UPDATED ON:
Sunday, August 17, 2008
12:40 Mecca time, 09:40 GMT
 
Programmes INSIDE USA
Jesse Ventura's liberal come back

Jesse Ventura pushes for reforms
This week Inside USA sits down to speak to one of the US' most colourful former politicians.

In the world of wrestling, Jesse Ventura was known as "The body".

A pulmonary embolism forced him to hang up the spandex, and he moved into acting, appearing alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the eighties classics Conan the Barbarian, and the Predator.

In 1998, the body became the brain and Jesse Ventura ran for governorship of Minnesota, as a "fiscally conservative and socially liberal" candidate under Ross Perot's Reform Party banner.

Seemingly against all odds he won.

Always outspoken, he says he stands for gay rights, abortion rights, and believes that organised religion is a sham. He supports the use of medicinal marijuana, and advocates a higher role for third parties in national politics. He has also denounced US economic sanctions against Cuba.

Watch part one of this episode

Watch part two of this episode

This episode of Inside USA aired from Friday, August 1, 2008.


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 Source: Al Jazeera
 
 
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