Saturday, April 28, 2007

One Good Man

Do we want answers? Do we think we're entitled to the truth? Do we want the truth? Can we handle it? Or do we think we have the luxury of not knowing?

I think everyone is entitled to the truth. So, here it is.
Well, first off, understand that this war was lost the day that George Bush invaded Iraq on a fraudulent basis. Understand that. Now with respect to what’s going on in the Congress, I’m really embarrassed. So we passed — and the media’s in a frenzy right today with what has been passed. What has been passed? George Bush communicated over a year ago that he would not get out of Iraq until he left office. Do we not believe him? We need to find another way. I really would like to sit down with Pelosi and with Reid, and I would hope the other senators would focus on, how do you get out? You pass the law, not a resolution, a law making it a felony to stay there. And I’ll give you the text of it. And if you’re worried about filibuster, here’s what you do tactically. They can pass it in the House. We’ve got the votes there. We’ve got the votes there. In the Senate, let them filibuster it. And let Reid call up every — at 12:00 every day to have a cloture vote. And let the American people see clearly who’s keeping the war going and who’s not. And that’s just the beginning of the tactic, if they’re tough enough to do it.

It’s like going into the Senate. You know, the first time you get there, you’re all excited, “My God, how did I ever get here?” Then, about six months later, you say, “How the hell did the rest of them get here?” (LAUGHTER) And I got to tell you, after standing up with them, some of these people frighten me — they frighten me. When you have mainline candidates that turn around and say that there’s nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that’s code for using nukes, nuclear devices. I got to tell you, I’m president of the United States, there will be no preemptive wars with nuclear devices. To my mind, it’s immoral, and it’s been immoral for the last 50 years as part of American foreign policy.

I’ll include you, too. You have a certain arrogance. You want to — you want to tell the Iraqis how to run their country. I got to tell you, we should just plain get out — just plain get out. It’s their country. They’re asking us to leave. And we insist on staying there. And why not get out? What harm is it going to do? Oh, you hear the statement, “Well, my God, these soldiers will have died in vain.” The entire deaths of Vietnam died in vain. And they’re dying in vain right this very second. And you know what’s worse than a soldier dying in vain? It’s more soldiers dying in vain. That’s what’s worse.

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.

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 – happy he was over our invading Iraq.

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?
  • Thanks to Petulant Rumblings who I think assembled this Tube.
  • Thanks to the very, very good folks at Swiftspeech who always wake me up in the morning, tell me the truth, and showed this to me.
  • Thanks to Polstate for the transcripts!

16 comments:

  1. Transcripts! Excellent.

    Count me in as a member of the Mike Gravel fan club.

    The top-tier candidates looks like plastic mannequins next to him.

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  2. Very nice presentation. Here's one more truth. If you wear the shoes of USA, you can't afford to be lousy with no backbone, or the rogues will trample you all over. It's a jungle out there.

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  3. COMMENT MODERATION:

    Regular readers know I prefer concise comments which address the topic of the thread in which they are placed. A preceding comment by RoseColoredGlasses, while welcome, was over-long, off-subject and marginally spam-like. Also, it contained two links which were not enclosed in HTML, which ugly-fies everything.

    Succinctly put, RoseColoredGlasses makes this valid point (in his own words) about the military industrial complex (MIC):

    Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control. Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.

    There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.

    The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.


    Well-put, R.C.G.! And now, let the discussion resume!

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  4. Alitaptap:

    Well then, let's get our back bones out of Iraq where we've been very lousy - if not shitty - and get our shoes back into Afghanistan from whence gloves were thrown at our feet on 9-11.

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  5. Good answer, Boris!

    Vigilante: How old is McCain? 70? This guy Gravel's gotta be 20 years younger! He's totally awesome!

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  6. He makes a lot of very good points. The only problem is that the opening statements are liable to turn away anyone who needs to hear them.

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  7. The point I would make is that, for whatever reasons, Mike Gravel is not considered a viable candidate. Perhaps even he feels that way. Lack of name-identification in a crowded field may be a reason. His one-world mirage may be another. Other than that, I have to say that his voice is that of a truth-teller. What he says about Iraq establishes, especially for the public, a gold-standard of objectivity. It's hard for Americans to accept it, but they still have to hear it voiced. There will be moves by other candidates to remove him from the stage in future debates because he makes them feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. Progressives need to fight this effort to squelch Gravel.

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  8. Here are some additional emails & phones for this purpose:

    Andrea Jones, ABC News, Washington D.C. (202) 222-6896.

    E-mail: andrea.jones@abc.com

    Alex Jasiukowicz, WMUR-TV. (603) 641-9073.

    E-mail: ajasiukowicz@hearst.com

    Charlie Perkins, Editor of the New Hampshire Union-Leader. (603) 668-4321 x 321.

