Know Your Candidate: Mike Gravel

I picked this guy first because, hey, his name says Gravel.

Let's see how it sounds:

"President Gravel has again decided to finance his hippie reform by taxing the working man."

"In other news, President Gravel met with the French Prime Minister to talk about how to be a big wuss."

Okay, not too bad....

So this guy is from Alaska. That seems like a pretty conservative state to be such a whino democrat. I personally have been to Alaska, and I'll say, it's probably the prettiest place I've ever been.

So this guy supports an immediate withdraw of troops, A National Health Care System, and Eliminate the Income Tax. Hey, 1 out of 3 isn't bad!

I'll give this guy a fair chance:

NATIONAL HEALTHCARE

Medicine and medical technology in the United States is the finest in the world. However, it is also one of the leading causes of bankruptcies. With the rising cost of healthcare, it is time to rethink our approach. The solution to the healthcare crisis is a national, universal single-payer not-for-profit U.S. healthcare system.

So let's see, rising costs of health care, the solution is to do a single-payer not-for-profit system. So in other words, we'll just keep raising taxes each year. Great plan there gravelman. Sure, it works well up north. Just ask the people who are dying for transplants.

WAR IN IRAQ

The Senator was one of the first current or former elected officials to publicly oppose the planned invasion of Iraq in 2002. He appeared on MSNBC prior to the invasion insisting that intelligence showed that there were indeed NO weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq posed no threat to the United States and that invading Iraq was against America’s national interests. Since declaring his candidacy for President, Senator Gravel has called for an immediate and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq combined with aggressive and skilled diplomacy to end the sectarian violence currently consuming Iraq.

"Given the extreme importance of any decision to go to war," he continued, "and I am anguished to make this statement, that anyone who voted for the war on October 11th based upon what president Bush presented to them is not qualified to hold the office of the president of the United States." [LINK]

Well, that should make for an interesting election. At least he didn't vote for the war before he voted against it.

THE FAIR TAX

There is only one one entity in the U.S. that pays taxes; the individual. Business and corporations do not, they merely collect taxes from the consumer and pass it on to the government. The Fair Tax proposal calls for eliminating the IRS and the Income Tax and replacing it with a progressive national Sales Tax of between 19 and 23 percent on newly manufactured items. To compensate for necessities, such as food, there would be a “prebate” for families below the poverty line. An average family of three that lives below the poverty live would receive an additional $3,000 a year.

I actually agree with something like this. This would help people save more money, etc, but who knows how that will work.

Gravelman states that Education is in shambles, but fails to point out the problem. Why is Washington DC first in funding, but last in Academics? Quit focusing on standard of living and focus on the damn parents!

I give this guy a 200 to 1 shot to win in the spring of 2008. So that means he'll fail to raise any cash and throw his support to some other guy who has no chance.