Ventura gets big ovation at St. Olaf
Dane Smith, Star Tribune
April 5, 2005 VENTURA0405



NORTHFIELD -- Former Gov. Jesse Ventura brought his high-priced national road show back to Minnesota and to St. Olaf College Monday night, where he delivered a vintage speech punctuated with familiar attacks on political parties and the news media, and harsh criticisms of the war in Iraq as well as efforts in Minnesota to ban gay marriage and expand gambling.

In an hour-and-a-half performance, Ventura had his audience of about 1,000 roaring with laughter and they gave him a standing ovation, but Ventura predicted that the media would probably "tell you I was booed off the stage."

Ventura stepped up attacks on Minnesota's current political leaders for supporting an expansion of gambling and the building of stadiums. "They can't solve the budget because they have no balls," he said.

Jesse VenturaJim McknightAssociated Press"All these religious Republicans don't have a problem with gambling to balance their budgets."

He also warned darkly about what he described as a serious erosion of First Amendment rights under the Bush administration. He told the students, "Speaking out about your government is healthy and wholesome. ... Don't go along to get along."

The Federal Communications Commission, he said, is rolling back free speech rights in "much the same way Nazi Germany did it."

With a black do-rag, or kerchief on his head, Ventura revealed that he did indeed get the idea for his recent "Pirates of the Caribbean"-type beard from the character Jack Sparrow played by actor Johnny Depp in the movie of that title.

Ventura always was a provocateur as governor, but his act since he left the governor's office has gotten ever more outrageous. At one point he told the students that it was hypocritical for people of his free-love generation to urge sexual abstinence. "Make all the love you want, just use a condom. ... If it feels good, do it; I did." His language has become considerably saltier.

Near the end of his speech, he joked that he was indeed a "sexual tyrannosaurus" and that "you could just ask the First Lady."

And he was as harsh as ever in criticizing the media. Pointing to reporters in the front row, he called them "Bozos" and reiterated his labeling of reporters as "pedophiles" because of stories written about his son's behavior at the governor's residence.

High-dollar speaker

Ventura apparently is one of the more highly paid performers on the national college speaking circuit. Leslie Sandberg, a spokeswoman for the St. Olaf event, said that the college paid him $25,000 but that he usually charges $50,000 and lowered his price only because the college wasn't far from home.

A recent issue of Washingtonian magazine that attempted to rank speaking fees "by top talkers" listed $50,000 to $75,000 as the top bracket, usually peopled "by network types and A-list journalists" and household names such as former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.

Ventura is "in very high demand, really popular with young people on college campuses, and it's because of the way he communicates so authentically," said John Wodele, who was Ventura's communications director when he was governor and still serves as a spokesman. "Students like him because he doesn't hedge his thoughts, there's no calculation there."

Opening his speech, Ventura said that he had spoken recently at Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State and Illinois, and he reminded the students that he taught a course last spring at Harvard, which he pronounced "Hah-vahd." The appearance at St. Olaf was his first college appearance in Minnesota.

Wodele declined to comment on the amount Ventura charges or how much money he is making on the circuit. But Wodele said Ventura "doesn't want to do too many speeches. He doesn't want to travel a lot and he doesn't like to fly."

Ventura is one of six celebrities listed most prominently on the website for the national speakers bureau Keppler Speakers on Campus, along with stars such as Chuck D, founder of the rap group Public Enemy; former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Rob Corrdry, a star on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

Dane Smith is at rdsmith@startribune.com.

When did he become "former" governor?

Dude, I'd totally vote for a Ventura/WARRIOR ticket in '08.

He really needs to rethink the braided facial hair, though.

that's not a current pic

that's not a current pic

High-dollar speaker
Ventura apparently is one of the more highly paid performers on the national college speaking circuit. Leslie Sandberg, a spokeswoman for the St. Olaf event, said that the college paid him $25,000 but that he usually charges $50,000 and lowered his price only because the college wasn't far from home.

"Make all the love you want, just use a condom. ... If it feels good, do it; I did."
...
Near the end of his speech, he joked that he was indeed a "sexual tyrannosaurus" and that "you could just ask the First Lady."

I think that IS a current pic. They mentiuoned in the article that he was modelling his current beard after Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.

With a black do-rag, or kerchief on his head, Ventura revealed that he did indeed get the idea for his recent "Pirates of the Caribbean"-type beard from the character Jack Sparrow played by actor Johnny Depp in the movie of that title.