Jesse Ventura Unloads: The Parties, The Chickenhawks, And His Revolution

Pro-Wrestler-turned-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura went on Larry King Live Tuesday and unloaded on a variety of topics, including his take on the 2008 presidential candidates, what he's looking for in a commander-in-chief, and whether he plans on running for president. Ventura told King that he thinks it's time for a revolution in the United States, that we are a nation of "lemmings," and that the only difference between the two major political parties and street gangs are that the politicians wear Brooks Brothers suits. After blasting the two-party "dictatorship" in America, he gave his opinion of the three presidential candidates (hint: it wasn't very favorable). And he reserved special judgment for the "chickenhawks" who he said marched the country into war in Iraq.

Watch Jesse Ventura talk about the need for a revolution:

Jesse Ventura on the 2008 presidential field:

Larry King asks Jesse Ventura if he is going to run for President:

Ventura rips the Chickenhawks:

Related: Jesse Ventura: I Live With Those Brown-Skinned People Who Frighten Lou Dobbs

Comments

[LeftVetPatriot]

That's like it is, Sailor! Great to see you.
Comin' out to Huey's for the Fofa July?

[marlee]

I agree 100%...
BUT where was he 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago??????

[MetalCanuck]

THANK YOU JESSE !!! RON PAUL 2008!!

You guy just lost out soooooo bad and now you are finished (because you voted CFR). You let the MSM bullcrap you and you let your own personal partisan issues distract you. The criminals you put in power again will Haunt you and your children for generations. People should be voting Ron Paul be people like usual are sheep and listen to MSM and the political parties.

Welcome to the 21's century.

[sugarmoes]

i don't know all his views but his personality would KICK ASS (in a good way) as president. i would enjoy watching him do his thing.

[Bulbul]

I did watch most of the interview !
Wow ! So refreshing to watch Ventura`s spinless talk. I did no keep up with the reason for being out of the limelight for some years.
So interesting , there were four political spinners, some of them ended up looking like a hawk, and a fool, particularly Amy and Mitt`s supporter. Ventura was just shook his head like a wise owl, when those two could not shut up !
Amy, such a pretty girl, and so unlady like, not becoming at all....

[Gumby123]

Jesse, how are we bring a revolution? Stage a non-violent coup? Not vote for either candidate? I doubt it will make a difference.

[jpshotwheels]

REVOLUTION: GREAT WORD - IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE VIOLENT - BE PEACEFUL - CHANGE YOUR TAX FORM AT WORK - FILE MORE DEPENDENTS OR TAX EXEMPT. I DID THIS YEAR.

I filed 6 dependents, at the end of the year I will break even with the Government. I won't owe anything and I won't have to pay anything. All the Government does with your money when they take it out of your paycheck is invest is, they make money off your money, isn't it, better to bring home more, than you can make money off your own money. People don't realize this.

You can also go tax exempt, where they don't take any taxes out at all. Be careful with this one, because if you owe every year than you will have to pay at the end of the year. It is law that you don't have to file a tax return but every 3 years, but if you owe every year and don't pay, then you can penalized. If you don't owe every year, than you have an option not to file, then you can file after the 3 year period.

Second, we have to do something at the pump. The Federal and State Governments get something like .65 - .75 cents per gallon in taxes. Come up with some ideas of how to stop paying it.

In France the Government is scared of the people, in America the people are scared of their Government. Which is more

[degjack]

You go, Jesse!

Lemmings...
Chickenhawks...
Invaders...
Trillions in debt...
Revolution...

How refreshing is the truth.

[MetalCanuck]

Yeah and people should be voting Ron Paul, deligates should be switching if its possible. Not sure how the American system works but people need to put window dressing issues aside and vote Ron Paul while there are still a few states left. John McCain needs to be exposed and Ron will be the one left.

[ylpatriot]

Whew!!! It is sad, we are voting for our next president and there is not a candidate among the three worth the the dang effort !!! and if we think so ... we really have fallen for the stuff eh ?

[terramartom]

Absolutely excellant!
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and crew should be swinging from a rope. These crooks, like the Senate and the Congress should be jailed for treason. They have burned this country to the ground for greed and ambition. Jesse tells it like it is, now that is a real leader, not the self serving spinless, brown nosers in politics now!

[Sundialsvc4]

The thing I like about Jesse Ventura is that sometimes he makes me mad. But he always makes me think. And between those two qualities he stands heads-above every one of the "so-called candidates" out there.

The man is anything BUT stupid, even though he possesses the ability to rearrange your face and even though he made his living for a time by doing it. In this nation of 320-million people, we don't need leaders who are puppets. We tire of trying to ignore the tele-prompters, the public opinion polls ... the strings. We know that such puppetry have lead us all to the brink of ruin and into the teeth of pointless war... to sell(!) us oil.

We do need "a revolution." We need people who care enough about this country to save it. People who will work within the system that we have -- a system that will work -- and FORCE it to once again be more than just a puppet show. That will not be a quick process nor a particularly fun one. It will take a charismatic leader in the front, but also a whole lot of grueling statesmanship and brinkmanship in the back.

But we remember it, don't we? When we were children, the dollar WAS worth 1/35th of an ounce of pure gold. That was an expression of genuine economic strength. The world does not follow weakness, nor does the world long sustain it.

[Sundialsvc4]

Continuing my previous comment about "statesmanship and brinkmanship," I really do think that Jesse Ventura (and a whole lot of other people) can accomplish more by speaking-out than they can by jumping into the election-show. Get to know your own piece of it ... your own governor, your state legislators, your own Senators, your own Representatives. This country is governed by the Congress and by Legislatures.