    E-mail: cperkins@unionleader.com

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  9. Signed, vigilante! Thanks to you and M.D. for posting the petition. What happened to freedom of speech and open elections?

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  10. To have Mr. Gravel included in the June 3rd debate in N.H., you need to call Jim Walton, President of CNN Newsgroup, personally in his office at 404-878-1720. Let him know how excited you were to see Senator Gravel on MSNBC last week, and tell him that Mike Gravel's voice ought to be heard on June 3rd in N.H. This is a direct phone line to a top CNN executive. I just left him a voice mail myself. I told him that given all of our troubles right now, there is no reason to exclude Mr. Gravel's patriotic voice from the next debate. Mike Gravel published the Pentagon Papers, and he used parliamentary tactics to end the draft in this country. Now, with our nation embroiled in catastrophe, and with the general election more than a year and a half away, CNN really ought to give this true patriot an opportunity to speak!

    It only takes a minute, and if you are as frustrated and concerned as I am, then you should consider telling CNN to open up the debate to Sen. Gravel on June 3rd.

    In the first quarter of this year, Senator Gravel accumulated a total of $496 for his campaign. That puts him well behind Hillary and Obama, who each raised over $25,000,000.00 in that same period. That should tell you all you need to know about the state of the Democratic party right now. If Hillary or Obama get elected, you can expect "politics as usual."

    ~~Big Mike

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  11. I wrote this on Swiftspeech, but am repeating myself to support everyone whose as fed up as I am. Megamonopoly CNN needs to hear from all of us.

    Big Mike, thanks for CNN President Jim Walton's phone number. I urge everyone to call and ensure that Gravel participates in the June 3rd debate. Let's clog up his voice mail!

    I am extremely frustrated the CNN intends to omit Sen. Gravel , a legitimate presidential condidate, from the debate. Such action on CNN demonstrates a clear failure to televise an unbiased debate.

    Even Gravel he doesn't win the primary nomination, his platform provides Democrats talking points on critical issues. Dissenters may also contact CNN through their comment page, but I think Michael's idea about calling the President is far more effective. Even Conservatives' posts on Digg concur.

    I'm not voting democrat, but Gravel represents issues as passionately as his base and represents their views. He should be allowed in the debates, even if he has no chance. There is no debate if everyone has the same opinion.

    Exactly. Just like you, there is no way in hell I would ever vote for the guy, but to exclude him from the debates is FUBAR. The Republicans pulled this EXACT SAME SHIT back in 2000 with Alan Keyes (whom I voted for). This is fucked up, and this shit needs to stop. If you are running for President, you should be on equal footing with every other candidate come debate time.

    If any of the other candidates have a spine, and they really are looking out for America, they won't get on the stage until Gravel is allowed up there with them. I doubt that will happen though. The Republicans didn't refuse to debate either. I think it was McCain in his opening remarks that said Keyes being banned from the stage was a travesty, but he still didn't have the balls to step down from the podium himself. Had he, I most assuredly would have voted for him.

    Open letter to Obama: If you want to show the country you really care about them as much as you say, refuse to take the stage until Gravel is allowed back in. That will impress the HELL out of this conservative.


    I may not agree with their conservative politics, but concur that all candidates should boycott the debate if Gravel is dismissed from this important telecast. We need to push CNN for a fair exchange of ideas. All candidates should have the right to share their views to the American public, no matter how much money they raise.

    Again, many thanks, Big Mike.

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  12. I recommend Coyote Angry, because the Democratic ballot is occluded on Wizard's site by an ad!!!!!! Wait 'til Messenger weighs in on that!

    But I don't waste my time on polls or straw balloting. If I have any discretionary time, I'm going to spend it calling power brokers in the media. Those are the necks I want to turn.

    Let's not count our winnin's until the dealin's done. Many more cards have to be turned over. We are in the middle of the greatest war of our generation. We are at ground zero. Your children and grand children will ask you what you did this year. Let's not be spectators.

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  13. Sorry if the FLASH Ad obscured your view, but the ballot works perfectly. Just move your mouse if the FLASH AD for "Save Internet Radio" obscures any part of the ballot and it will quickly re-appear. I'll move the ballot box to prevent this problem later today... if time permits.

    messenger I'm enjoying the discussion with vigilante myself. There are few people as reasoned and reasonable (and knowledgable) as our host here. These discussions are always valuable to me. In fact I recently recommended all my readers partake in his assessment of the Cheney Impeachment and the valuable discussion that followed.

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  14. EXCELLENT post! Soldiers dying in vain is wrong either way you slice the damn sour ass pie! And this damn pie is not only sour it's rotten from the inside out!

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  15. We won! Sen. Mike Gravel will participate in the New Hampshire debate due to overwhelming response. He will also be appearing on the Steve Colbert show. Great Gravelly News

    If he doesn't secure the Democratic nomination, maybe he can serve in the cabinet.

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