The pat-down smackdown: Jesse Ventura vs. the TSA

The video: Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the professional wrestler turned Minnesota governor, is suing the Homeland Security Department and Transportation Security Administration for sexual assault. Ventura, who has a titanium hip, says airport TSA agents violated his constitutional rights by subjecting him to "warrantless, non-suspicion-based offensive touching, gripping, and rubbing of the genital and other sensitive areas of his body," and that his decision to stop flying because of these invasive pat-downs has endangered his TV career. (Watch a news report below)

The response: "I appreciate Ventura's frustration," but "I wonder if the gov is hurting our national security with this lawsuit," says April Peveteaux in The Stir. Nobody wants "a stranger groping our privates, or worse," but "none of us want to get blown up at 30,000 feet in the air either." Forget air travelers, "can you imagine the poor TSA agent who had to do those things to a furious Jesse Ventura?" asks Jon Bershad in Mediaite. Even if he loses, though, he'll score "some good content out of this for his TV series, 'Conspiracy Theory.'" Ventura "comes off as a tinfoil-hat-wearing crank" in his show, says Linda Sharps, also in The Stir, but I don't care if this is a stunt to "boost viewership" — if he's willing to "leg drop" the TSA, "I'm all for the lawsuit." See a clip for further coverage:

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