esme

he can not work with both parties, nor could he get anything done.

That is exactly what I'm hoping for...

Most of his ideas would have been great for the state had the legislature passed them and not been prejudiced to the partline illogic. Ventura's education stance is why my brother and I moved away though-just couldn't afford to stay close to home. I think most of his appeal is his no-bs persona.

Here's my thoughts on the election...

McCain-who's ideals follow dem ideals more than his current republican affiliation-switches to the democrats for 2004 election. Colin Powell signs on as his running mate. they win by a huge margin. he's the only canidate who could pull of a win for the dems

Arnie tosses in the hat and wins the recall election for California. In the meantime, Ventura forms a policy commitee. He garners increasingly more airtime and accolades for 'his ideas'-keeping him in the eye of the nation for the next five years.
Arnold finishes out a successful term as Guv of Cali.
Arnie and Ventura hook up as running mates-Ventura as Pres, Schwarz as veep-avoiding the 'born of this nation' clause for the presidency. It's made for TV so they'll get the media exposureto influecne public perception and win the popularity contest...

The problem with Jessie is that he tells it like it is most of the time. He's not going down a party line, rather he pushes the agenda that got him elected. He doesn't play favorite to one side or the other, rather, is the people's representative.

But, in our government, politicians have made a career out of knee-jerk reactions and political party games. Of course somebody who is more representative of the people around them would never make it. The party games would ruin him by intentionally not going with him, reguardless of how much it makes sense.

I'd vote for him only because his wife is kinda hot.
I know, I'm shallow.
But we need a first lady that has some decent boobage.
We gotta have priorities, you know.

modernhamlet

he can not work with both parties, nor could he get anything done.

interesting statement. i'm pretty sure i know, but what do you mean by it?

god help us all.

Do you think we could handle a president who actualy told us what he thought, or even thought at all for that matter

esme

By that I mean that I sincerely believe that things go better for this country when one party or the other isn't running roughshod and farking everything up. Do you have any idea how many riders get added to the average bill? Double that when one party controls both houses and the presidency.

The only new laws that would get passed if Jesse was president would be the ones that really needed to be passed.

The people do best when government remains balanced, does what needs to be done, and otherwise stays the fark out of the way.

If I were American, I'd probably vote for Jesse Ventura, if I couldn't vote for Ralph Nader.

I agree with a lot of his stances on various issues, and I find his honesty and down-to-earth demeanor to be refreshing in an era of dirty, two-faced Janus politicians with silver forked tongue PR people.

That being said, if he were to run for President, he'd definitely have to tone down some of his arguably more outrageous remarks and appeal to not only the common people, but also to the conservative middle class.

Nader/Ventura for 2004 might be interesting. ;)

Nader and Jesse Ventura are polar opposites.

Jesse is about freedom. Nader is about government domination ("You can't buy that and have fun, Big Mommy says it's too dangerous").

modernhamlet

i completely agree that too many unjust laws get passed by when one political party is ruling the house and /or the senate as well as the presidency. my only worry is that he couldn't get anything passed because of his stubborness. it's his way or the highway.

one of the only things i give credit to our current president is his amazing talent at working face to face with politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and getting things done. i don't agree with his policy, but he has a way with politics. i completely despise the man, but i know he's not the idiot that everyone makes him out to be, and in his own way he is far more effective than i would ever hope that he could be.

with a man like ventura in office, even though i agree with some of the things that he belives, i don't see us being any better off. sure, some b.s. political riders may not be passed, but will the job be done? will our embarrassing economy get better? will our invisible foreign policies improve?

hopefully they would, but i'm not putting my money on ventura (a man i often times agree with) to do any better than our current president has.

RaveDave - why blame that on him? It's not his fault that the corrupt Dems & Repubs couldn't stand having someone around that wasn't beholden to them. If there's one thing that Dems and Repubs can agree on, it's that they don't want any 3rd party candidate in their exclusive club. So save your venom over what didn't get done for those that deserve it... the people that conspired to make Ventura look bad.

