McMahon Never Said It

Certain members of the media, miffed at their limited access to Linda McMahon, during Connecticut's contentious U.S. Senate race, have opted to take poetic license with her comments today at an impromtu press conference in East Hartford. Fresh off an appearance at a small business event, where she received the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business, the GOP candidate seemed to embrace the group's stance opposing a hike in the minimum wage.

At the news conference, Ted Mann, reporter with the Day of New London, asked her if the minimum wage should be reduced. McMahon, who is in a statistical dead heat with the "overwhelming" favorite, Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal, in the latest polls, refused to answer the question. Other reporters followed with similar questions and McMahon wisely would not be trapped. The media then ran with a very liberal interpretation, that McMahon supported a lowering of the minimum wage, something she never said. Thus, these journalists have placed themselves smack in the middle of the story, instead of reporting it, while seemingly demonstrating a bias favoring Blumenthal, who has also limited his media accessibility since his Vietnam fiasco.

Needless to say, the Democratic Party operatives, expending resources in a race they thought was a slamdunk, are now heating up the blogosphere with "comments" McMahon never made, the surest sign of desperation, just four days before the first debate between the two candidates.

In the 32 days leading up to this all important election, Democrats will attempt any manuever to take the electorate's eye off the ball, namely the party's poor performance. In Connecticut's case, their strategy is to motivate their liberal base to vote on Nov. 2, while hopefully picking off some independents, who now favor McMahon over Blumenthal. Their manufactured minimum wage issue, heightened by a media desperate to be a part of the story, will fail, simply because McMahon's comments ring true with so many.

Small business, the backbone of this country's economy, as we were reminded by President Obama just the other day, is flailing, especially in Connecticut, handcuffed by an anti-business state legislature, controlled in veto proof numbers by the Democrats, and an anti-business state attorney general, who just happens to be McMahon's Senate opponent. The goal is to divert attention from Blumenthal's record, because his testimony doesn't square with his record.

As the man, who lied about his Vietnam military service now boasts of lowering people's electric bills, the public witnesses rates climbing higher and higher. As the man, who claims to be the workers' best friend, embellishes how he has helped the economy with his activist approach to the position, jobs are leaving the state in droves, while the unemployment rate climbs, especially in urban areas, where double-digit jobless rates are the norm. Meanwhile, the man, who claims to be a "Washington" outsider, embraces the help of Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer. These are the questions that should be asked of the Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal.

In reality, today in East Hartford, Linda McMahon brought up concerns and issues of small business, which deserve exploration. It's an approach that obviously appears foreign to those who mistakenly believe government is the answer to all their problems.