Countdown to Connecticut

From the NY Post:

Climbing into the political ring, wrestling honcho Vince McMahon blasted his wife's political opponents for taking "snippets" of footage -- like when a wrestler pretended to have sex with a dead person -- and using them to discredit her US Senate bid in Connecticut.

Vince, the chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has mostly sat on the sidelines during the Republican campaign of Linda McMahon, who has also served as CEO.

But in an interview, Vince said Linda's detractors are ignoring the fact that wrestling is all fiction and no fact.

"Most of the people have not even seen our show. They don't even know what this business is about," Vince told the AP on Thursday in his corporate boardroom.

"They haven't been to a live event. They really haven't watched on television at all. All they've seen is like one little snippet and try to make up their minds as to whether or not it's acceptable programming."

Vince McMahon, who said he didn't want to talk about politics other than to say he's voting for his wife, added that he understood the WWE would be criticized in the campaign but that he didn't realize the extent.

The attacks have become so distorted, he said, that he feels compelled to break his silence and defend the company.

The latest polls show Linda McMahon -- who has poured her own millions into the campaign -- trailing her likely Democratic opponent, Richard Blumenthal, by 10 points.

Blumenthal's campaign was hit hard after allegations that he lied by saying he had served in Vietnam War when he'd actually been stateside in the Marines throughout the conflict.

Linda's opponents have had a field day with one of the WWE's most notorious skits, which features a fuming Vince McMahon on stage ordering a female wrestler to get on her knees and bark like a dog.

He acknowledges WWE received complaints from viewers after a now infamous skit featuring a wrestler simulating sex with a corpse in a casket in 2002.

It's another favorite for Linda McMahon's critics.

"If you knew the story line behind it, what have you, you might even consider that black humor, you know, dark humor, which is what it was designed to be," Vince McMahon said. "The question is is taste -- whether or not things like that are in good taste."

"Guess what? We never did it again," he added.

Sexist treatment of wrestlers and steroid usage have been common criticisms throughout Linda McMahon's campaign for retiring US Sen. Christopher Dodd's Senate seat,

As with the WWE programming, Vince McMahon said policies toward drugs and wrestlers' health have also been improved.

Linda McMahon's detractors argue it is fair game to criticize the WWE, past and present, given that she is selling herself to voters as a successful businesswoman who tamed the wrestling industry