Jesse Ventura just electrified the crowd at the Ron Paul convention. He started by saying that he hadn’t given a political speech in a long time, but that he felt that this was the occasion to come out of retirement. He encouraged the crowd to boo him if they felt like it, because as a former wrestling villain, he took booing as a sign of affection.
There wasn’t any booing directed at Ventura during his speech. In fact, he got the loudest applause of any speaker so far today. His defense of the Second Amendment brought down the house. The founders did not write the Second Amendment to protect hunters and sportsmen, he said. “The Second Amendment is there so that we the people, if our government gets out of control, we have the ability to rise up and change it.” The ensuing standing ovation was louder than anything so far today.
He added, “Some say, well how could we stand up to the U.S. government and its entire military might? I got the answer. We threw everything we had at Vietnam, and they were nothing but a bunch of farmers with a couple of AK-47s…” (the rest was drowned out by the cheering).
Then Ventura moved on to a more controversial topic — “something that when I discuss it, I get attacked,” he said. “Something called 9/11.”
Now, at every Ron Paul event I’ve been to this year, I’ve seen people from the so-called 9/11 Truth movement, and this event is no different. (You can tell who they are by their “9/11 Truth Now” t-shirts.) When Ventura brought up 9/11, these people starting cheering and clapping. “ Why is it that when you ask questions about 9/11, it’s out-of-bounds?” he said. “Why has the U.S. Department of Justice not charged Osama Bin Laden for 9/11?”
As Ventura continued to “ask questions” about what really happened on 9/11, a vocal contingent in the crowd (coming from all parts of the arena) took to chanting, “9/11 was an inside job.” At one point, it got so loud that Ventura had to pause for a few moments before going on. Many in the crowd were applauding Ventura throughout his discussion of 9/11, but some were sitting stone-faced, looking on with dismay.
Ventura closed by saying, “I just came out with a book called Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me. Well, I’m here.” The crowd roared. “I’m here, and believe me, with people like myself, Dr. Paul, and all the rest of us, let’s get the revolution going.”
He added, “If I see it, over the next few years, and this country shows me that it’s worth it to me to do it, maybe in 2012…” The crowd went wild again.
So you heard it here first, America. If you show Jesse Ventura that it’s worth his time, he promises that, “In 2012, we’ll give them a race they’ll never forget.”