Another Regret: Why Did CT Choose McMahon Over Simmons?

At the end of Coulter's column:

Connecticut voters wouldn't mind a World Wrestling Entertainment impresario.

Connecticut isn't Minnesota. Anyone with the slightest familiarity with Connecticut knew WWE owner Linda McMahon never had a chance even against Dick Blumenthal, a Democrat so repulsive even The New York Times attacked him.

Republicans had the ideal Connecticut candidate in Rob Simmons, who lost the primary to McMahon. He had won in liberal districts before, was a graduate of Haverford College and Harvard University, was an Army colonel who served in Vietnam and teaches at Yale. He also never kicked a man in the groin for entertainment. But Simmons didn't have McMahon's money, so Republicans went with McMahon.

If, instead of listening to pundits guess how many jellybeans are in the jar, the conservative media had showcased Simmons, he would have won the primary, and today conservatives and liberals would be united in joy over the defeat of Dick Blumenthal.

Rob Simmons' campaign kept sending me emails throughout the primary, and I was strongly inclined to support him, but somewhere along the way I got the idea he was a RINO, and if I endorsed a RINO, I'd be some kind of traitor.

It was only after he had suspended his campaign (he suspended it, without formally withdrawing) that I read a column of Coulter's supporting him. Cover!, I thought. But it was also too late-- a guy with a suspended campaign isn't going to win, right?

I don't know if Coulter supported him previous to this. If she did, I missed it. (Which is very possible; I read about 1/3rd of her columns.)

I sure wish she had been more vocal about her support for Simmons. It seemed almost too perfect to me -- a real Vietnam vet against a guy who lied about being a Vietnam vet -- that I was just utterly puzzled about why no one was jumping on to this bandwagon.

Linda McMahon is probably a fine woman and was a fairly decent candidate. But that lowbrow WWE stuff isn't going to sell in one of the wealthiest, blue-bloodiest states in the nation.

I guess I should have just supported him myself, cover or not, but then, I am really sick of being called a RINO and I made it a practice to stay out of primaries, generally, unless the choice was obvious (Rubio, Miller, and, yes, Castle).

Hey, Laura! Put me some information -- you must know why this happened. Was Simmons a bad campaigner or something?

Answer to Ace's question from lauraw: Rob who?

McMahon's advertising and outreach from Day 1 was like a 500-lb. gorilla overshadowing all others on the field of play. It wasn't fair, but this isn't pinochle.

There was a spoof billboard in southern CT that looked like one of her campaign ads; a picture of her, her name across the banner, and then the slogan: "Because she's bought everything else."
Even though I supported her I had to laugh, because...it was a very apt criticism.

I still think Linda could have won if her campaign had figured out a way to showcase the fact that Blumenthal is a fucking sociopath.

The man is sick.

posted by Ace at 04:26 PM

| Access Comments