Rob Simmons vs Linda McMahon Smackdown!

The Real Linda McMahon

Well, I guess if you live long enough you really will see everything.

Political theatre is always entertaining until it becomes disturbing and perverse. I love my home state of Connecticut because it is small enough that I have been fortunate to meet most of our State government officials and political operatives over the years, thus enabling me to make personal determinations of who has the best interests of the state at heart and who is really just gunning for their own piece of posterity. I also get to know who the real hypocrites are.

I was gratified beyond belief the day Chris Dodd announced he was hanging up his Senator suit and sliding into private life. His is a career that would make any corrupt politician blush. If ever there were an argument for term limits, Dodd should be the seminal example. I was further gratified to learn that Rob Simmons a former Congressman, military man, CIA employee and Republican was willing to throw his name in as a candidate for Dodd’s seat.

Rob Simmons

Rob is a guy with the right amount of political polish, life experience and a clear understanding of what voters expect of their elected officials. Despite having lived and worked in Washington, Simmons is not a DC insider, which became obvious when he was voted out of office in favor of a political shill, who only won after being coddled and supported by Dodd and other useless Connecticut Democrats who have darkened the halls of Congress for seemingly eons.

I had two very small dealings with Simmons, which he wouldn’t even remember I am sure, but they struck me. I called his office for help on a business matter and even though I was outside of his congressional district, Simmons instructed his staff to jump on my issue and run with it. I called him because the representative in my district, one of the people who supported Rob’s Congressional opponent, never answered my repeated correspondence. Even though Simmons had no idea who I was and regardless of the fact I lived outside of his voting arena, he helped me out.

My second encounter with Simmons occurred at the State Capitol after he was voted out of office and our Governor Jodi Rell appointed him as the very first Business Advocate for Connecticut, a job he dove into and performed extremely well. I was impressed by his willingness to listen to any and all businesspeople with their varying problems while delivering honest, frank and sometimes brutal answers to their queries.

What really impressed me was that at the announcement of his appointment, Simmons had yet to be assigned an office, or even a telephone. Hell, they hadn’t even given him business cards yet. So, what did Simmons do? He handed out his own personal cards with his personal cell phone number written on the back to everyone and anyone who had an issue to discuss. That’s pretty damn cool. Rob’s particular brand of experience coupled with the ability to effectively communicate is rare.

As would be expected just about every yahoo wannabe senator has crawled out of the political muck to try and grab the much coveted seat being left by Dodd this year, especially Republicans. The smell of blood is in the air and anyone with the slightest red tint is ready to pounce.

One of those people ready to pounce is Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Yes, you read that right, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Now, we shouldn’t pass judgment here just based on the fact the company McMahon runs happens to be a joke to most of us. After all, regardless of their end product, the WWE is wildly successful and we should give the devil his or her due. McMahon is obviously a capable businessperson but that doesn’t make her a good potential public servant.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, as much as I love political theatre and this situation really could be entertaining; there is a twisted and troubling aspect to this affair.

Linda McMahon popped out a series of beautiful glossy mailers, all depicting smiling attractive women in different positive lights as a very obvious and determined attempt to court the female vote. Admirable. Well, under normal circumstances, but not so much in this instance.

McMahon’s company thrives and ultimately exists on violence and in particular violence involving women. Whilst she may be correct in the idea that women fake fighting women and men fake fighting women may be titillating to a certain demographic, this philosophy really doesn’t lend to the idea of empowering female voters. Not to mention the message it sends to women in general, especially young women. How does she qualify this bizarre dichotomy? How does she justify wanting to represent the people of Connecticut in one of the most austere offices of our Federal government, while supporting the ideal that violence against women by men is morally acceptable?

To be fair, yeah, it is all fake and one does have to make a living somehow, but really this is not the platform from which to launch a career in the Senate. This is a person who by her everyday actions supports the degradation of women for profit. Women on WWE programs are routinely referred to as hos, bitches, sluts, what have you and are portrayed in the very worst possible light. Imagine your daughter emanating this piece of garbage?

Voting this person into office would be like voting in a President whose only job experience was working for an organization that pushed using taxpayer money for housing deals for pimps and pros-t-i-t-u-t….whoops…

Anyway, the idea that a guy like Rob Simmons has to suffer a pre-primary, or possible actual primary campaign against someone of this caliber makes my teeth hurt. I hope this obstacle goes away for Rob so I can start commenting on the pathetic lot that awaits him on the Democratic side! They are not quite as colorful as Linda McMahon, but they do make for good fodder!


