Jesse Ventura wants to leave the US

[burythehatchet]

In a remarkable interview on the Malloy Show tonight (replacement hosts) Ventura compared the Bush regime to the Nazi's. He said we are headed to fascism. They've destroyed our elections. They are leading us to ruins.

Pretty stunning quotes.

[texpatriot2004]

1. I may join him. I love my Country though and it's hard to think of

abandoning it when it needed me. Jesse is right - they did destroy our election system and this jingoism Nazi Germany Religious Fundamentalist Fascism is getting really old and hard to bear. Plus they are trying to destroy us.

[lonestarnot]

12. Where would you go?

[texpatriot2004]

34. Maybe Ireland. Maybe France. Maybe I/m just dreaming. n/t

[Melodybe]

35. i love Jesse Ventura, he's a brilliant guy.

apparently he wasn't a bad governor either.

[Tigress DEM]

42. Either this is sarcasm or you are out of your mind.

Jesse was an awful guv. He spent his time being a media personality and letting the world think Minnesotans are a stupid bunch of louts. He took a fake surplus and gave it to the rich, let his spoiled brat kid trash the guv residence.

Other than being an independent who got elected, I can't think of anything he actually DID in office that was in any way good for MN and I lived under his rule for 4 years.

[DemonFighterLives]

46. Not super brilliant or a good governor

but this may be his shining moment, if he stands up and doesn't leave. He left MN in the red and did a job on dissing Wellstone at his memorial.

[Tigress DEM]

26. Jesse is an a** but he has a great sense of self preservation...

He was our guv and he did an incredible amount of harm to MN while he was here, but he managed to keep himself afloat and wasn't afraid to call 'em as he sees them.

I was thinking today of moving to Puerto Rico after 2008 if it goes the wrong way. Maybe even after 2006. Trying to determine where I COULD go where I could still make a difference here. Maybe Canada would be better.

I'm thinking the next great act of God is going to be people freezing to death in their homes while energy companies continue to post record profits and B*** neglects to sign paperwork to help people with runaway fuel bills this winter.

If he can't win by cheating w/o getting caught, he doesn't seem to mind finding convienent ways to let people die on his watch that happen to vote for his opponents.

[mzmolly]

29. LOL

Fellow Minnesotan here, I feel the same about Mr. Ventura. But the dude is honest.

I've also considered Canada.

:hi:

[FredStembottom]

37. I thought his policies were milder than I expected...

and his thin-skinned prickliness worse than I expected.
I was relieved when he left - no politician should be so extremely touchy!

[Tigress DEM]

41. Walked into a "fake surplus" gave it to the rich, got his side jobs...

Surplus was generated by taking money out of the schools, getting people to agree to a special referrendum to cover the gap for four years and then even though they never fixed the issue in the schools - pointed to the extra money that wasn't really there, gave it to the rich then whinned when there was a shortfall.

Someone getting paid to be guv should sit his a** in the desk for four years and at least sharpen his pencils or something instead of galivanting about flaunting his lack of interest in the job he campaigned his a** off for.

[mzmolly]

64. I recall when he had a tantrum because his son was busted

thowing wild parties at the Governors Mansion - he then threatened to "sell it."

:eyes:

[MADem]

65. With your luck they could well finally vote for statehood

PR has that commonwealth/territory vs. statehood fight every few years....and the US essentiallly controls all aspects of government EXCEPT internal affairs, see here: http://welcome.topuertorico.org/government.shtml

The GOP is divided on the issue, but there are some in that party who would just LOVE to see PR become a state...touchy situation if you spend the cash to relocate there. Also, they get massive hurricanes, crime is high which makes a lot of people live in gated communities, costs of goods are more expensive due to an island economy, and the only good schools are private, frankly.

It looks great if you are vacationing in Condado, but day-to-day can be a challenge. A friend of mine just came back from visiting family and she told me that crap from the Montserrat eruption years back had been stirred up this hurricane season, headed over the island and totally ruined her visit--the air was full of small particulate junk.

[Imalittleteapot]

2. Listening. I'm stunned.

His voice needs to be heard. His delivery is excellent. Easy to see how he became a governor.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Whoa! nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. It's too bad the liberals laughed at him and impugned him

and considered him nothing but a joke.

he could have been our spokesguy years ago, doing radio shows, etc., but liberals also have a side of them that is as bigoted as the republicans, and Jesse was given an automatic "Don't pay attention to this buffoon".

It's too bad, really. He speaks the truth, and he's generally very insightful and knows what's really going on.

[fiveleafclover]

6. President Ventura - I could have lived with that

Especially in place of who we have now. Ventura is clear-minded and intelligent. Too bad so many people can't look past his wrestling career.

