Connecticut Senate: Vince McMahon Calls In The WWE !

Tired of the abuse his wife is taking - but more likely, concerned about the fallout to his multi-billion dollar wrestling enterprise - Vince McMahon is fighting back against Richard Blumenthal's smears against the WWE:




BusinessWire - World Wrestling Entertainment(R) is calling on WWE fans worldwide to "Stand Up For WWE" in a new viral campaign launched today on WWE.com and social networking websites, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. WWE invites fans to voice their support for the company because it has come under unfair and biased attack from certain politicians and media outlets. WWE will correct factual inaccuracies that have been reported about the company during this election season.

Videos will feature Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO, along with several WWE Superstars discussing various topics including WWE's PG content, treatment of WWE's full-time employees and its performers, and WWE's Talent Health and Wellness Program. In addition, the videos will highlight WWE's longstanding commitment to give back to communities through literacy programs, support of the military and their families, the annual "Tribute To The Troops" holiday special and the company's more than 25 year relationship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Well, there are a ton of people who watch the WWE - their TV broadcasts are usually among cable's #10 watched on any given week, and their pay-per-views are insanely lucrative, both for the WWE and the cable providers. How many of them vote, however, is an unknown, and this is unlikely to make much of a dent in the Connecticut Senate race.

HOWEVER - McMahon is a genius at playing up the bad guy; if the media thinks they can go "Christine O'Donnell" on this guy, they're stupider than I even ever imagined. McMahon would love nothing more than a clip calling him and his millions of WWE fans "idiots"; the media as the ultimate heel would be a boon to both Linda and Vince, as he would play and replay the clips over and over, to the booing of the crowd, with a "bad guy" wrestler taking Dick Blumenthal's side, and his "good guys" vowing war for the sake of their honor....

If millions of viewers can become thousands of votes, it could be a game-changer.

You know what else would help? Pointing out how involved the WWE is with our men and women serving overseas, as opposed to Blumenthal, who just lies about being involved overseas:

Will the WWE Smack Down Chris Dodd?

This blog has long been a proponent of WWE "characters" getting involved in politics (see here for my pitch for "Mr. Kennedy" for Senate, and here for Chris Jericho's smackdown of Barack Obama) So I am thrilled that one of the minds behind this incredible cash machine, Linda McMahon, is hoping to take on Crooked Chris Dodd (D-Conn) in the state's upcoming Senate race:

GREENWICH, Conn. – World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. says Linda McMahon is stepping down as its chief executive to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat from Connecticut now held by Democrat Christopher Dodd.

WWE said in a statement Wednesday morning that McMahon's husband, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, is assuming her duties as CEO.

Linda McMahon formally announced her candidacy Wednesday morning. She says Washington is "out of control" and Dodd has "lost his way and our trust."

The 60-year-old McMahon is up against three other Republicans — former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley.

From her press release:

Linda is committed to doing things differently. She will run a campaign that is largely self-financed. She will not accept PAC contributions or special interest cash. She will limit personal contributions to $100 or less.

Linda is a fiscal conservative who believes in America and its free market, free enterprise system. She believes government ought to incentivize job creators, and that small businesses need access to capital and credit in order to create jobs.

Will being married to the 20th Century's equivalent of P.T. Barnum (Vince McMahon), and the fact she has often played on-screen roles in multiple WWE storylines ("Linda's on-screen character turned heel for the first time on the October 10, 2005 episode of "Raw" when she "fired" commentator Jim Ross and delivered a 'low blow' to him.") be a hindrance to Linda? Well, she also has done a heck of a lot of charitable work:

McMahon became a member of the Board of Trustees of Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, Connecticut) in November 2004. She supports many organizations, including the USO, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, the Starlight Foundation, and Community Mayors. In 2005, she won appointment to The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America National Advisory Council and was presented the Arthur M. Sackler Award from the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra for WWE's support of its arts education program. McMahon is also responsible for the creation of WWE's Get R.E.A.L. educational and literacy programs and WWE's SmackDown! Your Vote! campaign.

Not to mention the great work the WWE does with the military overseas - flying wrestlers into combat zones to entertain soldiers, engaging in charity work, and generally engaging in good, old fashioned jingoism...

