Open Call For Nominations
Today's going to be somewhat of an "open thread," as the blogfolk say.
While our regular Friday Talking Points column will appear here tomorrow as usual, for the next two weeks afterwards it will be pre-empted by our annual awards columns. These take a look back at the previous year and take note of what happened in an amusing fashion. Check out last year's columns (Part 1 and Part 2) to see what I'm talking about.
Since the awards categories don't change from year to year, we're throwing the doors open to nominations for any or all categories. Got a special memory from 2013? Then suggest it for one of the awards!
Though we do tend to focus on politics, these awards can in fact be given for any notable achievement (such as giving "Biggest Winner" to a sports star). So don't confine yourselves to the political world when thinking up suggestions. I'm going to take the time today to review all of the past year's columns, to dig up what nominees I can. So if you're interested, please provide me with your nominees to add to my list.
Here is the full (and extensive) list of categories. You can see why we have to spread this out among two columns, due to the length. In any case, have at it and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
-- Chris Weigant
Categories
Biggest Winner of 2013
Biggest Loser of 2013
Best Politician
Worst Politician
Most Defining Political Moment
Turncoat Of The Year
Most Boring
Most Charismatic
Bummest Rap
Fairest Rap
Best Comeback
Most Original Thinker
Most Stagnant Thinker
Best Photo Op
Worst Photo Op
Enough Already!
Worst Lie
Capitalist Of The Year
Honorable Mention
Person Of The Year
Destined For Political Stardom
Destined For Political Oblivion
Best Political Theater
Worst Political Theater
Worst Political Scandal
Most Underreported Story
Most Overreported Story
Biggest Government Waste
Best Government Dollar Spent
Boldest Political Tactic
Best Idea
Worst Idea
Sorry To See You Go
15 Minutes Of Fame
Best Spin
Most Honest Person
Most Overrated
Most Underrated
Predictions
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Got a special memory from 2014? Then suggest it for one of the awards!
I do! My special memory is traveling forward in time to Dec, 2014... :D
Shouldn't that be a special memory from 2013?? :D
Sorry, don't mean to be such a smart ass... :D Awww, who am I kidding...
Michale
152
BIGGEST FAILURE
Anti-Gun legislation...
Michale
154
BIGGEST BONEHEADED MOVE
http://www.timesofisrael.com/mandela-signer-faced-murder-rap-in-2003/
Letting THAT guy stand behind our POTUS....
Michale
155
Worst Idea:
Shutdown 2013, essentially a revival of Shutdown 1995-96, which also garnered poor critical reviews and closed. What were they thinking? Not much. Also a contender for the coveted Boldest Idea.
Ted Cruz's Green Eggs and Hamibuster number from Shudown deserves consideration for multiple awards:
Most Boring,
Enough Already
and
Worst Political Theater.
Worst Photo Op. The public unveiling of the Ford Crack video, assuming foreign films are allowed.
Where is this year's ceremony being held? Do winners get a trophy, and what is it called? A Weighy? Is there a photo-montage of "Politicians We Lost This Year" featuring officials defeated in primaries or elections, or forced into retirement, Fox News or prison? Are there seat fillers? Can I be one? (Have tux, and willing to travel).
Michale [1] -
Do I really have to go back and drag out your comments leading up to the 2012 election? Really? All that "Romney in a landslide" stuff?
:-)
Heh.
[2] -
I've already got this on the list, thanks. I review the year from Jan. forward, and have been reading all the optimistic stuff about gun control legislation from last year. Pretty naive, seen now.
[3] -
You've got to get over the "recent stuff is most important" thing. The signer is a footnote, at best. Maybe some Secret Service folks will be fired, maybe not, but no big deal in the grand scheme of things.
TheStig -
Good points, on the shutdown for both "Worst" and "Boldest". I have to think about that...
"Green Eggs And Ham" (Ted Cruz style) certainly deserves some sort of mention, I fully agree.
Ford and crack will appear somewhere, fear not. Sorry, LizM...
Where is this year's ceremony being held? Do winners get a trophy, and what is it called? A Weighy? Is there a photo-montage of "Politicians We Lost This Year" featuring officials defeated in primaries or elections, or forced into retirement, Fox News or prison? Are there seat fillers? Can I be one? (Have tux, and willing to travel).
One by one. This year's ceremony will be held in Abeyance Hall. Winners do indeed get a trophy, but it has not yet been adequately named. The "Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week" award has been known for years as the "Golden Backbone" award, but our year-end awards are (admittedly) awfully derivative, since the McLaughlin Group thought them up in the first place. So it's really a matter of "should we presume?"
