Connecticut U.S. Senate Race: An Uphill Battle for Republicans by Gregory Hilton

Senator Chris Dodd (D) is retiring and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has a wide lead. This seat is expected to stay in Democratic hands and it is not on any of the target lists. The problems confront the GOP nominee Linda McMahon were emphasized today by Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review. He favors neither candidate. McMahon is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, and he likens her network’s effect on popular culture to “what the BP spill is to the Gulf of Mexico — a relentless gusher of pollution. If decency means nothing, McMahon is the businesswoman par excellence.”I have never watched wrestling, and Linda McMahon does have an unusual background for a Senate candidate. She has already bested two well respected GOP candidates, and has come out of nowhere to receive the endorsement of the state GOP. She has built a billion dollar business from scratch, and was on the corporate rather than the entertainment side. The responses to Lowry’s article do raise some valid points:
“Rich Lowery is a pretty conservative guy. Would he rail against gun manufacturers for marketing products that kill people? Likely not.
“If you don’t like the product Linda McMahon turns out, turn it off, just like you would tune out that liberal nonsense from AirAmerica or other liberal venues.
“Linda and her husband Vince have done a wonderful job creating jobs in Connecticut. Her opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), has a reputation for suing the scata out of companies and chasing them out of business. I would much rather an entrepreneur in the Senate than a populist liberal whiner who has hurt the business climate.”
“I didn’t know Rich Lowry was such a prude, WWE is hilarious and its athletes are some of the best in the world. Do you really squirm when Vince McMahon pretends to abuse a wrestler? Do you not get the joke sputnik? What other athletes regularly travel to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit our troops?”
“Wrestling is called entertainment The viewers understand the role play skits. No one treats them seriously. Time Warner and other cable giants receive huge payments from pornography, but their leadership role is revered.”
I would never have predicted McMahon’s candidacy, and of course her background raises eyebrows. There have been a few other unusual candidates. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) has been in the upper body for 18 years and is the wealthiest Member of Congress. He was known for owning a basketball team. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) was a well regarded Senator. He retired as a basketball player in 1977 and was elected to the Senate the next year.
My understanding is that the WWE has well rehearsed skits where the wrestler are really not being abused. Lowry says “In another episode, Mr. McMahon has his leather-skirt-wearing daughter — his real daughter, playing herself — dragged from the ring kicking and screaming by security. In yet another, he chokes her with a pipe.”
My guess is that the scene was rehearsed many times, and the girl was never in any danger from her father. Stephanie is a wrestler herself and is married to a well known wrestler. She is executive vice president of her parents business, and I seriously doubt she was ever abused.