Yeah yeah, I know. Nobody knows him and he is the bottom tier candidate and he is the least known Dem Candidate.
Hear me out on why this guy is the kind of conscientious objecter we need in American Politics.
More on the fold.
First, lets see what he did that makes me think that conscience is the key character feature of this man:
From gravel2008
In 1971, he waged a successful one-man filibuster for five months that forced the Nixon administration to cut a deal, effectively ending the draft in the United States. He is most prominently known for his release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret official study that revealed the lies and manipulations of successive U.S. administrations that misled the country into the Vietnam War. After the New York Times published portions of the leaked study, the Nixon administration moved to block any further publication of information and to punish any newspaper publisher who revealed the contents.
As if that's not enough:
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. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Senator Gravel did not have the right and responsibility to share official documents with his constituents.
He then published The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers, Beacon Press (1971). This publication resulted in litigation, Gravel v. U.S., resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision (No. 71-1017-1026) relative to the Speech and Debate Clause (Article 1, Section 6) of the United States Constitution.
And he has served in the military unlike the draft dodger Guilianis and Cheneys and Bushes of the wingnut party.
Senator Gravel enlisted in the U.S. Army (1951-54) and served as special adjutant in the Communication Intelligence Services and as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps. He received a B.S. in Economics from Columbia University, New York City, and holds four honorary degrees in law and public affairs.
What's even more important is that he showed the Senators of today's congress how its done:
- You pass a bill that makes it illegal to put US millitary after a certain date on Iraqi soil. Fuck the funding debate and the sissy driven "INCREMENTAL PRESSURE".
- The other thing he said pretty much goes to the "Engaged" forign policy. His contention seemed to be that what's "Engaged" policy for us, is basically seen as "Interfereing your butts in other people's lives and local disputes" policy.
Quite frankly, he made Dennis Kucinich look like a moderate Democrat.
I am pretty sure that if he were in the senate in place of Harry Reid, he would have driven the wingnut party nuts with over several months of non-stop cloture votes and forcing the Republicans every afternoon to drag their asses to the Senate floor and filibuster to death in order to stop the passage of the bill. Imaigine Republican lawmakers actually having to earn their paychecks in congress by having to filibuster something and having all the fun of minority.
Imagine the news coverage filled with one wingnut after another filibustering the bill to continue the war. That's what would have turned the tables and made it look like REPUBLICANS OBSTRUCTING BILL TO END WAR.
WHITE HOUSE MEGAPHONE WOULD NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO SPEAK ABOUT THE ISSUE BECAUSE IT WOULD BE McCONNEL AND LOTT GETTING MICROPHONE SHOVED IN THEIR FACES with "WHY ARE YOU OBSTRUCTING THE BILL TO END WAR".
THAT'S HOW TO FRAME THE DEBATE AND CHANGE HEADLINES.
NOT BY THREATENING TO CUT OFF FUNDING.