Biggest Loser of 2018: Scott Walker -- Honey badger don't care; it just takes what it wants. ;)

Best Politician: Barack Obama -- for reasons that may never be made public

Worst Politician: Spineless GOPer -- take your pick

Most Defining Political Moment: Helsinki, Finland

Turncoat Of The Year: Benedict Donald, in perpetuity

Most Boring: Mike Pence (and most fake)... close second to Sarah Huckabee Sanders (yawn)

Most Charismatic:
Male -- Beto O'Rourke
Female -- Michelle Obama

Bummest Rap: Kanye West's music
Fairest Rap: Kanye West's utter nonsensical BS throughout 2018 and subsequent meltdown

Best Comeback: "Shrub" a.k.a. Bush 43... Trump is making W. look awesome. Nixon is making quite a comeback too, although for other reasons.

Most Original Thinker: Is there one?
Most Stagnant Thinker: Most of them.

Best Photo Op: "Hair Force One" ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtCLwYFRp4o

Worst Photo Op: Trump emasculated by Putin in Helsinki, Finland

Enough Already!: Trump's constant moving of the goalposts

Worst Lie: Trump's incessant whining about "fake news" that's factual and Trump's subsequent moving of the goalposts

Capitalist Of The Year: Jeff Bezos
Honorable Mention: Bezos, Jeff

Person Of The Year: Robert Swan Mueller III

And here is the list for the second week:

Destined For Political Stardom: Beto O'Rourke

Destined For Political Oblivion: Donald Trump

Best Political Theater: Brett Kavanaugh -- Calendars and 99 bottles of beer on the wall

Worst Political Theater: Brett Kavanaugh -- Multiple lies and cries under oath

Worst Political Scandal: Benedict Donald, Putin's bitch

Most Underreported Story: Rosneft/Gazprom

Most Overreported Story: Trump tweets

Biggest Government Waste: The midterms "scare-a-van"

Best Government Dollar Spent: Office of Special Counsel, Bobby Three Sticks Mueller

Boldest Political Tactic: N/A

Best Idea:

Worst Idea: The Wall

Sorry To See You Go: John McCain and Lindsey Graham's conscience

15 Minutes Of Fame: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III

Best Spin: Kellyanne Conway
Most Honest Person: Mr. Kellyanne Conway, stay tuned

Most Overrated: Devin "Effing" Nunes

Most Underrated: Barack Obama -- for reasons that may never become public

The Bottomless Pinocchio!!!!
No, this is not Disney Cartoon Porn (shame on you).

*laughs*

One other thing...if Trump thinks he can avoid jail time by staying in office long enough to avoid prosecution, he has forgotten a handy legal device known as the sealed indictment.

Sealed indictment!? Well, I never! ;) *smile*

on the contrary 'old boy,' mindless devotion to big cake is precisely what our movement is fighting against.

Touché mon frere. It is quite the dullest recipe I have ever seen for cake, to be sure.

since the dawn of our republic was financed by marie antoinette, cake has had its way with the american populace. that needs to end now.

All that spending by Madame Déficit and France to help free the republic from the grasp of a Mad King... and for what? Inspiration for the "little people"! Alas, poor Maria Antonia; she never had a head for business. ;)

Destined For Political Oblivion - Kevin McCarty of California. He withdrew from the House Speaker race because of hints of a sex scandal. We haven't heard the last of that.

Best Political Theater - Ocasio-Cortez slapping down her critics

Worst Political Theater - Avenatti

Worst Political Scandal - Republicans ignoring probable voter fraud in NC

Most Underreported Story - Russian money funneled to the NRA in 2016

Most Overreported Story - petty slights during McCain's funeral

Biggest Government Waste - U S troops on the southern border

Best Government Dollar Spent - Salaries of the scientists who continue to study Global Warming "weathering" the criticism of Trump

Boldest Political Tactic - the woman who confronted a stunned Sen Flake in the elevator

Best Idea - anti-gerrymandering movement in preparation for 2020

Worst Idea - guns in schools

Sorry To See You Go - Jeff Sessions (I assume this is ironic)

15 Minutes Of Fame - Meghan Kelly, a little longer than 15 minutes, but no one on the left or right wants to see her on TV again

Best Spin - Micheal Flynn's lawyers hinting at entrapment by the FBI because he didn't show signs of lying

Most Honest Person - Donald Trump Jr - he just can't help himself!

