Anthony Weiner Has Some Sensible Advice For Michael Grimm

Frankly, what Anthony Weiner did was dumb and gross; what Michael Grimm stands accused of is illegal. Weiner has written an opinion column for the NY Daily News about how Grimm should have comported himself – and how he should handle the press going forward – in the wake of his meltdown after the State of the Union Address:

I’ve seen the tape. I know and like both of the players. I’ve read the apology and plans for lunch — a classy touch after Rep. Michael Grimm came to his senses, having threatened harm to NY1’s Michael Scotto the previous evening.

I don’t want to belabor this one incident, because stuff happens, but I do think — as someone who has had his own share of tension with local media about, ahem, different subjects — I may have something to add to the conversation.

File this under “In my very humble opinion”:

I’m sure that had Grimm actually done what he threatened and thrown Scotto off the balcony, in today’s media environment, being the reporter who got tossed onto a tour group of visiting Boy Scouts would probably be career gold. (I can already see the BuzzFeed vertical dedicated solely to memes of reporters being thrown by various public figures.)

And now that I think about it, those Boy Scouts are pretty awesome. I am sure they would have figured out a way to catch Scotto.

Still, as Grimm himself has surely realized by now, this was not a close call. A congressman should not threaten to break, throw, ask to step outside or otherwise get physical with a reporter.

There’s more. It’s a good read that will give you an idea of how pols think and should act when scandal rears its head.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.