Linda McMahon Finally Caves; Resolutions Win!

Don't cry Corry
It will be al-right. Awww

By now, most of you have seen the press release issued by McMahon Campaign Manager Corry Bliss (not Linda McMahon, of course) which can be characterized as nothing short of a statement of surrender on the issue of Convention Transparency that this blog has been writing about for some time now.  Not that we're gloating, it's just nice to see the McMahon camp finally come around to our way of thinking, albeit under extreme duress.  Keep in mind, they didn't do this out of collaborational spirit or caring about the Connecticut Republican Party, as they claim; they did it because the pressure from CTGOP Party officials, and donors (fueled by detailed media reports) finally caused them to crack!

Without a doubt - it took a non-stop pounding by this blog, followed by three major Connecticut Newspapers to embarrass the McMahon campaign into doing the right thing.  Even the national press was gearing up to do a major story on the whole McMahon Pay-to-Play Scandal. Now, exactly how transparent the McMahon campaign will really be when the Convention rolls around is still big question- so we'll have wait and see.  There is still plenty of time and latitude for them to play games with the Convention voting process.

As for those who worked so hard to make this happen including State Central Members Mark Pappa, Scott Veley, Mike Vitalli, and his Sub-Committee, and Republican Activist Joe Visconti - you folks may have lost the March vote 42-10, but you should feel vindicated - for the reality is that common-sense prevailed in large part due to the foundation you laid back in December.  Your initiative led the McMahon campaign to be forced to follow the campaigns of Chris Shays, Brian K. Hill, Kie Westby, and Mr. Dumaj all of which have already committed to providing delegates with a list of paid delegates, staffers, and vendors, as you recommended. Of course, whether the McMahon-ies will wear badges like their counterparts remains to be seen.

And a very important note -- although I've given him a rough time publicly, we must give Chairman Jerry Labriola, Jr. a large amount of credit for the disclosure practices coming to fruition.  First, Chairman Labriola had the courage to allow the Resolutions to be discussed openly at Republican State Central, and vetted by the Subcommittee. Without him doing so, transparency would have never seen the light of day.  Second, he didn't drop the ball - as some predicted he would - instead The King has it on good authority that after the CTGOP took a humiliating week-long beating in the Press over the corruption/delegate buying scandal - Jerry Labriola, Jr. spoke with the McMahon campaign and urged them to get on-board with committing to some form of transparency - OR ELSE they'd be the ones left standing alone!

If there is anyone disingenuous in all of this - it's clearly the McMahon camp.  As everyone knows, the McMahon campaign brought all of this pain on the CTGOP to begin with.  Disregarding Corry Bliss' revisionist history for a moment, let's remind you that:

1.  The McMahon Campaign acted like conspiring crooks at the 2010 State Convention which put the entire CTGOP in a bad light, infuriated the GOP rank and file, which eventually led to Republicans getting blown-out in the 2010 election (including damaging Tom Foley's Gubernatorial campaign - a fact he still can't seem to accept); and

2.  The McMahon camp continued this arrogant strategy into this election cycle; McMahon started the whole process of buying delegates and RTCs last year (and yes, donating to RTCs is buying and influencing).  For the McMahon campaign to show phony outrage because the other Senate Candidates saw fit to call her out on her corrupt, unethical campaign activities is about as disingenuous as it gets; and

3.  Fact is - Jerry Labriola put pressure on McMahon's Campaign to rectify the situation for the good of the Party (it's bad enough we are suffering from the merger of the WWE Brand and the Republican Brand).  Things have been so bad that the telephones have been ringing off the hook since the results of the vote taken at the March State Central meeting came to light in The King's View weeks ago.  And the phones are still ringing to the point where people need to shut them off at night. Just ask, Jerry!

Like everything else, this disaster is one that Linda McMahon owns, personally. It's a campaign rule that the candidate is never to blame.  In this case, she has such tight control on her staff that nothing happens without her personal approval.  A practice that extends from her wrestling business.  Linda McMahon is a great actor; that North Carolina "little old me?" deer in the headlights look is beyond pathetic.

