Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK) served two terms in the Senate through the 1970s, a period marked by the U.S.’s struggle to end the Vietnam War. In 1971, when military analyst Daniel Ellsberg famously leaked the Pentagon Papers — which documented the “policymaking process that led to our deepening involvement in Vietnam” — Gravel, a war critic, audaciously read the documents into the Congressional Record to ensure that the public would have access to them.

Also in 1971, Gravel, “against the advice of Democratic leaders in the Senate, launched a one-man filibuster to end the peacetime military draft, forcing the administration to cut a deal that allowed the draft to expire in 1973.”

Now, he’s running for President. He told us last weekend that he thought the Iraq redeployment provision attached to the House and Senate supplemental bills is “ridiculous legislation.” “We need to get out now,” Gravel said, adding that he had his “suspicions” that whoever is elected president in 2008 is “not going to get out of Iraq.”

“We are fighting over the ownership of the Titanic. That’s really what’s going on,” he said. “Keep in mind when Nixon got elected — he said I got a plan to end the war. Yeah, it took him four years. And we doubled the number of casualties under his tenure.” Gravel warned, “I suspect we’re going in the same direction.” Watch it:

Gravel also advocated a carbon tax. He said Americans should “keep in mind” that every time they fill up their gas tank, “you’re spending another $4.00 per gallon indirectly by maintaining American troops in 140 countries to stabilize the price of oil.”

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“For well over a month now, liberal and/or anti-Bush bloggers have hit famed columnist David Broder for a column he wrote on February for The Washington Post (syndicated nationally) in which he suggested that President Bush, perpetually down in the polls, might be ‘poised for a political comeback.’ Today he was asked about this in an online chat at www.washingtonpost.com:

Seattle: Remember your column about President Bush being on the verge of regaining his political footing? Isn’t it about time you revisited that tidbit of political prognostication? (Bush Regains His Footing, Post, Feb. 16)

David S. Broder: I remember that column well. It is time to revisit and revise. Stay tuned.

says it has a policy of not renting rooms to gay couples. You can contact Affordable Suites HERE.

I’m not talking to you either.

“Just seven days after Pat Tillman’s death, a top general warned there were strong indications that it was friendly fire and President Bush might embarrass himself if he said the NFL star-turned-soldier died in an ambush… The memo reinforces suspicions that the Pentagon was more concerned with sparing officials from embarrassment than with leveling with Tillman’s family.” A White House spokesman said “that a review of records turned up no indication that the president had received McChrystal’s warning.”

has no time for the U.S. attorney scandal.

Publicly, the White House continues to claim that President Bush supports Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Today, Press Secretary Dana Perino said the President “has confidence in” Gonzales and “believes the attorney general can overcome the challenges that are before him.”

Privately though, reports indicate that the White House is frustrated with Gonzales. On March 14, Bush told the nation, “Al was right, mistakes were made, and he’s going to go up to Capitol Hill to correct them.” But 16 days later, Gonzales has still not been to Congress to talk to lawmakers. His next scheduled appearance is on April 17, when he tesitifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yesterday, ABC News reported:

The White House is getting increasingly impatient with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Officials are frustrated that Gonzales is taking so long to get up to Capitol Hill to attempt damage control on last year’s controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Additionally, at a meeting with House Republicans yesterday, Bush refused to expess confidence in his Attorney General:

Asked about Gonzales during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Thursday, Bush did not defend his longtime friend, according to one official who attended the session and demanded anonymity because it was private.

Instead, Bush tepidly repeated his public statement: The attorney general would have to go up to Capitol Hill and fix his problem, according to this official.

After yesteday’s testimony by his former deputy Kyle Sampson — who testified, under oath, that Gonzales’s statements about his involvement in the prosecutor purge were “not accurate” — Gonzales will face a much tougher time “correcting” his mistakes to Congress.