CONTRA COSTA TIMES
CONCORD - Politician-turned-lecturer Jesse Ventura looked more like a pirate than a retired governor as he shocked and provoked Contra Costa County business and political leaders Thursday night.
Sporting a black head scarf, braided beard, suit jacket, blue jeans and tennis shoes, he declared, "I am the most dangerous man in America!" at the outset of the keynote speech at the annual Contra Costa Council USA conference.
No, he wasn't talking about his super-sized strength as a one-time Navy Seal and later a World Wrestling Federation star.
He wasn't even talking about his huge ego, which burst through like a pounding fist in a rambling 90-minute speech that covered everything from gay rights to gun control.
Ventura was talking about his political prowess, and the fact that he, or so he says, scared Democrats and Republicans witless in his home state when he won the governor's seat twice as an independent against heavily financed competitors.
In quicksilver fashion and with grand gestures that reminded one of his days in the wrestling ring, Ventura managed to insult just about everybody.
He slammed Republicans and Democrats as parties to a system of bribery and exclusion of independents.
"I want to just puke when I look at politics today," he said.
He mocked people that oppose same-sex marriage. "If gay people decided to be gay, when did you decide to be a hetero?" he asked.
He castigated the media as a pawn of the establishment.
And he wielded a heavy arm of sarcasm when he said he was so relieved that Martha Stewart, the famed home décor diva, was in prison for lying to the government.
"I can sleep better at night! Can't you?" he said. "When the people lie to the government, they go to prison. What happens when the government lies to the people? Nothing."
Lisa Vorderbrueggen covers politics. Reach her at 925-945-4773 or lvorderb@cctimes.com.