The people who elected her just voted a straight Republican ticket. They didn’t especially choose to vote for Michelle. And then there was an Independence Party candidate pulling away part of the vote. (I don’t think Michelle has ever won an actual majority of the vote in the 6th CD.)
The goofy ones are the Republican party delegates, who chose her as their candidate. They are really out there, just like her. Party delegates who voted to endorse one of the other candidates were stalked around the convention floor by Michelle supporters, who yelled at them that they were “damned to hell everlasting” because they didn’t endorse Michelle, and who ‘prayed’ loudly over them. Even some physical confrontations.
Only one district in MN re-elected her. House Representatives are not elected on a state wide basis (unless the state only has one district). That’s why you can find more extremes in the House on the left and right than you can in the Senate. In the House you only have to win one district – often a very politically narrow district such as Bachmann’s. In the Senate you have to win the whole state.
Minnesota has some wild variations in districts. The Twin Cities Metro area is solidly Democratic, but a lot of the rural areas are as conservative as anything in the deep south.
You joke, but Jesse was a weird hybrid who possessed characteristics that were appealing to both the city liberals and the rural rednecks. On the one hand, he was a godless, pro-choice, pro-gay libertine on social issues, but he was also pro-gun, fiscally conservative and he was a Vietnam vet – a Navy SEAL, no less. He was a social liberal who no one could say was a pussy. And a small government, small tax budget hawk who wore a Jimi Hendrix shirt and a feather boa to his own inauguration.
He also ran an entertaining ad campaign and upstaged his opponents in thir public debates.
It should probably be pointed out that he only won by a bare plurality in a three way race, though, and a lot of that came from first time voters. I think he represents a proof of concept for what a real libertarian option could do on a national level.
A quibble. A minor point, but that’s the trouble with quibbles. Jesse was a Viet Nam era vet, not a combat vet. I’ve never heard him claim otherwise, even though he brings up being a Navy Seal every time I’ve ever heard him speak. He cuts the ribbon at a Rutabaga Days Festival, and it reminds him of the time, when he was a Navy Seal…
Except he really wasn’t a Navy Seal – they didn’t even exist when he was in the Navy. He claims that he was actually a Navy UDT (Underwater Demolition Team), which he says was a predecessor unit to the Seals. But he has refused to show a copy of his military DD-214 paper, which would show the official record of what units he served in.
Wiki says the SEALS were formed prior to the Viet Nam War, and Ventura served '69 to '75, so that works.
There are guys who, for some reason I cannot fathom, like to pretend that they are combat vets. Its a common phenomenon, nothing new, but totally creeps me out. But I know they exist, seen it. I wouldn’t even hint that Jesse might be one like that without solid evidence, its just that icky.
But he clearly loves his iron-ass self image, which speaks to me of knuckle-walking lout. The fewer hard-ass tough guys in the world, the better. But we never seem to run out of them. Alas.
He says he ran several secret missions in “Southeast Asia,” which seems to be his way of hinting that it as illegal stuff in Cambodia. He also says he swore an oath not to talk about anything he did there. He might be full of shit about it, but he does have a Vietnam Service Medal, for whatever that’s worth.
Ventura did serve in the unit which became the SEALS, so I don’t know that the specific name matters much.
So we should elect everybody who was a Seal? How does that qualify him as guv? I like that he talks about how we have eroded our system into something that benefits the few. He did speak some truths.
If Bachmann and Beck got together and had a baby, it would eat the anti-Christ kid the religious nuts fear.
Guh? That he’s a SEAL wasn’t brought up as a qualification/reason to vote per se. It was brought up as part of his background image–he voices some namby-pamby librul ideas but is a super tough guy. No Snoopy moments for him. Then there was a side bit about whether or not he was a SEAL or what action he saw (if any), etc.
