vote in the Congress.

So when you ask about the energy issues or the other issues, let me just tell you — I want to answer the question on the war and on what’s going on. We are mischaracterizing terrorism. Terrorism has been with civilization from the beginning, and it will be there till the end. We’re going to be as successful fighting terrorism as we are fighting drugs with the war. It doesn’t work. What you have to do is to begin to change the whole foreign policy.

The Republicans who are charging Democrats about not going for the defense of this country — my God, this invasion brought about more terrorists — Osama bin Laden must have been rolling in his blankets, how –

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator –

MR. GRAVEL: — happy he was over our invading Iraq.

Again he hits the administration with the truth, and the pundits and the other candidates thought he was “quaint. I thought he was correct on every point. When questions about foreign policy were being raised with other candidate, Se. Gravel raised is hand and got 30 seconds:

Senator Gravel, 30 seconds, please.

MR. GRAVEL: With respect to Iran, we’ve sanctioned them for 26 years. We’ve scared the bejesus out of them when the president says they’re evil. Well, you know something? These things don’t work, they don’t work. We need to recognize them. And you know something, who is the greatest violator of the Non-Proliferation Treaty? The United States of America. We signed a pledge that we would begin to disarm, and we’re not doing it. We’re expanding our nukes. Who the hell are we going to nuke?

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator –

MR. GRAVEL: Tell me, Barack. Who — Barack, who’s — who do you

want to nuke?

SEN. OBAMA: I’m not planning to nuke anybody right now, Mike, I

promise you.

MR. GRAVEL: Good, good, we’re safe then for a while.

“Safe for awhile”. That about says it all. But for how long? This man gave all the right answers and brought up all of the right comments and they treated him as if he were their “entertainment”. I believe that they were really transfixed as I was that a candidate could bring out the military industrial complex and gunboat diplomacy in the short time he had to speak, and he spoke volumes. He is a former NYC cabdriver who spent 2 terms representing Alaska in the US Senate after moving there. He was the man who initiated legislation ending the draft and filibustered for four months until they passed the Alaska pipeline bill. He was also seen talking in french to a French news agency after the debate. This isn’t the last we will hear of Sen. Mike Gravel. Maybe he’s just what this nation needs right now, if we can get him to temper it down a bit…just a bit.

Gravel is a breath of fresh air. And anyone who was a former NYC cabdriver like myself is OK in my book. Doubt anyone else on that stage could make the claim to such a humbling previous experience. We have both been clerks on Wall Street too.