Most Overrated - Beto O'Rourke, darling of the media and the left...but HE LOST, not exactly an argument for Presidential aspirations in 2020.

Most Underrated - Tom Perez. He is under withering criticism - mostly from the Sanders cult members - but soldiers on.

Biggest Loser of 2018 - Manafort - reputation in tatters, forfeited $$, and now, because he was caught in new lies, facing a lifetime in jail.

Best Politician - Pelosi

Worst Politician - Rand Paul, who gets lots of press for his 'opposition', then votes with Trump every time

Most Defining Political Moment - Kavanaugh hearings

Turncoat Of The Year - Cohen (too easy)

Most Boring - Lindsey Graham

Most Charismatic - Beto! Beto! (too easy)

Bummest Rap - Elizabeth Warren revealing her DNA results and the press highlighting the Cherokee Nation's statements and ignoring Trump's refusal to PAY UP!

Fairest Rap - Trump is a liar, an adulterer, and a tax-dodger (too easy)

Best Comeback - House Democrats

Most Original Thinker - Sen Hirono of Hawaii

Most Stagnant Thinker - Lindsey Graham

Best Photo Op - Trump-Pelosi-Schumer shutdown trainwreck

Worst Photo Op - Trump and Putin in Helsinki

Enough Already! - Scaramucci and Lewandowski

Worst Lie - FOX News and 'the caravan'

Capitalist Of The Year - Putin

Honorable Mention - Gillum and Abrams

Person Of The Year - Mueller

1. Stormy...Her career got a nice bump in '18

2. Warren...Poor Liz took the bait, now she's getting it from all sides.

3. Harris...She really stepped to the plate during Mr. K's grilling, being days in preparation, a splendid time would be had by all.

4. Hatch...hands down the most repellant creature in creation. Seems to him moral turpitude is in the eye of the beholder.

5. One word...Helsinki.

6. Cohen...easily out-grassed all other contenders.

7. Pence...Duller than dishwater, frequently checked for a pulse.

8. Sen Kennedy...Maybe because he's always got a catchy saying, or the way he says it. He's a constant source of amusement.

9. Mrs and family Pence...theirs is a lifetime award.

10. Bush 43...He's earned back some popularity in '18, took both his parents dropping dead, but I knew he had it in him.

11. The Mooch...It's not everyday you get run out of town and then become a fixture on both Fox and CNN. ( he gets my 'fart in a phone booth' award for the same reason)

12. Dr Ford...Anyone who can sit in front of a congressional committee and say 'indelible in the hippocampus' with a straight face, deserves at least a mention.

13. Grassley...Although, what goes though that belfry is anyone's guess.

14. Any number of group photo's of the Obama's and the Bush's...just to wind up Trump.

15. Anything with Eric Trump in it, Darwin could never have imagined such a creature, at least not standing upright.

16. Two words...well one word misspelt twice. SMOCKING. ffs.

17. Back to the halcyon days of Helsinki...'Would' or 'wouldn't' we see that as a huge pork pie? (this category will be interesting to monitor, there have been some whoppers.)

18. Bezos...Like him or not, you have to admire his wallet.

19. Michael Avenatti...It takes a special kind of person to so utterly crash and burn on a national stage in such short a time. At least the Mooch has his millions to comfort him, Avenatti will likely find himself on the business end of Stormy Daniels law suit before his fall from grace is complete.

2o. Considering 2018 saw all his Christmases come at once...Vlad the Putin takes that award. Let's review, shall we; America is being run by clown and is consuming itself. Europe is a mess with populism and Brexit. Ukraine is in a vice. Between Iran, Saudi and Syria, Russian energy is booming...it's tough to dig up a shitty end of a stick Putin got to hold in 2018.