Maybe something along the lines of the "Why Can't" award? I could get on board something along those lines...
As for montages, seat fillers, tuxes, and the like, we'll get back to you.
:-)
-CW
You've got to get over the "recent stuff is most important" thing. The signer is a footnote, at best. Maybe some Secret Service folks will be fired, maybe not, but no big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Sorry, at my advanced age, the "recent stuff" is all I can remember..
I am also looking at it from the venue of a Security Puke.. And, by and large, security pukes place an inordinate amount of value on what COULD have happened..
And you have to admit, with this guys record, the "what could have"s are pretty dire...
Do I really have to go back and drag out your comments leading up to the 2012 election? Really? All that "Romney in a landslide" stuff?
:-)
Touche.. Yea.. Ya got me there.. :D
I've already got this on the list, thanks. I review the year from Jan. forward, and have been reading all the optimistic stuff about gun control legislation from last year. Pretty naive, seen now.
Yea, that was one of my best calls this year, if I do say so myself.
And I do!! :D
Michale
156
Chris,
Ford and crack will appear somewhere, fear not. Sorry, LizM...
Hey, knock yourself out. :)
More nominations.
Another for Ted Cruz -
Destined For Political Oblivion:
Looks a bit like Joe McCarthy, acts a lot like Joe McCarthy. Would rather be far right than President. Gives the impression he is more than willing to destroy the village in order to save it. Florida's demographics are changing.
Most Overrated:
John McCain
In some respects a GOP parallel to JFK, both were born to privilege and dedicated their lives to public service.
McCain was once looked upon as a principled conservative willing to work across party lines. Then he ran for President, and effectively gave himself up as a prisoner of his own party's far right wing. He was a significant political player, but leaves no significant legislative legacy. Shakespeare would have known how to work with this material.
for worst politician i vote anthony weiner. the public was almost ready to forgive him his past, then he goes and does the exact same thing all over again. i don't know if that qualifies as insane, but it's certainly not good politics.
JL
@CW,
Biggest Winner of 2010
Biggest Loser of 2010
did someone copy-paste and forget to change the year? hmmmm?
;)
JL
p.s. my entire life has turned on its ear this past few months, but i promise both to write about it and to send you an education piece soon. my holiday donation is coming soon as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/opinions/2013/12/13/worst-year-in-washington/
No matter how you slice it, no matter how you spin it, no matter what... The facts are clear..
Obama is damaged goods...
The ONLY question that remains is how low Obama can sink...
Michale
175
p.s. my entire life has turned on its ear this past few months,
I hope in a GOOD way...
Michale
179
TS
More nominations.
Another for Ted Cruz -
Destined For Political Oblivion:
You sure about that?? :D
Poll: Ted Cruz 3rd 'most influential' world leader, behind pope, Obama
http://washingtonexaminer.com/poll-ted-cruz-3rd-most-influential-world-leader-behind-pope-obama/article/2540748
Michale
181
M:
First off, I meant to write TX instead of FL. Never edit, especially cut/paste, when you are tired. You switch states, you can even time travel!
Texas politics is going to swing towards the center
due to demographic shifts. No amount of gerrymandering and suppression can stem this forever. It's destined to go purple, just as Fl is. Cruz's heritage and hard right wing views might play better in FL, with it's large and influential Cuban voter block, but the Texas political tide is driven by TexMex factors, not the Cuban Diaspora. As a senator, Cruz is going to have to pivot to thrive in either senatorial or presidential politics. More so in presidential politics, where Cruz's ambitions seem to point. He is not inclined to pivot due to deep philosophical convictions ("he'd rather be far right than president"), and as an intellectual he has created a long paper trail that makes it very hard to pivot. Cruz understands his Tea Party constituency, which likes his pugnacious and theatrical style. He doesn't seem to realize (or care?) how badly this plays outside the Tea Party, including the non Tea Party wing of the GOP. Doctor Seuss meets Senator Joe McCarthy.
In short, Cruz has Borked himself! His opponents will be more than happy to Bork him harder. He might be the Republican nominee in the next presidential cycle, but I rather doubt it. His odds of winning at the national level are even lower. He faces all the negative political fundamentals Romney did, only more so. Once you fail at a Presidential run, the odds favor political obscurity.
