There’s no question that Mike Gravel has a libertarian streak. That Gravel is almost certainly going to do even worse than Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic primaries is a telling indicator of how infertile the ground on the left is for Brink Lindsey’s big idea, no?
Err, no. It’s a telling indicator of how completely fucking insane Mike Gravel seems to anyone who’s seen him. Which may not be all that many people, given that he last held public office when I was a toddler. My own optimism about the potential for a “liberaltarian” fusionism is pretty limited, but not because I think Mike Gravel is a good test case.
3 responses so far ↓
1 John Tabin // Aug 1, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Gravel is no crazier than Kucinich, either in style or in substance. Surely it means something that Kucinich has a small but measurable following while Gravel can’t even reliably score 1% in the polls. Media exposure is part of it, but I don’t think it’s all of it.
2 mediageek // Aug 1, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Gravel probably turns a lot of people off because he’s a crotchety old jerk.
Personally, I find it endearing.
Also, Kucinich probably has a better following because his wife is really hot.
3 sangfroid826 // Aug 2, 2007 at 1:50 am
Just unspeakably hot.