I'd gladly vote for Jesse. When he was a wrestler, he claimed to be the man who "tells it like it is," and he carried on that line from his character to his real life. For years, voters begged for a man like Jesse, who would tell them the truth and not blow smoke up their asses... then they got what they wished for, and couldn't handle it, and begged to get the liars back again.

Jesse has served his country, unlike our last two presidents, and he has a proven political history. Most importantly, he doesn't sell out to special interest groups.

Alright people, we need to get jesse in, start stuffing the ballot boxes!

make fun of him all you like, but so far he's the only honest politician i;ve ever seen. He had a rough time being gov. and lots of people dont like him, because he never bowed down to special interest groups, he never did things because his financers wanted him to, and he said what he thought even when unpopular. One thing that sticks in my mind is that he is an avid sports fan, and in minnesota, every professional team is screaming non-stop for new stadiums, and in spite of his love for sports, he stated, and stood by the fact that its just wrong to build yet another new stadium, when our schools still have textbooks from the 50's. The man is honest, through and through, and cannot his points of view cannot be bought. Great quality in a politician, although a very unpopular one. I am a minnesota resident, and am damn proud to have had him for a governor, lets hope he gets back into politics.

esme

I understand what you're saying.

My take on the two...

Ventura: Someone who I agree with on maybe 50-60% of the issues, but whom I can count to not bullshiat me or anyone else. The biggest thing that could go wrong with him is that he's probably prone to failure, particularly given that the 2 parties would spend most of their time trying to play him. But if failure means not "getting things done", I think I'm ok with that.

Bush: A cunning and ruthless politic animal who has never in his political career said anything that wasn't pre-written or spoke out of the side of his mouth. His "straight talker" image is a complete sham. While far more effective than Ventura as a politician, he is a very dangerous man. I worry and watch the worst case scenario play out every day with him.

So basically, I'm not saying that Jesse's got a huge upside, though the "stirring of the pot" element is a big plus. What I am saying is that Jesse's downside seems much shallower than Bush.


That's my $0.02. Your mileage may vary.

jopy

i agree that he's honest and that most of the time i will take his side. more politicians should be like that. i just don't thnk he's effective. his politics are too reactionary for a large majority of the population. he says things that are not 'presidential' and that tare going to get him in a boatload of trouble if he were to ever take high office.

modernhamlet

i was hoping that you and jopy were both from minneapolis, because i thought we could go out and grab a beer or two. i think we all hold jessee in the same light, but may have slightly different views of him as commander in chief.

jopy

i'll still go out for a beer or two if you promise not to bring the gun from your bio.

;)

cheers

As a politically neutral, lifelong Minnesotan, Ventura was not a good governor. He was kind of amusing at first, but what he did with the state budget, the tax rebates, property tax and school reform were all horrendous ideas and have made the state a worse place than before he took office.

Unlike other politicians, he at least admitted that he failed on those parts.

I'd vote for him if he'd call himself a libertarian, or a librarian, even.

i work for a library, SenoreVurm, will you vote for me?

I know that
1) The state is worse off than when he started.
2) The people that elected him (the HS and college kids) are the ones who got screwed the most. Tution sky rocketed with him in office. I don't recall ever hearing thanks, or seeing it with any sort of bill that helped younger people.
3) He tells it "like it is" but really it is the same as the asses and the elephats. Its all about business not people.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

/Minnesotan

He's all about freedom. I'd vote for him.

yes plz

/minnesotan

Count me with the ones who would vote for him. He reminds me of Teddy Rooselvelt. He could get up and kick ass, and stop the senseless waste of taxpayer dollars trying to dodge blame and play the American System Of Politics (tm) game with my tax dollars.

Oh, and doesn't it make you feel much better knowing your Commander-in-Chief could PERSONALLY kick the ass of ANY other world leader? He doesn't need a big ass army with tomahawk missles to kick ass.