Forget the storylines for a moment. This is a women - with her brilliant but mercurial husband - who took a "sport" that used to air one hour a week at midnight and turned it into a multi-billion dollar worldwide business, with six hours of television broadcasts weekly, sold-out arena shows virtually every night, monthly pay-per-view with grosses in the tens of millions, and an ungodly amount of merchandising, from action figures to DVD collections.

Think she knows a little bit more about how the economy works that Chris Dodd, who has spent the last 30 years in the Senate? Or how about a certain president, who keeps getting confused on what the difference between "profit" and "overhead" is?

Go for it, Linda. Time to put Dodd in a chokehold, and if he doesn't tap out, hit him with a finisher....

Memo to Linda McMahon: Don't Run From The WWE, Embrace it !!

With former WWE CEO Linda McMahon now the formal Republican nominee for Senate, the Connecticut Democrats are blasting away with the only weapon they have in their arsenal: An elitist's disdain for the world of "professional" wrestling:

It took less than an hour after Linda McMahon’s triumph in the Connecticut Republican primary election for Senate Tuesday night for Democrats to throw her past as a pro wrestling CEO in her face, in a volley of attacks that is unlikely to cease until election day in November.

“Today the party of Bob Dole, Jack Kemp and Richard Lugar nominated a candidate who kicks men in the crotch, thinks of scenes of necrophilia as ‘entertainment,’ and runs an operation where women are forced to bark like dogs. This is what has become of the once grand old party,” said Hari Sevugan, national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee.

Usually personal attacks are saved for the final third of a campaign, when the down-in-the-polls candidate realized they cannot win based on the merits of their arguments (see Corzine, Jon). The fact that this is what the Connecticut Democratic establishment is leading with signals they are working with very ammunition at the very start of what will be a long, protracted battle.

How should McMahon respond? Let's break it down:

-She should not respond to the WWE taunts. At all. She should fire back at opponent Richard Blumenthal by tying him to the Democratic establishment and Barack Obama (hey, if it worked in Massachusetts...), and remind voters in Connecticut that he represents a continuation of the polices that are enraging them in the first place. Let the Democrats talk about sweaty, oily Mexicans in masks, Linda can talk economics.

-Should she feel the need to respond, she should not do it by degenerating the very business that made her and her husband so wealthy.

Wrestling is a type of NASCAR to the liberal elites: something they don't watch, something they don't understand, and something they would rather see replaced by chamber music and museum exhibits. But professional wrestling has been around and beloved by Americans for over a century, enough for the WWE to hold sold-out shows nightly across America (making them, on an annual basis, the largest grossing "entertainment tour" in the world). Their pay-per-views, especially Wrestlemania, are usually the most-purchased events of the television season. And with a WWE product on cable/free TV four nights out of seven - TV being the ultimate democracy; if people don't watch you, you're gone - all the evidence points to a NASCAR-like following completely under the radar of the Leftist elite.


Go ahead, let the Democrats mock wrestling, the way they mock NASCAR fans. How well has that worked out for the party? And again, do not distance yourself too far or degenerate your product, Linda - otherwise you will alienate fans who are going to vote for you simply based upon your last name...

-Finally, if Al Franken, an untalented, uncouth, unkempt, rude "entertainer" could win a Senate election without abandoning what made him famous, why can't Linda do the same? If Ronald Regan could become the greatest president in my lifetime without turning his back on his monkey co-stars in the "Bonzo" film series, why should Linda have to disown Rey Mysterio?

Embrace your life, Linda McMahon, along with all the jobs you have created with it, and all the joy and laughter you have brought to people. You cannot run from the WWE.

So run with it, instead....

Bizarre Anti-McMahon Piece By AP

The following has been up as a lead story on my Yahoo! homepage for over 12 hours. It is truly bizarre, and I will reprint it in full below:

Conn. wrestling fans: We're no lock for McMahon

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut fans of World Wrestling Entertainment say Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon's ties to the company won't guarantee their votes on Election Day.

Pro wrestling fanatics in Hartford on Saturday said the former WWE CEO's campaign has no bearing on their enjoyment of the WWE. The company was in Hartford's XL Center for Fan Appreciation Day.