That said, yeah, Anything can happen. The odds of this particular Anything just strike me smallish.
To be honest, I don't have a good track record on that..
A couple years back, Bashi claimed that Palin had risen as high, politically, as she was going to go.. I said he was full of it..
Though the jury is still out, it's looking more and more likely that he was right... :D
Michale
188
Ok..now I have sipped the cool aid. Since this year provides for such a target rich environment....
I think we need to have the "biggest hypocrite" category, for me it really is a toss up as to should it be just Trey Radel for his "drug test the poor people but I can do what I want" position on receiving federal monies, or should it be the tea party caucus as a whole for sticking by the position that people receiving government assistance are rampantly abusing drugs, but it's ok for Radel, he just made a mistake, again, and again, and again.
Cronuts- Enough Already
Calling sales that begin on thanksgiving black friday sales- Enough Already
Boldest Political Tactic- Teaching GOP candidates how to talk to women....while claiming they don't have a problem.
Best Idea- Forcing congress to act like responsible adults (I'm kinda partial to mine).
Worst Idea- Expecting politicians to act like responsible adults, Sure we have a budget agreement ( albeit 6 months late and it is still not a real budget) but it seems that they decided they like their own comfort more than they like doing the right thing.
Anything that has to do with mayor Ford,Crack, Cocaine and drinking on the job will bring a smile to my face. I think it goes along with my worst Idea.
I'm sure I will have more but....
goode trickle -
Sorry your comment was held for moderation, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's your first comment? I seem to remember your screen name from previously, but maybe I'm mistaken.
In any case, if this was your first post that's why it was held for moderation. From now on, your comments should appear instantly when you post them, as long as you don't put more than one link in each post. Multilink comments (of which there were a few this weekend -- just to remind everyone else, too) are automatically held for moderation to cut down on comment spam.
Anyway, I will get to your suggestions in a minute, I'm right in the middle of posting today's article...
Oh, and lest I forget:
Welcome to the site!
:-)
-CW
nypoet22 -
did someone copy-paste and forget to change the year? hmmmm?
Dang... ya caught me... OK, it's fixed now, thanks.
Boilerplate will be the death of me yet... sigh.
-CW
Thanks for the greets....I can usually be found over on HP as a FTP regular....
TheStig [8], [14] -
Hey, I get Rubio and Cruz mixed up at times myself. Don't sweat it!
:-)
nypoet22 [9] -
That is a good one. Can't forget Weiner... sadly...
TheStig [14] -
I personally think Cruz will burn out before the 2016 primaries even get going. I just don't see him as a factor. But then I certainly could be wrong. Rubio's trying to walk an even finer line (being before his own immigration bill before he was against it, for instance), and he is more appealing to the GOP big donors, I would think. So I think he's more of a force to be reckoned with as a candidate. But, again, I could easily be wrong about all of that. It's still very early days...
Michale [15] -
I was actually a bit surprised that Palin didn't jump into the 2012 race, truth be told. After all, with people like Bachmann and Cain getting in on the act, Sarah would have been more prominent. But I do salute you for admitting you were wrong, as it is tough to do so for anyone commenting on politics these days...
goode trickle [16] -
Oooo -- can't forget Trey Radel, you are so right about that!
OK, that's it for now, everyone!
Thanks for all the suggestions, and keep them rolling in all week, PLEASE! I am taking them all seriously, and entering them into the drawing in all categories...
-CW
goode trickle [19] -
Aha! Maybe that's where the name looks familiar from.
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome any HuffPost commenters who have (ahem) recently decided to move their commenting elsewhere.
Here at CW.com we have a pretty lively debate, while rarely stooping to just insults and name-calling. There is NO word limit on comments here, there is NO profanity-filter, and the only auto-filter is for multiple links per comment. Astoundingly enough, this has worked so well that we've NEVER had to outright ban a commenter from the site. That's a record we're proud of, by the way, so don't be the first!
:-)
-CW
I think we need to have the "biggest hypocrite" category, for me it really is a toss up as to should it be just Trey Radel for his "drug test the poor people but I can do what I want" position on receiving federal monies, or should it be the tea party caucus as a whole for sticking by the position that people receiving government assistance are rampantly abusing drugs, but it's ok for Radel, he just made a mistake, again, and again, and again.
Biggest hypocrite is some punk nobody CongressCritter from Florida???
REALLY???
How about Harry Reid for tossing Nukes when, under Bush, he was whining about the GOP threatening to toss nukes??
