Sunday Discussion Group — Year-End Edition

December 31, 2006

2006 started with some trepidation. The Bush White House had just experienced the worst year any president had seen since 1972, the midterm elections were looming but unpredictable, congressional scandals were brewing and unresolved, and everyone hoped it would be a “year of significant transition” in Iraq, though no one was quite sure what that meant.

Twelve months later, the political scene is much improved, Bush’s standing managed to sink even lower, and the war in Iraq has become even more heartbreaking.

Because I’m a sucker for those year-end lists, I thought I’d announce my top 10 “awards” for 2006 and offer readers a chance to name your own nominees, create your own categories, and highlight some of your favorite stories from the year.

Scandal of the year: Mark Foley’s sex scandal, disturbing as it was, is the clear winner here. It further highlighted a GOP Congress gone mad, with corrupted members and inept leaders, which in turn helped Dems reclaim the majority.

Runners-up include the Abramoff scandal, which claimed several victims on Election Day, the Republicans’ robo-calls, and Ted Haggard’s sex scandal.

Fiasco of the year: Looking back, the fact that Vice President Cheney shot a man in the face, the White House initially tried to keep it under wraps, and the victim ultimately apologized to the shooter, is one of those time-capsule stories that future generations might have trouble believing. But it was all true.

Runners-up include the Dubai Ports World story, Katherine Harris’ Senate campaign, ABC’s “Path to 9/11” docudrama, and the over-the-top coverage of John Kerry’s botched joke.

Campaign of the year: It was clear last year that Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum (R-Pa.) would have a real fight on his hands this year, but who would have guessed a 19-point defeat?

Runners-up include the George Allen-Jim Webb race in Virginia and the Joe Lieberman-Ned Lamont fight in Connecticut.

Media moment of the year: It’s a three-way tie! From my desk, three media moments stood out as powerful, poignant moments that had lasting impacts. In no particular order, we have Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Bill Clinton’s smackdown of Fox News’ Chris Wallace over 9/11, and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann launching a devastating series of special commentaries.

Stupid comment of the year: Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) was poised to win re-election without too much trouble, right up until he (twice) called a young Indian-American law student and Marine veteran “macaca.” His absurd initial explanations — he was trying to say “mohawk?” — made matters considerably worse.

Runners-up include Dick Cheney’s argument in August that opponents of the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy, Ted Stevens’ description of the Internet as a “series of tubes,” and Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) arguing on national television that members of Congress can’t be trusted to control themselves around teenagers.

Most significant legislation of the year: I still find hard to believe that Congress passed the Military Commissions Act and threw habeas corpus rights under the bus. History will not be kind.

Runner-up goes to the DeGette-Castle stem-cell bill, which drew widespread, bi-partisan support, and ultimately became the first bill of Bush’s presidency to draw a veto.

Breathtaking spin of the year: After literally years of insisting that he will “stay the course” in Iraq, no matter what, Bush announced in October, “We’ve never been ‘stay the course.'” It was an amazing attempt at rewriting history.

Runners-up include the Hoekstra-Santorum argument that “we found WMD in Iraq,” and Frances Fragos Townsend arguing that our inability to get Osama bin Laden isn’t a failure, it’s “a success that hasn’t occurred yet.”

Phenomenon of the year: It’s hard to believe, but hardly any of us knew that YouTube existed a year ago. Now, it’s having an amazing impact on our political culture.

Runner-up is Barack Obama, who was the only Democrat in the nation who every Dem candidate wanted to be seen with on the campaign trail in 2006.

Campaign ad of the year: Michael J. Fox’s powerful-but-painful commercials on stem-cell research captured the public’s attention, drew disgusting responses from the right, and had a sweeping impact on the election cycle. It’s one of those spots that will not soon be forgotten.

Runners-up include the VoteVets.org’s ad testing body-armor, and the infamous “Bimbo” ad against Harold Ford in Tennessee.

Comeback of the year: It wasn’t too long ago that Al Gore was seen as a former leader who should just fade away after a kinda/sorta unsuccessful presidential campaign. In 2006, thanks to a stunning movie and a series of inspiring policy speeches, Gore blossomed into the most important progressive activist in the country.