Check out this video to get an idea of what Linda McMahon and her company profit from.

Connecticut GOP Needs an Enema

 It should be blatantly obvious I support Rob Simmons in his Senate campaign to replace epic thief Chris Dodd in Connecticut. I’ve stated pretty strongly I think, my opinion on his opponents.

Sadly, the Connecticut GOP in a move both embarrassing to real Republicans and insulting to someone like Simmons who has given his entire career to public service, voted to get behind WWE former CEO Linda McMahon as their Senate candidate. On the surface, I can claim to be completely shocked and appalled by this horrific misstep, but I understand how it happened.

McMahon has the dough, plain and simple. She is a shiny new penny and Rob is the tried and true gold standard. Unfortunately, shallow people fall for the wiles of a shiny new penny almost every time. It is wrong and it’s disgusting when applied to politics, but it is fairly predictable. And, although there is a plethora of things I would like to say about the delegates that get sent to these conventions and allowed to vote, I am going to keep my mouth shut and just rant on other topics.

I say it was predictable because after all it was McMahon’s $16 million bucks of research money which turned the spotlight on Dickie Blumenthal’s (the Democratic challenger), lies about being a Vietnam Veteran when he wasn’t. That was a pretty serious blow to Blumenthal’s campaign and whilst Republicans should be grateful for it, it is no reason to get behind someone who is even more despicable than Blumenthal.

Blumenthal is a sneaky little weasel that has been able to keep his shenanigans from being uncovered by the liberal press. He is a master at staying under the radar screen as far as his actions go. However, he is also brilliant at staying in the spotlight by attending ceremonies and innocuous events. That’s a politician not a public servant. Held to his actual record, Dickie would look pretty evil, ineffective and an amazing waster of taxpayer dollars.

McMahon, well, her character is displayed right out in the open with no filter whatsoever, and she is arrogant enough to believe people will toss aside the image she portrayed as the CEO of a violent, deviant sex promoting and vulgar company in favor of a more caring obsequious Senator-type visage. Those millions are obviously serving her well in this image makeover she has been crafting over the last 18 or so months. She has been able to dazzle the Republican delegates and intends on doing the same for Connecticut voters.

Where the GOP really F’ed up is in buying into the money over message principle. Yes, money does win elections. However, tactically speaking, when you have a candidate with both the ability to raise a considerable amount of money from his potential constituents and has the right message and ability to deliver on that message, then you have a real winner. McMahon may have the personal dough to throw at this thing, but she lacks the integrity, knowledge and ability to empathize with real people.

As the man says: you can’t fix stupid and although this is a blaring injustice on the part of the Connecticut GOP, there is hope.

Simmons has spent virtually nothing getting his message out and the result is he only lost to this scumbag by just over 100 delegate votes. That’s impressive and should serve as a harbinger of how Simmons does business. It also means that he has a campaign fund large enough to merit a primary. That is good for Connecticut voters. I am willing to bet Rob’s message will sink in more with real voters over the types of political hacks that vote in conventions. (Oops, I let my opinion slip there. I will do a post on delegates sometime in the future.)

Primaries kind of suck. They cost a lot of money and cause hard feelings within their respective parties. Time and time again, allies who could be productive in congress with each other working on real issues, become enemies and the whole Democratic process becomes more screwed up. In this case though a primary is warranted as I and many others believe the duped delegates do not represent what real voters want in a candidate.

Simmons will have to pull out all the stops in fighting McMahon in a primary, but he can do it. His people are going to have to put together the right kind of message delivery in terms of serious content mixed with a little mud slinging. What Simmons has in his favor is the fact the mud is for real when it comes to McMahon and not just a bunch of low blows thrown out there to garner support.

I urge all Connecticut Republicans tired of the systematic belittling of our wishes by this Government to go out and vote for Rob and toss this piece of garbage, attention seeking jackass out of the political ring and back into the gutter where she belongs. That way we can start working on punting Dickie Blumenthal into retirement and save us all a lot of dough.

Wrestling Government: Simmons vs. McMahon

I am a great lover of money.

Money is fabulous. Good cold hard cash gives the ability not only to survive, but also to thrive. In a way this country’s raison d’etre is currency and there is really nothing wrong with that. I am actually very lenient when it comes to the means with which money is accumulated with the exception of stealing. However, when it comes to an individuals’ ambition to be a public servant, I believe money should never be a factor, especially when it comes to campaigns.

