Ladies and Gentlemen, your new Connecticut Republican candidate for Senate, Linda McMahon, wife of Vince McMahon and CEO of WWE:
- Involved in multiple steroid scandals.
- Delivered a “low blow” to a commentator on TV as part of his firing.
- Part of an organization that condones “simulated rape, public sex and necrophilia”.
Here’s what one of her former employees says about her:
She may look like a Sunday school teacher. Linda McMahon’s hands are as bloody as her husband’s because she is aware of every move in the ring. She has had no problem with grown men – myself included – cutting their head with a razor blade. All of a sudden, why aren’t these guys bleeding anymore? Because Linda is running for the Senate.
That’s just from her Wikipedia entry. Compared to this woman’s caravan of crazy, Dick Blumenthal’s Vietnam fudging is about as politically interesting as a county commissioner using the wrong fork at dinner.
No matter what generic Congressional ballot polling says (and it’s not looking that bad), candidates win elections. And, man, do the Republicans have some shit candidates.
Update: I love that we’re wall-to-wall Linda ads as soon as I post this. “Ready for Something Different” indeed.
Chyron HR
I’m still getting wall-to-wall “Medicare Meltdown” ads.
Does anyone know what the hell the “Medicare Meltdown” is supposed to BE, anyway?
Egypt Steve
Is one of Ed McMahon’s ex-wives available?
Seanly
Yeah, I don’t understand this insistence on using the generic ballots (at least for looking at House races). Yes, we all hate Congress, but most people like their individual Congressmen. It is hard to dump incumbents. Sure there are some freshman reps who may not keep a conservative district, but overall I think the Democratic Party will do okay.
The Senate is a different story. I hope we can at least keep the majority. I think we will keep it.
But then again, I am not a poli sci guy nor a bloated pundit so what do I know.
WereBear
Random Fear Inducement. Same as it ever was…
I’m shocked! and appalled! that Republican candidates have only gotten crazier when the calls for “purity” got higher.
There’s truth in advertising for ya.
aimai
She must be stopped. From the Wiki:
aimai
burnspbesq
Meanwhile, it appears that among South Carolina Republicans extramarital affairs are not an exclusively male preserve. The Palmetto State, showing the way on gender equity. Hoodathunkit.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/The-Nikki-Haley-Fiasco-Malicious-Smeer-or-One-of-a-Kind-Scandal-3732
dmsilev
The GOP stable of candidates this time round can be summed up by the recent story out of Nevada that the state electoral commission felt it necessary to ban people in chicken suits from approaching polling places, as that would amount to electioneering.
dms
Comrade Javamanphil
@Egypt Steve: Or perhaps Rowdy Roddy Piper?
Dear GOP Leadership, you decided to let the patients loose and cheered on their spectacle for the last year. Now the inmates are running the asylum and, not surprisingly, like you about as much as they like the KenyanUsurperHusseinBoogeyBoogeyMan. Heckuva job! Good luck getting the crazy back in the bottle.
Walker
@Comrade Javamanphil: Put on the sunglasses!
Brian J
I still think Blumenthal was wrong and that The Times didn’t do anything particularly wrong in exposing his casual nature with the truth, but at the same time, I doubt Linda McMahon would even slightly useful in the Senate. Even if I wasn’t willing to get over what Blumenthal did, I’d still rather have him as a senator, no contest.
My gut tells me that if the Democrats are smart, their losses will be minimized. But I am not sure of what, exactly, they are doing to prepare for the midterms.
Joe
So Arnold Schwarzenegger should be held accountable for alien murder, human death matches, and pillaging ancient civilizations? She runs a successful business, big deal.
I’m not a Republican, but I’m not an idiot either. Holding the wacky storylines of the WWE against her as a person and political candidate is dishonest at best.
cmorenc
Fortunately, we know from past experience that candidates running for high federal office who are prominently saddled with a background as a toxic clown act cannot win elections. For example, take an actor who famously co-starred with a chimpanzee in “Bedtime for Bonzo”.
mistermix
@Joe: So it’s OK to preach family values and run a business that flouts them. Got it.
Also, being involved in a business where use of illegal drugs is rampant isn’t a “storyline”.
Ash Can
On top of everything, McMahon — in true teabagger fashion — forced out the saner GOP candidate.
Heckuva job, indeed.
Comrade Jake
So its news at this point that CT is one fucked up state? Seriously?
John PM
Do you know if she is against gay marriage? I ask because her company’s product is large, muscled sweaty men hugging each other.
