‘MEET THE PRESS’

MR. RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday morning: Newt Gingrich is gone. Who
will be the next speaker? We’re joined by four important Republican House
members who will make that decision: Jennifer Dunn, Lindsey Graham, Steve
Largent and David McIntosh. Is the Republican revolution over?

Then, the most stunning upset of the year. A former wrestler, actor, action
figure, football coach, talk show host is elected the next governor of
Minnesota.

(Videotape):

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: What is so gratifying about this is being able to prove
the experts wrong.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: In his first and only Sunday morning interview, Jesse “The
Body” Ventura.



MR. RUSSERT: We’re back. Governor-Elect Jesse Ventura, welcome to MEET THE
PRESS.

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: Thank you, Tim. It’s very nice to be here.

MR. RUSSERT: What was Tuesday’s election all about?

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: Well, running for governor, for me. I mean, we put in a
lot—we started well over a year ago, and I had to go through the reform
party convention, which I won unanimously, and then it was just a matter of
us getting our message out to the people of Minnesota. And the people,
obviously, accepted our message, more than they did the Democrats and
Republicans, and I’m the governor-elect of the state of Minnesota.

MR. RUSSERT: There is a caricature of you that is emerging. Here’s Time
magazine. Body Slam! Get A Life. We’ve Got One. Who is Jesse Ventura?

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: Well, Jesse Ventura is a young kid that grew up in
south Minneapolis. My mom was a nurse. My dad was a city laborer. And I
enlisted in the Navy. I spent four years as a romping, stomping Navy SEAL
frogman. I went to college for a year. Went out on an 11-year professional
wrestling career. Switched to broadcasting and film work and became mayor
of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in 1991 and served for four years, through
1995, and went back to broadcasting career, and then attempted to become
governor, and I’m now the governor-elect. I guess that’s who I am in a
nutshell.



MR. RUSSERT: You’ve said a couple of controversial things during the
campaign, and I want to give you a chance to talk about them so we have
your full beliefs in context. The first involved drugs, and let me put on
the screen some comments and give you a chance to talk about them. “Hemp or
marijuana is not addictive. Decriminalize it and get those drug dealers to
start paying taxes. And what you do in the privacy of your own home is your
own business. If someone takes LSD and locks themselves up at home, why
should I care? Anyway, I’ve done way more stupid things on alcohol than
I’ve ever done on pot.” What is your sense of drugs, Governor-Elect?

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: Well, my sense is this, you know, I believe you’ve got
to fight the war from the demand side, not the supply side. I mean, for
goodness sake, we have Stillwater State Penitentiary here and we can’t keep
drugs out of there, and these people are locked up 24 hours a day. If
you’re going to fight the war on drugs, you fight it on the demand side.
And I don’t believe that government should be invading the privacy of our
own homes, and I also believe that you shouldn’t be legislating stupidity.
If there are stupid people out there doing stupid things, it’s not the
government’s job to try to make them be smarter. We live in a land of
freedom. And again, if we can’t keep drugs out of the state penitentiary,
how on earth do they propose we’re going to do it out on the street corner?
You fight it on the demand side. You get people to be smart and
intelligent. It’s like a business. You don’t create a product because of
supply; you create it because there’s a demand for it.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you consider decriminalizing marijuana and other drugs?

GOV.-ELECT VENTURA: I said absolutely not at this time. I do believe in
industrial hemp. I think we’re missing the boat on that. You can make food
out of—or, I mean, clothing out of it. Excuse me, not food, but you can
make clothing out of it. You can make paper out of it. It’s an industry
that will create jobs out there. Canada is using it. We’re not. And I also
believe medicinal marijuana should be allowed. I mean, my goodness, a
doctor can give you a prescription for morphine and yet they can’t
prescribe you marijuana? I think that should be left up to the medical
community for people that are that ill and in that much pain. I don’t
believe the government should be telling them what they can or cannot use.
It should be in the medical community and up to the doctors and physicians
to do that.



Checked-by: Richard Lake