Noam Chomsky Strongly Praises Mike Gravel

http://www.gravel2008.us/content/noam-chomsky-applauds-senator-gravels-past-and-present-accomplishments

The Noaminator has spoken - and I agree with him. :)

MSM. His positions are a threat to the status quo (creeping fascism - which has done more than "creep" in the last 7 years!!!).

And when he does exist, it's as a joke.

That's the price he has to pay for telling people the truth.

when in fact they were merely seduced by one campaign...
I wouldn't even mind so much that he doesn't have support here - as I am upset at the derision I've seen...Just like the MSM....

I expected to see at least a little support for Gravel here, considering that he advocates progressive values and tells the truth without reservation. But, as you pointed out, what I actually saw was a lot of ridicule and dismissal not much different from what the MSM was pushing.

I've changed my avatar to a Gravel one, to show that some people here at DU do like Mike.

The focus of MSM is the personality and NOT ideas and positions. The same thing happens with Kucinich. He may get a little more attention than Gravel because he ran in '04, but not much more.
I think, people in general at DU have a little more savy than the general population but are still prone to getting sucked into the cult of personality current.
Yes, Obama is a great speaker but what about the fact that he is taking so much money from special interests? Any one who has paid attention knows that he WILL OWE THEM and will do little to advance the cause of health care for all, because the two forces are opposing (for profit institutions v. the right to healthcare).

Why don't you ask Ralph Nader which Democrat he feels is best? Noam Chomsky is a fine good man but if you think he is a guide for the Democrats please explain why? He certainly isn't a Democrat himself.

If you don't think a leading advocate of progressive values is relevant to Democrats, that's your call to make.

Why not help me tar and feather the Ron Paul supporters around here pimping a Republican?

About where we're at right now ... unfortunately.

I'm not a big fan of knocking down "centrist" or "moderate" dems, but eventually this split you're talking about will have to be addressed in some meaningful way.

In my view, there are Democrats who think for themselves most of the time, and there are those who allow culture and the media to have a lot of influence on them. Some people may be put off by that, but in my opinion it's the plain truth.

Of course, nobody in the second category is going to recognize or acknowledge it - and some people who might think they are in the first category really aren't. That's just how human psychology works, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how it can ever really be resolved.

I guess we just have to keep doing our best and trust that every little bit helps.

Especially for being "conspiracy theorists." The mods and name branders love to cozy up to that empty defense when confronted with the possibility that they've been manipulated and duped into abiding a media induced unreality.

It's hard to believe that liberal lefties
are, well, ermm... so left out these days.

We're the only voice of reason in a country
gone totally insane due to the influence
of corporations and destructive memes that
infiltrate the collective consciousness.

dies mysteriously, his funeral is used as red meat for RW, then he's promptly forgotten...No real progressive in the senate since - Feingold isn't quite there, although is the best we've got.

But how much attention do the candidates that represent the progressive left of the Democratic party get?

The media outlets declared who the 'front runners' were 3 months before any of the primaries with polls based on. They actually started reporting on some of them years before anyone declared an intention to run. Particularly in the case of both Hillary and Obama.

As far as the "second tier" goes the various media outlets were actually giving Biden, who polled far lower than Edwards, more time and far more respectful coverage, at least until Iowa. Again and again we have been pundit-hammered with how smart he is in foreign policy While producing very little actual evidence of it.

For instance, I am not a "foreign policy genius" yet in the run up to the war I (along with many of the people that post here) knew that most of the "evidence" was rubbish. If Biden was such a genius how could he not be aware of what I was?

It seems absolutely a must that the corporate media must express all the possible viewpoints of the conservative-centrist democrats, while discussing haircuts, UFO's, or "how crazy they are" with regards to the progressive candidates.

I am annoyed. I am even more annoyed at how angry all the supporters here of the front runners are at those of us that choose "second tier candidates" and how critical we are of the "first tier." Honestly, if Gravel, Kucinich, or Richardson got equal press back in April we may be having a different conversation. Hell we might even be having an actual POLICY discussion, instead of a "your guy is crazy and smells bad" kind of high school nonsense.

I love this:
"...also made a great contribution to breaking the wall of secrecy that governments erect to protect themselves from their own citizens."

Their on-air fracas notwithstanding, Mike Gravel is the closest thing to a Malloy presidential candidate I’ve ever witnessed. What a firebreather and a showman! Of all the candidates, Gravel’s plainspoken no-nonsense presence is missed the most from the debate stage.

I only wish more of the candidates contained such an indefatigable fighting spirit. Biden, despite being a subsidiary of big banking, has it in spades as well. Edwards is getting there...but already faces being tarnish by the media as "angry" and like "Howard Dean." x(

Chomsky's endorsement while coming late in the game isn't entirely surprising. Didn't he help edit "The Pentagon Papers"?
Ralph Nader has also been intermittently writing pro-Gravel articles for nearly a year now, as well as writing the intro to Gravel's forthcoming tome.

Which is a helluva lot more than I can say for the top three.