Runner-up is to John Edwards. After the 2004 election, where he managed to win just one primary and couldn’t deliver his home state in the general election, Edwards’ fate seemed unclear. How would he maintain a public presence and keep a base of support? In 2006, Edwards pulled it off quite nicely, and is now positioned as a top-tier presidential candidate for 2008.

So, how about you?

December 31, 2006 at 9:24 am

I’d like to nominate this as best end of year list. CB has covered everything here just as he has covered everything all year.

I might have to rate Dukester Cunningham at the top of the corruption list. I’ll cede that Foley’s homo-erotic messages with teenagers had more effect on the elections outcome, but that probably had as much to do with how close to the elections it broke. The GOP’s handling of it was business as usual for the Do Nothings.

I’m tempted to rate Harris’ campaign in the Stupid Comment of the Year category. It wasn’t a campaign so much as it was an unending stream of unconscienceness. Her stupidity knew no interruption.

Odd that there doesn’t seem to a place for Tom DeLay. He’s not usually one to be outdone. How about a 2006 Special Achievement Award?

Here’s how Nicholas Kristof sees Bush‘s obituary: “George W. Bush, who achieved tremendous acclaim for his handling of the 9/11 terror attacks but left office vilified and disgraced, mired in the Iraq war and stalemated at home, his hard-line partisan tactics souring the electorate and crippling his beloved Republican Party for a generation, died. …” So he came up with ten handy suggestions on how to rescue his legacy.

Numbers 4 and 10 are keepers.

I might have to rate Dukester Cunningham at the top of the corruption list.

I really wanted to, but Cunningham was busted in late 2005, instead of 2006. He just missed the cut.

Odd that there doesn’t seem to a place for Tom DeLay.

Agreed. I almost created a special category just for him.

I’d like to nominate this as best end of year list.

Thanks, Dale.

I think it’s significant that the lead/lede category was “Scandal of the Year” (Mark Foley). Along with the other media events listed, it says a lot about America. Nothing about Iraq, our economy, our poor, race relations, our unbelieveable jail population, the loss of the jobs to China, the impending implosion of the dollar vis-a-vis the Euro, our increasing indebtedness to China, the rising cost of health care, our endangered pensions, the baby boom retiring, and on and on.

There was a time when topics such as those were worthy of the year-end attention of political pundits and social analysts and historians. No more. Just for curiosity I checked the LA Times list of stories chosen by their readers as worthy of their attention (granted, it’s la-la land, but it’s also a major newspaper). I’ve put a link around the only one I gave so much as a tinker’s damn about.

* So Speedy, So Exclusive, So Expensive, So Totaled
By Bob Pool
It was a SigAlert made for Malibu. A red Ferrari Enzo — one of only 400 ever made and worth more than $1 million — broke apart when it crested a hill on the PCH going 120 mph and slammed into a power pole.
February 22, 2006

* Mystery fuels huge popularity of web’s Lonelygirl15
By Richard Rushfield and Claire Hoffman
The videos are a hit on YouTube, but some wonder if the teen’s posts are real or a marketing ploy.
September 8, 2006

* Boxing’s tallest and heaviest champion ever
By Kim Murphy
Valuev is a hero in Russia, controversy or no controversy.

* Joe Francis: ‘Baby, give me a kiss’
By Claire Hoffman
The man behind the “Girls Gone Wild” soft-porn empire lets Claire Hoffman into his world, for better or worse
August 6, 2006

* Baby is sent through X-ray machine at LAX
By Jennifer Oldham
A woman places her month-old grandson in a bin for carry-on items. Doctors later determine he did not get a dangerous dose of radiation.
December 20, 2006

* Sirius shock: pirates hit Howard Stern Show
By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., which liberated radio shock jock Howard Stern from the federal decency standards that he felt had shackled him, is finding that freedom’s just another word for $500 million to lose.

