The source of this article is Star Tribune: http://tinyurl.com/4xg9d
Ventura speaks, with criticism of Bush
Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune
October 29, 2004 VENTURA1029
Speaking out for the first time in Minnesota since his endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, former Gov. Jesse Ventura lambasted President Bush on Thursday over the issues of war in Iraq, federal deficits, gay marriage and stem-cell research.
Addressing community college students in White Bear Lake and Anoka, Ventura also explained his new-look braided beard ("I did this for a simple reason: I stand for freedom") and his setting-aside of third-party politics for this presidential campaign.
"I still stand for the independent, third-party movement," he said at Century College in White Bear Lake. "I feel that we in America are being cheated today by the two-party system. I'm also a realist. I understand that one of these two gentlemen is going to be president of the United States."
In a free-wheeling hourlong session before an overflow crowd of several hundred in a large basement classroom, the 53-year-old former governor answered students' questions, signed autographs and drew frequent applause.
He bragged of having lost 40 pounds since leaving office in January 2003. "I'm back in shape," he said, flexing his biceps and thrusting his chest. "In the public sector you can get fat and lazy."
He said he no longer talks to news reporters partly because of media accounts of his son's parties in the governor's mansion and partly because of his exclusive contract with the cable-TV network MSNBC. Network spokesman Jeremy Gaines told the Associated Press that Ventura's contract only governs his television appearances.
"They won't put me on the air because I opposed the Iraq war from Day 1," he said of the network. "I honor my contract because they send me a check every two weeks."
Former Maine Gov. Angus King, who did all the talking when Ventura endorsed Kerry last week, said Ventura had decided to back Kerry after watching the presidential debates. On Thursday, Ventura did not discuss what triggered his move, but he made clear his displeasure with the Republican ticket's conduct in both the current war and the one three decades ago in Vietnam.
"A true leader should never ask you to do anything he or she would not do," he said. "Bush and [Vice President Dick] Cheney, neither of them were willing to do it when it was their turn."
Referring to reports that Bush failed to fulfill some of his National Guard duties, Ventura, a Navy frogman during the Vietnam War, said: "If I would have served the way President Bush did, I would never have received an honorable discharge ... I would have ended up in Portsmouth naval prison."
'Chicken hawks'
On Iraq, Ventura accused Bush of arrogance equal to that which toppled the Roman empire and imperialism befitting the former Soviet Union.
"You are not going to force democracy at the point of a gun," he said. "But we don't mind dictators if we pull their strings. If they break loose, then we have to send our troops to bring democracy to the world."
And he blamed the current disorder in Iraq on "chicken hawks running the war instead of the military. What they didn't think about is what happens afterward. But it's ours now and we've got to deal with it. It's not going to be pretty."
Ventura also repeated his previous criticism of the heavy use of National Guard troops in Iraq and of the Bush strategy for fighting terrorism.
"I don't think it's made us safer in the war on terrorism," he said. "It's united them against us." If he were in charge, he added, "I would have hunted down Osama bin Laden until he was dead before I would have entertained anything about Iraq."
Ventura said little about Kerry except that "he has more of an ability to bring our allies back on board. ... Right now we're losing them." But he laid into Bush on several other topics:
• Deficit spending: "George Bush does not understand the basic concept of government. You should not cut taxes unless you cut spending. If you don't owe anybody anything, you have freedom. But we are now the biggest debtor nation in the world."
• Bush's restrictions on stem-cell research: "If we had that type of attitude, we'd probably still have polio today. The scary thing for me was when President Bush said that's God's work. If we're going to wait for God to do it, we're going to be waiting a long, long time."
• A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage: "How is my marriage affected if two people I don't know decide to commit to each other?"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Conrad deFiebre is at [log in to unmask]
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