Is this really what we are now calling "a waste of time"?

Look, it's no secret that my man is Dennis Kucinich.

But that doesn't mean that I think no one else has anything to say. So here's Mike Gravel's latest commercial.

Gravel, you cry, Gravel? He's got no chance! Not even as much as Kucinich! He's wasting everyone's time...

Is he? I'd like you to consider these words, written by evmonk over at the 35 Percenters:

If the media and more Americans took Gravel seriously — not necessarily as a candidate, but as a moral leader — our country and our democracy would transform in ways we never thought possible. Instead, even “far left” sites like DailyKos, and their moral leader Markos Moulitsas, write articles which proclaim with the authority of the internet’s most popular political blog, “Mike Gravel is a Waste of Our Time.” Like I said at the beginning, Gravel probably isn’t going to be president. But to say he is a waste of our time — without even considering the courage it took for him to read the Pentagon Papers into the public record during Vietnam, or the courage it takes for him to speak the truth today as best as he can, or how central his warnings are to the future of our democracy — is, well, sad.

This isn’t about voting for Gravel. It’s not about voting for Kucinich or Paul either. It’s about rising above the corporate-sponsored and prepackaged political discourse to make our own decisions about what is right, and what is wrong. Bravo to Gravel for doing just that in his latest, and greatest, message to Americans. (h/t Truthdig):

And I'd really like you to watch this video. It's less than three minutes long. So even if it is a waste of your time, it's not a waste of much. But it's not. Maybe Mike - and Dennis - don't have a chance. But we need to hear what they have to say. it's important. We need - desperately - to hear the other voices. Without them, all we get is the same tired old run-to-the-center lines we always get. Without them, nobody really talks about the truth, because it's too risky. And too painful. And too scary. Everybody plays it safe. So even if they don't have a chance, we must listen to them. We need their voices.

We need them.

And we need people in Congress - not to mention the White House - who do things "because they are right".