We had a crappy B-actor for President, we have a coke-head now, why not a former wrestler someday?

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Clear-minded and intelligent - that's exactly it

I would happily have voted for him for president. And I still would.

[never_get_over_it]

10. I'm not so sure

he does have moments when he says great things - and then at other times he makes ridiculous statements. I have several friends in MN who voted for him and ended up sorry they did.....

but I will certainly give you that he would be 1 million times better than the freak in chief

One of the things he said tonight that really bothered me is that * is in Iraq to bring democracy there and he will stay there because * wants his legacy to be that he brought democracy to the middle east. I have news for Jesse - * couldn't give a shit about bringing democracy to Iraq

[eridani]

11. He had no frigging idea how to actually do administration

Kind of like Al Sharpton, superb speaker, good challenger of received wisdom, but not giving a flying fuck about organization.

[formernaderite]

27. At least he motivated people to go to the polls that never felt like

they had a stake in the system before. Any candidate who manages to attract new voters gets my respect.

[Hatalles]

56. Even Arnold?

:D

[formernaderite]

60. I don't recall reading about any new voter movement with Arnold...

With Jesse it was grass roots...and everyday people who came out. It shocked and surprised botht he democratic and republican party machines.

[Erika]

8. What liberals impugned him. I think your memory is wrong.

It was the GOP who detested him.

[w13rd0]

9. Actually, on the "issue scorecards"...

...Ventura always scored closest to my views (80-85%), followed closely by Kucinich, Dean, etc. Of course, Bush and Pat Robertson were like 5 and 3% "matches"

[bobbieinok]

21. don't forget how he mocked (or what??) Wellstone's memorial service

[me b zola]

24. I had not heard about that

Could you please give a little info so I could be filled in?

[burythehatchet]

57. there's a reference to this in Franken's book, Lies n/t

[geomon666]

53. He didn't mock it but he did attack it.

Said how he was disgusted with dems for turning it into a 'political rally'.

Funny thought, I didn't hear anything from him when the rethugs held their political rally in NYC.

[never_get_over_it]

5. To be fair I think he said both the Dems and Repunks

are ruining the country....but he was hard on the * administration and called them chicken hawks

and he is leaving the country to go on an adventure - he is not exactly leaving.

[CatWoman]

13. this is shocking to hear

just shocking

damn..........

[burythehatchet]

15. you watching Kurt Vonnegut?

he's awesome. "The dumbest man at the top of our government is the secy of defense!"

[CatWoman]

17. yup!!!!

this is great!!!!! :D

[burythehatchet]

18. I'm picking up that book tomorrow!

[CatWoman]

20. so now I know where I can borrow it

:D

just kidding -- I'm going to order it from Amazon.

There's a couple things there in my shopping cart already :D

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. "He said we are headed to fascism."

I am sure that, in light of that statement, Alex Jones is salivating at the prospect of inteviewing Jesse Ventura on his radio show.

[burythehatchet]

16. where is Alex Jones on. I would like to listen to Jesse again.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

33. Alex Jones

He's on shortwave. Also, a few local AM stations and on the Internets.

http://www.infowars.com/
http://sce.m2ktalk.com:8032/listen.pls
http://sceb.m2ktalk.com:8010/listen.pls
http://www.infowars.com/listen.html

[cynatnite]

19. I remember reading something right after he became gov of MN

The article said he knew he didn't have the first clue in how to run the government and they said he went around talking to people and learning as he went. Many were impressed by him because of it.

This was a long time ago so my memory may be fuzzy.

[LittleClarkie]

25. Folks have also said he got bored easily, and that became evident

toward the end of his tenure.

[spacelady]

22. I vowed to leave the US if Bush One got reelected, still here, however

The Incontinent Chimperor Boy King so infuriated me that I vowed to stay so that his evil agenda will NOT STAND. We cannot let him destroy everything. It's Too Important now--the evil cannot be allowed to prevail. PERIOD.

[bliss_eternal]

32. You're a good American, spacelady!

I'm glad that you stayed to fight--but would totally understand if you had decided to leave.

This Admin has not been good for women, people of color, the impoverished, middle class, gays, shit--anyone that isn't a wealthy white male.

:grr:

[me b zola]

23. Ventura is a former Navy Seal

Most people remember him before his time in politics as a pro-wrestler, not too many remember that he was a Navy Seal. He may be a character, we in my household call someone like him an individual. But this is a man who deeply loves his country, or what his country was or is supposed to be.


