Democrat Gravel switches to Libertarian Party
Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008
WASHINGTON — Long-shot presidential candidate Mike Gravel told supporters Wednesday he is leaving the Democratic Party to join the Libertarian Party.
Gravel, a former Democratic senator from Alaska, said in an e-mail that the Democratic Party “no longer represents my vision for our great country.”
“It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism — all of which I find anathema to my views,” he said in the e-mail in which he also asked supporters for campaign donations.
Gravel, 77, has been excluded from recent Democratic debates because he failed to meet fundraising or polling thresholds.
“I look forward to advancing my presidential candidacy within the Libertarian Party, which is considerably closer to my values, my foreign policy views and my domestic views,” he said.
Comments
There is a great picture that graces the back cover of Dermot Coles book "Amazing Pipeline Stories". It depicts Alaska's wild card senator Mike Gravel, a man whose political career could not have possibly existed outside the 1970's, astride a finished section of pipe. He has a gambler's win of a grin on his face and he's waving his hard hat victoriously. He looks like no one so much as Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove, riding the H-bomb down to planet Earth. But don't get the wrong idea-the picture is really funny. The pipeline is now thirty years old. With declining oil production, the historical significance of this magnificent engineering project is also probably waning. Alaska's economy is practically on the rocks, due to years of inexperienced spending decisions made by the state during a time when it seemed like the money would never quit. Despite whatever frontier beliefs Alaskans profess (mostly for the benefit of tourists), we have had to grow up as a state. Dermot Cole's book is a touching recherche of modern Alaska's adolescence. I think everyone ought to read it.
http://home.gci.net/~lemming/review/pipe...
I Like Mike...
...............flash/rumble
I was here when Gravel was Senator, and we couldn't get rid of him quick enough. As I recall, he wanted to build a dome city in Denali Park (my memory might be fuzzy on the details).
Seemed like he was a good fit though, as a Democratic presidential candidate. Found his niche.
And now a Libertarian. Somehow that dont fit. Oh well, no matter...
Here's my favorite youtube of Mike....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0SQusLdl...
Mike was inspired about big "teflon domes" by the big dome at Clear, and he was reading some books on architecture by Buckminster Fuller too. This "teflon dome Gravel" label was ballyhooed by a political hit squad in the papers, the swiftboaters of the 70's smeared Mike with whatever they could spin. Alaskan voters were pretty easy to manipulate then, just buy off two low-budget media outlets, KFAR and a snoozepaper, and Mike was cooked.
Mike was in Army-Intel during Korea. His position gave him a unique perspective of the inside workings of the war theater. He saw first hand the official politically directed suppression of big wartime events that were fraudulently covered up. Being forced to be a party to scandal made Mike feel very uneasy....
How do I know this?.. I'm a very close friend with the 2 sole survivors of a 3000man regiment that was wiped out on the battlefield in July 1950, then wiped off the US-military record for many years.
2600kia 400mia/pow totally lost because of atrocious leadership all the way up the chain to where the buck stopped there.
Mike was ridiculed by the war-hawks [war profiteers] for entering the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record.
Mike knew the VietNam War was bogus.
Mike was also the political piledriver that got the congress to approve the construction of TAPS.
http://ni4d.us/
Mike has done much work behind the scenes to bring the power of popular referendum to enable citizens to directly participate in the making of federal laws, longtime the domain of corporate monopoly.
I think Hon.Sen.Mike Gravel is one of the most courageous, intelligent, and ethical of all US-Senators.
....flash/rumble
Remember how he made his name by publishing the Pentagon Papers? That tells you what era this guy is from.
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