Linda McMahon for Senate catch-all thread

[Dan]

I was bored so I looked at Simmon's youtube page. It's possibly noteworthy that there's almost no positive feedback. The ubiquitous pro wres fans and libertarians skew the averages probably, but it still doesn't look good for him.

 

For example:

 

Front page

 

twinsrule8907 (1 month ago)

Rob, if you really want the best for the country, please drop out of the race and endorse Peter Schiff. But don't take my word for it, check him out on youtube!

 

ric0rich (2 months ago)

Peter Schiff in 2010!

 

kylerocks1409 (2 months ago)

wow nice wwe vid and that was sexy

 

WalkProp (3 months ago)

Peter Schiff for senate

 

thane17 (3 months ago)

May as well drop out now Rob, Peter Schiff is going to do circles around you. If anyone doesn't know Peter Schiff yet just Youtube him, he's a legend in investment circles!!!

 

jonassaetre (3 months ago)

You don't stand a chance. GO PETER SCHIFF!

 

pdeg001 (3 months ago)

VOTE PETER SCHIFF! he is a true conservative

 

czargwar (3 months ago)

The best thing you can do is drop out of the race and endorse Peter Schiff, and support him both with time and your connections and with money, then I might consider you a viable candidate for future elections

 

ciottini (4 months ago)

Gooooo Peter Schiff

 

"WrestleMania VII" video comments

 

MrBTY

Yawn. If the dude could have non-pro wrestling related videos that'd be great. another thing, why the crap is it so low budget? Seriously you have all this campaign money and you can't make a political video not done in Windows Movie Maker that'd be great.

 

theliberterian

Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons are both clueless about economics, period. In 2010 can we please elect people that understand economics and free market?

Any thinking person that has done research on the 3 candidates should be voting for Peter Schiff.

Peter Schiff 2010!

 

CTSadler

What the hell is that background music? Billy Joel? This is some creepy and exploitative shit from a failing candidate.

 

MrPackleader

On March 25 2010 Ron Simmons exploited the untimely death of several wwe wrestlers

 

burningfnhammer

If Barack Obama had ran a corrupt business with many deaths, you all would be all on it.

 

gribbo2001

Clutching at straws rob - independent contractors have freedom of choice.

 

vanhalen2005

what the fuck does this have to do with a run for the senate

 

thehitman454

Well I'm sure glad those all those wrestlers died to help your campaign Mr Simmons. How very convenient for you. The McMahon family might have blood on it's hands, but your smearing that blood all over your campaign. How very cheap and low of you. Best of luck with your campaign.

 

ants84

As a wrestling fan myself for almost 20 years, I find the thought of Linda McMahon been elected to a position of power within the U.S. political system, one of the most ludicrous, terrifying & downright laughable scenarios you could think of. This video only touches the surface on the amount of drug related deaths that the WWE simply turned a blind eye to over the past 20+ years. I could list endless reasons as to why she is simply unelectable under any circumstances, but this video says enough. 3 weeks ago

 

ThatWrestlingShow

Rob Simmons mourns the death of all these talented preformers who left us too soon... As long as there's a camera infront of his face

 

Wouldn't it be refreshing to hear Simmon's OWN plans and ideas for positive change in Connecticut rather than attacking his opponent. What does this prove about her politics? I don't see how these issues relate or connect. Yes perhaps she made her money at the price of many men's health, but those were all grown men who made bad decisions all by themselves. 3 3 weeks ago

 

BadLuckBrett Exactly my point, he is exploiting these deaths by seemingly making this issue a main point of his platform, while we all know as soon as he takes office he will go back to considering these performers and their fans as subhuman.

 

Just another blatant smear campaign. He is no better than the people he is accusing of these atrocities.

 

 

BadLuckBrett

Isn't it odd how politicians only just now feel that there may be an issue of wrestlers passing on too young? At a time when it suits their campaign.

 

SharonGlen

What makes it worse is that Vince was always the one insisting these guys had to have huge superhuman physiques or they wouldn't get pushed; he enouraged many of these bad habits, and still refuses to admit steroids are even harmful.

 

BadLuckBrett @SharonGlen -

While no doubt there are many evils in the promotion of professional wrestling. But Simmons is just as guilty as what he's accusing the McMahons of, which is exploiting the deaths of these wrestlers for personal gain.

 

SharonGlen @BadLuckBrett:

Maybe. But people should still be aware of who they're voting for.

 

BadLuckBrett Sharon,

Do you honestly believe that if Simmons is elected he will introduce any sort of legislature to protect the well being of professional wrestlers in the future?

