Will I have to add James George Janos (aka Jesse Ventura) to the Birthers from A to Z list? The former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler has launched a podcasting series, “We the People,” and in the first episode, he covers the birther issue, according to the online edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
During the premiere episode last week, Ventura interviewed [Adam] Carolla and discussed the Pope and the birther issue.1
Minnesota-themed web site Vita.mn goes further to say:
Yes, you read that right. He still has questions about the birther issue.
Ventura has been a guest on the Alex Jones InfoWars show, and Ventura hosted a series of programs titled “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura,” covering everything from reptiles in the British monarchy to HAARP.
But is Ventura a birther? None of the news stories cited above actually link to the podcast, but I do:
So on the question of whether Ventura is a birther or not, I found this smoking gun. In a discussion of the recent Rasmussen poll on conspiracy beliefs, Ventura says:
It’s not shocking to me that Republicans, like in this survey, believe that Barack Obama wasn’t born here, well, because they want to. It gives them an excuse then, if they believe that. They’re anti-Obama and it reinforces their belief.
Jesse Ventura doesn’t sound like a birther to me. He does say, as a general proposition, that questioning the official story is “healthy and good.”
1Note that Ventura does not discuss the Pope and birthers with Adam Carolla, but before the Carolla segment.
Wow. You know birtherism is on the farthest edge of insanity, when complete nutters like Jesse “Its a CONSPIRACY, people!” Ventura distances himself from it.
I’ve always thought Jesse was one of the saner Republicans. I know, faint praise… but while Jesse will sometimes turn the truth over and examine the bottom, others of his ilk kick the truth in the slats, piss on it and shove it under the sofa.
Is Ventura even a “Republican”, let alone one of the saner ones?
As candidate and then governor, he was associated with the Reform Party of Minnesota, later the Independence Party.
Yes, he’s one of those “independents”. Political parties are all corrupt conspiracies, man, y’know?
In the podcast Adam Carolla suggested doing away with the Democrats and the Republicans because they both had done such a bad job. Ventura didn’t jump on that idea, and said, IIRC, that that might not be possible.
Doesn’t matter if he is a birther. None of them have any credibility anyway.
Besides, there’s only one movie he appears in that I really like and that’s Predator.
He probably has my favorite lines from that movie when he’s standing down below where some guys are “dug in like ticks”. One of the other guys in his platoon says to him “you’re bleeding” and his response is “I don’t have time to bleed”. Always liked that line…
I don’t know how he was as a governor. I guess I could look that up if I was interested. For the most part, I see him as one of those guys that participates in fake wrestling.
Adam Carolla has an extraordinarily and entirely unwarranted high opinion of himself.
Aside from suspending the First Amendment, how does he plan to implement this scheme?
Political parties, and the consolidation thereof, are the natural outcome of our Constitution. If you want to change that, step one is admitting that the Constitution is a flawed document which has produced a flawed system. If you can’t admit that, you don’t get a seat at the grownup’s table. And if you DO admit that, then be prepared for every section, every sentence, every word and every jot and tittle to be reviewed, not just the parts YOU don’t like.
Three-way race; he snagged a bare plurality and scooted into the office.
He also thinks he is a comedian, well, he is funny, just not in the way he thinks he is, but take him seriously, unh uh!!! Ventura has more credibility if that is possible.
Predator was the greatest movie ever, in terms of featuring future governors. Too bad Carl Weathers never got elected anywhere.
The punctuation on Ventura’s comment has been updated for clarity and grammatical correctness.
Perhaps Ventura has mellowed, but based on his past statements, he’s playing his guest to paint himself as the Mature Voice of Reason.
Google “Jesse Ventura abolish political parties” for various media appearances and some YouTube posts railing against parties. Maybe it was just a period of post-gubernatorial bitterness!
Adam Corolla is a “comedian”, in the same way that Vegemite is “delicious”.
Yeah, I’ll go along with that.
Don’t say that within ear shot of an Aussie. My wife (native born Aussie citizen) eats New Zealand Marmite instead. She gets guff from lots of folks for that. But lots of were mourning the disappearance of Marmite after the Christchurch earthquake. Its just come back on the market in the last few months.
I think that the only thing either is good for is nice hot broth on a cold day.
I actually voted for Jesse for Governor and I’m not sorry I did. He did get some things done because he didn’t side consistently with either the Republicans or the Democrats in the legislature. They all had to work together to get things done.
I just looked at Jesse’s page at Ballotpedia (http://ballotpedia.org/Jesse_Ventura) and, while I don’t agree with all of his current positions, I agree with more than I don’t.
But, that being said, he is nuts now. 🙂