Inside Pulse Wrestling | A Way Too Brilliant Idea for Connecticut Voters

A Way Too Brilliant Idea for Connecticut Voters

by Charlie Reneke on October 30, 2010

Hey folks, Charlie here.Â In case you haven’t heard, this Tuesday during the election the WWE will be offering free WWE merchandise 75 feet away from select polling places around the state of Connecticut in what is in no way a highly illegal attempt to bribe WWE fans to come to the polls and vote for Linda McMahon, a person with practically no connection at all with WWE.Â No sir, not in any way, shape, or form.

I will be addressing this and the whole “Stand Up for WWE” fiasco soon on Pulse, but until then, I’ve stumbled upon a brilliant idea.

The WWE claims that this is in no way an endorsement of either canadidate.Â Let’s watch them put their money (in this case, free stuff) where their mouths are.Â If you’re from Connecticut and you intend to vote, regardless of what party you belong to, show up to the polls on Tuesday wearing Democratic party stuff and then head to the free WWE merchandise stand and tell them you need one of the free WWE shirts so that you can cover up your partisan shirt as required by law before you can go into the polls to cast your vote for Linda McMahon’s opponent, Richard Blumenthal.

Make sure you verbally and visually make it clear that you are there to vote against Linda McMahon, but do so in the most polite, respectful way possible.Â And make sure you video it.Â Upload the video to Youtube and e-mail the link to reneke2@msn.com and through-out Tuesday’s election day process I will share those videos with everyone here on Inside Pulse Wrestling.

What better way for the WWE to eat crow and what more delicious way is there to punish Vince & Linda McMahon for the agony of the TV-PG era that is a direct result of her political ambitions then to call the WWE out on it’s hubris for offering free swag in the state of Connecticut to “anyone who wants it” by telling WWE you are voting against Linda McMahon as you accept free merchandise paid for by her husband when the motives behind giving it away are so transparent that it’s laughable?

Stand Up For WWE by accepting free stuff as you cast your votes against Linda McMahon.

Until then, here’s a completely unrelated video of a candidate for the United States Senate taking part in a prayer where the person leading the prayer declares that he does not like God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE5-OXlGqrM

Tags: Linda McMahon, stand up for wwe, vince mcmahon, WWE

Charlie Reneke

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Check out Charlie Reneke's archive for more of the awesome, ranty, ravey, hilariously cool Way Too Long Reviews. If you enjoyed his review and want to contribute towards more, you can check out his Amazon Wish List at http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/1ZUZW3Z6CAPE5. Likewise if you hated his review, you can punish him by buying stuff off his Amazon Wish List and give him lots more stuff to carry around. That'll learn him.

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Matt

What a tremendous waste of Internet bandwidth. And needlessly snarky, too. Let’s pretend that WWE said something and refute that pretend argument to make them look bad! Question: When did Linda or WWE EVER claim that she has no connection with WWE? Half of her campaign has been based on her work with that company!

What exactly does this idea intend to prove, anyway? I can guarantee you that WWE is smart enough to instruct their distributors to not deny anybody free merchandise because of their party affiliation — ESPECIALLY on camera. So you’re basically telling people to go out and purchase Democratic party swag they probably don’t want so that they can get free swag they probably don’t want, with no conflict whatsoever?
Wally Kovacs

The company HAS claimed that Linda no longer has a connection to the WWE.

They claim that “stand up for WWE” is in no way meant to try and help her campaign, only to defend the company as a result of attention brought on by her campaign.

They fought against attempts to block people from wearing WWE merchandise to the polls because it was believed doing so would count as campaigning at he polls.

They are now offering free swag near polling places (although technically far enough away to not break the campaigning laws). This is marketed as being to celebrate their victory for allowing people to wear merch to polling places. However, this is only being done in Conneticut, where Linda is running. They can’t even PRETEND that this isn’t meant to try and get more votes for Linda. Vince is using his company to try and get Linda elected in a way that is legally questionable, and trying to pretend that it’s just a first ammendment/smackdown your vote kind of thing. Which is why it’s ONLY being done in Conneticut, where his wife just happens to be on the ballot.
Matt

Yes, but there’s a BIG difference between saying that Linda is no longer connected to WWE and that Linda doesn’t have any connection with WWE.

I am fully aware of the purpose of Stand Up for WWE — and considering that recent news indicates that this campaign will go well beyond the election (whether Linda wins or loses), I’d say that it really IS about WWE PR, and not any sort of endorsement towards Linda’s Senate Seat.

And while I do think that handing out free merchandise is needlessly antagonistic, I don’t see the issue about WWE giving away free merchandise in Connecticut. This all stems from the fact that the CONNECTICUT Secretary of State tried to prevent people from wearing WWE Merchandise to polling stations in CONNECTICUT. That’s why it’s being done in Connecticut.
http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/1ZUZW3Z6CAPE5 Charlie Reneke

Would this be a good time to point out that in 2008, the Democratic Secretary of State in Connecticut prevented people from showing up to the polls wearing “YES WE CAN!” T-Shirts?
RobCorpseEater

Oh Charlie, if only we all cared to the degree you seem to.
Matt

I personally didn’t have any issue with the blockage of WWE merchandise, simply because I HIGHLY doubt people would have even thought to wear WWE merchandise when they voted.

But Charlie, that’s not a fair comparison. Yes We Can t-shirts ARE a direct and explicit endorsement of Barack Obama. A more fair comparison would be for me to ask if the Secretary of State in Connecticut prevented people from wearing Texas Rangers t-shirts when Bush was running for President.
Wally Kovacs

And why was the Conneticut Sec of State doing it but not someone else? Well, because Linda isn’t running elsewhere.

Yes the WWE has an excuse to cover their asses … but they are still going out of their way to encourage people to vote (via giving them stuff) in an election where one the candidates is their former CEO.

It was stupid for them to say that people shouldn’t be allowed to wear WWE gear, true. But the WWE isn’t just encouraging people to wear their WWE stuff to “stand up for the WWE”. They are saying “if you come out to vote, you get free WWE stuff”. And, it isn’t inconceivable that someone that likes the WWE enough to go out and get free stuff is also someone that is more likely that the average person off the street to vote for Linda (if nothing else, if they were a completely uninformed voter, they would recognize Linda’s name).

The event is, in part, a cheap publicity stunt by the WWE … any news is good news for Vince. However, it DOES have a chance of getting some extra votes out for Linda. If it was completely above board they would have been able to do it closer to the polling places.
CB

I like the idea Charlie! :)
Cristos

Agree with Wally, and regardless, this whole thing is a concentrated effort to get any and all knuckleheads out to vote, and the ‘E is praying that most of those “voters” vote for Linda. Ignoring political backgrounds, a sensible person looking at this should only be able to see the ‘E’s efforts in trying to coerce voters to consider Linda, I mean, it is pretty transparent.
Matt

Would WWE like you to vote for Linda? I’m sure. Is this a transparent attempt to get you to vote for Linda? I honestly don’t think so. The thing is, this is typical WWE/Vince McMahon mentality. You turn your noses at them or tell them they can’t do something, and they respond tenfold. You made disparaging remarks about them during an election, they create a campaign to clean their image. You say voters can’t wear WWE merchandise to the polling booths, they’ll sue you AND give away free merchandise near polling stations. I mean, McMahon devoted a 2 hour Raw as a virtual “FU” to a basketball team owner over a scheduling snafu.
Sebastian Howard

@ the video: What the fuck!?
Almena

Wham bam thank you, maam, my queisotns are answered!