Superb Weekly Standard Article on Linda McMahon

“WrestleMania in Connecticut”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/wrestlemania-connecticut

Writer Jonathan V. Last hits all the important notes, politically and otherwise.

I learned several things I didn’t know before — such as the source of Lowell Weicker’s close relationship with the McMahon family.

My few quibbles with Last’s reporting are not worth recording at the expense of simply urging everyone to go read the story. The main quibble is the way he seems to allow to go unchallenged World Wrestling Entertainment’s assertion that it “changed the culture” of the pro wrestling industry to make it safer. The opposite is the case. Closely related is the false notion that wrestlers do not gain a competitive advantage from steroids because matches are theatrical performances rather than contests. This difference is actually the root of why the cosmetics of steroid enhancement are the big difference-maker — and also why, since Linda McMahon and her family set the standards, they bear responsibility for the human fallout behind their megaprofits.

But the most important thing is that, at last, a major outlet has taken on Linda McMahon and death, without smirks and without totally missing the point.

Irv Muchnick