Star says: Don’t put “help Democrats” in the headline!

by David Safier

The Star's headline self parody continues.

The three most important rules used by the Star's Creative Headline Writing Team are:

1. Make Obama look bad.
2. Make health care legislation look bad.
3. Write nothing that may help Democrats' election chances.

Here's the latest.

An AP article focuses on whether a $250 check sent to some Medicare recipients will help Democrats win the senior citizen vote.

Every other paper that ran the story used one of these two headlines.

Will Medicare checks in the mail help Democrats?

or

Democrats Hope Medicare Checks In The Mail Help

The Star stands alone, using a headline that doesn't use the words "Democrats" and "help":

$250 checks giving millions on Medicare a heads-up

The Creative Headline Writers must have worked hard on that one, and they still couldn't come up with something that makes much sense. The Star's head is borderline incoherent. What does "giving millions on Medicare a heads-up" mean? What kind of heads-up? About what?

The Star would rather run a home-made a headline that doesn't make sense than one that even hints something might help Democrats this election season.