2012 Connecticut Senate Debate: on Civil Rights


Linda McMahon: I'm proud of WWE history; it's not a "war on women"

Shays repeatedly attacked McMahon's professional wrestling business. His opening salvo on McMahon's career followed a moderator question about whether there exists a so-called Republican "war on women."

"I think that her business has a war on women," Shays said, and proceeded to describe one of the more provocative ring scenes in WWE history in which the candidate's husband, Vince McMahon, yelled orders. "I think when you force a woman to take off her clothes and sit down on the ground and bark like a dog, I think that's an assault on women."

McMahon responded that she was "very proud of the company that I helped grow." She gave variations of this defense throughout the debate but without addressing the substance of Shays' claims about professiona wrestling, including his suggestion that some of the "business reasons" why she contributed to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as recently as 2006 was "so the Democrat legislature wouldn't investigate steroid use in her business."

Source: The Day coverage of 2012 CT Senate debates Jun 14, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Connecticut Senate Debate.
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Candidates and political leaders on Civil Rights:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018