Mike Gravel - Running For President in 2008

[Bread and Circus]

Has anyone heard of this guy? He was Senator D-Alaska in 1981.

I was just watching C Span after work and caught a rerun of him announcing his candidacy. He seems like a decent guy and had alot of progressive views.

Does anyone know more about him?

[Tom Joad]

1. Very good on war/peace. Kind of a wacky tax views though.

Wants a national sales tax or something like that.

I do remember him on the senate floor, weeping, and reading from the Pentagon Papers (and damn, anyone who does not know what those are, look it up)
... way back when. Daniel Ellsberg did go to Gravel (and several others before he went to the NYT and Post) and no Senator had the guts to release them. Still, i will give Gravel props for reading them after the fact.

[northofdenali]

2. Don't even go there.

He was a terrific senator back then. Now, he's really lost it. He is very much a decent guy, but his ideas not only won't work, they'd alienate about 75% of the electorate.

I like him as a person. As a President, however, NOT. And I voted for him back in the day.

[liberalpragmatist]

3. He also apparently spoke at a conference of Holocaust deniers

Nothing to say that he himself is a Holocaust denier, but he did speak at an event organized by a Holocaust-denying group (a speech about direct democracy).

[NJ Democrats]

4. From Politics 1

P2008: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MIKE GRAVEL.
Former Alaska US Senator Mike Gravel (D) is set to officially launch his long-shot Presidential campaign at the National Press Club in DC on Monday. Gravel truly burst onto the national stage in 1971 when he read into the official record at a Senate sub-committee hearing the confidential "Pentagon Papers" detailing the secret history of US military involvement in Vietnam. His one-man filibuster the same year was almost solely responsible for forcing the compromise with the White House that ended the military draft. However, Gravel's political career came to an abrupt, crashing end in 1980 when he lost his primary for renomination to the grandson of the incumbent he had defeated in 1970. Now, over 25 years after his defeat, the 75-year-old Gravel is seeking a return to elective politics. Politics1 had an opportunity to speak with Gravel on Friday evening.

A POLITICAL RETURN. Six Presidential elections have come and gone since Gravel left the US Senate, yet he waited until the 2008 elections to seek a political comeback. For many years after his 1980 defeat, Gravel said he was not even ready to consider another campaign. "I had lost my career. I lost my marriage. I was in the doldrums for ten years after my defeat," he explained. Gravel then settled in Virginia and aggressively threw himself into promoting his National Initiative for Democracy concept. "People should make the laws ... not the politicians in Washington. The people would certainly do a better job of it than the politicians have done ... I've impoverished myself for this ," he added. After many years of tirelessly promoting the concept but garnering very little attention, Gravel's organization was left nearly penniless. "We need to make sure we have enough money for me to travel and speak and there wasn't a lot of money. As I said, I impoverished myself over this," said Gravel. "If I didn't do something unusual to bring attention to the National Initiative ... If I'm going to see it happen in my lifetime, I had to run for President."

AN "ANTI-HILLARY" AND ANTI-CONGRESS DEMOCRAT. Gravel quickly added his campaign will also focus on other issues like his opposition to the Iraq War and his support for a national sales "Fair Tax" instead of the current federal income tax system. "I'm running to win," insists Gravel. He pointedly notes his sharp differences with Hillary Clinton on the Iraq War and views himself as the best "alternative to Hillary." Gravel also doesn't think much of the other potential Democratic hopefuls: "I've listened to Bayh, Warner, Biden, Kerry and the rest and none of them are saying anything. Because of that, I believe I have a chance." When asked if he's listened to any of Senator Feingold's comments on Iraq and political reform, Gravel claimed Feingold's anti-war stance "isn't real." Gravel said that "if Feingold really opposed the war, he'd have voted against" the final budget reconciliation bill "because it contains the funding for the war." Besides, Gravel added, nearly everyone in Congress is fixated on getting expensive federal projects into their homestates. "They call it pork these days. When I was there we called them boondoggles. It's a bribery process," he railed, in that incumbents "bribe" the public with federal dollars in exchange for their votes. "I know what I'm talking about because I used to play that game, too." In another jab at Congressional incumbents, Gravel added: "The Republicans in Congress are screwing-up worse than the Democrats did -- but the Democrats have nothing to be proud of."

LIFE OR DEATH? At times, Gravel's comments were a bit overblown. "I'm putting my life on the line for this . I've done it before with the Pentagon Papers and the oil pipeline ... and I'm doing it again now." While Gravel certainly risked criminal prosecution by the Nixon Administration's Justice Department for his bold involvement in getting the top-secret Pentagon Papers into print -- and earned the enmity of the oil companies over the pipeline fight -- it is hard to see what personal risk if any Gravel faces by waging a 2008 White House campaign. Gravel also makes other unconventional comments: "We need some degree of global governance if we want to see peace ... If I become President, there will be peace in the Middle East. It will require a peace for land deal ... I've been to Israel 3 or 4 times. Israel is a great country, but they've developed a bunker mentality. It's somewhat understandable with the suicide bombers and so on they deal with, but I'm serious: I can bring peace to the Middle East." Gravel added: "My voting record in the Senate was the same as Abe Ribicoff (D-CT) and Jack Javits (R-NY)."

