Re: R.I.P. Mike Gravel
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:57 pm
I don't expect much will be written on this post but I just learned something: Mike Gravel died TWO DAYS before the fifty year anniversary of his reading of the Pentagon Papers on the Senate floor. It's considered an act of political bravery. I have no idea how much that is overstated or not, but all the research I have done suggests it wasn't a popular decision, and he cried while reading it. But then, when his name was put forward at the 1972 Democratic Convention as a running mate for George McGovern, he apparently wept there as well. Increasingly, that which I read or watch about Mike Gravel suggest he was something of a narcissist.
Either way, I've read about his time in the Senate and it seems as though he had a difficult time balancing local Alaskan issues with national issues such as Vietnam, which lent to corruption or at least the appearance of it until he was wiped out in 1980 by his own Democratic constituency more than Reagan. And that would be it if it weren't for his two quixotic runs for office later on. His 2008 run was very goofy but probably foreshadowed Bernie Sanders in 2016. I watch those clips of Mike Gravel now and it's not hard to imagine that if he focused his messaging a little more, he could have maybe done a little better, considering there was a strain of left within the Democratic Party whose primary concern was being anti-war. But he came off as yelling grandpa. His 2020 run was almost completely inconsequential. Two teenagers ran his social media from high school where his campaign was largely devoted to 1) opposing foreign wars, and 2) shitting on Joe Biden. He got above 1% in the polls but was excluded from the debates -- which is probably okay, considering he openly said he wasn't interested in being President. But he got something out of it: the two high schoolers founded "The Gravel Institute," an online progressive, anti-war presence dedicated to his life's work. It has 345K followers on Twitter. It's largely a hub for memes and retweets but it's nice that Gravel's efforts have at long last found a following, even among the dirtbag left.
Mike Gravel's passing has been mentioned on social media by Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marianne Williamson of the 2020 Democratic race. I think the fact that more have not remarked upon his passing is unfortunate.
Either way, I've read about his time in the Senate and it seems as though he had a difficult time balancing local Alaskan issues with national issues such as Vietnam, which lent to corruption or at least the appearance of it until he was wiped out in 1980 by his own Democratic constituency more than Reagan. And that would be it if it weren't for his two quixotic runs for office later on. His 2008 run was very goofy but probably foreshadowed Bernie Sanders in 2016. I watch those clips of Mike Gravel now and it's not hard to imagine that if he focused his messaging a little more, he could have maybe done a little better, considering there was a strain of left within the Democratic Party whose primary concern was being anti-war. But he came off as yelling grandpa. His 2020 run was almost completely inconsequential. Two teenagers ran his social media from high school where his campaign was largely devoted to 1) opposing foreign wars, and 2) shitting on Joe Biden. He got above 1% in the polls but was excluded from the debates -- which is probably okay, considering he openly said he wasn't interested in being President. But he got something out of it: the two high schoolers founded "The Gravel Institute," an online progressive, anti-war presence dedicated to his life's work. It has 345K followers on Twitter. It's largely a hub for memes and retweets but it's nice that Gravel's efforts have at long last found a following, even among the dirtbag left.
Mike Gravel's passing has been mentioned on social media by Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marianne Williamson of the 2020 Democratic race. I think the fact that more have not remarked upon his passing is unfortunate.