Jesse Ventura

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An old Jesse, just back from a run as Riff-Raff in a Rocky Horror revival

Jesse "The Body" Ventura (born James Janos) was a Navy SEAL once. He was also a professional "wrestler" for the World Wrestling Federation[1] and the first of the two crazy governors of Minnesota, the other one having an irrational hatred of the poor and middle class (hopefully, there will not be a third). However, unlike Pawlenty, Ventura balanced his crazy with flashes of what seemed to be intelligence, taking stances against torture, for the legalization of soft drugs and against neo-conservative policies. More recently, Jesse Ventura donned a tinfoil hat in his pursuit of proving conspiracy theories, especially 9/11 conspiracy theories. He and his wife, Terry, also came out during the 2012 election against an attempt to amend the Minnesota constitution to outlaw gay marriage.[2]

[edit] As governor of Minn-a-soh-tah

Running as a Reform Party candidate, Jesse inched out a win against both the DFL and Republican opponents in an upset.[3] In the beginning, he was well-liked because of his brash, up-front style. However, this brashness would make for great fodder for the press when he started saying things that could be used against him such as “organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers”, “Congratulations, you have a sense of humor. And to those who didn't: Go stick your head in the mud”,[4] and ""And I'll just tell you this: Until you've hunted man, you haven't hunted yet."[5] While it could be argued that these quotes were taken out of context and that some of them, in the correct context, almost seem intelligent, political opponents used these against him and his approval rating plummeted. The result was Ventura announcing he would not seek a second term.[6]

[edit] Transformation to tinfoil hat man

Since being governor, he has gone on to promote conspiracy theories of all types (especially joining the 9/11 truthers). He now has his own TV show, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura[7], which is dedicated to "investigating" conspiracy theories, but only if you want to believe that the conspiracy theory is true;[8] the show, and presumably mister Ventura, have no problems whatsoever cutting and splicing the footage in such a way that climatologist Ben Santer appears to be confessing to manipulating or cutting inconvenient data, when in fact he says no such thing.[9] Ventura, however, does not deny anthropogenic global warming, like most conspiracy theorists, and seems to be less irrational and paranoid than the Alex Jones/Mark Dice variety. However, he has continued to be a frequent guest on Jones' show and has not once attempted to call Alex Jones out for the paranoid, denialist moron that he is.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Wrestling stats
  2. Real Minnesotans Voting No
  3. Jesse "The Body" Wins
  4. Organized religion is a sham and a crutch
  5. Jesse Ventura remarks draw fire
  6. From ABC News
  7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpwYzvSj9c4
  8. The show's webshite
  9. TV tricks of the trade
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