Left up to me all facets of Government would follow the edict of a 10^th Century Monastic Priory; with the legislature as the priory monks, the President as the Bishop and the People as Pope. All levels of Government would operate from bare bones offices with little or no comforts and the sole purpose of serving the people. They would eat horse-bread softened with weak ale, and spend every waking moment of their term working. Their campaigns would be financed evenly through a very sparse fund made up of taxes. The system would be heavily enforced by the public and the second any legislator, or the President, were observed partaking in anything other than what is rationed, they would unceremoniously be dismissed back into private life.

This way anyone fool enough to run for office would do so with only the best of intentions; that is to serve and not be self-serving. We could avoid those egomaniacal people who feel they should somehow be able to buy their way into government, so they can feel loved, or because it is just the “next thing to do” on their life agenda. We could also avoid the sons and daughters of millionaires who devoid of any need to do anything, decide to run for public office because “they want to make a difference”. Yes, only those with a religious like zeal to serve would run for office.

Ok, my fantasies aside, this is what I really want to talk about. A few months ago I wrote a post about the Senate Race in Connecticut, and the feud between Republican candidates Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon. See it here:

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/02/rob-simmons-vs-linda-mcmahon-smackdown.html  

Linda McMahon is the perfect example of pure narcissistic foulness to be found in recent political history (with the exception of Lord Falderal, he’s the gold standard), while Rob Simmons is the perfect example of the aforementioned public servant.

McMahon is rich, seriously rich, and she doesn’t even try to hide the fact she is using her dough to try and buy her way into the Senate. Which is not incongruous to her character. This is a person who has made her fortune through morally reprehensible means. McMahon and her husband Vince are the owners of the WWE. That alone should give some perspective to the situation.

In other words, she has become rich by advocating violence, sexual depravity, drug use, and myriad other deplorable business undertakings the likes of which could make Larry Flynt blush.

Now McMahon is using that dough to change her persona into that of the ultimate Polly Anna, eschewing values, female empowerment, and appearing to be as boring as Barbara Boxer, or Nancy Pelosi. The question is will all that money be able to erase McMahon’s involvement in such antics as; kicking her husband in the nads in a wrestling ring after he cheated on her with a female wrestler (all scripted), allowing and in fact, supporting scenes in the ring simulating necrophilia, or one of my favs, defending wrestlers employed by the WWE who took part in such austere film renderings as: Girls Chloroform Girls, Tied, Gagged & Frightened, and who could forget, Dirty Soled Dolls.

She has also used her position to obstruct justice (she was never formerly charged of this, it is my opinion) by alerting a Doctor who prescribed steroids to her wrestlers of an impending Federal Investigation against him. This allegedly allowed said doctor to break company with certain pieces of evidence, which would have shed a poor light on McMahon, her husband and their company. The doctor was sentenced to time in a Federal prison and although McMahon’s husband was also brought up on charges he was not convicted. Here is a fun read:

http://www.theday.com/article/20100409/NWS12/100409727/1017

As part of her Polly Anna disguise, McMahon has claimed she is a DC outsider and is wildly against special interest groups. This despite the fact the WWE spent a cool million + bucks lobbying both houses as well as various Federal Agencies. Well, I guess in relative terms she is an outsider, a mil won’t buy you much at the Federal level these days. But, it does prove she is a huge liar; as does a vetting form she filled out for Governor M. Jodi Rell when she was being considered as an appointee to the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009. Out of 29 questions, she answered five to the negative, when proving out found she may have had a lapse in memory. You can check it out here:

http://articles.courant.com/2010-04-04/news/hc-mcmahon-questionnaire-0404.artapr04_1_linda-mcmahon-answers-wrestling

To be fair, I did say in the beginning of this post I have no problem with a little leniency towards how the money is made. After all if there is a demand, I say go ahead and supply. Truth to be told, I would enjoy McMahon’s company say, at a bar, or cocktail party, or maybe an illegal cock fight, but not ever and I mean ever, would I want to see such a person in Government.

In Connecticut, everywhere you look Linda McMahon has an ad. She is trying to win the campaign based on market saturation. That’s dangerous. She realizes the only way she can possibly win is by a complete image overhaul and money tends to be pretty effective in achieving that end. Of course, it is an image overhaul, not a character overhaul. Nothing can change her character. She will always be someone who stood behind violence, drug abuse, and morally reprehensible behavior.

