do I need to cahnge my handle to sporen now?
Well, spoke, you may be right about the whole homeopath thing. I skimmed through the link you provided (thanks!) and it doesn’t look quite like what rs0522 said.
So, rs0522, can you tell us how we’ve read it wrong? Or point to media reports about this?
Thanks.
He already did, sort of (without the nose candy). He said that he visited a bordello in Nevada and partook of the wares. I believe he went on to say that they wanted to pay him.
He also said that, if a bill came before him to legalize marijuana, he’d sign it.
It could make for a real interesting race if he did enter. Just maybe he would have the gumption to take on the national media and really hold them to the truth and not their version of the truth. I almost get a warm fuzzy feeling with the thought of SAM DONELSON and some of his ilk laying in a pile having time to reflect that their job is to report what happens, not what they think happens. Jesse is the type most write off because of perception. He will surprise a hell of a lot of people because he thinks before he opens his mouth. As an aside did he promise anything in his govenors race that he didn’t have a prayer in hell of delivering on?
I have said before that any major candidate who speaks out in favor of de-criminalizing marijuana is going to get a lot of votes from that stance. (If his “costituency” can peel themselves off their sofas long enough to vote, that is. 
)
(And no, Nader is not a major candidate. Sorry.)
(And no, neither is Harry Browne.)
Er, “constituency,” I meant. I gotta start proof reading.
I believe that if Gore wins this election then ventura will make a pretty serious standing. However if Bush wins and actually cuts taxes like he promised ventura will have much less of a chance.
Why? Do you think a lot of rich people were planning to vote for Ventura?
Bummer! I am sorry to hear that! I kind of liked that quote…Sort of a refreshing thing for an atheist to hear uttered by a politician after all the usual pandering to “God” all over the place!
Now now, jshore, there is a middle ground between pandering to religion and bashing religion… Though I agree that the middle ground of anything is not where you usually find Jesse Ventura.
David B what do you define as rich? I have no earthly idea what people say when tax cuts will mostly be on the richest 1%… how much does that 1% make? Sorry but I dont believe that when you cut taxes across the board you dont include the “rich”(is that anyone who makes over 40,000 a year?) Ive heard that there will be significant cuts for everyone, and necessarily the same percentage will be more for the rich?
But of course you have no idea what the rich are either im sure.
Ventura peaked at his first election. Like Ross, you can’t be judged a rebel outsider forever.
It would be great to see him, or some other charismatic outsider-with-a-chance run at all, simply because it might bring more issues to the table. But unless he develops a much more understated and professional demeanor, as well as some genuine policy accomplishments in the next four years, he won’t win.
The American electorate are attracted to the mavericks, but only up to a point. Let’s face it–the average voter is lazy, ignorant, and with rare exception more afraid of change than the status quo. The Greens and the Religious Right are always calling for a Revolution, but the folks in the middle don’t really want that because they don’t know what that entails and so they defer to inertia.
Even people who generally agree with Nader that corporations are running our lives aren’t going to vote for him because they’re not really bothered–on a daily basis anyway–by that reality. They watch Fox, they drink Pepsi, what’s the problem? Dismantling all that in favor of “true democracy” is scary and weird. Similarly many of those who kind of like Pat Buchanan’s isolationist, xenophobic rhetoric are still not going to vote for him because as average folk they’re really not that dedicated to their minor right-wing sympathies. They too watch Fox and drink Pepsi.
Ventura will be interesting and likeable–and maybe even qualified if he works at it, but in the end the Fox-watching Pepsi drinkers of America will shrug and vote for a Gore or Bush because it’s easier than taking the time to learn about issues and policies and how government or economics really works. As with Perot, people will chicken out.
Of course in Perot’s case that was a good thing. And maybe with Ventura as well. But it would be good if he ran. Especially if he chose The Rock as his veep.
Karellen wrote:
I’m not so sure.
People backed away from Perot because he self-destructed. He started spouting off paranoid fantasies, and then he picked a VP who seemed a bit out of the loop. That caused people to question whether he would be a good decision-maker in the White House.
Sure, it’s possible that Ventura could implode in the same way, but I don’t think he would. He, unlike Perot, would at least have some experience under his belt in running a government and dealing with the press.
(And yes, I do recognize the possibility that Perot was tricked into spouting off paranoid-sounding tales.)
If you can believe the debates, then the top 1% figure tossed around so much by Gore == $300,000+ household income per anum.
More than me, but not so huge that I can’t aspire to it.
I won’t repeat my diatribe in the “Rich Party/Poor Party” thread. (I can hear several people clapping already!!) Suffice it to say that the richest 1% have incomes over $319,000. If you want to educate yourself more on the distributional effects of G.W.'s tax cuts, see http://www.ctj.org
In case anyone still cares, Jesse’s chief of staff was cited by the police last night for public indecency.
He was (allegedly) making sexual gestures and masturbating in the steam room of an upscale health club in Minneapolis. There was a complaint, and the police sent in an undercover officer, and caught him.
Jesse says his chief of staff has his full support.
Eh, so his chief of staff has an overly active sex drive. How is that Jesse’s fault, and what does that have to do with politics anyway? Actually, I give Jesse credit for standing by the guy, when other politicians would take a more cowardly approach and try to distance themselves.
By the way, is Jesse angling for a spot on the Green Party ticket in '04??? I saw in a recent article that he shared a podium with Nader recently, but refused to appear with either Bush or Gore on their campaign swings.
Does Jesse have his eye on those possible Green Party federal matching funds? (If they get their 5%.) Or is it just a show of solidarity with a fellow “outsider?”
Jesse could certainly stand to benefit from Nader’s lawsuit against the Federal Debate Commission. Regardless of whether Jesse runs as a Green, Nader’s suit could help him nose his way into the debates in '04 if he choses to run.
I think Ventura said he’s only appearing with Nader because it was a panel on the politics of third parties, and he was asked to offer his opinions on same. Not to offer any support to Nader.
While I’d be intrigued by the thought of him running for pres, I’ve never actually heard Ventura say one word about running for political office once his term expires, yet I have heard him say repeatedly he doesn’t believe in “career” politicians and thinks one term is enough.
What have you heard that makes you think it’s possible, anyway?
Not so much something I’ve heard as the sense I get from watching Ventura’s activities.
He is maintaining a very high profile, with repeated appearances on the news shows. When asked about running in '04, he never rules it out. He seems to have a keen interest in the access of “outsider” candidates to the Presidential Debates. He makes remarks about how (if not for the lack of ballot access) he could jump into the race right now and beat Bush and Gore (which indicates that he is giving the notion of running some thought).
Maybe I’m reading the signals wrong, but…