The interviewer asked about "Jesse Ventura's America," a series which ran very briefly in 2003:
It was awful. I was basically silenced. When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. There was a bidding war between CNN, Fox and MSNBC to get my services. MSNBC ultimately won. I was being groomed for a five day-a-week TV show by them. Then, all of a sudden, weird phone calls started happening: "Is it true Jesse doesn't support the war in Iraq?"Wow.
My contract said I couldn't do any other cable TV or any news shows, and they honored and paid it for the duration of it. So in essence I had my silence purchased. Why do you think you didn't hear from me for three years? I was under contract. They wouldn't even use me as a consultant!
When you live in Mexico, your houses all have names. I almost named my house Casa MSNBC because they bought it. I was paid like a professional athlete, and I got very wealthy. For doing nothing.
Hey, I was against the Iraq war. And right now, I'm against the Afghan escalation. Where's my house in Mexico? I want one with a red clay tile roof. And white tiles in the kitchen. And one of those fountains. And Salma Hayek.
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He was a Seal, a friend of mine [& former CO] can vouch for that. Jesse buddies showed up at his inaugural deck out in their uniforms. My friend actually got national face time by saying "with Jesse, what you see is what you get"
I've heard varying views as to whether he was actually a SEAL. Let us simply say that he was and is one tough dude.
Speaking of ways for you to earn a living. .
I am not sure how I got an e-mail addressed to you a while ago but it was from someone who wanted to list your website in her "blog roll of fame" or whatever. In return she wanted you to list her website on YOUR blog roll of fame.
Let me say it right here and right now. I made this up:
"Wouldn't you call that --blogrolling--?
Rimshot--snare.
Was Jesse Ventura a SEAL? I don't know but he hasn't lied to me so I'll take him at his word.
I can't help but think that he could have found a way to speak out if he had chosen to do so.
Surely they didn't break his arms to keep him from writing opeds and/or a book.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
There have been various shades of special ops types since WWII; some like the SEALS and Delta Force get a lot of ink, others, like the AF Mobs, get virtually no press... thank God.
The Vietnam conflict is where the SEALs got started, built from the framework of the Navy Underwater Demolitions Teams (UDT).
So, if he wasn't a SEAL, he was UDT, and honestly, that's enough to fill a man's badassery qouta.
http://cursor.org/stories/seal_or_udt.htm
UDT. Never served on a SEAL team.
I have the impression Jesse is somewhat of a conspiracy guy, or at least has cred amongst conspiracy people.
I say this because conspiracy guru Alex Jones did a long interview with Jesse in one of his films (an interview in which Jesse made not a lick of sense). But maybe he is going to do a show from a pro-conspiracy viewpoint--so the conspiracy guys don;t call it a "hit piece."
Conspiracy folks always call anything that doesn't depict them as the saviors of the world a "hit piece." ;)
Incidentally, Alex Jones has all but disappeared from our cable channel here in Austin, where Alex got his start. I am thunderstruck. Alex's weird rants at ChannelAustin were my inspiration.
Thank you for the image of Salma Hayek in a Mexican house with a fountain. This is a happy thought.
A) I don't doubt what Ventura says here, and B) it is a staggering amount of money simply to stifle a 2nd tier communicator.
And I agree with Joe-- I would keep my broadcast and cable presence to zero for, oh, half what they paid Jesse. I can also not grow crops for cash with the best of them. Where are my checks???
I wonder if Phil Donahue got residual payments from MSNBC when his show was canceled? Anyone know?
Depends on how the contract was written, of course.
But Donahue was taken off air by the corporate suits over the same issue-- that he opposed the war quite vocally, and tried to provide the one venue on broadcast or cable where the opponents of the nascent war could be heard in rough equivalence to its supporters (who enjoyed about a 98% to 2% advantage in all other such venues, according to media surveys of the war coverage).
As Donahue has said, prior to his cancellation, the suits had ordered him to have 2 proponents of the war on per opponent, and they insisted that HE counted as TWO opponents just by himself.
Well, that's to be expected from an ownership interest in NBC/MSNBC/CNBC held by General Electric, a principal defense contractor that stood to gain massive business and profit opportunities from the war.
XI
So the bidding war was to shut him up. I am surprised there was no "out" clause in his contract.
If his show does not run he gets to keep half his salary and get to look elsewhere for a place to have his show hosted.
I think Donahue was canned for being against the war as well.
So good luck with that house with the red tile roof - - - and Selma Hayek.
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