IF YOU WANT SOMETHING QUESTIONABLE

If the hiring of Mike Barnicle turns out to be true, perhaps it’s time for the Boston Herald to move on from the “If you want something sugarcoated, buy a doughnut” campaign (if it hasn’t already).

Among the reasons are hiring Virginia Buckingham as an editorial writer and columnist, despite her roles in state politics, the Massport disaster around 9/11 and her penchant for making leaps of logic previously only attempted by Don Feder; the increase in sleaze and celebrity news and decrease in story length; and the return of Wingo, of which publisher Pat Purcell, with candor and good humor, said he’d “be the first to admit this is a bad drug. Stick the Wingo needle in your arm and you’re hooked.”

If Barnicle comes aboard, with his reputation for repetitious melodrama and plagiarism, perhaps we should switch our advertising slogan to something new, but just as in-your-face. Something like “We don’t care what people think” or maybe “Go ahead: Laugh.”