Also, to Joe, mistermix is not holding the fake storylines against her, but the actual illegal practices, e.g., steroid abuse. And Arnold should be held responsible for helping to drive California over a cliff, although this time CGI is not involved.
dmsilev
Good to see that she’s carrying on the grand traditions of the Republican party.
dms
beltane
But will she beat Joe Lieberman over the head with a folding chair?
Linda McMahon is a sleazy candidate who got her millions from one of the most sleazy forms of entertainment there is. At the very least, she should have run for Harry Reid’s seat as she seems a better fit for Nevada than Connecticut.
geg6
@Joe:
You’ve got to be kidding.
Storylines? Really?
Do you know anything at all about the “business” of professional wrestling, especially as practiced by the McMahons? Or do you just watch it and cheer?
Rampant steroid and hormone abuse, much of which has led to violence, major health issues, and death and murder of the performers and their loved ones is nothing to be pooh-poohed as some sort of storyline.
Boudica
@aimai: It’s called hypercorrection. It’s so ingrained that “me” is incorrect, as in “me and Joe went to the store” that people don’t use “me” even when it is correct. (Grammar posts-Yay!!!)
PanAmerican
Medicare? Those sleezoids refuse to provide medical coverage to wrestlers.
Deadspin’s Dead Wrestler of the Week is a good a place as any to start.
SpotWeld
I live in CT and I had a friend visiting over the weekend from New York State. So she caught one of the McMahon tv ads for the first time while here.
She wasn’t familar with McMahon’s history but her first comment when seeing the ad “She’s not really saying anything.” McMahon’s ads are nothing but vague generalities.
Lieberman, as much as he was disliked ran his last campaign on specifics. (Mainly his work keeping the Groton sub base open.) And he won on that.
Assuming that Blumenthal can keep the focus on specfics I don’t think McMahon has a chance.
Then again, there’s always the nutty flag-worshippers how are basically saying “how high” when McMahon says “jump, he didn’t apologise”.
MattF
Maybe she could get an honorary degree from Yale. Doctor of Inhumane Letters, or something.
Rosalita
Cripes I hope she doesn’t win, then I will be even more disgusted than I already am with the voters of this state (see: Dog, Droopy)
Rosalita
@dmsilev:
FTW! LOLZ
Napoleon
The Reps are running so many crazy candidates it is really hard to believe it is not going to cost them picking up seats they could have otherwise.
danimal
@beltane: If McMahon clocked Holy Joe over the head with a folding chair, her nomination will have been worthwhile.
Ash Can
@Napoleon: It’s certainly shaping up that way, if PA, OH, KY, NV, and this race are any indication.
pablo
Ahh, the lies the lying liars make!
El Cid
@aimai: She plays softball? Does she cross her legs when she sits? Quick — let’s get
reportingbreathless indignant speculation from Andrew Sullivan!El Cid
Obligatory comment on how conservative base-mongering is now going directly to the world of pro-wrestling, rather than just aping its attitudes.
Obligatory reference to President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.
Steeplejack
@beltane:
Okay, that I would pay to see.
Steeplejack
@Boudica:
Then you should have been here last night.
Sarcastro
Oddly enough, the actual audience for pro wrestling tilts left. They rarely if ever vote, but when they do it tends to be for Dems.
Rommie
There’s so, so many sleazy going’s on in pro wrestling and/or the WWF/WWE that it’s incredulous Linda McMahon thinks she has a chance to win. I think it shows the level of hubris of the righteousness of their Tea Party views – we’re right, dammit, and we’ll
hustleconvince the public to see the light! It’s turned up a notch more when talking about the McMahon family…It would take running against a literal cardboard cutout of a Democratic opponent for said opponent not to use the ample ammunition available – even Mr. Mis-spoke Blumenthal. He should offer sacrifices to Ceiling Cat that he made such a mistake, but gets an opponent who is perfect to recover from it.
Corner Stone
@beltane:
“Wait! What’s that? Good God! That’s Linda McMahon’s music!”
/obligatory Sportsguy reference
Masala
@Joe
It’s not just the storylines. The business she ran depended on people routinely breaking the law and using steroids in order to maintain their positions on the roster.
tkogrumpy
I’m ready for something different, but she’s not what I had in mind. It will, however tell us once and for all, if money is truly all you need to get elected.
Ahasuerus
@Sarcastro:
Your comment was counter-intuitive enough for me to go a-Googling, and I found this post, which references this survey. It reports, among other things, that Monster Truck fans skew Democratic. Seriously.
I’m going to eat some pie now.
ccham44
@John PM:
I won’t defend Joe’s statement in whole, because writing off all of these points is as improper as mastermix lumping them all together without additional nuance.
I would say that running a company where illegal drug use is rampant (and no doubt encouraged by management, whether implicitly or explicitly) is obviously a valid and significant criticism.
