Polls showing that Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate Linda
McMahon had overcome a vote advantage once held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris
Murphy have the left among Connecticut commentators – pretty much all
commentators in the state – in a furious snit, best typified by a flare sent airborne
by Colin McEnroe, the host of The
Colin McEnroe Show on Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR). In addition to
hosting his own program at WNPR, Mr. McEnroe is a Hartford Courant columnist:
“When all else
fails, hit her with the dirtiest smear: Constantly mention that she's a
Republican. She could tip the Senate into Republican control. Republican means
you don't get the Medicare you've been paying for all these years. It means
pre-existing conditions are back on the list of Gigantic Worries, and your
24-year-old can be kicked off your policy. It means your taxes go up and LeBron
James' don't (sic). I am fond of many Republicans, but I wouldn't want to run as one
in Connecticut in 2012. So: She's a Republican. (This is something she keeps on
the down-low.) Republican! Republican!”
It doesn’t take much more than mere identification with the
Republican Party in true blue Connecticut to sink a candidate below the waves.
Former U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker, for many years a “Republican,” constructed
his entire congressional career on this perception, shamelessly using his own
party as a foil to curry favor with more numerous Democrats. Among Mr. Weicker’s most memorable and
often quoted witticisms is one in which he titles himself “the turd in the
Republican Party punchbowl.”
Among Mrs. McMahon’s more vulnerable soft spots is the
“pornographic” nature of some performances in the ring by wrestlers associated
with World Wide Entertainment (WWE). It becomes necessary to bracket the word
“pornographic” in quotes to avoid the threat of a suit from WWE lawyers.
Of course, it is quite true that pornography is very much in the eye of the
beholder. Supreme Court decisions on what is or is not pornographic are
ambiguous, but most people assume that, like love, they will know it when they
see it.
That said, the “pornographic” charge appears to have lost
much of its potency since present U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal raised the flag
against Mrs. McMahon in his senatorial campaign. Mr. Blumenthal was somewhat
hobbled in that campaign by his persistent often repeated lies concerning his service in Vietnam,
but the lies were not fatal. Since Mrs. McMahon’s earlier campaign, WWE has
moved pretty aggressively to tamp down the erotica once prominently displayed
in its programs.
The vigorous assault, coming as it did from the left, was
always ideologically dissonant if not suspect. Watching the assault on Mrs.
McMahon in full cry, one was struck by the anti-pornographic vehemence coming
from the left side of the ideological barricades. It was as if every leftward
leaning political columnist in Connecticut had woken up on the wrong side of his
ideology. The left in America for the past half century has concerned itself
mostly with promoting sexual liberation and abortion on demand, while stoutly defending on First Amendment grounds
Hugh Heffner’s right to publish in his magazine both his sociological philosophy and
centerfolds of well-endowed women. As sometimes happens in the United States, the pornographic movement
progressed well beyond the bounds set by the sexually active Mr. Heffner. The
exploitation of women, mostly by men, continued apace without let or hindrance
-- until Mrs. McMahon was nominated by Republicans!!! to run for Congress.
Mr. Weicker, whose finer sensibilities were not engaged when
he was serving on the board of WWE and pulling down a salary of $150,000 per
annum, was moved to protest against WWE, much improved since Mr. Weicker began
pulling in the dough, only after he had been forced off the board.
Mr. Weicker recently endorsed Mr. Murphy for the Senate. No
surprise there.
At some point, one expects Mr. Weicker, the only millionaire
the left in Connecticut admires, will show up on Mr. McEnroe’s program, his “Maverick” flag flapping in a sprightly manner,
where both can advise Mr. Murphy how best to rebut the public perception
advanced in Mrs. McMahon’s ads that Mr. Murphy has been a slacker in paying his
rent and mortgage. The key to success for Mr. Murphy, the two comrades in arms
doubtless will agree, lies in mentioning as often as possible that she is a
Republican!!! In a state in which
everyone in Connecticut’s congressional delegation is a Democrat!!!, would it not be
calamitous to elect one Republican – other than the former “turd in the
Republican Party punchbowl” -- to
balance the extremist progressive ideology embraced by Mr. McEnroe and Mr.
Weicker?
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