How about the entire Democratic Party AND practically every Democrat in the country for screaming hysterically to the high heavens about privacy and domestic surveillance under Bush and then not saying "Boo" when Obama has expanded such actions to un-heard of heights??
THAT hypocrisy makes Radel the piece of chump-change he is...
By the bi.....
"Welcome to the party, Pal!!!"
-John McClane
:D
Michale
0192
Well, yeah, REALLY,Radel campaigned as a member of the moral right and as such should he not be held to his very rigid moral views that he is trying to impose on us more liberal types? Speaking from my moral perspective his hypocrisy is far worse than making the filibuster the filibuster, and failing to effectively use the bully pulpit to protect our freedoms.
Lets look at that whole tossing nukes argument, the whole filibuster process has been broken and very soundly abused, depending on the number sets you want to examine there were something like 130ish cloture motions filed, 35ish of which were to judicial and executive nominees during the GWB administration. Under the BHO administration we are already at something like 300 motions 80 or so of them for executive and judicial nominees and we still have let's just say 2 years to go. If that isn't abusing the system I don't know what is, plus if you actually look at the "nuke" Ried tossed, it really is more of a hand grenade as he didn't do what he was whining about back during the GHB years where the repubs wanted to apply their nuke to everything, not just nominees. Reid was sort of smart by limiting it to just nominees AND you can still filibuster you just have to do it the old fashioned way. Out of the picks that are getting confirmed none of them must be that odious as the repubs have not mounted a real filibuster. So I chalk this up to your basic political sausage making in Democracy.
As for the surveillance stuff, unless you are going to make the statement that the republicans are pro domestic surveillance, then I would ask you the same question, where were the republicans when GHB was opening Pandora's box? Where are the republicans now? There are both democrats and republicans raising a ruckus over it, but the partisan climate in DC prevents people on either side of the isle from getting together to form a bi-partisan coalition that would enable a critical mass for true action on the matter. At the end of the day this rises to an issue of incompetence and lack of will power to uphold ones duty to protect our rights.
So at the end of the day, yeah REALLY, Radel's actions violate a set of morals he claims to have that are superior to others. Don't you find it to be just a tad bit moraly hypocritical to be saying that(just tossing out a round number)to get $16k in help you have to be treated like a criminal, but to collect $174k nothing happens and you have a problem and you get no punishment whatsoever? I certainly do, and I find it rises to big moral hypocrisy when an entire faction that also is pushing his moral agenda does nothing more than pat's him on the head, tells him to go sleep it off and not to worry his job will still be waiting when he gets back from his "nap", all the while they are still pursuing the whole people who get $16k in help are criminals platform.
If you can't trust someone to stand by the conviction of their morals, how can you expect them to govern morally?
GT,
Well, yeah, REALLY,Radel campaigned as a member of the moral right and as such should he not be held to his very rigid moral views that he is trying to impose on us more liberal types? Speaking from my moral perspective his hypocrisy is far worse than making the filibuster the filibuster, and failing to effectively use the bully pulpit to protect our freedoms.
Yet, MORALs is what the whole argument is about vis a vis Bush's counter-terrorism policies..
The Left made a MORAL argument to oppose Bush's CT policies..
NOW we come to find out that the issue WASN'T the morality, but rather just more partisan BS...
Democrats further compound this egregious hypocrisy by PUTTING THIS COUNTRY AT RISK!! Simply to further their own partisan agenda..
My animosity towards druggies is well known around here. Blend in the hypocrisy factor and I am all for stringing them up...
However, that is a minute speck on the ass of a flea on the ass of a donkey compared to the hypocrisy shown by nearly THE ENTIRE LEFT (as opposed to one single luser of a CongressCritter) and their hypocrisy in turning a blind eye to the privacy violations they took a "MORAL" stand against, when it was BUSH that was POTUS..
Basically, nearly the entire spectrum of the Left doesn't have one single problem with torture, rendition or domestic surveillance as long as it's THEIR guy who is POTUS...
The hypocrisy of one single luser of a human being pales to the point of non-existence, compared to the hypocrisy of the Left..
If you can't trust someone to stand by the conviction of their morals, how can you expect them to govern morally?
I completely agree..
So, let's forget some pissant congresscritter from some po'dunk district in Florida and talk about the President of the United States, shall we???
We have THAT discussion and then I'll be ecstatic to talk about said pissant congresscritter... :D
Michale
0200
Had another couple of suggestions pop in to brain.