OH.
PS. He made ALL of his money the good old fashioned way. He worked for it. He didn't

1) Inherit it from daddy
2) make sleezy policy deals with daddy's friends
3) Invest and protect sleezy energy companies for kickbacks
4) Spend 40-60% of his time campaigning around the country instead of doing his job.

civan93

i've seen enough lunkheaded comments in the last few years to last me a lifetime. i don't need a president who will act on his convictions more than the current dufus.

ventura would only make thigs worse than they already are because he's not thinking globally, he's acting personally. my biggest concern is that he would fark up global politics even worse than bush has with his macho stance on politics.

civan93


1) Inherit it from daddy
2) make sleezy policy deals with daddy's friends
3) Invest and protect sleezy energy companies for kickbacks
4) Spend 40-60% of his time campaigning around the country instead of doing his job.


couldn't agree with you more.

2003-08-04 09:16:12 PM Ravedave
He was a horrible gov


Actually, he did at least one monumental thing for Minnesota that will be felt for decades. He stacked the judiciary with moderate judges. Always was a nice place to live. Looks like it might stay that way.

/ex-mn

sogirlshaveacrotch
Always was a nice place to live. Looks like it might stay that way.

/ex-mn


Until you go to the State Fair and see hundreds of gun-toting people bearing arms and drinking at the beer garden, thanks to the concealed carry law getting passed. A law, by the way, that was opposed by a vast majority of the population (60-70%), and passed ONLY because the NRA bought it.

Gov. Pawlenty is not doing the state any favors--my dad's a dyed-in-the-wool Republican and even he admits it.

ok, let's just say that the state fair is not a flattering portrayal of Minnesotans' etiquette or diet.

gun rights are the wild card that might help us hold it together in the long run. Without them, the next currency devaluation could lead to anarchy, imo.

Anyone else notice this below the headline:

Knight Ridder Newspapers
Aug. 4, 2003 08:25 AM

Is there anything that car can't do?

Jessie For President!!!

Ric Flair as Secretary of State!!
"Listen up all you foreign nations... We are the USA.. We are stylin' and profilin' and we're on top of the world... WWWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Roddy Piper as the Vice President.

GOLDBERG as Secretary of Defense!! Just looking at him will make other nations run in fear!!

THE ROCK as the National Security Advisor!!!

I was thinking RVD would be the Sec. of Defense. We could drop Van Daminators and Five-star Frog Splashes on our foes.

Now that my friend is a WMD.

My candidate can beat up your candidate.

this guy's farking nuts. if he was president he would probably outlaw religion.

The Body and the Macho Man in 2004! It'd be awesome!




Oooooh yeah! Tell it, brother!

"he can not work with both parties, nor could he get anything done."

You say that like it's a bad thing. The government that governs least governs best.

I would, without hesitation, run to the polls to vote for Ventura.

The powers that be, haven't done very well. I see no need to keep beating our country's head into a wall.

Run Jesse, run.

For the love of god man, run; and, con Colin Powell into running too.

Hell, I think I'd vote for the guy. Seriously. Plus - if he'd have been president we wouldn't be at war with Iraq. He could have just went over & body slammed Saddam himself.

Gib

He back-peddled on all his campaign promises. Then his solution to a deficit was to increase every tax imaginable and create new ones. He was a lousy governor. He was also more of a "politician" than anyone I've ever seen. He only told the "truth" whenever it helped him to do so.

Tim Pawlenty is the best governor I've ever seen in Minnesota.

Trammellfan, either you ARE Tim Pawlenty or you aren't really from Minnesota.

Tim Pawlenty is an asshat. Minnesota is being raped of programs left and right from educational funding to state park funding to conservation efforts to state-funded assistance for smaller towns. Our taxes remain amongst the highest in the nation, pushing out businesses and the jobs they offered at an alarming rate. He is accused now of illegal business conduct, and won't tell anybody anything other than the typical "I didn't know, honest!" BS you get from every politician.

The one thing Jesse never did was feed us bullshiat. He was who he was, and didn't care what you thought of that. He handled our state government well, and much of our state prospered under that command...

...most of people who were pissed were angry about the educational cuts that he was forced to make toward the end of his administration. Pawlenty has just primed up the pump and is reaching for the anal-eze, and hasn't been in office for a year.

I voted for Ventura for governor of Minnesota, and was happy enough with his leadership that I would vote for him as president too. He's a guy with power that understands that democracy is more than two parties of rich white guys throwing insults and money at voters and each other in order to garner more favor from their special interest groups.