 

SharonGlen

Probably not, Bret. But since Linda's solely running on the success of her family business, it is perfectly reasonable for people to bring up her atrocious record as an employer.

 

BadLuckBrett

Exactly my point, he is exploiting these deaths by seemingly making this issue a main point of his platform, while we all know as soon as he takes office he will go back to considering these performers and their fans as subhuman.

Just another blatant smear campaign. He is no better than the people he is accusing of these atrocities.

 

GavMaca @BadLuckBrett

Couldn't agree more.

 

"WWE Sex and Violence Always Sell" [video of the HLA angle from 2002, where the lesbians get assualted by Rosey and Jamal.]

 

Kingkiller37

Omg they are h00000t but the fucking boys that was real !!!

 

Ravens0316

That is soo awesome!!! I love the WWE. 1 VOTE FOR LINDA BABY!!

 

bloodwatch

Haha, people watch this?

 

lolex169

that actually looked real

 

aaalittleman

Lolz

 

cslicer

This is so wrong !

 

robertsjackw

The McMahon's have showed violence against men as well as women, you sexists!

 

"Sexy Bitch" video

 

YearOfTheBandicoot

This is retarded, you and your shitty propaganda Rob Simmons I hope you burn in hell with Himmler

 

Ravens0316

Some people a just pathetic! I have watched WWE since 1989 and im just fine. College graduate and a good job. For god sake grow a set a bal*s!

 

rollsthepaul

Classy, you know, like Dubya ass fucking his roommate at Yale. What kind of a country would go mainstream with this filth, USA,USA,USA,USA. The USA is over and this pathetic shadow of it's former self, has risen from the ashes.

[Bix]

YouTube comments are the worst thing ever created, so I refuse to read those.

[sek69]

It should be noted that Linda has the best possible astroturf squad already in place with WWE fans. Given the level of discourse on sites like YouTube it would be next to impossible for a stereotypical paid shill to stand out unless they used complete sentences and spelled correctly.

[S.L.L.]

YouTube comments are the worst thing ever created, so I refuse to read those.

I did, and for what it's worth, while it was mostly people arguing that Simmons pointing out the exploitation of others is exploitation itself (par for the course for wrestling fans if the fallout from "Ring of Hell" taught us anything), a "BadLuckBrett" does sneak in one legit good point:

 

Isn't it odd how politicians only just now feel that there may be an issue of wrestlers passing on too young? At a time when it suits their campaign.

It's fine and dandy that Simmons is calling out Linda on the WWE's insane 19th century business practices, but if he hypothetically gets elected and goes right back to ignoring said exploitation...yeah.

[Ditch]

It's fine and dandy that Simmons is calling out Linda on the WWE's insane 19th century business practices, but if he hypothetically gets elected and goes right back to ignoring said exploitation...yeah.

Are you suggesting that pro wrestling regulation would be a low priority issue should the GOP regain the Senate? I wonder what would give you that idea.

[Bob Morris]

It's fine and dandy that Simmons is calling out Linda on the WWE's insane 19th century business practices, but if he hypothetically gets elected and goes right back to ignoring said exploitation...yeah.

Are you suggesting that pro wrestling regulation would be a low priority issue should the GOP regain the Senate? I wonder what would give you that idea.

 

I don't think it had to do with any party in particular as it has to do with how politicians are more than happy to use some issues so they can to get votes, then turn around and ignore them once they win the election.

[S.L.L.]

It's fine and dandy that Simmons is calling out Linda on the WWE's insane 19th century business practices, but if he hypothetically gets elected and goes right back to ignoring said exploitation...yeah.

Are you suggesting that pro wrestling regulation would be a low priority issue should the GOP regain the Senate? I wonder what would give you that idea.

 

I think my Asperger's is working up. Is this sarcasm?

[Ditch]

Yessir. And yes it would apply equally were the parties reversed.

 

I just love the concept that someone, somewhere might cast a vote based on the possibility that a politician would clean up pro wrestling if elected to the senate.

[Guest Slickster]

Seriously, anyone who runs on cleaning up pro wrestling will get laughed out of the building (and deservedly so). Wrestling needs some reforms, but to run on such a niche campaign platform makes you look like a joke candidate.

[kjh]

Wrestling fans in missing the point shocker. Simmons isn't running a campaign on cleaning up pro wrestling, he's running a campaign on Linda McMahon being unfit to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator of Connecticut due to her sleazy past. Which I think is a valid point to make given that Linda McMahon only started caring about politics when the company she was CEO of was investigated by Congress.

[S.L.L.]

Yessir. And yes it would apply equally were the parties reversed.

