Dear Gov. Ventura,

I remember when you were elected two years ago. All my Minnesotan friends were shaking their heads in embarrassment that a former professional wrestler was now their governor.

I stuck up for you. I told them, “It’s not a victory for a guy who used to wear a pink boa, it’s a victory for third party candidates.”

Boy, was I wrong.

The only thing it was a victory for was your over-inflated ego.

Last week one of my Minnesotan friends directed me to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Web site and the comments you made to the paper’s outdoor columnist about hunting.

“Until you’ve hunted man, you haven’t hunted yet,” you told Dennis Anderson.

“Because you need to hunt something that can shoot back at you to really classify yourself as a hunter. You need to understand the feeling of what it’s like to go into the field and know your opposition can take you out. Not just go out there and shoot Bambi.”

The strange thing about this whole scenario is that in Anderson’s column that you were so upset about he never mentioned hunting. He just criticized your administration for inadequate support of conservation.

Your distaste for journalists is well documented, so it’s not surprising that you demanded an hour-long gripe session with a sports columnist who directed well-deserved criticism your way. It’s also not surprising you tried to make the capital press core wear press badges that had “Jackal” printed on them.

Ha-ha. Good one.

But who exactly is the blood-thirsty animal?

Before last week you wouldn’t even address your tour of duty with the Navy SEALS. And now you’re touting how you’ve hunted and killed men.

I don’t get it. And frankly, I don’t want to.

I know you’ve taken a lot of heat locally, but not nearly the amount you deserve,.

Maybe people are desensitized after your comments about religion being a crutch of the weak, or maybe people are just used to tuning you out like the XFL. I don’t know, but what you said this time is more than just way out of line.

It’s a direct disrespect to the 58,000 American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War and lost the “hunt,” as you call it, by dying in a battle they had no choice to take part in.

It’s also disrespectful to the millions of Americans across the country who were forced to fight that debacle of a war. It is disrespectful to anyone who ever has picked up a firearm against their will in the name of a government and been forced to shoot it at another human being.

Hunting by definition is a game, governor. Killing another human being has no winner, just ask the millions of veterans who suffer psychological wounds from their time in battle.

You’ve apologized to the public, but that’s just not good enough for me.

I may have shown extremely poor judgment supporting your election two years ago, but it can’t compare to the judgment you use every time you open your mouth.

I see through your lame tactics of blaming the media for your poor public image. I know your public approval ratings are high now but by the time re-election comes around, I have no doubt your chronic foot-in-mouth disease will seal your fate and all anyone will remember you as is that former professional wrestler who failed miserably being governor.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Sargent
Jackal-in-training