The word was that Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota had made some controversial remarks in the upcoming November issue of
Playboy. Alcorn told me that Ventura’s comments on organized religion and gun control would be talked about. But he added that his comments of the JFK case were really something.
I picked up a copy of that issue at the newsstand. As I read the interview I immediately could see that the governor was no blow-dried, Madison Avenue fashioned slick politician. Whatever one feels about the content of the interview, Ventura was quite candid and unguarded about his thoughts on important issues. Consider:
On gun control: "You want to know my definition of gun control? Being able to stand there at 25 meters and put two rounds in the same hole. That’s gun control."
On the Christian Coalition: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business. I live by the golden rule: Treat others as you’d want them to treat you. The religious right wants to tell people how to live."
On the press: "They need [to be attacked]. Nobody holds them accountable. No one holds their feet to the fire."
On prostitution: "Prostitution is criminal, and bad things happen because it’s run illegally by dirtbags who are criminals. If it’s legal, then the girls could have health checks, unions, benefits, anything any other worker gets, and it would be for the better."
On the crime issue: "That’s a local issue and I don’t believe in micromanagement. Sure I’m concerned about it, but it’s not the governor’s job to handle it. That’s for mayors, city councils. I’m not going to sit here and be a typical politician [bangs his desk] and say ‘I’m going to fight crime.’ Half these guys wouldn’t know crime if it bit them on the ass."
On the 2nd Amendment: "Our forefathers put it in there so the general citizenry has the ability to combat an oppressive government. It’s not in there to make sure I can go hunting on weekends."
On cynicism about political leaders: "The answer is that people are searching for the truth, for someone they can truly believe in. The truth may not be what they want to hear, but they at least know they’re getting it."
These statements, to say the least, are not the pre-recorded stock answers that advisers beat into their bosses. Whatever one thinks of them, they show that, at least for right now, Ventura is his own man. And only that type could have made the remarks he did—to an audience of 3.4 million readers—on the murder of President Kennedy. Ventura led off with this blast at the Warren Commission:
Name me one person who can verify that the Warren Commission is factual. You’re talking to an ex-Navy Seal here. Oswald had seven seconds to get three rounds off. He’s got a bolt action weapon, and he’s going to miss the first shot and hit the next two?
He then went on to the issues of Oswald and the classification process:
If Oswald was indeed who they say he was—a disgruntled little Marine who got angry and became pro-Marxist and decided to shoot the president—please explain why everything would be locked in the archives until 2029 and put under national security? How could he affect national security?
Ventura even went on to outline who he thought was behind the murder and what the motive was. He believed the actual assassins were hired guns, maybe Cubans, maybe Europeans. He added that they were hired by agents of the military-industrial complex. He then added their motive was to prevent Kennedy’s impending withdrawal from Vietnam. Ventura then went on to explain the reason the media hasn’t told the truth about the case:
That’s because every bit of real evidence is ridiculed. The method is to dismiss it by saying: "Oh that’s just those conspiracy nuts."
With these outspoken, bare-knuckled remarks on a political murder that will not disappear, as well as continuing remarks made since, Ventura has become the highest-level politician to launch a virulent and sustained attack on the official story. Jim Garrison was only a local District Attorney. Representative Tom Downing was a Congressman. And Senator Richard Schweiker was not this blunt in his public comments.
Of course, the interview made Ventura a lightning rod in Washington. Admirably, the governor did not shirk the battle. Shortly afterwards, Ventura appeared on
This Week, the Sunday news program with Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson and George Will. Ventura talked about his role in getting Donald Trump to run for the Reform Party’s presidential nomination. He also said that he was not as enamored of Ross Perot as he had been earlier because Perot offered him no help in his race for the governorship. Roberts, Donaldson, and Will went on to question him at length on some of his previous magazine comments. Ventura did well in fending off the three-headed buzzsaw. Consider the following exchange:
Roberts: The polls in the newspaper saying that instead of your attitude being refreshing that it’s embarrassing. There’s a recall petition out there…
Ventura: Oh, come on. That guy—that’s a joke. Don’t even bring up the recall. This guy has brought four or five lawsuits against me that have been tossed out. He—he’s, you know, he’s meaningless.
Roberts: But what about the—what about the general public?
Ventura: Well, you know, the general public—remember, I like to quote my friend Jack Nicholson sometimes: "You can’t handle the truth." And there’s points where if you do tell the truth, and it makes people personally uncomfortable, they get irritated, not being able to face the truth and have it put in front of them. You know, a lot of people don’t like that….I can only be me, and I’m not going to change who I am.
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Originally Posted by Farangrakthai
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