 

I just love the concept that someone, somewhere might cast a vote based on the possibility that a politician would clean up pro wrestling if elected to the senate.

Oh, good. I feel grounded now.

[Death From Above]

I just love the concept that someone, somewhere might cast a vote based on the possibility that a politician would clean up pro wrestling if elected to the senate.

Well yeah, pretty much.

 

I mean, the US Government still hasn't moved on whether or not it's going to follow through on that asshat bill Bush's friends passed through in the last days trying to regulate/ban online poker yet, because the bill is so badly worded it's unenforceable. On one hand they can (and frankly should) be legalizing it and taxing it to hell the way they do live casinos, because they are literally costing themselves hundreds of millions of dollars (if not in the low billions) in revenue. And on the other hand you have the people that want it to stay banned with powerful lobby friends, many of whom (by sheer coincidence to be sure) are live casino owners who are losing business to the online people and lo and behold think that spinning one form of gambling as immoral over another is going to fly. That's not even bringing in the issue of organized crime (on both sides of the fence), or things like the Kentucky horse racing people that are taking such a rake out of their "legal" live gambling that you almost have to be like the guy in A Beautiful Mind levels of smart to make money playing, who are of course also on some level involved in lobbying. Or touching on the entire ethics of legalized gambling in general and where everyone stands on it. Or on the need that if one wants to enforce a ban, that the original bill needs reworking to be feasible. That's the really short condensed version anyway.

 

Nobody cares about this issue in terms of powerful politicians or the media. I doubt much of the general public really does either. Even though we're talking directly about hundreds of millions in potential tax (and licensing) revenue vs. semi-ethics (which is as far as the ethics around gambling can go in a discussion involving politicians). Small fries, etc etc

 

The point I'm making there is if that isn't really on the radar even when we're talking about really a pretty good amount of money, wrestling is about a million miles away. Governments deal with issues that effect the pocketbook, or are creating enough social talk that they are forced into action. Wrestling doesn't land in either camp and probably never will, which is why the business is what it is in many ways.

 

YouTube comments are the worst thing ever created, so I refuse to read those.

I'm still trying to figure out since Youtube did a little redesign if there's still a way to just permanently close the comments section like there used to be, but there doesn't seem to be. Which is retarded, really.

[Ditch]

WON:

"Linda McMahon pumped another $8 million this past week into her campaign, making $14.5 million she has spent thus far. Her campaign is almost completely self funded, as there have been only $5,454 in outside donations."

[jdw]

Yikes!

 

She also had a funny "voter registration" thing going that was ironic relative to the wingnuts going batshit over ACORN.

 

John

[kjh]

Ditch, she's limiting campaign contributions to $100 and has been very open about wanting to self finance her campaign, so that number sounds a lot worse than it actually is in reality.

[Loss]

I just love the concept that someone, somewhere might cast a vote based on the possibility that a politician would clean up pro wrestling if elected to the senate.

I could see Tommy Dreamer voting for someone based on their love of ECW and the boys in the back.

[Ditch]

Ditch, she's limiting campaign contributions to $100 and has been very open about wanting to self finance her campaign, so that number sounds a lot worse than it actually is in reality.

Saying "I'm going to give a lot to the campaign" and limiting donations is one thing, but there's like 6th place House primary candidates doing better than that. There's a reasonably big "donate" button on her homepage. That's just a pitiful amount, and I'd take her over Blumenthal just as much as any red-blooded wingnut.

[kjh]

She also had a funny "voter registration" thing going that was ironic relative to the wingnuts going batshit over ACORN.

McMahon campaign drops $5 'bounty' for Republican registrations

 

Asked about the Hearst article during a weekend campaign stop at a Tea Party forum in Waterbury, McMahon, according to video of the event, told the audience "as strange as it may sound, I found out about that policy by reading the paper."

[Guest Slickster]

I don't quite understand her desire to self-finance her campaign. I'm not sure how much money the McMahons have, but $15 million is a lot of money to most people.

[Ditch]

They're worth hundreds of millions on paper and have banked millions from dividends year after year since going public, plus whatever assets they had before then.

[sek69]

It's been something to see the McMahon short sightedness we've all been used to as wrestling fans get applied to politics.

 

I can see how self-financing the campaign lets Linda say she's not controlled by special interests, but she doesn't realize the fact that she can finance a multi million dollar campaign out of pocket puts her way out of touch of most of the people she wants to vote for her (even by CT standards).

