WASHINGTON – Anthony Weiner is huge overseas.
The sexting lawmaker who quit in disgrace Thursday earned worldwide ridicule as publications around the globe grabbed hold of the sensational scandal that began with a snapshot of Weiner’s crotch.
The story was big news in Germany, where a sausage-making tradition gave rise to terms like weiner and wurst — prompting the nationally circulated Bild tabloid to dub him “Sex-Wurstchen” – a play on Weiner-Wurstchen, the popular Vienna sausage.
They also call him simply: “sex-Weiner.”
The more genteel Der Spiegel’s headlines instead played with “weinen,” which means “to cry” in German, recalling Weiner’s teary apology after he was first exposed.
The scandal blew through more countries than his globe-trotting wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In Italy, La Gazetto De la Sport played up the “Scandalo sexy,” while Spain’s El Pais dubbed Weiner the “Primera víctima política de la era Twitter.”
In France, where politicians can get away with infidelity and worse, Le Monde called Weiner’s icky postings “photos suggestives.”
Turning to the New World, Mexico’s El Norte oddly termed Weiner a “victima del ‘sexting,’” even though Weiner brought the scandal on himself with his own blunders and lies.