C-SPAN-GRAVEL listen

[capi888]

Gravel he is speaking to power...wow...has sure surprized me...listen..on now

[flyarm]

1. this man's speech is wonderful!! incredible!! and truth!! wow

i am impressed!!!

fly

[OregonBlue]

3. I'm listening too. Go Gravel!!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

2. I was just coming here to post about that.

What a speech. I hope someone TiVOs this, and it's on YouTube soon... this is one of the best speeches I've heard... possibly ever.

[capi888]

4. I am sure...

He knows he will not win....BUT....he is going to be a great voice out there...The man is hitting all the notes...

[ncrainbowgrrl]

5. Wow- lots of standing and clapping!

I like his "walking away music."

[rodeodance]

6. i did not know who he was but sure am impressed

[SharonAnn]

10. So am I.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

7. Tom Vilsack up next.

:hi:

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

8. Went on too long, I think

A woman kept holding up a card that said "time." I think he went over the DNC's time limit.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

9. I know he went over... but it was worth every word!

that was a great speech.

[welshTerrier2]

11. just great

I was not familiar with Gravel before he spoke (http://www.gravel2008.us/). I had mixed feelings about that "citizens as lawmakers" business at the end of his speech. The rest of what he said was remarkable.

Gravel talked about the very real problems we face unlike, as he said, many of the mealy-mouthed others. This was what speaking truth to power is all about. It is tragic to see so many, even here on DU, sucked in by all the bullshit.

We are soon going to pay a dear price for our folly, and yet, some still play their fiddles as if their little political games will alter our rendezvous with destiny.

It's time we stop, children, what's that sound?; everybody look what's going down.

[capi888]

12. Me too...

I had problems about that too...BUT, having his voice out there is going to be great. We have good candidates..we have lots of voices..for the next year. If we listen, we will make the right decision, on WHO will lead us out of this mess, nationally and internationaly. War, economy, jobs, enviorment...etc.
I will listen to ALL...

[welshTerrier2]

14. i was extremely impressed with him

i also looked at his website. He has another idea on there i'm not likely to support. It calls for replacing the income tax with a progressive sales tax. The problem i have with the idea is that the very wealthy spend a much lower percentage of their income (or wealth) than do average or poor citizens. The idea of not paying taxes if you don't spend money is appealing from one perspective but it's hard to see how such a system would fairly distribute the tax burden.

A better idea is to tax wealth in addition to income. The whining wealth decry this as "double taxation". My response is: "yeah, so?"

Taxes to pay for the needs of society should be based solely on an ability to pay. Whether you were "already taxed on the money when it was income" is absolutely irrelevant. In year two, if you have enough wealth to contribute more to the national treasury, you should. Period.

Sales taxes, even progressive sales taxes, do not get at the heart of the matter which is that taxes should be based on ability to pay. How much a citizen chooses to spend is not necessarily indicative of ability to pay; the best measure for that is net wealth.

anyway, Gravel "gets it" overall. He understands that the US is in very serious trouble in the world and that these cute little speeches candidates often make to impress us couldn't be less impressive. It's really sad. People will wake up when things get bad enough; it's unfortunate that for now they pay no attention to "chirping canaries" like Gravel.

[dobegrrrl]

13. He's GREAT!

I don't know much about him but I plan to find out!
:applause:

[goodhue]

18. he was a big deal in the 70s

He was a US Senator from 1968 until 1980, when a Jerry Falwell-financed candidate took him out in the democrat primary, only to loose in general to Murkowski.

He was fervently antiwar and famously filibustered against the draft, leading up to end of draft.
He was also had big role in publicizing pentagon papers.
He ran for vice-president in 1972, back when folks actually ran for it. He came in 3rd at convention.

[JaneQPublic]

15. I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued

Seeing he was a gray-haired gent looking like a CEO or AARP rep, I regrettably assumed he would be a GOP Lite candidate.

Boy was I wrong! He was as far left as Dennis, maybe farther, only with candidate Howard Dean's red-meat anger at Bush and spineless Dems.

He will certainly make the Democratic Debates interesting.

My one problem with him, though, is the group and website he plugged: http://www.nationalinitiative.us/

I looked at the website, and it struck me as a tad off-the-wall.

Edit: to correct typo.

[goodhue]

16. Gravel is great

[Apollo11]

17. You can see all the speeches at dnc.org

But the ones from today aren't up there yet.

Probably easier than searching on YouTube.

[Eurobabe]

21. Not his yet, just checked

I had to snooze through half of the show yesterday (DNC winter meeting) to even hear Wes Clark! Now his video is finally up. I'm willing to give this man Mike a listen. Honestly, I had never heard of him before today.

[rhombus]

19. Gravel: Any Senator who voted for the war is not qualified for the presidency

"anyone who voted for the war... is not qualified to hold the office of the Presidency."

"I spoke truth to power... and as a result Nixon sued me."


Gravel is going to be a thorn in the sides of some. I think he's going to add more value to the debates than Kuccinich. I underestimated him.

[goodhue]

20. Kucinich essentially says the same thing but includes funding votes as well . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x15188