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

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Huffington Post   |   April 1, 2008 10:29 PM


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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


 
 

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Anyone who will come out and state anything close to the truth desrves to be listened to. His topics are a lot closer to the truth than any TV new journalist out there. Most poilticians when they speak make me feel ill. Jesse is a real American and I appreciate what he has to say.
And yes, Building 7 WTC was clearly demolished intentionally. Inside job, obviously. That one statement made the whole interview worth it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:56 PM on 04/02/2008

Yawn. Ross Nader Ventura must be running out of royalties from his men in tights days and his Predator residuals. This guy is like a combination of Al Sharpton and Bill O'Reilly with the vocabulary of Elizabeth Hasselback. Minnesotans must feel like they are getting a visit from their long lost drunk uncle who just got out of jail and showed up at Easter brunch with a chain smoking whore on his elbow demanding loudly to know "where the hell is the wine?"

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:52 PM on 04/02/2008

Just listen to what the man is saying. That's the problem with people in this country, so quick to dismiss ones words for reasons undefined. John Kerry said in the 2004 Election, "If you elect Bush again, I got four words for you, More Of The Same." Was he not right? Our problems are due to the control that Banks, Big Business, Insurance, Health Care, and the Military Industrial Complex have over our government. We need a new form of leadership. Maybe Ventura is it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:10 AM on 04/08/2008

"I did watch the film of Building 7 going down and in my opinion there's no doubt that that building was brought down with demolition," said the former Governor.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2008/040208_jesse_ventura.htm

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:40 PM on 04/02/2008

Ventura's comment that we are lemmings is right on. Most Americans defer much too much to elected politicians out of a misguided sense of patriotism -- they tacitly believe that questioning or opposing or speaking out against government policies and actions is unpatriotic. As the result, Bush, Cheney and their cronies know that they can deceive Americans and give free reign to their greedy, corrupt, fascist natures, all with impunity. Thomas Jefferson said "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Too few Americans understand that.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:03 PM on 04/02/2008

The phrase "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" was made by historian Howard Zinn in an interview with TomPaine.com to justify his opposition to the War on Terror." Someone erroneously attributed the quote to Jefferson soon after, and now seemingly everyone is doing it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:37 AM on 04/03/2008

Right on Stan

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:45 PM on 04/02/2008

Feedback regarding each video clip

First video: Flat out wrong. If this had happened in the private sector, the Fed, using the taxpayer's dime, would bail them out.
Second video: A grudging endorsement for Obama. Trying to sway independents to cast a protest vote or to not vote at all. Who gets helped or hurt by this?
Third video: No candidate is perfect so why didn't he go out and help Ron Paul? Or better yet why didn't he use his popularity and start a nationwide grass roots campaign? Now if it's so difficult to get on ballots in all 50 states how did Ron Paul do it? Come on. Where's the book he's about to plug?
Fourth video: Excellent. Couldn't be said better. War should be so simple that you are willing to send your son to fight it. And he's right we marched in and we can march out.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:47 PM on 04/02/2008

McCain wants to be in Iraq for a hundred years. Yeah, He owes a big debt to be paid back on the Straight Talk Bullshit Express. He says he's going to follow Osama bin Laden to Hell. Like that gravy train will ever dry up.

Jesse IS a straight shooter but he really loses me again on the None of the Above bullshit. Thanks Jesse, freaks like you got George Bush elected in the first place. Wouldn't that send a nice message if we all stayed home and let the freak Christian Right elect a President. Actually, that happened. Don't listen to Jesse. Get everyone you can round up and Vote for Obama. Change this tattered government. Yes I do believe in Obama. Jesse is wrong. You have seen what a message can do. Let's have a revolution. Vote ourselves back in power.....Thank you Thomas Jefferson.....

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:38 AM on 04/03/2008

I find him quite a bit naive. He acts like this is the first time the US has invaded another country. I guess he took wrestling in high school and not history. Every Central and South American country for 60 years has been overthrown in a CIA backed coup. Can he say "banana republic?" Where does he think Eisenhower thought up his "beware of the military industrial complex" speech. His seceratary of state and CIA director , the Dulles Brothers, were religious right commie (terrorist) fighters who were on the board of National Fruit Company and thought God would rather have their billion dollar Banana corporation in charge than any stinkin democratic system.

Chile, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iran, Cuba (even though we failed at that one, we still tried), Vietnam, Don't forget Haiti and watch out Iran and Venuzuela. Chickenhawks are a coming to get ya. Wake up Jesse, this isn't our first time around the rodeo. Mexico knows that better than anyone, well, except the Injuns, oh yeah and Africans. Hell, it's a tie.

