Earlier this week, former WWE exec Linda McMahon, who's running for a Senate seat in Connecticut, attempted to draw away some of the criticism she's getting for leading a company where her husband made a female employee bark like a dog and her son-in-law boinked a corpse. To do this, she pointed to a recent video message President Obama recorded for the troops which will air on the WWE's Tribute to the Troops program this weekend. Mrs. McMahon reasoning is this: the President supports the troops; WWE supports the troops; therefore, the President supports the WWE.
Despite this being a deductive fallacy, we still think Linda has a point about President Obama on board with the WWE's programming. And why not? As McMahon says, the WWE does a lot of good things for the community, for charities like Make a Wish, and for the American troops overseas. However, the President is saying that in no way was that message meant exclusively for WWE's Tribute to the Troops.
Apparently the President simply records generic messages for armed forces and sends them out to all sorts of media outlets on the off-chance that one of them might want to air them. One of those, of course, being NBC, which just so happens to be showing a rasslin' show shot in Iraq in front of a couple thousand servicemen and women this very weekend. An odd coincidence indeed, but like he says, he doesn't mention WWE by name, so there's absolutely no connection there.
Again, Linda McMahon's reasoning is a little faulty, but that doesn't mean she's not right. Now, we're not going so far as to say that President Obama reads our blog (we keep pretty good track of our readership - it's easy when there's only three of you), but he certainly hasn't balked at the idea of using the instant audience professional wrestling provides in the past. We should probably remind you of this gem:
That was during the campaign, and yes, Randy Orton's reign did come to an end, but he also regained the title a couple of times, so we can hardly say you've enacted any real change there. He still terrorizes the WWE at will. We're going to call that one a wash at best.
But it gets worse. Take a look at this video from a Democratic primary debate, where then-Senator Obama practically channels Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson to "lay the smack down" on Hillary Clinton.
You can't tell us that he didn't tune in at least a little bit during the Attitude era. Hell, everyone did, so that's no big deal, sir. You can tell us.
Finally, President Obama even has WWE entrance themes, which has to be proof that he's at least somewhat associated with the WWE. There is, of course, his campaign entrance:
And now they're already working on his second theme, to use when he goes back on the campaign trial for the 2012 election. Since we're buddies with the WWE interns, they sent us a rough cut, though it's anything but rough:
With this preponderance of evidence, it seems to be nothing but the truth to say that the President not only supports the WWE, but is involved in some of the backroom politics. We suggest you come clean about this, Mr. President, because it's the sort of thing that can come back and bite you. Until then, the Laugh Twins will be watching.
Showing posts with label Linda McMahon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda McMahon. Show all posts
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
You really matter, for really realz.
Major news has come out of Stamford, as WWE CEO Linda McMahon has resigned that position and no longer works for that company. Her husband, Vince McMahon, will take over her duties. The business ramifications of this are at this time uncertain (read: there are none), but her reason for leaving is interesting. Seems she's making a run at the US Senate.
Mrs. McMahon cites her brief tenure as a member of the Connecticut Board of Education as a selling point about her values and priorities for the state. She also emphasizes her financial policies and history, as well some of her campaign finance reforms. But see for yourself.
Now, if we can be serious for a minute (Lance Storm impression!), we need to emphasize again that we are not advocating nor condemning Mrs. McMahon's candidacy. But we do have a few questions that we think any concerned citizen would be curious about.
For instance, what is this successful business that you grew in Connecticut? Surely being the former CEO of a publicly traded company that has created jobs, but we'd like more information. Is it perhaps the wrestling (BAD WORD!) business? The same business that gave us this:
Or what about this moment straight out of the archives of NOW?
The man squealing along on commentary is running for Mayor of Memphis, by the way.
Of course, WWE's presentation of women's issues are not totally bad. They did hire Vickie Guerrero, an overweight housewife who ended up becoming one of the top characters on a network television program. And she got her position just like anyone else would get a job.
Oh wait, no she didn't. She was hired because her husband (whose previous drug addictions they exploited via books, DVD's, and storylines) died (which they also exploited) on their watch. And he was also best friends with the guy whose career in wrestling caused enough brain damage that he murdered his wife and child, and then killed himself. The same guy WWE then ran a tribute show for. And let's not forget the most recent example of a top star who "has never been to rehab" and could "heal himself" and then got busted with enough painkillers and steroids to possibly net himself some prison time. The same man who conveniently happened to leave the company a week before his arrest. So yes, we can sort of understand why Mrs. McMahon would fail to mention her company.
Except that you have to.
Any muckraker worth his salt is going to dig up this dirt. Still, there is an argument to be made that Mrs. McMahon had little to do with this. She was not involved with creative decisions, they could argue. Well the one thing they can mention is the status of her business. Yea, that stock that steadily declines.
Granted, the stock has gone up since the beginning of the Raw guest host program, but it is still down from about two years ago this time. And it's not just the stock, but PPV buys are in steady decline, as are merchandise sales. So sure, Shaq may pop the rating (money which WWE does not see), but they aren't selling their product effectively.
Does this qualify her to be Senator? We can't say and neither of us live in Connecticut, so it's relatively moot anyways. And to be fair, her policy on campaign finance is intriguing. We also don't feel that being part of the wrestling business is anything to be ashamed of. She also has the benefit of not having any skeletons in the closet (as they are out in the open), so she could very well surprise us and run a successful campaign. She could almost be the billionaire who's a common woman and being victimized by the media. It could work.
Just don't color us shocked when people don't take her seriously while they crap on wrestling some more.
Mrs. McMahon cites her brief tenure as a member of the Connecticut Board of Education as a selling point about her values and priorities for the state. She also emphasizes her financial policies and history, as well some of her campaign finance reforms. But see for yourself.