McMahon is running against Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for the seat of retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd. A recent poll showed Blumenthal leading McMahon.

WWE representatives say the weekend show wasn't about rallying voters. They say it was held to thank fans for supporting the company despite what they call unfair attacks on its image from state Democrats and the media.

That's it. Not a single person quoted in the story to back up their headline, not even anonymously. As a matter of fact, even their generalized statements do not indicate that WWE fans are planning to vote against Linda McMahon, only that her status of CEO of the WWE will not affect their vote.

Is it possible people are going to vote for her based on her positions, or against Dick Blumenthal based on his irresponsible public statements claiming non-existent service in Vietnam? I'm starting to believe that is the more likely scenario, and AP writers, desperate for a way to discredit and smear Linda McMahon (have you seen what the Alaskan media has stooped to to "get" Joe Miller?), put up their misleading headline in the hopes to embarrass her, while simultaneously hoping nobody clicked through to the non-story?

Maybe this piece will be fleshed out. But it's been posted for almost 14 hours now, with no changes. Is this the best the AP can do to stop the oncoming Republican wave?

Cheap. Dirty. Unprofessional. Blatantly partisan.

In other words, everything we've come to expect from the mainstream media...

WWE Heel Smacks Down Obama

Chris Jericho, professional wrestler, was asked a few questions the other night by TMZ (with video, almost 1:40 in):

[TMZ]: "You're a wrestler ... so, do you think you have better abs than Barack Obama?"

Chris Jericho: "As of right now I have better abs ... but pretty soon he's gonna take 65% of my abs away from me and give 'em to somebody else."

Man, these guys are spot-on...I'm telling you, the next candidate for New York Senate's seat is right there in the WWE as well...

Hat tip: Blonde Sagacity (and yes, it's always the WWF to me too!)

Oh, and Vince McMahon is ahead of the curve as usual, decided to make his new bad guy a bone-crushin' Russian. How did he know?

("...The Moscow Mauler.....Vladimir Kozlov ! ")

SmackDown! Linda McMahon Within 3 In Connecticut !

Well, this is a WWE-style kick to the balls for the liberal gentry of Connecticut - and Washington, for that matter:

Propelled by Connecticut likely voters who say they are “angry” with government, former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, is closing in on Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat, and now trails just 49 – 46 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Independent voters shift from 47 – 46 percent for Blumenthal September 14 to 49 – 44 percent for McMahon today. In a gender reversal, women back Blumenthal 56 – 39 percent while men back McMahon 52 – 44 percent.

The association with the WWE is likely responsible for the wide gender swings here...ladies, ask yourself: Who would you rather have protecting your interests - a wispy career desk jockey who lies about being a tough guy:



Or members of the McMahon posse:

One set of these guys will defend us to the utmost, no matter how many metal folding chairs must be broken over our enemy's backs, and the other guy is Obama's future prison bitch. Really, is it even a contest?

And regarding the "kick in the balls" comment, that stems from this question from one of the Nutmeg State's locals on the campaign trail:

Caroline Kennedy? Or Mr. Kennedy?

The media is gearing up to get behind her - not for our own good, but for theirs. Celebrity+politics = good copy, and maybe increased readership/viewership besides. Lord knows they need it, and will throw us under the bus to get it...

James Taranto reveals how far the media is trying to stretch in order for us to believe Princess Caroline is one of us:

Bloomberg columnist Albert R. Hunt makes the case for why Basil Paterson's son should appoint John F. Kennedy's daughter to replace Bill Clinton's wife in the Senate:

[Caroline Kennedy] has all the qualities--intellectual curiosity; a friendly, at times pointed, sense of humor, and a deferential manner (she hails her own cabs)--that are the stuff of a good legislator. '

She hails her own cabs! This is what passes for a common touch these days? Lots of New Yorkers can't even afford cabs and ride the subway instead.

When we read this, our first thought was: We hail our own cabs, too. We deserve that Senate seat.

Victor Davis Hanson doesn't know whether to laugh or cry:

The probable appointment of Caroline Kennedy, the 51-year-old daughter of former President John Kennedy, to fill Secretary-of-State nominee Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat is both laughable and yet a parable for our bankrupt times.