However, is anyone seriously suggesting that this:
is not referring to a scripted storyline, like when a character in a soap opera is killed off at the end of his contract? There are lots of reasons why McMahon would be a horrid Senator, but pretending to kick another character in the junk on her TV show is not one of them.
Keith
Even ignoring the blading and the necrophilia angle (which, in fairness, was done tongue-in-cheek, although that was what finally made me stop watch wresting), Linda McMahon’s going to have to answer for why a relatively large # of her employees and ex-employees have died at relatively young ages due to the immediate and delayed effects of drug abuse (not to mention the Benoit incident)
aimai
@Boudica:
I know, it was a joke reference to the earlier thread.
aimai
Ash Can
@ccham44: Nor is it terribly appropriate behavior for a would-be senator. I do agree that this is a minor point, though, especially in comparison with all the other points with which to ding McMahon. Also, it’s the sort of thing that a moderately skillful politician would be able to spin away fairly easily. I’m not confident that McMahon has that kind of skill, though, so things might get Rand-Paul-esque entertaining once she starts getting asked about this stuff on a national stage.
Sentient Puddle
I think more than any other possible indicator, it’s things like this that make me relatively optimistic for November. If Republicans were actually able to pick candidates worth a damn, they might have been able to make serious gains.
Former WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine
@Keith: If it looks like Ms WWE is going to win, Chris Benoit should be the Democrats’ Willie Horton.
Also, hopefully someone’s digging up all the Katie Vick footage they can find.
russell
Actually, that’s large, muscled sweaty men *in spandex tights*.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Either way, feh. I’m holding out for Incitatus.
El Cid
@Sentient Puddle: It’s sort of unfortunate that we have to hope just as much for Republican screw-ups as we do Democratic successes in campaigning, but it’s part of life, and I hope enough people can remember from the distant, eternal, era that was 2 years ago what the Bush Jr. Republican rule was like, that might help too, but it’s probably already behind us, we need to look forward, not backward, etc.
fucen tarmal
i have no doubt she can win, and some how it will be the media’s fault if they ask any of the million of obvious questions. i expect that the “he hate me” endorsement will seal the deal.
Anton Sirius
She’s an outsider candidate, not particularly teabaggy, who’s reasonably comfortable in front of a TV camera and can self-finance.
In short, she’s just about the perfect candidate for this election cycle. Dismiss her as “crazy” if it makes you feel better. Decry her “sleazy” company all you want. But if you bet against her winning that Senate seat, you’re throwing away your money.
EconWatcher
Crazy does not mean unelectable. Where have you all been?
Comrade Dread
The State of the Union addresses would be much more entertaining.
El Cid
@EconWatcher: No, crazy does not mean unelectable. Often it’s the opposite. It’s led to a long career for people like James Inhofe.
carlos the dwarf
@Comrade Jake: As a CT native, let me be the first to say, GFY.
@danimal: Sadly, it’s Dodd’s seat, not the Sanctimonious Fuckwit’s.
McMahon is a sleazy piece of shit. All her campaign ads are about how she’s just another average small business owner. BULL. SHIT.
Bill Section 147
@El Cid: But she has what plants need.
Nylund
Maybe this is all enough for the people of Connecticut, but in other states, I don’t think this would matter. People like wrestling. Even if its fake and most of the men wear spandex bikini bottoms, it is somehow considered manly and tough. The average GOP voter loves that. Plus, for all the hatred of Hollywood, put in a beauty pageant winner, a cosmo centerfold, or a former actor, and the GOP voter will worship them. Add in the fact that she’s a former CEO (pro-business!). It doesn’t matter if they’ve been caught with hookers wearing diapers, or snorted meth with a prostitute. Their so-called principles crumble pretty quickly. They love the pretty, the famous, the executive.
Jay
Put it this way: Rasmussen has Blumenthal leading.
I think he’ll pull it out.
Corner Stone
@Nylund:
Which all equate to – Power.
They love people they perceive as powerful and deemed “better” than they are.
danimal
Carlos, in wrestling sometimes the wrestler has to fight multiple opponents.
Maybe Blumenthal can tag Lieberman, who climbs into the ring and gets clanged over the head with the chair while Blumenthal’s shakes the cobwebs from his Vietnam PTSD.
Cyrus
@Seanly:
It’s too early to say for sure of course, but I’d be pretty surprised if the Democrats lose the Senate. Democrats and Republicans are defending the same number of seats right now. (Why? Because remember, the seats open this year were last open in 2004, which was a good year for Republicans. Funny how that works.) The president’s party generally doesn’t do well in midterms and incumbents generally don’t do well when the economy, but incumbency is still a big advantage and Republicans are still too far behind.