LL&P

The British bookmakers have downgraded PM Theresa May to Theresa Maybe.

The Bottomless Pinocchio!!!!

No, this is not Disney Cartoon Porn (shame on you).

It is a new rating in the Washington Post's Fact Checker column.

As the WP explains it:

"That dubious distinction will be awarded to politicians who repeat a false claim so many times that they are, in effect, engaging in campaigns of disinformation.

A BP is not easy to win:

"The bar for the Bottomless Pinocchio is high: The claims must have received three or four Pinocchios from The Fact Checker, and they must have been repeated at least 20 times. Twenty is a sufficiently robust number that there can be no question the politician is aware that his or her facts are wrong. The list of Bottomless Pinocchios will be maintained on its own landing page."

The only individual to qualify for a BP is - wait for- Donald F'ing Trump.

WAPO:

"The Fact Checker has not identified statements from any other current elected official who meets the standard other than Trump. In fact, 14 statements made by the president immediately qualify for the list."

One other thing...if Trump thinks he can avoid jail time by staying in office long enough to avoid prosecution, he has forgotten a handy legal device known as the sealed indictment.

The perils of cut-n-pasting... OK, fixed it... mea culpa!

:-)

It's when I get it wrong in the actual year-end articles that it's really embarrassing!

-CW

The eclipse went fine, the 4 hr drive to the closest point on the line of totality was not especially scenic and there was about 50% cloud cover the whole day. A gap opened up at right moment and I got a good show. There was some mucking about to find a good viewing position - I was in deep rural (trying to minimize crowds/traffic/ parking delays) and tree canopy was an issue. GPS was helpful. Some Scotch was consumed. I drove back home.

Biggest Winner of 2018 - nancy pelosi

Biggest Loser of 2018 - scott walker (and his flying monkeys)

Best Politician - brett kavanaugh (let's call him what he is)

Worst Politician - michael avenatti (for all of 2 minutes)

Most Defining Political Moment - christine blasey ford's testimony, and its aftermath

Turncoat Of The Year - manafort, twice and counting!

Most Boring - theresa may

Most Charismatic - michelle obama

Bummest Rap - hillary clinton

Fairest Rap - nc-09 election fraud

Best Comeback - xochitl torres small

Honorable Mention - george w. bush (i think after two years of trump we really do see him more as his father's son and less as cheney's puppet)

Person Of The Year - robert mueller

ok, out of time now, I'll come back later to suggest some others.

JL

I'm looking forward to my bumper sticker, but for luck, I'm not sticking it to anything until the deed is done.

CW: I'll email my address using the "Email Chris" link below. Let me know if there are any issues.

*1,000 quantaloos if you recognize the "smug mode" reference?

on the contrary 'old boy,' mindless devotion to big cake is precisely what our movement is fighting against. since the dawn of our republic was financed by marie antoinette, cake has had its way with the american populace. that needs to end now.

JL

i personally think pie is the boldest political tactic. when has anyone in the history of politics ever suggested voting based on a pastry?

You sound like a man who has never heard of "election cake" a.k.a. "muster cake."

https://tinyurl.com/y7p7x9hq

Don't y'all just love history and pie and cake? ;)

Always the best man, never the groom... and I still get "bragging rights." Oh, boy!

I'm now putting you all on notice that I will use these *unlimited* rights of mine at every possible and conceivable opportunity. *shakes head* :p

But the winner -- of the longest-running contest ever held at CW.com -- is none other than (...drumroll...) neilm, for his winning entry (that turned out to be pretty close to what actually happened).

Neil is such a sneaker… I will be his wingman any time. I already congratulated Neil in June for winning because the handwriting was on the wall long ago... based on simple math... for the majority of us here with the temerity and mental capacity to comprehend science and stuff like that.

It's called CONFIRMATION BIAS

No, it isn't... thank you for trying, though.

It's called "there is no way in Hell that Kelly will last until the date that Don chose," so Neil is the obvious winner.

*
*
Congratulations Neil... you Sneaker!
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*

:D

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/06/28/program-notes-2/#comment-121745

Congratulations again, Neil! :)