In one of the more raucous Larry King debates in a while, Jesse Ventura and Oliver Stone engaged in a spirited argument with Republican Representative Connie Mack about Stone’s Hugo Chavez documentary South of the Border, which paints the Venezuelan president in a favorable light.
“I went and saw Oliver Stone’s film this weekend and I think this film should be mandatory viewing for every high-school senior in the United States of America. That’s how strong I feel about it,” Ventura said. “The key to this film is not Hugo Chavez, but the lying and manipulation of the mainstream media and how they flagrantly lie to us.”
An incredulous Mack calls Ventura’s claim “shameful,” leading the two to trade barbs of escalating intensity (one gets the sense that if Mack was in the studio and not via satellite, he and Ventura would be up spitting in each other’s faces). King, at a loss, eventually turns to Stone, who argues calmly that when it comes to Chavez, America has it all wrong: “America is the one one the other side of history here.”
