Exposing Mike Gravel through his own Senatorial Record. Does His Hypocrisy Know No Bounds? When will it all end? Is there any convorting of the Hypocritic Oath? Why, oh, why do we have to settle on these same politics as usual?
Don’t worry. I think I only have two more of these in the offing.
There are two things worth considering from this paragraph from Nicholas Lemann’s Washington Post article “The Great Alaska Feud”, published 9/30/1979:
In 1968 both Gravel and Stevens ran for Gruening’s Senate seat. Gruening was the grand old man of Alaska — the territorial governor for 14 years before statehood, a medical doctor, a newspaper editor, and the author of a fine history, “The State of Alaska” — but he was also 81 years old and politically vulnerable. Gravel went after him aggressively, using their age difference (he was 38) and the Vietnam war (he was then a hawk, Gruening a prominent dove) as his issues. Gravel waged Alaska’s first sophisticated media campaign. He trekked all over the state showing a high-quality, half-hour film that probably won the election for him. “Mike Gravel,” the film said, “is on the sunshine side of 40.”
In reference to the DNC meeting words of “Given the extreme importance of any decision to go to war, and I am anguished to say this, it’s my opinion that anyone who voted for the war on October 11––based on what President Bush represented––is not qualified to hold the office of President.”, which is a broadside against Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and — do I have to mention him? — Joseph Biden. In a sense, we can almost narrow it down to Edwards, because he has gone the furthest in repudiating his vote for the war and thus fits Mike Gravel’s profile a bit better in relation to:
(he was then a hawk, Gruening a prominent dove).
If Mike Gravel can change his opinion based on new evidence (and poll numbers), why can not John Edwards? (The other possibility is that Gravel’s hawkishness in the 1968 election was political calculation, and once in office, he changed his mind to where his mind was really at. Who knows?)
Consider too this statement from Mike Gravel.:
“But the fear of opposing a popular warrior President on the eve of a mid-term election prevailed. Political calculations trumped morality, and the Middle East was set ablaze. The Democrats lost in the election anyway, but the American people lost even more. It was politics as usual.”
Now, on the eve of his primary contest in 1980, with Mike Gravel considered the most vulnerable Senator in the entire chamber, the man who “Single-handedly stopped the draft” … from the Associated Press, June, 11, 1980, on the creation of the Selective Service — which is, in effect, a Draft in Waiting.:
Registration foes accused liberals of abandoning the fight.
“It’s too bad Senators Frank Church (D-Idaho), Charles Mathias (R-Md.), Edward Kennedy and Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) didn’t consider this important enough to show up for today’s debate,” said Barry Lynn, chairman of the Committee Against Registration and the Draft. None of them voted yesterday.
Political. Expediency. Trumps. Morality. Unless Gravel distinguishes his strongly stated chest beating on ending the draft with allowing for the Selective Service to commence, which if someone were less chest boisterous about it could be done.
Then there’s the strange facet of politicing that makes a virtue or vice out of either age or youth. Every politician worth his salt would do so, based on the circumstances. He trekked all over the state showing a high-quality, half-hour film that probably won the election for him. “Mike Gravel,” the film said, “is on the sunshine side of 40.” versus Gruening — the territorial governor for 14 years before statehood, a medical doctor, a newspaper editor, and the author of a fine history, “The State of Alaska” — but he was also 81 years old...