I expect the Dems to lose, say, two or three seats, to pull a number out of my ass, but losing a whole 10, the number needed to flip control of the Senate, would be a historic disaster and I don’t see any reason to expect it. (Knock on wood. But on the other hand, it’s not like Democrats have been all that impressive anyway. But maybe this will convince them to abolish the filibuster. But then…)
Cacti
I don’t have a problem with the zany story lines of wrasslin’. It is theatre of the absurd after all.
I do have a problem with the number of former McMahon employees that die young, suffer from brain trauma and other debilitating injuries, and rampantly abuse drugs.
Those are the issues that McMahon should have to answer for. Criticizing wrasslin’ for being over the top is a loser.
grandpajohn
@burnspbesq: a Quote from the article you linked,
She is wrong about this, As a 72 year old lifetime resident of SC I can verify that actually it is just politics as normal here in the “Sandlapper” state, especially since the repubs took over running the state. Remember John McCains black baby and all those other smears in 2000?
chrome agnomen
@El Cid:
in my case, most of the hope for right-wing screwups centers on the entertainment value alone. i recognize, though, that it is an essential facet in left-wing success for precisely the reason you touched upon: the femto-second attention span of the average voter.
Gregory
@Seanly:
It fits with the so-called “liberal media”‘s “everyone hates Democrats” narrative.
If it stops, they’ll start focusing on individual races in strong Republican districts.
Midnight Marauder
@Anton Sirius:
Um…
@Jay:
Thank you. Oh, she’s “reasonably comfortable” in front of a camera? Well then, this race is already over!
Putting your money on Blumenthal in this race is like signing up to get free money.
grandpajohn
I would be curious how the generic polls would look if the south was removed from
the results. Most of the southern seats are already repub except for a few that are fairly safe dem districts , so there is little chance of many of them being in play.
colby
“She’s an outsider candidate, not particularly teabaggy, who’s reasonably comfortable in front of a TV camera and can self-finance.”
Ah, none of those things are really advantages she has over her opponent (Blumenthal). Hell, Blumenthal can play the anti-Washington card as easy as anyone, he’s not teabaggy AT ALL, he’s got plenty of experience on TV, and has been tapping CT donors for years. To say nothing of the fact that CT is perfectly comfortable with “insiders”, “good on tv” isn’t important for a statewide race in an era where statewide media is being sold for parts, and self-financing is only a benefit to the national party, not the candidate herself.
So, tell yourself she’s got a great chance if it makes you feel better. Say that you shouldn’t bet against her if you must. But a candidate that was really all that perfect would have posted at least one polling lead by now.
mightygodking
Speaking as someone who used to watch wrestling, Linda McMahon is about as comfortable in front of a camera as a large piece of cardboard; she was always legendarily bad at delivering speeches and promos. If that stiff delivery is still around, she’ll bore the electorate to death.
Jennifer
If she was running in Oklahoma, she’d be a shoo-in.
In the Northeast, where she is running, not so much.
Lisa K.
Two words: Jesse Ventura.
I can’t see her actually pulling this off myself, but stranger things have happened.
ThresherK
The Times didn’t do anything particularly wrong in exposing (Blumenthal’s) casual nature with the truth
Yawn. The Times covered themselves in offal. Read Colin McEnroe’s “To Wit” blog picking apart the Times’ clueless parachute “reporting”. Take the word of a life-long Nutmegger.
Resident Firebagger
Actually, the McMahons have shite-tons of money. That — and not providing health insurance to their employees — make Linda a perfectly run-of-the-mill, pre-teabag Republican.
And BTW, before she got into politics, Linda and Vince were big backers of that sanctimonious prick Joe Lieberman.
http://washingtonindependent.com/74733/lieberman-for-linda-mcmahon
SpotWeld
@Lisa K.: re: Jessie Ventura.
A primary difference here is that Ventura got elected to a city/town level exectuive position before running for govenor.
He had a political track record before going on to run for a state level position.
McMahon is attempting to run on her private business experience.
feebog
@Lisa K.
As a comparison, Jesse Ventura does not compute. Ventura won as an independent in a close three-way race. This race is simply going to be an experienced, well known, well financed Dem vs. a total novice with a shitload of money. This isn’t even going to be close. I peg it 56 to 44% for Blumenthal.
Lisa K.
@SpotWeld:
@feebog:
The comparison was not the two races-it was on the background of the two candidates. We may remember that Gov. Ventura ended his public service practically being run out of town on a rail.
Evidently snark does not play well over the internet.