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PrintAugust 13, 2010
Linda McMahon Wins, Ruling Class Mourns
The professional politicians mocked her. The mainstream media spent each week finding new ways to paint her as the greatest threat ever to Obama's government. Never mind that she had built an entertainment empire worth more than $1.1 billion, and created more private sector jobs in the state of Connecticut than the combined efforts of its Republican and Democratic elites over the past two decades. No, leave it to the wisdom and might of professional politicians and mainstream media: no amateurs need apply.
Linda McMahon refused to give in, forging ahead in her quest for the seat now held by Democratic Senator Chris Dodd. Nasty? Sure, but nothing she had not seen during 30 years creating and heading one of the nation's most successful entertainment companies, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). But she kept going, and this week received 49% of the votes in a three-way primary, with 28% going to the unanimous choice of the political and media elites, a former RINO congressman and Yale professor. Today the ruling class is in mourning.
They tried, and tried hard. The Hearst newspapers, which before the Internet age had dominated the southern portion of the state bordering metropolitan New York City, repeatedly attacked her, citing lack of government experience. Anyone can make money, they said; except, of course, the Hearst newspaper operations, which would no longer exist were it not for the magazine and broadcast divisions.
The New York Times, in particular, used the combined influence of its Manhattan flagship and its fast-disappearing Boson Globe on the northeast border of the state to oppose her. Wrestling, they said, is a nasty business that caters to lowlifes -- you know, the kind of people who live in Queens and are not allowed in the newspaper's taxpayer-subsidized Manhattan headquarters, thanks to lease covenants insisted upon by Times management. She just won't fit in Obama's Washington, they repeatedly told Connecticut primary voters. This week, the Times received a reply: "And your point is...?"
Next up: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a friend of disgraced New York governor Eliot Spitzer who has made a career of suing corporations operating in the state. "I would hope they do a better job of digging into his background, his career of chasing jobs away from the state," she told American Thinker, her voice rising for emphasis. "He knows how to squeeze and stifle business -- is that what we want?"
She just laughs at the wrestling references. She's a "grilled chicken" and "hamburger" kind of lady, she tells us, who has "a better understanding" of where the money for the expense accounts of career politicians like Blumenthal comes from. Blumenthal is nothing if not a career politician with the kind of Ivy League and "anti-business" credentials that would guarantee him a warm welcome in Obama's Washington.
McMahon laughs again. This has been a good week for her. "It's a clear choice between someone who creates jobs, and someone who kills jobs." Someone must be listening. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Blumenthal leading McMahon 50%-40%, a ten point difference. Two weeks ago, the difference was 17 points, and at the beginning of June 23 points.
