After today’s startling revelations by Big Government that Rep. Anthony Weiner had sent many photos of himself in various states of undress to “a young girl,” the Congressman announced a press conference to give comments on the new developments at 4 PM. Rep. Weiner didn’t make it to his press conference on time, but his podium rapidly found an eager occupant: Andrew Breitbart, who held his own press conference demanding apologies and promising “at least one more” scandalous photo.

In the world of the microscopic news cycle, a year is a mighty long time. Think “dog years” on steroids. Over the course of the past year, in thousands (around 7,500 ) of articles and millions (between 3 and 4 million) of words, Mediaite has covered the ups and downs of that whizzing, ricocheting media world. In case you lost track in that sea of information, we’ve compiled a list of 2011 Media Winners and Losers that we hope will be the start  of a conversation, not the end of one. Here, in no particular order, are Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners and Losers.

The wake of the Weinergate scandal appears to have left yet another victim: the Democratic Party. Last night’s special election for NY’s 9th district saw Republican Bob Turner take the congressional seat suddenly vacated this summer by Anthony Weiner‘s resignation. It’s clearly an upset in the traditionally Democratic district, and already the news media have called it a “referendum on Obama.” But does that tell the whole story?

Former NY Rep. Anthony Weiner, when not living up to his name via social media, is busily preparing to become a first-time father to a baby boy. According to Page Six, which DUH OF COURSE titled its post “Little Weiner,” Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, have been telling those close to them that they are expecting a son.

Upon hearing news that Oregon Congressman David Wu (D) is resigning following a string of odd behavior culminating in Wu sending staffers odd emails and photos of himself in a tiger suit, we realized, hey. It’s been kind of a bad year for politicians prone to bouts of inappropriate or embarrassing behavior. Let us recap these worrisome scandals, so that you might either delight in these politicians’ folly or learn from their mistakes.

It’s been about a month, so Weinergate feels a good lifetime away at this point– what with the country about to default on its debt and that menace Casey Anthony on the loose and every other fine story in our news cycle. But not everyone has forgotten– Hillary Clinton, for example, is said to still be cross, and an Al-Qaeda culture magazine has published a full page attack against “Angry Weiner Head.” The Red Eye crew gives us the best of the post-Weinergate aftermath.

Huma Abedin, a deputy chief of staff and aide to Hillary Clinton, is taking some time off of work in the wake of her husband’s “sexting” scandal. While Anthony Weiner seeks help and public atonement for his online flirtations, Abedin, who is currently pregnant with the couple’s child, will spend time away from the public eye at an undisclosed location.

Here it is. Gaze upon it. In this document, see the end of bad penis-related puns. See the end of creepy, shirtless pictures of government officials. See the restoration of dignity to our national politics.

Oh, I’m just kidding. There’ll be another scandal like this in a month tops. Heck, maybe it’ll even be another gay one! Whoopee!

After three weeks of non-stop, painfully easy puns, the saga of Anthony Weiner and his photophilic body has finally come to a close. On last night’s Red Eye, this revelation led host Greg Gutfeld to ask a very important question: what’s a comedian to do in a world without Weiner? To thank him for the three weeks of embarrassing hilarity, Gutfeld and crew put together a “fond look back” at the best of Weiner, complete with touching music and baby animals.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin made an appearance on Judge Andrew Napolitano‘s Freedom Watch to discuss the hoopla surrounding her emails (In a nutshell: Palin rightly points out that the entire situation was wildly dumb. In so many words.) She also took a moment to comment on Anthony Weiner‘s scandal. Judge Napolitano asked Palin whether she thought Weiner’s constituents were “entitled to have a pervert representing them in Congress” if that is what they so choose.

Donald Trump has maintained a regular stream of commentary on the Anthony Weiner situation since the scandal broke, and tonight he joined Greta van Susteren for a post-mortem of sorts on Weiner’s career. Calling the ordeal “a very sad situation,” Trump diagnosed Weiner’s behavior as “suicidal” and found little job opportunities in the former Congressman’s future, noting that “he’s not a lawyer [and] doesn’t have very many friends.”

The resignation of Anthony Weiner has led to a debate over whether it was his initial actions or his subsequent lying that concluded his career, but tonight, Rachel Maddow proposed it was neither. Instead, listing an exhaustive registry of Republicans who she deemed had committed worse transgressions than him, Maddow concluded it was the story of “the media’s reaction to bad behavior,” and how a double-standard against Democrats made his behavior unacceptable.

Since the initial rise of Anthony Weiner‘s sexting scandal three weeks ago, the impulse to compare his demise to that of other politicians caught in sex scandals has roped in politicians from all across the political spectrum. Now that he’s gone, some have come to the conclusion that what he did was no worse than what some politicians that stayed in office managed to do. Tonight, Bill O’Reilly proposed just this, comparing Weiner to Sen. David Vitter and President Bill Clinton.