[kjh]

Linda McMahon caught gloating that she exposed Dick Blumenthal to be a lying carny just like her

[jdw]

The positive is that if Blumenthal pulls out (or if forced to pull out, or gentely taken out back and smacked around until pulling out), the Dems have a deep bench in CT to draw from. Especially if Linda wins the nomination. I suspect a lot of people such as Rep. Chris Murphy or Gov Candidate Ned Lamont would be happy to slide in. Murphy probably doesn't want to open up a seat in the House to more risk, and likely looking towards 2012 when:

 

* he can target Lying Lieb for a Senate race

* Obama in on the ticket

* those combined would help down ticket with the replacement Dem Rep nominee

 

So Murph may not. But Lamont may see a run opposite a crazy person like Linda as being more attractive than a gov primary and then a gov general election, along with the pull of the Senate: six years + high incumbent re-election rates.

 

Anyway, this isn't good for Blume, but not a disaster for the Dems relative to Linda if they figure out the potential damage to Blume and act quickly if the damage looks to be a campaign killer.

 

John

[Ditch]

I don't think this is enough to sway things in a state like Connecticut. If it's the south or midwest, sure, but Conn isn't a big chest-thumpin' military locale and Blum had such a big cushion to work with. Plus it's 5 and a half months out, nobody's going to care about one line after a few weeks.

[Ronnie]

Michael Benoit has written to the Hartford Courant outlining why CT voters shouldn't vote for McMahon.

 

Watching from afar, I've observed with interest the U.S. Senate campaign in Connecticut because of my experiences with Linda McMahon and her business, World Wrestling Entertainment. While she spends millions of dollars earned through her professional wrestling empire to flood Connecticut's airwaves and mailboxes promoting her Republican candidacy, state voters should know there is another side to McMahon and the WWE.

 

My son, Chris Benoit, 40, was one of WWE's top superstars. In June 2007, our lives changed dramatically, when he tragically killed his wife, son and himself. The press jumped on steroids as the cause of his actions. But tests showed that brain damage in the form of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, not steroids, was responsible for our loss. CTE, caused by repetitive trauma to the brain, can bring on serious disorders such as a loss of emotional control, addictions to drugs and alcohol, depression, aggressive and violent behavior.

 

Most people view wrestling as fake and the McMahon family pushed that theory to avoid regulation. But in its lust for higher ratings and dollars, WWE began demanding that performers use more weapons and dangerous stunts in wrestling matches. Although matches are rigged and scripted, the harsh physical abuse in the form of blunt force steel chair shots to the head and power bombs through tables onto cement floors are real. I believe that this change in the industry is responsible for the majority of deaths it experienced in the last 20 years.

 

Another WWE wrestler, Andrew Martin, was 33 when he died. What did Andrew Martin have in common with my son? He was one of many of McMahon's former wrestlers who died prematurely, and he was the second wrestler to have his brain examined for signs of CTE after death. Martin had the same shocking brain damage as my son. The human skull is not designed to withstand and protect the brain from the abuse the McMahon's insisted their wrestlers endure. Yet, since the late '80s, these are the matches into which the McMahon's have pushed their talent.

 

USA Today in 2004 published research stating that wrestlers are 20 times more likely to die before the age of 45 than are pro football players. What has the McMahon family done to make pro wrestling safer? They will spend up to $50 million to get Linda elected to a position where she could head off any effort to regulate their business.

 

The WWE and Linda McMahon evade any responsibility for the early deaths that their industry suffers at an astronomical rate. After the Martin tests were completed, I sought to educate the McMahons about the scientific findings on brain trauma and how their wrestling stunts could cause this serious and fatal health issue. They were having none of it. It was clear, the McMahons were more interested in making hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of these wrestlers, whom they regard as little more than circus animals to be ridden until their value expires.

 

On CNN in 2007, Vince McMahon, Linda's husband, said they had stopped wrestlers from smashing each other's heads with chairs. That practice, however, was not ended until January of this year — scores of "head shots" later. There are still all sorts of weapons and stunts that the McMahons use to equally dangerous effect. For a sport that is "fake," there is an all too disturbing reality.

 

You might say that these young wrestlers make their own choices, and that is true. And the McMahons entice them with prospects for fame, wealth and glory that few achieve. If this were any other business or sport, there would be congressional hearings and laws passed to reform this dirty and dangerous enterprise. The McMahons have steadfastly held that wrestlers are just independent contractors and not entitled to health care benefits, pensions or unionization to represent their best interests.

 

This is how Linda McMahon made the money she uses for her Senate race. This is how she ran her business. This is the true character behind the fancy, Hollywood advertisements. I pray the people of Connecticut do not allow her to buy her way into the world's most distinguished legislative body.