Thanks for the heads-up, I will try to record for my hubbie who is at work. Hubbie is a huge fan of Ventura, and this will make him respect him all that much more:)

[Greyhound]

28. Will one of you Minnesotans please tell me what he did that was so

terrible? I worked with a team of guys from there in the 90's and they would go on endlessly about how horrible he was, but never provided any examples and changed the subject. Now, they were all right wing idiots that were pissed because our taxes were so high (remember the 90's when you could earn your worth?). I was always happy to make enough money that I paid $40K - $50K in taxes, but it is never enough for those types. So anyway, I've never lived there and always liked what I heard him say, but now I'm hearing how bad he was on DU so please enlighten me. :shrug:

[preciousdove]

36. Jesse squandered the surplus...he had lots of help though...

and didn't do anything reign in the legislature's spending when it should have been reigned in.

He couldn't deal with criticism from the press at all and wasted precious time and energy in petty public spats with the press and a few other politicos (and the Gov mansion staff when they balked at cleaning up after his kids wild parties) when he could have been doing something.

He also spent too much time making money and too little time thinking about what to do as Governor.

Not a bad guy, just not a very good Governor. But much, much better for Minnesota than Timmy the tool. We will survive them both.

Cheers.

[Greyhound]

39. Thank you very much. So he was simply incompetent, sounds like

@ least 3/4 of the Governors in this country.

[Tigress DEM]

47. Incompetent, ignorant, absent w/o leave from office....

I AM from MN and he was worse than a lot of Guvs.... you'd expect more from an Independent. He was mouthy, but he never delivered anything except a bunch of trash talk -- about what you could expect from a pro wrestler turned politico.

I mean seriously. There was NOTHING that he did for MN. We survived as if we were on a runaway bus for all that time with no driver and just lucking out on all the hairpin turns.

He was surprised himself to get the job and then when it turned out to be work he milked the office to get some other jobs and basically dorked off the whole time.

[DemonFighterLives]

48. Pretty good rundown Preciousdove

What irked me most is when he walked out of the Wellstone memorial and spent time blasting the dems along with Don Shelby and others.
Apparently he couldn't handle the Wellstone boys and friends getting a little rambunctious. Helped Sleazy Coleman pick up the Senate seat.

[proud patriot]

30. I've always had respect for Jesse Ventura

I enjoyed the interview and wish he would stay stand
and fight with us .

Paul and Anthony are doing great filling in for Malloy .

[Tigress DEM]

43. Why would you have respect for that lump?

He didn't even DO anything for us when he was guv.

And what a wimp. Gets a pie in the face and has to hire extra security. Some Navy Seal.

He spouts off and he says some truthful things once in a while, but remember what he said about anyone who needs to go to church being weak minded to begin with...

He's only good as an indicator of how screwed up this country is, like rats leavinig the ship before it sinks.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tigress DEM]

44. all his brief stints ended in failure... he's like a traffic accident...

ya' gotta look quick as you pass by, but it isn't anything you'd like to see every week.

[Lethe]

49. most likely its because the corporate media cant handle

someone as explosive, individual, and outspoken as him

[burythehatchet]

58. funny you say that because he said MSNBC has hired him as a

consultant but won't let him on the air. The contract says he cannot be on any other cable news channel. He said he has been silenced because of the contract. My thought was "screw the contract Jesse, no amount of money is respectfully earned when this is the cost"

[Dr Fate]

51. He needs a co-host.

Then it might work...

[chknltl]

52. Welcome to DU ikhor

....:hi:

[Chovexani]

38. Jesse knows fascism when he sees it

After all, he used to work for Vince MacMahon. :P

(Oh geez, I'm sorry but I just had to...)

[radwriter0555]

40. Damn. Ventura quoting me word for word. Now that's scary.

And I DID leave, and apparently, not a moment too soon.

Am I as smart as the governor, or is he as smart as me? Or are we both idiots?

[Tigress DEM]

45. The new underground railroad... all the former USs in place to help

those who stay behind and fight.

Not as if I'd expect any help from Jesse.. and not sure if I'll stay or leave. Things are really bad. There is a poster who claimed the courts gave B*** the right to suspend any American's rights and declare them enemy combatants... Louisianna under martial law... I don't know if it's true, but with everything else I wouldn't be shocked. Surprised. Saddened. Sickened. But I'm beyond shock.... maybe I'm just in shock. I don't know.

[Dr Fate]

50. I've always liked that knucke head.

But leaving the US?

[chknltl]

54. It appears Jessy the body/mind Ventura....

...had about equal qualifications for the post of Governorship as a certain recently ousted Fema Director had for his job. I too have always enjoyed listening to Jessy the "entertainer". Those of you who have suffered from his being a Governor have shown me a new side to him. (Thank you)
Sounds like he should stick to his strngths: talking and entertaining.