What voters need to do is take the initiative and look at the character of the person running and not the purse they are operating from. A guy like Rob Simmons isn’t in it for the money, the need to be admired, or some other sinister desire. He’s a guy who has done nothing but serve the public his entire career. Through his Military service, time spent in the CIA and Congress, plus his other achievements; Simmons has proven the people are what motivate his actions. THAT is a public servant. I am not sure what the hell Linda McMahon is.

I must admit she has given me a newfound respect for Jesse Ventura!

Power to the People

This election season Connecticut has the perfect opportunity to start the tedious process of taking back their Government, both at the State and Federal level.

August 10th is the primary date in which Republicans can make their voice heard. This is a unique situation where in two very important races the choice is between two people who can buy their way into public office, and two tried and true public servants.

In an era where “throw the bums out” is a recurring mantra, and Congress is sure to be turned upside down, it is easy to make the decision to vote in outsiders. I mean, after all, the battle cry is to rid Government of the fat, happy, and stupid people currently running things. However, it is prudent to consider some of the talent already in place.

There are still good public servants out there. They may not be as flashy as what I refer to as “Sociopathic Politicians”, but they have the public’s interest in mind unlike their competition.

Unfortunately, like the general public, the Grand Old Party in Connecticut is not immune to flashy candidates with big bucks. This year the Connecticut Republican Party opted to go along with the flow of public discontent and endorsed two relative outsiders to politics and public service. In my opinion this was a haphazard and amateurish maneuver.

For the office of Governor of the great State of Connecticut, the GOP endorsed Tom Foley, a former Ambassador to Ireland and holder of a dubious position created by President George W. Bush whereby Foley was supposed to “help the Iraqi state economy get back on track”. This despite Foley’s comparatively dismal performance in managing his own companies and lack of candor in fessing up to the committee that appointed him as to the content of his criminal record. A criminal record, which includes charges of violence against women, as well as, the general public.

http://articles.courant.com/2010-06-25/news/hc-thomas-foley-michael-fedele-0625_1_mr-foley-thomas-foley-arrest-records

Passed over as a GOP endorsed candidate was their own Michael Fedele, current Lieutenant Governor, successful business and family man, and a proven public servant. Fedele also lacks the proverbial skeletons that haunt the closets of Foley. In other words, a man of character, sense of duty, and non-flashy kind of guy.

Fedele could be any one of us. First generation immigrant, who made good, decided to give back, and has had an exemplary run in State Government. What he doesn’t have is Foley’s dough and that is what the Republicans believe will win this election.

Which is why the GOP also endorsed Linda McMahon over Rob Simmons in the Connecticut Senate Race for Chris Dodd’s seat. While a monkey would be better than Chris Dodd, this person doesn’t even rate a monkey’s position on the evolutionary chart.

McMahon is the former CEO of the WWF. Up until two years ago she has advocated general violence, violence against women, pornography, and capitalizing on the general depravity of human nature in order to amass many millions of dollars. But, as it so often goes with Type A personalities who have made well in the business world, it is now time to for Linda McMahon to gain the acceptance of the general public as a whole, by putting on her Polly Anna routine and running for office. A routine that cost many millions of dollars to fabricate, and which has positioned McMahon as a businessperson and Washington outsider. Well, as much as someone who has given countless bucks to lobbyists can be an outsider.

This is what the GOP has chosen over Rob Simmons, a lifelong public servant who not only has an impeccable record in serving his constituents, but a personal one as well. Like Fedele, Simmons hasn’t a nasty instance in his past. Also like Fedele, he doesn’t have the means to tap the kind of money McMahon can. McMahon has dedicated $15 million just to flesh out information on her competition and has said she will allocate as much as $30 million towards this campaign.

Don’t get me wrong, Simmons can raise money, but when you are up against an unending fount such as McMahon’s, it’s hard to compete. Which is sad, and is why it is far time to show where the power really lies.

The power is in your vote, not Foley or McMahon’s pocketbooks. You can be the bastion of common sense the State and country so desperately need.

The public needs to give the GOP a good solid kick to the shins and wake them up. A vote for Foley, or McMahon is doing nothing for you or the public, all it does is give these two clowns another notch in their ego belt.

Go out on August 10^th and send a message. Vote for Fedele and Simmons. Then we can get on to the real business of booting Dickie Blumenthal and Ned Lamont or Dan Malloy into the political hinterlands.

http://fedele2010.com/

http://www.joinrobsimmons.com/

G.I. Dickie

Here’s a tip: If you are going to run in a Senate race and one of your opponents is a decorated War Veteran, don’t falsely claim you served in the same War, you know, unless you really did.