Now, if we can be serious for a minute (Lance Storm impression!), we need to emphasize again that we are not advocating nor condemning Mrs. McMahon's candidacy. But we do have a few questions that we think any concerned citizen would be curious about.
For instance, what is this successful business that you grew in Connecticut? Surely being the former CEO of a publicly traded company that has created jobs, but we'd like more information. Is it perhaps the wrestling (BAD WORD!) business? The same business that gave us this:
Or what about this moment straight out of the archives of NOW?
The man squealing along on commentary is running for Mayor of Memphis, by the way.
Of course, WWE's presentation of women's issues are not totally bad. They did hire Vickie Guerrero, an overweight housewife who ended up becoming one of the top characters on a network television program. And she got her position just like anyone else would get a job.
Oh wait, no she didn't. She was hired because her husband (whose previous drug addictions they exploited via books, DVD's, and storylines) died (which they also exploited) on their watch. And he was also best friends with the guy whose career in wrestling caused enough brain damage that he murdered his wife and child, and then killed himself. The same guy WWE then ran a tribute show for. And let's not forget the most recent example of a top star who "has never been to rehab" and could "heal himself" and then got busted with enough painkillers and steroids to possibly net himself some prison time. The same man who conveniently happened to leave the company a week before his arrest. So yes, we can sort of understand why Mrs. McMahon would fail to mention her company.
Except that you have to.
Any muckraker worth his salt is going to dig up this dirt. Still, there is an argument to be made that Mrs. McMahon had little to do with this. She was not involved with creative decisions, they could argue. Well the one thing they can mention is the status of her business. Yea, that stock that steadily declines.
Granted, the stock has gone up since the beginning of the Raw guest host program, but it is still down from about two years ago this time. And it's not just the stock, but PPV buys are in steady decline, as are merchandise sales. So sure, Shaq may pop the rating (money which WWE does not see), but they aren't selling their product effectively.
Does this qualify her to be Senator? We can't say and neither of us live in Connecticut, so it's relatively moot anyways. And to be fair, her policy on campaign finance is intriguing. We also don't feel that being part of the wrestling business is anything to be ashamed of. She also has the benefit of not having any skeletons in the closet (as they are out in the open), so she could very well surprise us and run a successful campaign. She could almost be the billionaire who's a common woman and being victimized by the media. It could work.
Just don't color us shocked when people don't take her seriously while they crap on wrestling some more.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The Greatest Crime in American History (aka a post for the fellas)
We touched on this last Thursday, but further thought of it has warranted a whole new post. Linda McMahon has been elected to the Connecticut Board of Education. It was a long battle to get her on the board, and many state Democrats objected to her nomination because they thought her family business was unacceptable.
She actually looks kind of like Linda McMahon
Now, John McCain said we watch wrestling because we love freedom, but he didn't win, so clearly the only wrestling related agenda is in regards to Randy Orton. So, in response to to legislators' concerns, the WWE has gradually toned down the sauciness of their product. You may have noticed that all WWE programming is now rated TV-PG, as a year ago at this time it was TV-14. John Cena's finishing move has been retitled "The Attitude Adjustment" from "The F-U." And colorful, family friendly characters like Goldust and Hornswaggle still have jobs. This is all well and good with us, since we think the kiddos should be able to stay up past 10:15 and not have their brains warped. But then we thought about it a little harder.
For the last ten year's the WWE has chosen to promote Wrestlemania by having their lovely divas do a nude pictorial in the pages of Playboy magazine. It's usually announced who the lucky lady is around February and we get a solid two months of her dressing slutty, having some male wrestler object to her nudity, and having the famous Playboy bunny logo being Incorporated into her Titantron video. It's a fun time. Still, here we are in March and we haven't heard a peep about it.
That's when it hit us.
To get Mrs. McMahon on the board the WWE did not reach out to Playboy this year. It's the only logical explanation! What is this? Communist Russia?! We demand our boobs! And our landing strips! It's a crime against us, the mature wrestling fan who waits all years to see what we could very easily imagine and more often then not lets us down! It's wrong! Wrong!
Still, we are adults, and thus we have to accept this reality. So, in tribute to some of the former WWE divas in Playboy, we are going to post a few classic shots, with some tasteful additions.
She actually looks kind of like Linda McMahon
Now, John McCain said we watch wrestling because we love freedom, but he didn't win, so clearly the only wrestling related agenda is in regards to Randy Orton. So, in response to to legislators' concerns, the WWE has gradually toned down the sauciness of their product. You may have noticed that all WWE programming is now rated TV-PG, as a year ago at this time it was TV-14. John Cena's finishing move has been retitled "The Attitude Adjustment" from "The F-U." And colorful, family friendly characters like Goldust and Hornswaggle still have jobs. This is all well and good with us, since we think the kiddos should be able to stay up past 10:15 and not have their brains warped. But then we thought about it a little harder.
For the last ten year's the WWE has chosen to promote Wrestlemania by having their lovely divas do a nude pictorial in the pages of Playboy magazine. It's usually announced who the lucky lady is around February and we get a solid two months of her dressing slutty, having some male wrestler object to her nudity, and having the famous Playboy bunny logo being Incorporated into her Titantron video. It's a fun time. Still, here we are in March and we haven't heard a peep about it.
That's when it hit us.
To get Mrs. McMahon on the board the WWE did not reach out to Playboy this year. It's the only logical explanation! What is this? Communist Russia?! We demand our boobs! And our landing strips! It's a crime against us, the mature wrestling fan who waits all years to see what we could very easily imagine and more often then not lets us down! It's wrong! Wrong!
Still, we are adults, and thus we have to accept this reality. So, in tribute to some of the former WWE divas in Playboy, we are going to post a few classic shots, with some tasteful additions.
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