Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura is back in the news as he prepares to launch a new show on the Tru-TV network. It’s going to be all about conspiracy theories and dark, shady government secrets.This has prompted a few interviews, such as this one in the LA Times, and as always, the big man has some eyebrow raising stories to share. One of them concerned the shelving of his old show on MSNBC, which apparently got the boot because Jesse was …. too liberal? I can think of a lot of adjectives to toss in there, but liberal wasn’t actually one of the first to jump to mind. Still, that’s Jesse’s story and he’s sticking to it.

It was awful. I was basically silenced. When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. There was a bidding war between CNN, Fox and MSNBC to get my services. MSNBC ultimately won. I was being groomed for a five day-a-week TV show by them. Then, all of a sudden, weird phone calls started happening: “Is it true Jesse doesn’t support the war in Iraq?“

I actually caught wind of this story first from our friend Ed at Hot Air who seemed a bit skeptical.

Er, what? Minnesota’s other embarrassment jumped back into the news today when Jesse Ventura told the LA Times that MS-NBC bought out his contract and kept him off the year for being … too critical of George Bush…

If Jesse Ventura wants to look around for the reason no one wanted him on the air at MS-NBC, he just needs to look in the mirror. While he’s doing that, maybe Minnesota voters can look in the mirror, too, and ask what possesses them to elect clowns to high office every ten years.

While I can sympathize with the sentiment, I do have to say that Ed’s taking a bit of a cheap shot here. The other Embarrassment? Clowns? Look, I’m not a big fan of Michele Bachmann either, but this story really isn’t about her and there’s no need to take a swipe in that direction. I’m frequently puzzled by Minnesota residents’ choices in elected officials, but even I feel a bit guilty sometimes when I make fun of Bachmann. I mean, for all we know, she may have some sort of chemical imbalance or neurological disorder which causes her strange behavior.

But I digress…

Does Ventura have a future with his new show? It’s hard to say. Have you ever watched any of Tru-TV’s lineup? I’ll confess, it’s one of my guilty pleasures. When there’s nothing else on, (which is far too often) we will sometimes tune in to their sensationalized but still entertaining “true” shows, such as the wildest police chases and the world’s dumbest. For the latter they have videos of people doing amazingly stupid things while being mocked by a line-up of washed out D-list celebrities and comedians. (These include, for example, Danny Bonnaduci, Leif Garrett, Tanya Harding and one of the non-Alec Baldwins.)

I suppose a conspiracy theory show with a nutty flavor might find a home there. It could definitely pull in some of the Art Bell crowd, as well as the various collections of truthers, birthers and their ilk around the nation. And the network actually does attract some advertising revenue from bigger ticket customers, even if they don’t challenge the big cable networks for audience share.

What the heck? I may tune in at least once and give it a whirl. What do you think?

UPDATE: In their list of offerings, I forgot to mention Tru-TV’s new reality series, Full Throttle Saloon. The show is about a biker bar catering to the massive, rowdy crowds at the Sturgess biker rally every year, and it’s actually very well done. I’ve watched the first three episodes so far, and quite enjoyed it.