Dick "Halliburton" Cheney and George "Insert any Big Oil Company" Bush have given the Military Industrial Complex a whole new name. Actually an old one. Fascism. Like Grandpa Bush was to Hitler, Defense contractors, big oil companies and private mercenaries are to Sonny Bush. Go USA,

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:36 AM on 04/03/2008

He couldn'y help Dr. Paul because he was silenced for three years by the MSNBC contract screwjob he had to deal with that just expired.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:15 PM on 04/02/2008

Jesse Ventura, self-appointed choice to "wake up America"?

This guy is nothing but a con man who had his ghost writer slap together his shallow, rambling, and frustrated insights between two covers, with the goal of making a killing off people who are stupid enough to buy it.

I have volunteered for Obama and I have witnessed, with pride, the efforts of many young people to change this country for the better by supporting his candidacy. The Democratic Party has done more for this country, and more for Ventura whether he admits it or not, than his book ever will. We are wide awake, Mr. Ventura, so stop flattering yourself.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:45 PM on 04/02/2008

The Dems are a fraud.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:03 AM on 04/06/2008

Obama will be controlled and told what can and can't be done. Ventura is right in saying we put Democrats into the House and Senate with a mandate to end the war in Iraq which everyone of them promised to do. But the funding for the war continues and talk of withdrawal is gone. Pelosi took impeachment off of the table and Reid tried to thwart Dennis Kucinich's efforts to impeach Cheney. Reid failed but Conyers succeeded in squashing Cheney's impeachment by just letting it sit in his office.. This is not personal. Obama seems to be a very nice man but he voted to extend NAFTA into South America. He used to have pro-Palestinian leanings but seems to have abandoned them to pledge blind allegiance to Israel. He is a politician. He is making campaign promises that won't be kept. Google campaign promises not kept ... it is what politicians do.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:31 PM on 04/02/2008

When If Ya Smell What Barack Is Cookin' actually gets any substance behind his rhetoric, especially substance that doesn't equate to mroe big government, then we'll believe you.

Jesse makes more horse sense than most of DC put toghether. And yes, the truth hurts.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:16 PM on 04/02/2008

Leave it to one of the worst organisms on television, Larry King, to remind us that Jesse Ventura is still alive.

So, he needs some attention in this election year, does he? How does he get it? By putting down people who clearly have more discipline, brains, and commitment to their country than he does.

Ventura doesn't particularly like Obama? That's another endorsement for our next President, so far as I can see.

He was a shitty governor and everyone knows it. It's all nothing but big talk from Jesse. I have some respect for Schwarzenegger even though I wouldn't vote for him. At least he tries to do something good with the system we have, which is still the world's best despite its many flaws.

This "none of the above" stuff is a bunch of bullshit. Anyone can lash out and put down politicians and politics. Ventura just doesn't have what it takes to be a leader so he has to criticize those who do, and, by extension, those who vote for them in our democracy. Right, he's got it all figured out--we're a bunch of "lemmings" and he's the Nietzschean superman that will break from the herd.

And Jesse once brilliantly observed that "religion is a crutch for weak minded people." Like, say, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:36 PM on 04/02/2008

Get a grip. 85% of the CNN viewers, responding to a poll question "should Jesse run 4 Pres" said yes. He, like Dr. Ron Paul and Lou Dobbs and Mile Gravel, is the shit. ie the real deal.. An American Patriot. NOT A CORPORATE STOOGE like the others

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:03 PM on 04/02/2008

Yeah. The CNN poll, that ought to bring out the breast and brightest.
How many would vote for Oprah and Archie Bunker or a washed up wrestler or a frat boy ex President's son? I say about the same percent who don't vote at all, about 85%. Sounds about right. Jesse, you are a disgrace to the founding fathers. You remind me of the time I saw Madonna on Amercian Bandstand and she told a bunch of teenagers that she didn't finish High School and now she is rich and famous. Great role model. How about a former governor telling everyone to vote for None of the Above. Thanks for your patriotism, but no thanks. Even lame Larry the Loon called you out on your bullshit story about not being able to run because you don't have as much money as Ross Perot, as if Ralph Nader comes up with more than a filing fee. This guy is great entertainment and so is Madonna, but don't ask for any moral leadership from them. VOTE and Vote for the candidate that even Jesse agrees has the most chance of making a difference.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:53 AM on 04/03/2008

You are a partisan Dem moron. Get off the Cool Aide. Jesse was right and he is better than Hill, Obama or McCain. America screwed itself in these elections not voting for Paul. Now the CFR will run your government for another 4 years.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:06 AM on 04/06/2008

The TRUTH is a BEAUTIFUL thing yeah, As painful as it may be.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:34 PM on 04/02/2008

Uh oh, he mentioned that other person who's running for prez and didn't get obliterated by huffpo's censors. What's up with that? Are you having a change of heart Huffpo?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:23 PM on 04/02/2008

Damn straight, Jesse.