Anthony Weiner has finally stepped down from the only career that he has had in several decades, leaving many to wonder what he will now do to fill his time and support his new family. Eliot Spitzer, who knows a thing or two about rebounding after a sex scandal, weighed in on the matter tonight, and along with Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, concluded that the scandal could not keep him away from the political scene forever.

Chris Matthews was baffled by today’s “circus” involving Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner and his resignation announcement. At first Matthews seemed unsure why Weiner needed to subject himself to another press conference with reporters when he could have just quietly submitted a letter of resignation? Yet later in the segment Matthews seemed to realize that Weiner needed a moment in the spotlight to deliver his “I shall return speech.”

For most of the past three weeks, most of America’s largest media sources have dedicated themselves to uncovering the seediest secrets of the Rep. Anthony Weiner Twitter sex scandal. With the Congressman now finally resigning, Americans may be wondering, “wouldn’t it be embarrassing if the rest of the world found out that we’ve spent the past three weeks obsessing over a photo of a Congressman’s undies?” Well, they did.

After various members of Congress, the media, and even the President weighed in on whether Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner should resign from office as a result of his “sexting scandal,” today Weiner finally made it official and announced his resignation. Many attribute Weiner’s decision to announce his resignation now, due to the fact that his wife just returned from a trip abroad, although the non-stop media coverage surely contributed to his ultimate decision.

After listening to Wolf Blitzer reflect on his lie-filled interview with Rep. Anthony Weiner, Rush Limbaugh had to disagree with the tone the media is taking while covering the seemingly imminent resignation. Limbaugh felt that many of those in the media are treating Weiner like he’s “finished” when he feels like that’s far from the case. And, according to Limbaugh, it will be the media who help bring about Weiner’s inevitable triumphant return.

Liberal commentator Alan Colmes debated conservative commentator Steve Hayes on Fox News today, but it was host Bill Hemmer who ended up raising his voice at Colmes. Colmes declared “I think it’s a shame that [Anthony Weiner] has to step down or feels he must step down.” Before Colmes continued to rail against Republicans for being hypocritical, Hemmer demanded Colmes explain why exactly Weiner’s forthcoming resignation is a “shame.”

The DC media’s jaw-dropping obsession with the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal will peter out when the New York congressman officially resigns this afternoon. But there’s no better illustration of how this story came to consume the press than the video below.

Democrats had been prepared to up the pressure on Weiner to resign Thursday, but not before House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press availability in a large studio in the basement of the Capitol Visitors Center.

Congressman Anthony Weiner has had a rough couple of weeks, and it’s been confirmed that he’ll officially be resigning from Congress after initially resisting the idea and facing pressure from his own party to leave. There has been wall-to-wall coverage of his online interactions with young women, women have spoken out, and Nancy Pelosi has [...]

The NY Times is reporting via Twitter that Rep. Anthony Weiner has told friends he is planning on stepping down from Congress. If true, this marks perhaps the final chapter of Weiner’s political career – a career that has been severely tarnished in the so-called “Weinergate” scandal that began Memorial Day weekend after he accidentally Tweeted a lewd image he had meant to send as a Direct Message to a Twitter follower. Weiner made matters worse by lying to his constituents and the press in a bald-faced and indignant manner.Update: NBC’s Chuck Todd just confirmed Weiner’s plans.

A dancer and sometime porn star, Ginger Lee, spoke out for the first time today about her Twitter relationship with Rep. Anthony Weiner, telling a news conference that Weiner “should resign” and that Weiner instructed her on how to handle the media, saying “he asked me to lie.” Lee, who has lupus, says the disease flared up as she dealt with the stress of media attention to her role in the scandal, and under pressure she says, to do “what he told me to do.”

As the sexting saga of Rep. Anthony Weiner drags onto through yet another week, the impact’s being felt far from Washington. Take, for instance, the metro council election underway in Nashville. One of the candidates, Sheri Weiner, is learning the hard way this is just not the best time ever to be printing campaign signs with the name Weiner on them. “I’ve gotten very used to saying, no relation, and I wish he were not on the planet,” Sheri Weiner told Nashville’s WZTV. “It’s not a good last name to have right now.”

With Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s wife,Huma Abedin, back in the U.S. from an overseas trip with boss Hillary Clinton–and amid calls from key Democrats, including President Barack Obama to resign–the congressman’s future may be determined within days. NBC’s Luke Russert, on TODAY, said any effort to return to Congress by Weiner would find him surrounded by frustrated and furious fellow Democrats, one of whom said Weiner would be “a man without a country.”