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January 14, 2007
Gripping Headline!!! Hold the Phone! This Just In!!!
A guy I was standing next to in line at Murky Grounds on Capitol Hill pointed this out to me.
"That's no headline," he said, pointing to a stack of Washington Post newspapers by the cash register.
And there it was, above the fold on The Washington Post front page:
"HOUSE GOP SHOWS ITS FRACTIOUSNESS IN THE MINORITY"
Fractiousness???
Forget news stand sales, darling, please whisper sweet nothings in my ear....
I'm no headline writer, but the man was right. That's definitely no headline word and certainly not the kind of word that wakes me up on a Sunday morning.
No wonder newspaper circulation is in a nosedive.
How about: "Unity Falls Apart, "Republican Leaders Lose Their Grip,"" Republican Goose Stepping Ends," or "Republicans Break Rank."
The news media needs to get out of the Ivy Leagues and regain a little street sense (no matter how unruly and fractious those streets may sometimes be).
Fractiousness
A. noun
1. unruliness, fractiousness, willfulness, wilfulness
the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline.
Interesting story, nonetheless:
"You're freer to vote your conscience," said Rep. Jo Anne Emerson (R-Mo.), who received an 88 percent voting record from the American Conservative Union in 2005 but has so far sided with Democrats on new budget rules, Medicare prescription-drug negotiations, raising the minimum wage and funding stem cell research. "Or, really, I feel free to represent my constituents exactly as they want me to be."
Posted by davidphinney at January 14, 2007 12:46 PM
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