Up to this point, I have avoided making any comments on the Anthony Weiner scandal.
But I was speculating via e–mail with a friend of mine — for a few years, we worked in the same newsroom as copy editors — about how much fun it would be to work on a copy desk when the headline on Weiner's resignation announcement was being written.
How many off–color headlines and double entendres will wind up in print, I asked him. And he agreed that it would, indeed, be fun to be working on a copy desk that evening.
Actually, it was an ongoing joy ride for headline writers — a gift that truly kept on giving. Most of the time, headline writers only get a single shot at a memorable headline, but the Weiner story went on and on, giving headline writers the chance to improve on their work every single day.
So, before the Weiner story recedes too much in our collective consciousness, I thought I would review some of the better headlines that have been written throughout this episode involving the congressman.
There were some of the obvious ones, like the ones that suggested that Weiner had been "exposed."
And many of the headlines came from the New York Post's daily coverage of the emerging scandal. (I guess it was only right that a newspaper from Weiner's home state would be the most significant contributor.
(The Post dubbed the Weiner story the "battle of the bulge.")
But there have been some headlines elsewhere that have been worth noting.
For example ...
The headline on Howard Kurtz's piece in The Daily Beast spoke about Weiner's "junk defense."
(I can't help wondering if that has any relationship to the "Twinkie defense.")
The New York Daily News simply concluded that Weiner is a schmuck.
That one is really tough to argue with.
I've seen headlines that said Weiner was "grilled," that said his story was "hard to swallow," that said he had been "hung out to dry," that said he was "in a pickle," that contended his support was "soft."
As Jay Leno observed on The Tonight Show, since this story broke, we're all in ninth grade.
Personally, I would say that my favorite came from the Kansas City Star.
It spoke of "Weiner's schnitzel."
What can I say? I studied German for awhile when I was in high school.
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