Former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Linda McMahon is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, but she didn’t count on the Connecticut Democratic Party producing one of the most salacious and provocative political adverts I’ve ever seen.
Linda McMahon had previously defended WWE wrestling programming, saying, “There was a time when our program was TV-14, today’s it’s PG and our networks rate our programming… It’s fun, it has something for everyone within the show. It’s energetic, it’s entertaining. It’s music, it’s pyro, it’s pomp and circumstance, it’s what keeps people interested in the product.”
The Connecticut Democratic Party then took these words and relayed them over scenes from WWE showing simulated public sex and necrophilia. I felt so incredibly uncomfortable watching this clip and it certainly made me feel worse about Linda’s candidacy, but I certainly wouldn’t be rushing to the polls to vote Democrat after watching it.
This is the sort of attack advertising that has the effect of driving down overall turnout and has little positive impact on the share of vote of either party.