Ms. Kennedy apparently spends a great deal of her time divided between her Park Avenue Upper-East-Side Manhattan townhouse and her hereditary estate on Martha’s Vineyard. She has had no real experience with the ordinary lives of New Yorkers

Ms. Kennedy is about as undiverse as one could imagine. She was educated at exclusively private schools among those of her like race and class. Her financial security is due to either inheritance or marriage; there is no evidence of a self-employed stellar legal or business career.

Her only prerequisites for Senator are her pedigree from her father and her purported celebrity mystique passed on from her mother Jackie.

We know in our hearts that Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, who mercilessly grilled pro-life, Christian Sarah Palin with the poor white twang, would pull in their talons—if given the chance to dialogue with Caroline.

In short, appointing Caroline Kennedy to the Senate from New York tells us a lot more about ourselves than it does even her.

Gawker reports on the New York Times' reporting, becuase I don't have the stomach to:

Reasoning that senate candidates have to file an elaborate, 10-part report on their assets, debts and income, and that Kennedy herself oversaw intensive vetting of Barack Obama's running mates, the Times asked Kennedy for "a variety of basic data," including "potential ethical, legal and financial entanglements." Appropriate.

Kennedy refused!

Really, if liberals claimed Sarah Palin was unqualified for the undemanding post of VP, how in the world can Caroline Kennedy be a qualified Senator- one of only two - charged with representing and fighting for the needs of the tens of millions of ordinary people who live in New York State? What has she actually ever had to fight tooth-and-nail for, anyway, in her privileged life?

She's done nothing, folks, absolutely nothing - and that's about all she is qualified to do at this point.

You guys want another celebrity politician? Dying for another Kennedy to set you free? Well, here's one who actually may be qualified for the job:


Kennedy is more than just talk - he knows how to dish it out in the ring. He can talk smack and give it back at the same time. Kennedy has billed himself as the future of sports-entertainment and future of WWE. Those are quite bold statements, but Kennedy's record speaks for itself. The laundry list of former World Champions and future Hall of Famers he has defeated reads like a Who's Who of the elite in WWE. Kane, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Batista and Shawn Michaels, among others, have all tasted defeat at the hands of Mr. Kennedy. Though he has held the United States Championship and is a former Mr. Money in the Bank winner, Kennedy will not be content until he is a World Champion.

So what fuels Mr. Kennedy's desire? Maybe it is his huge ego; maybe it's greed...


Is he a Democrat? If so...sign him up!

Linda McMahon Puts A Sleeper Hold On Richard Blumenthal

Blumenthal should have known better, and even Republican Rob Simmons ought to look out: In the WWE universe, the McMahons are always the bad guys. And the same way a "face" wrestler should never turn his back on the "heel" (especially if he is picking up a folding chair), nobody on either side of the Republican Senatorial battle should turn their backs on Linda McMahon.

For it appears as if she delivered the hit from behind on Richard Blumenthal:

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s campaign for the United States Senate has been holed below the waterline by a devastating New York Times expose of Blumenthal’s false claims to have served in Vietnam. The piece, fed to the paper by the Linda McMahon Seante campaign, is accompanied by a chilling 2008 video of Blumenthal blithely making the false claim.

The Blumenthal Bombshell comes at the end of more than 2 months of deep, persistent research by Republican Linda McMahon’s Senate campaign. It gave the explosive Norwalk video recording to The Times. This is what comes of $16 million, a crack opposition research operation and an opponent who...gave them the sword.

But just because the heel knocks out the champ doesn't mean that he assumes the belt. No, in the McMahon's family business it is usually just the start of a power struggle, fought inside and outside the ring, to position oneself favorably and gain the advantages necessary to make final victory all the more likely.

So Linda's not done throwing chairs. She's getting ready for the next round against Rob Simmons, her strongest primary opponent, who has already grabbed the microphone and begun trash-talking on Mrs. WWE:

"....it’s matched in some respects by Mrs. McMahon who brought the charge -- when just a few months ago it was disclosed that she did not tell the truth about her college education and her degree -- which is again something everybody should realy know," Simmons said, referring to a Hartford Courant report that McMahon claimed on documents filed with her appointment to the State Board of Education that she had a degree in education, when her degree was in French.