Back in my home state Connecticut; the race is really cooking for Master Thief Chris Dodd’s soon to be vacant Senate seat. I love this race because the comedic value is gigantic. Two of the candidates are amusing as hell.

We have a horrendous purveyor of sex, violence, and all manner of depravity in Linda McMahon, a Republican and part owner of the WWE. Then there is Attorney General Dick Blumenthal, a Democrat who has a penchant for suing and bullying small businesspeople because he doesn’t have enough game to stand out on the National playing field, and has darkened the doorway of the Attorney General’s office since Christ was a Corporal in the foot guard. 

Fortunately, in Connecticut there is an anomaly to political races all over the country; a candidate people can actually get behind with confidence. Republican Rob Simmons. From all the words I have committed to Simmons you would think I was working on the campaign, or was just otherwise kissing his ass. Well, I am not a campaign worker and I have no need to brown nose the man, it is just so rare that a real public servant throws their hat in the ring.

Seldom do I get to showcase a solid and committed candidate. I know in these times it isn’t en vogue to get behind a successful, older white male, considered to be part of the “establishment”. But, there are a few good ones left and Rob is one of them.

I said it before and I will state it one more time, it is almost insulting that Simmons has to suffer battling two such candidates for a seat he is so obviously more qualified to have.

However, this post is not about Simmons qualifications, you can read about that here: http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/search?q=simmons&updated-max=2010-02-09T20%3A25%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

What I want to talk about is Dick Blumenthal falsely claiming, or at least having alluded to serving in Vietnam. The New York Times recently published an article explaining what Dick Blumenthal’s time spent as a Marine really looked like in opposition to what he says at ceremonies and campaign stops.

Par example. Here is a quote from a 2008 address to Veterans and Senior Citizens in Norwalk, CT:

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam. And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

The Times claims the truth is Dickie did everything he could to avoid Vietnam and he did, successfully. Dickie received five deferments, so he could attend Harvard, which on its face isn’t really a big deal, a lot of soldiers did the same thing. However, when it looked like the last deferment might not happen, Dickie worked hard to land himself a far less dangerous gig with the Marine Reserve. You know what those guys do? Arrange perilous local activities and events like organizing Toys for Tots campaigns.

Here is the Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html

Dickie is pretty disgusting at baseline in the way he manipulates and uses ambiguity in his speeches in order to speak out of two sides of his face. He would like you to think he is Joe Lieberman-esque only without Joe’s ability to give frank, honest assessments that may not be popular with his constituents. Dickie wants to make everyone happy even though he has no intention of doing that in actual practice. He will smile at you while twisting the knife up under your rib cage. Oh wait, he’s not trained to do that, but I bet he can wrap up a toy GI Joe nice and pretty.

Using ambiguity or flat out mis-truths when speaking of time served in the Military is particularly disgusting. I don’t care if as a politician you play fast and loose with facts when it comes to shoring up your platform, that’s SOP and people will either see it for what it really is, or not. But, when you claim to have served this country overseas in the line of fire when you haven’t, well, that is particularly despicable and steals away a little piece of valor from all those who have given their lives, limbs, or sanity to make sure we all deservingly or not, get to enjoy the lives we do. 

We reap what we sow in this life and I am glad that FINALLY someone has exposed Dickie for what he really is; a brilliant user of language as power, media savvy about his image and more importantly a dishonest, egotistical, hypocrite whose time in public office should have run out years ago.

Ironically, it was not the NYT that came up with the research, which led to their article. Big surprise, it’s not like they would ever have said anything negative about Dickie on their own. It was Linda McMahon’s crack research team that provided the leads for the NYT to run with. Her campaign likes to brag that they have $16 million to toss at tactical research avenues in order to discredit her opponents. I see this as good for Simmons as he has nothing to hide or run from. For Blumenthal, all I can do is laugh. McMahon’s money is exactly what was needed to expose him for what he really is.

As I finish up this post, it is T-minus 9 minutes until Dickie gets on TV and explains himself. This should be good. Expect an update.

Rob, I hope you sent a nice Thank You note to Linda. She just may be the best thing your campaign has seen yet!

UPDATE:

And, this is his reply:

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/connecticut/blumenthal-admits-he-misspoke-about-vietnam-era-service

Lame.

Well, you can't defend the indefensible. There was a great moment during the news conference during the introduction where the presenter referred to an event for veterans where Dickie stood in the rain giving a speech for 4-5 minutes. This was supposed to show Dickie's true commitment to his country and Veterans and diffuse the issue at hand. Damn, that's good stuff right there!