Let’s put away the turkey and the stuffing (or keep working on the leftovers!) and start working on selecting the person of the year and the ass clown of the year.
The person of the year is the one person whose actions made the world a better place by advancing the progressive cause.
The ass clown of the year is the one person whose actions made the world a worse place by hindering the progressive cause.
The person and ass clown should have made a substantive difference instead of just being assuming theater.
Make your nominations in the comments below. Please briefly state your reasons for the nomination. You may also provide additional discussion if you wish.
The nominations opened on Monday morning. They will close at 9PM CDT on Thursday, December 29. I will select twelve nominees for whom you may vote starting on Friday, December 30. A list of current nominees is below the break. If you made nominations yesterday, please do not make nominations in this thread.
May the best person and worst ass clown win!
Whom we have so far as of 1:00AM CST on Dec 28
Person of the year -- 6 Nominees
-- Occupy Wall Street -- 2 votes
-- Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia whose self-immolation sparked the Arab Spring
-- Pres. Barack Obama for his successful plan to kill Osama bin Laden and for a falling unemployment rate
-- Wisconsin United for opposing Gov. Walker and leading the recall effort
-- Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) for amazing strength shown while recovering from January's shooting
-- Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for laying the theoretical foundations upon which #OWS is built and other cool stuff.
Ass clown of the year -- 14 Nominees
-- POTUS Candidate Newt Gingrich (R-GA) for various outrageous comments -- 6 votes
-- General Secretary Hu Jintao of China for stepped-up repression in Tibet
-- Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) for being a deadbeat dad and a bully
-- Businessman Donald Trump (I-NY) for being a birther
-- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for hindering the economic recovery
-- Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) for hindering the economic recovery
-- Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) for his union stripping bill
-- Vladimir Putin for trying to become the dictator of Russia
-- "Pepper spray cop" and other police officers who assaulted and harassed #occupy supporters
-- Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) for hindering the economic recovery
-- Pres. Barack Obama for continuously caving into demands of Congressional Republicans during the summer debt ceiling talks.
-- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for his plan to privatize Medicare
-- The Koch brothers for using their personal wealth to push their conservative policies throughout the United States.
-- The cast of "Fox and Friends" for innumerable examples of fear mongering, race baiting, intellectual dishonesty, mendacity and overall doocybagness.