Biggest government waste
40+ Obamacare / ACA repeal votes. At a cost of just over a million dollars a vote we are already at 40 million and counting.
Thanks to the sequester it is easy for me to put it into perspective. The 40+ million spent would have funded all of the activities for military community outreach operations (fleet weeeks, blue angles, thunderbirds, army days, marine days. The 40 million that the military usually spends on these activities brings a 6 to one return on average providing great economic benefits to local economies across the nation. It creates about 500 to 600 well paying seasonal jobs directly associated with those activities and provides the taxpayer an opportunity see and touch what they are spending their money on and it boosts the moral of the men and women who serve our country.
Political rising star
I go with Elizabeth Warren, so far she has shown that she understands the value in not being an everyday talking head for getting maximum exposure for the issues she believes in. If she continues on her trajectory she will be a very formidable progressive force that will be hard to paint with the old "liberal" brush.
15 minutes of fame
Marlin Stutzman from Indiana for his quote during the shutdown "We're not going to be disrespected, We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is."
40+ Obamacare / ACA repeal votes. At a cost of just over a million dollars a vote we are already at 40 million and counting.
Here's the thing..
The vast majority of Americans are against obamacare.
The vast majority of Americans have ALWAYS been against obamacare.
AT NO TIME did obamacare enjoy ANY majority support whatsoever.
So, it's factual to say that all the attempts to repeal obamacare was simply elected representatives **following the will of the American people**...
I realize that, in the halls of the Hysterical Left, actually having elected officials DO WHAT THEIR CONSTITUENTS WANT THEM TO DO is a really radical concept....
Michale
0202
OK, first a general note:
We're closing the nominations for "part 1" (which reaches up to "Person Of The Year", above) at noon Pacific on Friday. So you've only got hours to add any to the first part of this list, be warned.
Oh, and I think I finally got all the wrong year numbers straightened out in the text, although it did take a few tries (sorry about that...)
A few further comments...
Michale [22] -
Here's a story you'll appreciate: my wife was in a business meeting where people were saying what Xmas movies they liked. She was surprised to hear one woman say "Die Hard." So she came home and dragged out the tape to watch it. I happened to be in the room for the scene where the black cop becomes aware of the crisis (by dint of a body falling on the hood of his police cruiser), after which Bruce Willis utters the line you quoted, and I laughed out loud. When she asked me why, I had to tell her why I recognized the line -- because it's your go-to "welcome new commenter" line...
:-)
A Festivus miracle! Heh...
goode trickle [25] -
I've got the repeal O-care votes under "Most Stagnant Thinker" for now... I mean, 40+ times? Pretty stagnant... although you do frame the argument well, equating it in dollars, I have to say...
Not sure where to put Liz Warren this year, I think I gave her "Political Stardom" last year, I'll have to check...
Stutzman quote -- oh, hell yeah. Forgot that one, thanks!
OK, folks, keep these rolling in. From "Destined For Political Stardom" on down, you've got another week to post nominations... so far, these have been excellent!
-CW
Here's a story you'll appreciate: my wife was in a business meeting where people were saying what Xmas movies they liked. She was surprised to hear one woman say "Die Hard." So she came home and dragged out the tape to watch it. I happened to be in the room for the scene where the black cop becomes aware of the crisis (by dint of a body falling on the hood of his police cruiser), after which Bruce Willis utters the line you quoted, and I laughed out loud. When she asked me why, I had to tell her why I recognized the line -- because it's your go-to "welcome new commenter" line...
I never thought of Die Hard (and Die Hard II) as a "Christmas Movie"... But, when ya think about it, it is! :D That lady at your wife's meeting sounds like someone I would like to meet! :D
Too funny.. Thanx for sharing.. :D
Michale
0225
How about the bank settlements without admission of guilt? Sure they have started to make some of them admit guilt, but that was only after they had no other choice given the outright blatant law breaking.
I like this for enough already or I suppose it could fit in as a candidate for worst lie...a bank without guilt...I suppose it could happen.
Have an idea for the most under reported story.
The TPP, the level of secrecy surrounding the negotiations as well as the fact that there are enormous sweetheart deals for corporations should be generating some news interest. The thing that for me elevates the TPP as a nom for most under reported is the seldom talked about elevation of transnational corporations to a status on par with sovereign nations. If the TPP gets to the done deal status Citizens United will look like nothing compared to what will happen when a corporation can haul a nation into court and sue them because they don't like a set of laws or regulations.