A pretty light punch, Rob. If you are going in against a heavyweight like McMahon, you'd better come up with something better, especially if you are looking to overcome her daunting lead in the polls...

Like a breakaway table, some aluminum ladders, or a pretty girl to distract the referee while you deliver some cheap shots....

"Be Careful What You Wish For....

...'cause you might just get it".

That's where Steven Den Beste (formally of the USS Clueless, now the online master of Japanese animation) is coming from with his post Not The End of the World:

I think this election is going to be a "coming of age" moment for a lot of people. They say, "Be careful what you wish for" and a lot of people got their wish yesterday.
And now they're bound to be disappointed. Not even Jesus could satisfy all the expectations of Obama's most vocal supporters, or fulfill all the promises Obama has made.

I think Obama is going to turn out to be the worst president since Carter, and for the same reason: good intentions do not guarantee good results. Idealists often stub their toes on the wayward rocks of reality, and fall on their faces. And the world doesn't respond to benign behavior benignly.

But there's another reason why: Obama has been hiding his light under a basket. A lot of people bought a pig in a poke today, and now they're going to find out what they bought. Obama isn't what most of them think he is. The intoxication of the cult will wear off, leaving a monumental hangover.

And four years from now they'll be older and much wiser.

And he closes with a flourish:

Obama got elected by making himself a blank slate, with vapid promises about "hope" and "change" -- but now he actually has to do something. Now he has to reveal his true agenda. And with the Democrats also having a majority in both chambers of Congress, now the Democrats really have to lead. And they're not going to do a very good job of it. It's going to be amusing to watch.

And the people who fell for the demagoguery will learn an invaluable lesson...

They've learned the danger of falling for charismatics in Europe in the '30's; now wwe get to experience the fun first-hand.

I guess being told "don't touch the stove - it's hot !!" is not as an effective teaching tool as actually getting burned by it...

If Romney's Got Balls, He's Got To Whip Them Out NOW...

...because the media has proven themselves as independent as one of Vince McMahon's WWE referees.  In accusing Romney of political opportunism by criticizing the president for his part in the September 11th, 2012 attacks overseas, they have laid down a new marker: foreign policy is not to be discussed during an election year if it is detrimental to the Democratic candidate.

Actually, the rule isn't entirely new - the fact that Barack Obama was vocally opposed to the "surge" that eventually won the Iraq War was blacked out in the press, much like Joe Biden's plan to partition Iraq into warring segments was never given more than a cursory glance by a media determined to sweep them into office.

The press, concerned over this potential weak spot within Dear Leader, demands that Mitt Romney shut up about this horrendous attack on this solemn day - an attack in which the administration refused to even defend our dearest values - and just let the president jet off to Las Vegas to continue his never-ending campaign fundraising.  Should too many Americans be made aware that the al-Qaeda flag was raised on American territory on September 11th, well....that could be a problem for Barack Obama.  And we can't have that.

Should Mitt Romney bow to this pressure, he is finished.  If he calls off his attack on the disastrous policy of Barack Obama, he reinforces the media's desperate case that somehow,  Romney committed a gaffe for speaking some plain and obvious truths.  At this late stage, it may cost him the election, when these events should in fact be imperiling Obama.

What to do? Follow the lead of Newt Gingrich, who gained nationwide support in the primaries for calling out the motives of his interlocutors.  The next time some lackey asks if he shouldn't just shut up about Obama's failures, Mitt has to lash out at the questioner by name, and his profession in general.  And he must keep pounding away and pounding away at the media, so that when the debates come along, his poorly-chosen moderators are on the defensive.

A left to the media's nose, and a right to Obama's chin.  Every day, every opportunity, with no regard to the attempts by the press to draw red lines every time their champion is in trouble.  This is not a gentlemanly boxing match, it is a UFC fight, a MMA brawl, a bloodsport not unlike a Fight Club battle in a dingy inner-city basement.

Don't be ashamed to fight back hard, Mitt.  This is already a two-on-one, with the media holding your arms behind your back while Obama takes cheap shots in between fawning for the crowd.


If you go down here, you bring the party and the nation down with you.  So fight with everything you got, fight like it really means something.


Or get the fuck out of the way.