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Monday, July 1, 2013

Anthony Weiner now front runner

The latest polls indicate that Anthony Weiner has now passed Christine Quinn in the polls and is now the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the New York City mayoral race.

Often, to illustrate articles about politicians, newspapers will dig up appropriate stock photos from the past and use those. For instance, if it's good news for the President, they'll use an old photo of Obama grinning ear to ear and place it near the headline; if it's bad news, they'll find an old photo of him frowning, and so on. The effect is that the politician looks as if he has just experienced the triumph or defeat, even if the photo is years old.

Should Weiner be elected Mayor, what use will the media be able to find for some of his infamous "selfies?"

For instance, what headlines might this photograph accompany?


The first thing to come to mind is the news mentioned in the first paragraph of this post: "Poll shows Weiner in front."

If at any point Weiner's strategists feel he needs to shore up his liberal base: "Weiner's leftward tilt."

Should he drift too far left: "Weiner a tool of the socialists."

Should Weiner appoint any female deputy mayors, "Weiner excited about new aide."

Should he tangle with the powerful Michael Mulgrew: "Weiner gives teachers' union the shaft."

Should he make a strategic move: "Weiner uses head wisely."

Or how about this picture?


After he proposes his legislative agenda: "Weiner presents package to City Council."

On his infamous lack of tact: "Weiner no touchy-feely politician."

On his take charge style: "Weiner grabs control."

On his gun control stance: "Weiner suggests private citizens check weapons."

On his favorable press coverage: "Is Daily News Weiner's house organ?"

I realize that this line of humor could pall rapidly. But I'd still be disappointed if the newspapers don't find any use for these pictures.

8 comments:

Dave Moriarty said...

weiner has tight grip on his constituancy

John Craig said...

A chokehold, you might say.

Anonymous said...

John--the potential comedy over this is probably endless. In any event, I have a hard time (no pun intended) thinking this guy could ever overcome (again, no pun intended) his past history. In many respects he seems like an upright guy (no pun intended) but I just don't think he could ever be taken seriously enough to get elected. I'll stop now but thanks for the funny article. Brian

John Craig said...

Brian --
Thank you. I have to say, after all the fun I've made of Weiner, I'd actually prefer him to Christine Quinn, who is very much beholden to various real estate interests as well as virtually every major municipal union in the city. Weiner, because he was considered an outcast, got the backing of none of the major political players and is therefore beholden to none of them. I hope he gets the Democratic nomination.

bluffcreek1967 said...

Weiner is sure one 'cocky' guy who really needs to get a 'grip' on reality. Apparently, he's a 'got a hold' of the people of NYC who seem ready to vote him in as their Mayor (pun intended).

Sorry, I couldn't pass it up.

John Craig said...

Ambrose --
That's quite okay, I understand completely, I succumbed to the temptation myself.

Remnant said...

I thought this would be a sociopath post (since Weiner, thin lips and all, strikes me as one).

Anyway, John Craig, on another sociopath note, you might check out Walter Kirn's chilling account of his long-term friendship with "Clark Rockefeller" (alias of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter), a sociopath of truly epic proportions, in the link below. And he has thin lips!

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/06/10/130610fa_fact_kirn

John Craig said...

Remnant --
Thank you for that. As a non-subscriber, I could only read the first page of that new Yorker article, but even that illustrated one key difference about sociopaths: non-sociopaths generally only lie when they have to, but sociopaths will like freely all the time, about everything, in order to make themselves look better.

I was actually debating whether to write a sociopath alert post about Weiner, but so far haven't made up my mind about whether he's an actual sociopath or just an extremely narcissistic personality; I'm leaning toward sociopath, especially after reading that long article about him in the Times on June 13th, but haven't completely made up my mind yet.

By the way, I wrote about Gerhartsreiter at length on April 13th of this year (and yes, I did mention his thin lips).