We marched in there, we can march out.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:04 PM on 04/02/2008

he talks to much sense for americans. most americans in their hearts are imperialists and many are war mongers and almost all who support this war are chicken hawks. ie vp the worst of them.

jesse would not get 10% of the votes. americans love being a super power and with that comes wars. now we pay the price of being a super power.

ike warned us no one listened.

now americans dont forget to look for that socialist under your beds tonight like your parents looked for that commie.

and while you are at it look on your computer and see how the socialist euro is doing against the american deregulated capitalist dollar and hey they even have universal health care that is rated higher than our privatized health care system with a focus on profits.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:11 PM on 04/02/2008

To mention Eisenhower, a true leader who did great things with our federal government, in the same breath with a crank like Ventura, is to simply piss on the grave of a pretty damn good President who wouldn't last a second in a Republican primary.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:38 PM on 04/02/2008

your generalized insults show me that you wouldn't be happy if "most americans" agreed with you. you'd take a different viewpoint just so you could feel superior to "most americans". your unsupported opinions become you.

don't forget to look under your bed for the capitalists that lenin warned you about.

it isn't the american people that wouldn't vote for jesse, or ron paul, it's the system that controls nominations that excludes them (because men like them are a threat to that system).

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:26 PM on 04/02/2008

I kinda lost respect for Larry, after his Ventura interview. He questioned Jesse about Jesse's "support" for "illegal aliens" (specifically Latinos), asking him if he really though that it was okay for the illegals to come here, to which Jesse replied, ""We (Europeans) come in, kill the Native Americans, take their land and now we require paperwork to be here?" Larry jokingly added, "We stole it fair and square."

To millions of us Native Americans who live in a land occupied by "foreigners" who often treat us with disdain in our own land, this is not a laughing matter -- and certainly not a subject to be summarily passed off as a joking matter. I am surprised at Larry "Zeiger" King, whose own people, the Jews, considered the "theft" of their land 2000 years ago by the Romans as no joking matter. Did Larry think that Israel was "stolen, fair and square?" I don't think so. I am sure that he would expect Americans to side with Israel in their endeavor to reclaim that "stolen land," yet he jokes about living on land here in America that they "stole, fair and square" from the Indians. I guess that when America invades other peoples' land and steals it, it's "fair and square." When other countries do it (Iraq invasion of Kuwait), we call it "naked aggression," and we attack them for it. This kind of arrogant hypocrisy is one reason that America is losing respect around the world.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:22 PM on 04/02/2008

When you say "our own land" are you trying to infer that it is not 'my own land' as well? Property rights to real estate tend to reside with living people. So, since we all live here; let's get along, can we? I can not take responsiblity for what some ancestor of mine did to the Narragansetts three hundred and thirty some years ago. The 'mystic chords of memory' extend to all who inhabit this continent through time before time. As the song says, "This land is your land, this land is my land." Now everybody SING!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:58 PM on 04/03/2008

Can you honestly take a guy serious with a balding mullet?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:20 PM on 04/02/2008

Let me tell you something, Hulk Hogan!. Yeah, I know that's you posing as Scandy Candy. As if that name wasn't obvious enough. Jesse had this hairdo in his wrestling days, and now that he's not in office, he has it again. If it worked to get attention then, it's gonna work now.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:03 PM on 04/02/2008

Sure I can!
You see grown-ups don't judge people by the way they look.
And any man who correctly calls AWOL Bush and FIVE War Deferments Cheney COWARDS is okay in my book!
Go Jesse!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:58 PM on 04/02/2008

Oh doesn't everyone know that the content of a person's mind and his intelligence is accurately indicated by the person's HAIRSTYLE?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:58 PM on 04/02/2008

Yes, since Benjamin Franklin had one and he did pretty well for himself. People who take stock in someone's hair style are the same sheep who are killing this country.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:57 PM on 04/02/2008

Touche'

OBAMA 08

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:06 PM on 04/02/2008

Living in Minnesota through the Jesse years I know one thing, he has no clue what he is doing.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:13 PM on 04/02/2008

I was in Minnesota then too, I voted for Jesse and I'd do so again in a second because he speaks truth to power. The movement he started in Minnesota will someday help us take back this country from those who now defile it.
Godspeed Jesse.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:05 PM on 04/03/2008

I like Jesse, but Bill Clinton actually started to pay the debt down. Bill Clinton reversed the deficit.

Jesse: research the DLC and Rahm. They are responsible for the corruption of the democratic party.

Rahm recruited DLC dems who would say they would end the war and impeach, but actually would not if elected.

Big money finances the DLC.

the Clintons = lieberman =DLC = DINO's= corporatist conservatives

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4988342

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:07 PM on 04/02/2008

Right on Jesse
the only way to go is to organize a third party in all state legislatures, get