While I'm not going to post the entire propaganda letter distributed by Corry Bliss (and laughed at by even some in the media... hehehe), I'm going to focus on a few sentences which are outrageous.  The whole thing is designed to pass the blame on Christopher Shays - if you can believe it. And if you want to see the whole letter, you can go to Linda McMahon's Propaganda website to read it - it's a laugh a minute because you can clearly see the angry tone in every sentence.  And the bitterness of hours lost on a battle temporarily won, and then surrendered a week later.

Bliss' lines in italics:

Since Linda McMahon first announced she was running for the United States Senate... she is running an issue based campaign..."

Right. Unless you discount the negative smear campaign letter she had State Senator Joe Markley sign his name to which ripped Chris Shays up and down and included all kinds of accusations from accusing him of residing out of state, to mis-characterizing his voting record.  Make no mistake, Linda fired the opening shots with that nasty letter (and Mr. Shays hadn't even formally announced yet); she only stopped after receiving a backlash, which left Markley wounded, and  to twist in the wind.  And let's not forget about Linda's little blogroll which is engaging in disgusting personal attacks against Shays' supporters; clearly, a poor reflection on both Linda McMahon and Lisa Wilson-Foley - who's surrogates are wholly invested in ongoing character assasinations.  Not much of a positive campaign there.  Even Linda's own supporters have voiced outrage at McMahon's personal smear tactics.

In stark contrast, and perhaps due to being so far behind in the polls, Congressman Chris Shays is running...

Wait.  Did Bliss actually write that Chris Shays is behind in the polls?  What color is the sky in your world, Corry?  Did you not see the Quinnipiac Poll showing Linda McMahon down  15 points to Chris Murphy?  Or the one showing Chris Shays even with Chris Murphy?  How about the one that showed Linda losing to Susan Bysiewicz by 10 points.  Maybe you had your screen upside down or something.  The arrogance of the McMahon camp is unbelievable!  If you don't like a poll, ignore it or better yet - create your own that shows the complete opposite result favoring Linda. 

Congressman Shays continues to disrespect the Republican Party, its leaders, and Republican Town Committees...

How?  By Congressman Shays not writing them $500-$2000 check to influence their votes?  By not letting the McMahon camp steam-roll him with vote buying and influencing delegates?  The nerve of him -  that damn revolutionary Shays!  Can't he just lay down for Lucky Linda?  And for the record - does Linda's foul WWE programming symbolize mutual respect that everyone is looking for? 

As we have previously stated, our campaign wants the most open, transparent nominating process possible.

Hahahahaha. That's why you devoted hundreds of hours burning up the phone lines screaming a CTGOP Brass, and others about the Transparency Resolutions, and lobbying State Central members to vote against them.  Let's not forget the campaign to apply pressure on RTCs and others to support Linda McMahon.

Forty-eight hours before the convention, our campaign will post a full list of delegates who serve as staff or vendors and their relationship to the campaign....

How noble of you.  Will they wear identifications badges like the other campaigns?  And does that mean you can continue to purchase delegates right up until the starting whistle?  Linda McMahon seems to have lost the plot -- how about taking the extra step of NOT PERMITTING paid staff and vendors to be delegates?  Or is that a problem because the checks have already been cashed, and you want to see a return on your investment regardless of how shady it looks.

P.S. Yesterday we released a polling memo with the results of our recent primary survey. In case you missed it, Linda has a commanding 20-point lead over Congressman Shays.

Ok, so you created your own poll and manipulated the results so your own lukewarm supporters don't jump ship.  Sure, because everyone believes a candidate's internal poll is more accurate than a neutral poll like the one conducted by Quinnipiac University.  I'm sure Congressman Shays and his team are praying that Linda's team clings to the notion that they are winning because it makes Linda McMahon look even more ridiculous than she already does.  I bet if the Quinnipiac Poll were taken today, she's be 25 points down to Chris Murphy, and probably down 15 to Susan Bysiewicz.  Hey, you guys just keep doing what you're doing... its working perfectly for the rest of the field.

Can you imagine the state of chaos at McMahon Headquarters?  I bet the flying-monkeys that work in her office are telling her that she's winning by a landslide just to keep themselves employed.  God knows that Linda doesn't keep you around if you start spouting negative news.  Just ask some of her former staff members who are all-to-willing to talk, signed disclosure letters or not. 

Yep. This State Convention is really going to be something.  I'm looking forward to the debates.

I AM

THE KING

This original blog entry can be found at http://www.thekingsview.blogspot.com
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