[Spike from MN]

62. Actually, he was mayor of Brooklyn Park for 5 years

so compared to Brownie, he was overqualified.

Regarding his Governorship, you have to remember who he was up against in the race. We had a choice of Jesse, Skip Humphrey, or Norm Coleman. I voted for Jesse. The evening of the election, the local stations here were showing the various locations where the candidates were holding their post-election gatherings and one of them introduced Norm's location as the place where he was "holding his victory party." That REALLY pissed me off. It was about 7:00 PM and way too early to predict the winner but the stations were so bent on Normie winning that it was already a done deal in their view. They were absolutely astounded that Jesse, of all people, beat him. Their jaws literally dropped when they announced the election results.

The post-election gatherings were also very telling. At 7:00, both Humphrey's and Coleman's were empty with just a handful of people milling around. Then they cut to Jesse's and the place was absolutely packed and very LOUD. Looked like everyone there was having a great time, even though he was expected to lose (according to the local media). It was really amazing to see the difference between the 3 gatherings.

[chknltl]

68. Thanks Spike.....

....lots I did not know about Jesse Ventura. I knew about the Navy Seal duty, I respect him for that, I watched him just after his wrestling days were done when he was an announcer playing "devils" advocate. He falls off my radar a bit after that but then I hear that he was running for Governor of Minnesota. I thought it was a joke at first, sorta like Pat Paulson running for President a long time ago. Then I began hearing a few of his speeches and he seemed like someone who really had his head together. I never knew he was the lesser of 3 evils. Glad he was not from Wa. State! One of the nicest things about being a member of DU is getting data I would never have considered looking into but glad I found out about. This whole thread adds volumes to my mental files on J.V. Thank you all for that.

[Spike from MN]

71. You are most welcome.

Like you, when I first heard that Jesse was running for Governor, I thought it was a joke. I didn't really have time to follow the campaign but I did catch the first debate and that (sort of) sealed it up for me. I already knew what ol' Normie was like so he was never in the running to get my vote. Skip didn't impress me at all. Seemed like he was only running on his name. Jesse seemed to have a more common-sense approach than the others.

But I was still torn and didn't really know who was going to get my vote even as I stepped into the voting booth. I wanted to vote for Jesse but was concerned that Jesse and Skip would end up splitting the votes and as a result, we might wind up being stuck with Coleman. Ugh! I definitely did NOT want that. I would take ANYONE over Coleman. In the end, I threw caution to the wind and voted for Jesse. I was probably as surprised as everyone else that he won but I was REALLY relieved that we wouldn't be stuck with ol' Norm. Say whatever you want about Jesse but Norm would have been 1000 times worse.

[bos1]

55. I left the US. Many have and are. nt

[BooScout]

59. We are leaving....

We have had enough. Even if a Democrat is elected in 2008 I don't think this country will be fixed easily. Now if someone will just buy our house we are out of here.

[The Backlash Cometh]

61. Thanks for nothing, Jesse.

You had a chance to make a difference in this country and you f*cked it up.

[MadHound]

63. While I understand and agree with his motivations behind this

I disagree with him on leaving this country. We need ALL of our population that sees where we're heading to stay and fight this madness, otherwise our wonderful country is doomed. Throwing up your hands and fleeing the country isn't a good option, for then you consign this country to the fascist hell of Bushco.

I welcome Ventura's opinions and outspokeness on these issues, we need more prominent people to speak up. But I find it abhorent and a bit cowardly to just walk away from the mess and leave the rest of us to deal with it. You've always projected the image of a really tough guy there Jesse, why are you so lacking in cojones for this fight?

[Zinfandel]

66. Beautiful New Zealand, liberal New Zealand, my mind keeps saying!

:smoke:

[noahmijo]

67. I love and agree with Jesse but I ain't fuckin goin nowhere

This is MY country goddammit If anyone should move it's the neocons all the way to Saudia Arabia or Iran since they love theocracies so much.

Think you have it bad living a blue state? try living in a red state and trust me you'll be thankful if you live in the northeast of pacific northwest.

Only direction I personally plan on moving to is bluer ground.

[RallyInDC]

69. nah they are too stupid. more like repug-afascists playing someones fiddle

jesse ventura shouldn't just up and leave when these whimps can be taken out simply by the american people. we have the power and resources, only we have to have the will.

[malaise]

70. Well since most Iraqi professionals

are now looking for countries to live in since Iraq is now a total mess, it does appear that Bushco has made a complete mess of the planet.

[pepperlove]

72. He has hit the nail

on the proverbial HEAD.... Nazi-ism runs from grampa Bush right into *'s veins... arrogant war mongering fool.