Jesse (The Body) Ventura \nNEW YORK - The good news is, we suppose, Jesse (The Body) Ventura says he knows he has to change. The bad news is, the man who couldn't keep from boasting about his brothel adventures in his autobiography says he's been manipulated by the media and will wage a personal war when he's finished as Minnesota's governor, says Newsweek in its current issue.
Ventura tells the news weekly the sad part is that he gets "four or five people" who approach him daily saying not to change. "But in light of my family and self-preservation," he is quoted as saying, dropping the tantalizing hint of his actual aim, "I know I've got to change."
Ventura's latest round of controversy came twofold - first, he attacked a Nevada brothel he'd patronized in his Navy days (and bragged about so doing in his autobiography) for naming a room after him and "exploiting" his name; then, he gave Playboy an interview in which he attacked religion as a sham.
"I've been manipulated by the media for their own ends, and I'm not going to let it happen anymore," he tells Newsweek, swearing to get even with the press. "I was elected here to do the state's business and not my personal war. So I will hold off on my personal war. But when I'm through with this job, I will resume my personal war."
But Newsweek says Ventura admits to making a mistake with comments like that, and says he's going to keep his personal opinions to himself now. His approval ratings have fallen heavily since the Playboy interview was published.
And he won't say how the flaps have affected his family. "I'll always protect my family, because my family comes first," the former wrestling star tells Newsweek. The magazine says Ventura was stunned at how his comments and thoughts fired off a nationwide debate, since he's been making such commends for years on radio as well as his autobiography with no one going boo.
"All of a sudden, people won't eat or lives will be lost if I don't offer my personal opinion on things," he says. "You can be yourself and get elected, but you can't be yourself and govern. You have to give the correct answers. You have to give the answers that don't offend anyone." Pinocchio, you're a real politician, now.
