Now that editors Wes Pruden and Frances Coombs have stepped aside, some kids inside the Washington Times newsroom are speculatiing that former editorial page editor Tony Blankley may be interested in rejoining the team. He joined a public relations firm in September, some say, because he was unhappy with the leadership of Pruden and Coombs. With John Solomon now in charge, he may want to stage a comeback.

Earlier: Live! Nude! Conservative DC Writers!

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Did you know that there’s a whispering campaign going on inside the Washington Times newsroom against George Archibald, an award-winning former journalist with the publication (with some top editors calling him a “drunk” and making fun of his love life)? Well, there is. Yesterday, editors had a chance to direct their whispers directly to his face, as he unexpectedly showed up at the Times’ headquarters to snap some pictures for his forthcoming tell-all book about the newspaper. Instead, they kicked him out of the building.

“I was with a photographer who I retained to take pix for my book cover and inside pix for Journalism Is War, coming out in January, and to talk to my friends at the Washington Times about what’s going on there since I left in September 2005 and the brain-drain since,” Archibald tells Big Head DC. “National reporter Audrey Hudson walked through the lobby while I was signing in with my photographer…. It was moments later the lobby security receptionist got a call saying not to let me into the building.”

“Upper management” had dictated that Archibald be ordered off the property, although several old friends and colleagues stopped by to offer pleasantries to him. Read more…

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So, Washington Times’ editorial page editor Tony Blankley confirmed today Big Head DC’s scoop of last night that he’s moving on to greener pastures. That is, if your idea of greener pastures is joining the Edelman public relations firm and spewing verbosity at the right-wing Heritage Foundation.

He also thinks that editorial writers generally suck! (Please note that in addition to editing the FishbowlDC blog, our pal Patrick Gavin is also an associate editorial page editor at The DC Examiner!)

“In some newspapers, the writing style is fairly distinct,” the less-bloated-than-usual conservative said today. “It would probably be fair to say that an awful lot of editorial writing tends to be a little fudgy, and not quite as sharp as it could be. There is room for clarity and vigor in a lot of pages.”

Blankley, a former child actor, also said “straight opinion” is sometimes missing from many opinion pages. Because everyone’s gay!

You might also like: FishbowlDC’s Audacity of Scoops

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First on Big Head DC: Tony Blankley is leaving the Washington Times after several years at the conservative paper as its editorial page editor. Blankley was formerly a child actor and appeared in Rod Steiger’s child in the 1955 film The Harder They Fall. More to come….

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