Posted on 08/01/2007 11:21:59 AM PDT by Pyro7480
Video (0:55): Real (1.51 MB) or Windows (1.74 MB).
As part of a new segment on the "Today" show, "Candidate Cribs," NBCs Jonathan Alter went on a cab ride, with Democratic candidate Mike Gravel behind the wheel, and got more than the expected anti-Iraq war rant from the former Alaskan senator. In a gimmicky stunt, to showcase the candidates past life as a former New York City cabbie, Alter got in the back seat as Gravel took the reporter for a ride but just after Gravel started griping about Iraq they got into a car crash.
Alter: "Gravel is best remembered for helping end the Vietnam era draft with a filibuster and for reading the Pentagon Papers in the Senate. Now, after a quarter-century out of politics, he's an angry Rip Van Winkle."
Gravel: "I know how to get out of Iraq. I know how to affect the solution, it's a diplomatic solution."
Alter: "Careful! Ohh!"
Gravel: "Hang on!"
Off-camera voice: "Okay, we're okay."
Gravel: "Where's the-[bleeps]"
Off-camera voice: "The brakes went out."
After they got the cab working again, Gravel drove Alter to Columbia University where he was able to finish his anti-Iraq tirade in front of his supporters. Alters camera crew focused-in on anti-war protest signs while Alter let Gravel spew the following: "The sooner we put some of our leaders in jail for what we do to the people, the sooner we're gonna stop people doing that!"
The following is the full transcript of the segment as it occurred on the August 1, "Today" show:
Matt Lauer: "This morning we are starting a new series called Candidate Cribs. A chance to get to know the human side of the presidential candidates. Take them back to the places that were important to them in the past. NBC's Jonathan Alter took a ride with Democratic contender, former Senator Mike Gravel. And let's just say the Senator did a bang-up job."
[On screen headline: "Candidate Cribs, Cruising With Mike Gravel"]
Jonathan Alter: "Mike Gravel."
Mike Gravel, behind the wheel of a cab: "American people are fed up with the partisanship. They're fed up with the phoniness and if I'm hitting it right, I'll become President."
Alter: "Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, now 77, drove a Checker Cab in New York in the 1950s, while attending Columbia University. So we decided to rent him a Checker and ride with him up to his alma mater. Did you ever get jumped or in any accidents?"
Gravel: "Twice, no, never had an accident. I was lucky, knock on something."
Alter: "Gravel is best remembered for helping end the Vietnam era draft with a filibuster and for reading the Pentagon Papers in the Senate. Now, after a quarter-century out of politics, he's an angry Rip Van Winkle."
Gravel: "I know how to get out of Iraq. I know how to affect the solution, it's a diplomatic solution."
Alter: "Careful! Ohh!"
Gravel: "Hang on!"
Off-camera voice: "Okay, we're okay."
Gravel: "Where's the-[bleeps]"
Off-camera voice: "The brakes went out."
Alter: "It turns out the Checker we rented didn't exactly have the best brakes."
Gravel: "Wait a second, let me press it to see if the fluid goes out. Okay?"
Alter: "Gravel the cabbie, may be a little rusty but not Gravel the politician."
Gravel: "If we set the tone we're gonna see a better result in the world than the tone of imperialism, violence and war that we have been setting. Can I say it more emphatically?"
Alter: "When we arrive at Columbia, a warm welcome."
[Footage of students with signs cheering for Gravel]
Gravel: "Let's go find a place to talk."
Alter: "His message? Accountability with real teeth."
[Camera close-up on sign reading: "Columbia Democrats Say...End The War!"]
Gravel: "The sooner we put some of our leaders in jail for what we do to the people, the sooner we're gonna stop people doing that!"
Alter: "A ride on the wild side with Mike Gravel. For 'Today,' Jonathan Alter, NBC News, New York."
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
*****************
LOL! Sure they did.
My favorite part is the look of total panic that ensues when any rational person realizes that they have, of their own volition, placed their health, their life, indeed their very fate, into the hands of a known liberal Democrat. They begin to panic when they realize to whom they have entrusted their lives and recalling what the consequences always are (think of the expression on the Coyote's face as he plunges over the cliff yet again because of the Roadrunner). That I'm-going-to-die expression is priceless. Really deserves it's own Caption-This thread! No matter how many times they try it, they never learn. |
I'm going to die because I trusted a liberal! |
LOL! Well done!
Maybe Hillary can take Alter on a nice plane flight.
Sounds like what a book-keeper for a dentist might do...
Based on what I have heard in the last twenty minutes, I can say with conviction that this is one of the biggest a$$holes ever to mount a public stage in the USA. (Of course, he is GREAT for our side! The NPR audience, which probably represents twenty per cent of the electorate, loves him, of course. A remarkable a$$hole ~and~ a moron.)
Can you imagine this idiot in a talk with Musharraf or Kim Jong?
Alter just got a quick glimpse of what would be like with this idiot as president. Fortunately he just had control of a cab.
I also remember he nominated himself for President from the floor of the dem convention in 1968.
Mike Gravel should seriously get together with Massachusetts Republican Jack E. Robinson III, somebody else who also got into a car accident five years ago while discussing issues with the mainstream media on the phone while driving.
For sure. Has he even been in Alaska any time in the past thirty years?
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