NATIONAL SALES TAX. Gravel is very serious about his call to eliminate the current federal income tax system in favor of a 23% national sales tax. The plan, touted as the "Fair Tax" -- is supported by approximately 60 Republican congressmen. "An economic crash is coming," warns Gravel, "because Americans are spending too much and saving too little." The national sales tax, says Gravel, will force Americans to save money. It also links to an idea he's advocated since the early 1970s: a guaranteed national income for every American. Only, these days, he no longer calls it a "national income" payment. Now he calls the guaranteed payment a "pre-bate" -- as in a pre-paid rebate on the 23% sales tax to help defer costs of medicine, food, etc. "Everyone, from the poorest person up to Bill Gates will get a check from the government every year," explained Gravel.

THE 2003 SPEECH TO A HOLOCAUST-DENIAL GROUP. In 2003, ultra-right newspaper publisher Willis Carto -- a leading Holocaust "revisionist" who publishes a combination of radical right and neo-nazi newspapers -- contacted Gravel. Carto is vocal in espousing the view that the Holocaust never took place. In fact, Carto founded the Institute for Historical Review to "prove" the Nazi murder of six million Jews was "a hoax" invented "by Zionists" to make people feel sorry for Jews -- and that the famous death camp liberation documentary films were merely "special effects" created by the Jews in Hollywood. Gravel said "I knew his history with the Liberty Lobby" -- the ultra-right group Carto led while Gravel served in the Senate -- "But, here he's trying to support the National Initiative. I wasn't supporting him. He was showing support for it." At one point, Gravel referred to Carto as "a charming guy" but "pretty extreme" in his views. Gravel also said that "kooks" -- like Carto and his followers -- should support the National Initiative because they, just like mainstream citizens, "are disgusted with our government" and feel it doesn't serve their interests. "Kooks feel even more disconnected" with the political process. "With the National Initiative, everyone gets a voice in government," he added.

At first, Carto simply wanted to interview Gravel about the National Initiative for Carto's radical American Free Press newspaper. "He liked the idea of the National Initiative ... I figured it was an opportunity to discuss it. Whether it is the far right, far left, whatever, I'll make my pitch to them," said Gravel. "They gave me a free subscription to American Free Press -- they still send it to me today -- and I flip through it sometimes. It has some extreme views -- and a lot of the ads in it are even more extreme and make me want to upchuck ... Anyways, sometime later, Carto contacted me to speak at that Barnes Review Conference. I had never heard of the Barnes Review, didn't know anything about it or what they stood for. I was just coming to give a presentation about the National Initiative. I was there maybe 30 minutes. I could tell from the people in the room -- mainly some very old men -- that they were pretty extreme. I gave my speech, answered some questions and left. I never saw the agenda for the day or listened to any of the other presentations." The Barnes Review Conference is an annual Holocaust denial gathering. At the 2003 event attended by Gravel, the later sessions included a "Holocaust Revisionism Panel" and a presentation on the glory days of the Nazi Luftwaffe. You can see more about the event here and here (note: both are links to Holocaust denial groups).

"You better believe I know that six million Jews were killed. I've been to the Holocaust Museum. I've seen the footage of General Eisenhower touring one of the camps ... They're nutty as loons if they don't think it happened ... Anyone who denies the Holocaust is patently off their rocker -- it's a ridiculous position ... and the idea that the films were a hoax is just bullshit," insisted Gravel. He said he never renounced the group after he learned of what it stood for simply because "I'm not in the business of denouncing anyone. I'm in the business of promoting the National Initiative." However, he quickly added that if he had to do it again, he doesn't know whether he would skip the event or attend and "speak on the National Initiative and how they're dead wrong on the Holocaust. Their views are just lunacy. But I don't think I'd bother to go."

ENDING GENOCIDE ... AND FAULTY MEMORIES. Gravel used the topic of the Holocaust to discuss the role the US should play in ending genocide anywhere in the world. He discussed the tragedies of the Armenian holocaust, the Jewish holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. "We're not doing anything about Darfur and that's wrong," said Gravel. When asked if he has any regrets for the lack of US action during the genocide that happened while he was in the US Senate -- Pol Pot's murderous rule in which 21% of the entire population of Cambodia was murdered -- Gravel mistakenly said: "That didn't happen when I was there. That was later ... It was in the 1980s." Actually, Senator, Cambodia's genocide took place in 1977-79 and US Senator George McGovern (D-SD) was the lone voice then calling for the US to intervene to end the killing. "I don't know what George would have been talking about. I'm pretty sure it happened in the 1980s after I left the Senate," insisted Gravel.

A VERY UPHILL CAMPAIGN. Gravel is certain they'll let him participate in the primary debates. "They let former Senator Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton in the debates last time, so they've got to let me in this time." As the interview was winding down, Gravel has a request: "If there are any groups down where you live that would like me to speak, just let me know. I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss my campaign," said Gravel. "Let them know that if they'll just pay the travel costs, I'll be there ... Remember, I impoverished myself for the National Initiative, so I'll need to raise some money. But I know it won't be as easy for me as it was back when I was in the Senate," and then he chuckled over the thought.

Sounds like Mike Gravel has a very lonely, quixotic fight ahead. Then again, his campaign seems more about generating a public debate on his beloved National Initiative proposal than winning the nomination.