Jesse Ventura for Sec of Defence

[Prophet 451]

OK, off the wall idea but here's a guy who has actually served his country, understands the concerns of the military on the ground, honest to a fault and he makes no bones that waterboarding is torture and everyone involved should be prosecuted. OK, he's a fiscal conservative but as Sec of Defence, he wouldn't have anything to do with economics.

Of course, Jesse would like to be Ambassador to Cuba...

[Ohio Joe]

1. No - I would rather he was ambassador to Cuba

as he would like and we need.

[Prophet 451]

3. You're right on that

You desperatly need normalised (or near enough) relations with Cuba which would include an Ambassador. Jesse loves Cuba so I got no problem with that.

[Mythsaje]

2. I'll bite...

I respect the guy, even if I don't always agree with him. I got a laugh out of him on Hannity, saying that "The Republicans spend like Democrats, but they do it on credit. At least the Democrats are cash and carry."

Ambassador to Cuba? Really?

I'd love to see more normalized relations with Cuba. Castro isn't long for this world and it's time we started building some kind of reasonable relationship with them.

[Prophet 451]

5. He'd like to be

He's been there several times and loves the place and he's said several times that if we get to the point of normalised (or near enough) relations, he'd love to be the first ambassador.

[Mythsaje]

10. That's not a bad idea...

I have heard some really good things about Cuba (particularly about the people)...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Jesse was my Governor

and he sucked at it. While his propensity to say what's on his mind is generally admirable, and I have to agree with what he's been saying lately, he's also an egomaniac who shouldn't ever be allowed near any government job again. He really made a mess of the MN Governor's office and managed to piss off the entire Legislature, both Republicans and Democrats. Nothing got done because Jesse needed to have his ego fed.

That said, I think I'd take him back over Timmy the Tool Pawlenty (but just barely).

[Mythsaje]

12. I think it's hard for an Independent Executive

to work with the parties anyway. One of the reasons I think an Independent President would be a monumentally bad idea. The parties are very protective of their territory and it's unlikely that they'd ever work comfortably with someone who isn't part of the established order.

And he may be something of an egoist, but that's not exactly abnormal in politics.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. He's more than something of an egoist.

He's a batshit crazy megalomaniac. The problem wasn't so much that he belonged to a third party, it was that he couldn't stand it when anybody disagreed with him, ever, about anything.

[MrsMatt]

22. Thin-skinned - if you LOOKED at him with

disapproval, he'd pitch a hissy fit.

Good as a gadfly, poor as anything else requiring restraint and diplomacy.

[MrsMatt]

23. Thin-skinned - if you LOOKED at him with

disapproval, he'd pitch a hissy fit.

Good as a gadfly, poor as anything else requiring restraint and diplomacy.

[paulsby]

18. i don't think there's a single person

at that level of politics who is NOT an egomaniac. some just hide it better than others.

[Morning Dew]

6. I think Jesse is a good person and means well... however....

He is incredibly thin skinned and gets very angry when criticized.

He didn't manage to ruin Minnesota ( though his successor is working on that task quite diligently ) but he's not really suitable for public office.

[Prophet 451]

8. I thought his unpopularity there...

...was mainly due to his (admittedly kooky) personal views?

[Occam Bandage]

9. In part. Also due to his inability to govern.

He has a terrible temperament and little to no ability to work with anyone who doesn't blow sunshine up his ass.

[Morning Dew]

11. I'm not sure but his popularity stayed pretty high even to the end

probably near 50 per cent.

After 9/11, you couldn't have paid him enough to run again and I doubt he could have won anyway.

The job became too serious for his temperament.


edit cuz "doubt" doesn't have that many "o"s

[Occam Bandage]

14. He entered with a 72% and left with a 37% approval rating.

And he certainly hasn't done anything since leaving office to make anyone think, "now there's a man well-suited to the big issues."

[Prophet 451]

15. How about the Ambassadorship?

He's been to Cuba several times, loves the place, thinks relations should be normalised and has said that he'd love to be the Ambassador.

[Occam Bandage]

19. He has a tendency to say really, really stupid shit, unfortunately.

Which is not to say he doesn't have a role to play. He'd make a good private advocate for Cuban-American relationships. Maybe head up a PAC or something, do some fundraising, shoot some ads, make the cable talk show circuit. He's a passionate voice, and he's great at grabbing headlines and crafting soundbytes. I just wouldn't want to make him ambassador, since there's too much risk of him veering way, way, way off-message. Like, "religion is a crutch for the weak"-type off message.

[Morning Dew]

16. Thanks! The poll number I was able to find quickly was from Dec. of '01 when he was still at 53%. nm

[Occam Bandage]

17. Things started to go downhill in '02, as the state economy began to slide.

His early approval numbers were peachy--we had a surplus as a result of Clinton's economy, and the only problems were "how shall we spend all this money?" Once we started hitting budget crunches and Jesse started having to make hard decisions with a hostile legislature, people grew disenchanted. He bailed at the right moment; had he tried to run again I don't think he'd have won, even in a three-way.

He's very much like George W. Bush, at least when it comes to style. He came off as a refreshing straight-shooter, people initially laughed off comments they would later see as revealing of an ignorant mind, and overall he probably would have been an unexceptional leader in an unexceptional time. However, faced with crisis he is absolutely incapable of handling complex debates or disagreements with anyone else. Both managed to make enemies of the legislature, of the press, and eventually of the public through their insular and aggressive inability to engage others in a productive, non-hostile manner. They both preferred to treat everyone who disagreed with them as an enemy, and they ended up ineffectual in office, and something of an embarrassing joke in retrospect.

[MrsMatt]

24. Check out his reaction to the Paul Wellstone

memorial service.

That will tell you something about his popularity in DFL Minnesota.

[scarletwoman]

26. I was at the Memorial, sitting in a balcony seat almost directly above Jesse & Mrs. Jesse.

The two of them were chewing gum -- smacking their gum the whole time. All the other politicians were dressed in suits and ties, Jesse showed up in a fringed jacket and jeans, and his wife was dressed like a biker chick at a Harley Davidson rally. They were just unbelievably crude and classless.

And then the repulsive shit he pulled afterward, feeding into the disgusting Repug distortions about the Memorial -- fuck Jesse Ventura!

I think the biggest reason he dissed the event is because it wasn't about HIM. He couldn't stand all that attention and love being directed to someone else. He's a fucking egomaniac.

sw

[Occam Bandage]

7. Most importantly of all, he's hunted man.

And he understands that if you haven't hunted man, you haven't hunted.

Seriously, he's a bag of crazy. He was a worse mistake than even Bachmann. Pawlenty, as shitty as he is, has been a paragon of good governance next to Jesse. Don't let Jesse anywhere near anything resembling power ever again.

[SmileyRose]

20. Jesse's best use is that of loud mouth.

Rasslin' fit him perfect. I think he'd be great on talk radio.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. He was a radio talk show host for about 3 years before he ran for Governor.

[scarletwoman]

25. Oh please, he's an insufferable jerk. Count me as another Minnesotan who doesn't want

him anywhere NEAR any sort of government post ever again.

I'd rather have PeeWee Herman as Sec. of Defense than Jesse Ventura.

Jesse would be fine by me as a talk show host, but absolutely nothing more.

sw