Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! - Jesse Ventura [134]
“Vince, you’ve always been a gambler. You’ve been P. T. Barnum on just about every stage in America. Except—I can bring you to the biggest stage out there. And that is the presidency of the United States.
“We come at it from this angle, Vince. The wrestling fans feel that they’re being ignored. Just like the independent voters are. Well, this is America. America stands for freedom, a nation where anyone can run for the highest office in the land. So the WWE calls a press conference. You’re going to create your own political party. The hell with the Democrats and the Republicans. The people want a WWE candidate!
“First you make this a legal political party. You run wrestling in just about every state. So you send your people out saying: do whatever it takes to get whoever we deem is going to be our candidate on the ballot. In all the states, people are collecting the signatures. As you do your various events, you have the crowd signing the petitions.
“The Democrats and the Republicans don’t know what’s going on. Is this real? Is it not? It’s wrestling, after all. You, Vince, are of course the natural candidate. You’re the leader, the brains behind it all. That’s what we’ve got everybody thinking—up until the next WrestleMania approaches, in March of 2008.
“Shortly before that is when I come on the scene to challenge you. Hey, Vince McMahon stands for corporate America! If this guy doesn’t mean special interest, who would? He’s got it tattooed to his forehead! I ridicule you; this time, I get to play the good guy and you’re the villain! I turn you into the Democrats and the Republicans. Jesse Ventura comes out of retirement in the Baja to dethrone Vince.
“I become the WWE’s candidate. At that point, it all becomes real. No longer a gimmick. We’re on the ballot in every state. And we haven’t had to raise any money to get there.
“In the fall, if the two parties don’t let me into their debates, then you hold your own. And if the other candidates don’t show, you put up phony cardboard figures of them and make a mockery of the whole thing.
“Because we’re also here to deliver the message to America: Look what we’ve turned into. I have every right to run. I was a mayor and know local government. I was a governor and know state government. It’s a natural progression. I am qualified to be the president. I’ve been there at every level but the federal, and how many governors become presidents? Lots. The point being that if they won’t let me in, we cry foul.
“So that’s the mechanism I came up with, Vince, sitting down here in the Baja with too much time on my hands. It comes down to this: I can’t beat them conventionally. I can’t go into this and be competitive by doing it their way. They’ll destroy me too quickly. They’ve got to be tricked, fooled. Then you catch them in the final six months. I honestly believe, if the timing is correct, I can win. Because I also think that, by the time we build up to WrestleMania next spring, people are really going to be sick of all these other candidates.
“That’s the great thing about wrestling, it’s there to create. You can take on anything, and nothing is beyond belief.”
EPILOGUE
Why I Didn’t Run in 2008 (And Still Might Someday)
“A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality.”
—President John F. Kennedy
The reason why I didn’t go for president as an independent in 2008 is quite simple: Vince McMahon never got back to me. He didn’t even give me the courtesy or respect of a return phone call, and I haven’t spoken to him since. I can’t compete against the Democrats and Republicans on their level, with their rules. I’d have had to do it my own way and, for lack of a better phrase, using some type of gimmick like I proposed to Vince. Then, once I achieved ballot access in all 50 states, I don’t think it would have required me to raise that much money—if I were allowed