If you look on the Congressional Record web-site maintained by the Library of Congress http://thomas.loc.govv), an afternoon's research will show you that ... for all their public huff-and-blow ... Congress knew about everything and authorized everything, sometimes in the dead of night and often with nearly unanimous bi-partisan votes. Even more than Bush... THEY did it.

That's why we don't need a savior, and that's why we're never going to get one.

Real change happens by consensus. And consensus magically happens when legislators push-shut the doors of their august chambers, thereby briefly shutting-out the angry cries of the crowds outside, turn to one another with wide eyes and say, "Oh Sh*t! We'd better DO something!" Yes, consensus happens when feet are being held to fires that are warming up the tar and drying out the feathers.

You want to see real change? Look at what Al Gore did and look at how he did it. No, this isn't a nomination. I said... look at ... how ... he did it. Quietly. Relentlessly.

[foreverleft]

Exactly. Like it or not, political skills are a must.

[pzdoff]

WOW. looks like Jesse just put himself on the administration, homeland security, NSA, FBI, and CIA shitlists, all in one fell swoop. First amendment rights mean nothing to that crew.

[Sundialsvc4]

A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

It would have been "easiest," of course, for all of us to still be loyal British subjects.

[leftLibertarian]

I can't disagree with most of what he says.

Send Rush LimpDick, Sean Inanity, Dick 'less' Cheney, Baby Bush, Bill Kristol et all to Iraq.

If the Democrats had a spine and a sense of justice, the criminals Bush and Cheney would be impeached.

Why haven't they done this?

[thebeerdoctor]

On MSNBC this morning I saw morning Joe calling Jesse Ventura a nut. I guess when someone speaks the truth about this entire political mess, and you have no answers, you must resort to name calling. The ex-governor's comments about Barack Obama and the democratic party pulling the strings were quite revealing. Also, his reminding everyone of the Bush-Clinton monarchy was very on target. In fact, what did the former wrestler say that was not true? Those who benefit from the duopoly, and the character deceit required, will have nothing good to say about the ex-navy SEAL.

[Suzie2]

He DID seem nutty, yet he seemed to make more sense than anyone else out there. I agreed with just about everything he said. Guess that makes me a nut too? He didn't give Bill enough credit for paying down the debt though.

[scandals&skeletons]

people judge by appearances, joe scarborough is a an idiot most of the time. jessie ventura was spot on most of the interview

[Sundialsvc4]

Unfortunately, Suzie... he didn't.

Wasn't it "amazing" how all that debt just "went away?" Well, ask your accountant.

(You know the old saw that says how you can figure out a person's future direction in first grade. When asked "what's 1+1?" the future attorney will say "Objection!" and the accountant will say, "What do you want it to be?")

The debt was briefly spirited-away by changing the accounting-procedures by which the debt was "recognized." Since the majority of the debt actually consists of internal obligations to the American people, it is subject to interpretation. The debt could not be "paid down" as you suggest because the only way that the government has to pay-down anything is: to tax, to levy tariffs and duties, or to "borrow." Ultimately, though, the debt is whatever it is said to be, and that can change.

[DGregory]

Did anyone notice that ventura was shaking alot? Does he have parkinsons? Hope he doesnt, but now im worried.

[Bulbul]

I did wonder about that also, it was indeed worrisome !

[WinceCarter]

Steroids will do that to a guy, and Jesse did lots of them.

[batgirlevi]

He's always done that. I don't know why, but it's not any kind of disease.

[ColdSteel3]

If Mr. Ventura has been stricken with Parkinsons or any similar ailment, my best wishes to him on his treatment. However I do not think he is suffering from anything more serious than nearly depleted reserves of self control. I know I exhibit the exact same symptoms when in close proximity to chickenhawks. It takes so much self control to stave off the desire to slap some sense into these 'experts' that I actually begin to shake also. Good job Jesse.

[MNmommy]

He's always rocked and fidgeted - the armchair diagnosis in my household is that he has ADHD, pretty severely. That dx of course comes from four years of watching him in action as governor.

[wm1066]

And how many times in the ring did he get wacked over the head by a folding chair?

[Tannim]

Nope. He does have some minor nerve damage in his neck from a wrestling injury (which kept him from wrestling Hogan at Wrestlemania I) and it causes some minor nerve misfires into twitching and some pain. Not Parkinsons in the slightest, just a trauma malady.

[scandals&skeletons]

ventura ought to get together with chuck hagel who also thinks it is time to change our 2 party fraud of a system.

[FastMovingCloud]

I kinda have Chuck Hagel in mind for Obama's running mate. That would be a great ticket and would negate McBush's inevitable "Bipartisan" choice of Holy Joe Lieberman. McCain/Lieberman is bipartisan but the parties are Republicans and the Lieberman for Connecticut party.

Not really bipartisan at all, is it?

[scandals&skeletons]

it was a good interview. and even though he said he would not vote for any of the candidates, he did say obama was the best choice.

[MetalCanuck]

He said ROn Paul was the best choice, you did not see the entire interview I guess. Obama is lesser of the Evils but he still works for the CFR just like Hillary and McCain. His wife is in it and she will be influencing him in many ways.

[scandals&skeletons]

you are correct he did say obama was the lesser ot the 3 evils, but he did not endorse ron paul either. he agreed with his stance on iraq that we can march right out the same way we marched right in.

[bar1ed]

Question ----- what did he say, that we already don't know? oh yea, he's got a book out, and he wants us to buy it. what an original idea!