* Chasing Exotic Cars Is Their Pursuit
By David Pierson
A youthful crew of enthusiasts stalk the Westside, filming high-end autos. After the Ferrari crash in Malibu, CNN called.
May 17, 2006

* Warriors and wusses [a column]
By JOEL STEIN
I don’t support our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car.
January 24, 2006

* Extradition Sought in Man’s Death
By Tony Perry
San Diego prosecutors request the return of a Marine sergeant’s wife arrested in Florida on suspicion of poisoning her husband.
January 4, 2006

* Trying to corral Stern’s lost herd
By Martin Miller
Only a fraction of the audience followed the shock jock to satellite. Stations wonder where millions of ears went.
April 11, 2006

Best Breakfast Blog of the Year: The Carpetbagger Report.

Every day, every morning, the Carpetbagger Report is like a high-fiber cereal for the mind! Keeps me regular.

Flip-Flop of the Year

Congressional Republican staunchly support “stay the course” and denouce Democrats as cut-and-run cowards through the House resolution on Iraq War (June 2006), yet run away from Bush on the campaign trail, and within months, break ranks calling for a new strategy — or admit we’re not winning.

Runner Up: Bush fires Rumsfeld after expressing his unwavering support. (also, Winner of Most Blatant Lie of the Year)

Biggest Waste of Time, 2006

Baker-Hamilton commission. Who really thought Bush would listen to anyone with an independent opinion?

I’m not going to attempt to create a category for this, but the news story of the year that should show up here is the retaking of Congress, particularly as it involved (a) the ejection of candidates like Lincoln Chafee solely for being a Republican and (b) the complete Democrat-ization of the Northeast.

I was trying to figure out how to involve Tony Snow, but it’s hard to say how he’s really substantively worse than the previous press secretaries.

Clueless Award, 2006

GWB, who after a year of buildup and 3 years of war, still needs more time to come up with a strategy for “winning” the war in Iraq, proving it is indeed possible to be lost at sea and run aground at the same time. (Okay, I stole that quip from someone but darned if I can remember who).

Runner-up: Condi Rice, pick any quote.

Second the nomination for “Best End of the Year List.” CB is the first place I turn to every day to check for the most important stories on the internets.

I like beep52’s choices a lot, but the “Flip-Flop of the Year” has to be “Both Houses of Congress Flip Democratic in November Election!”

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Colon Powwow

CB #4:I really wanted to, but Cunningham was busted in late 2005, instead of 2006. He just missed the cut.Poor Dukie. Even in his spectacular flame out, still a loser.

I guess that was late last year. Sheesh – Where does the time go? Oh well, you know what they say. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Fiber for the mind. I like it! A nice healthy serving of CB every day is just what the doctor recommended.

A place for Tom Delay? How about Grisly-car-wreck-that-you-can’t-take-your-eyes-from moment of the year. The BugMan’s downfall was especially gruesome.

Keep up the good work in 2007, CB!

Here’s an important happening from 2006:

Daniel Dennett, at the Newsweek On Faith section says that, “For instance, we atheists and agnostics are as numerous as Southern Baptists, and we are also the fastest growing category–-faster even than the Mormons and the evangelicals.”

Thanks Ed #5. I didn’t realize just how pathetic that LA Times list was until you pointed it out. We humans are a silly race.

The best of 2006 was the result of the midterm elections. Too bad it’s not 2008 already so the “long national nightmare” would be completely over. Other than the continuing chaos in Iraq, it’s difficult to name the worst of 2006. Politically, maybe the worst of many ills inflicted by the Bush administration is the Supreme Court appointments – significant long term damage.

A look ahead to 2007 from http://www.altara.blogspot.com:

2007 HEADLINES – An Early Look

TRUMP INVITES O’DONNELL TO CO-HOST “THE APPRENTICE”

AL GORE ENTERS WEIGHT WATCHERS PROGRAM
Considered an early indication of candidacy

IRAN HOSTS EVOLUTION DENIAL CONFERENCE

VIRGIL GOODE TO BECOME MIDEAST ENVOY
Bush praises Representative Goode as fair and balanced

BORAT A BIG HIT IN NORTH KOREA

GALE NORTON JOINS SIERRA CLUB
Considered to be on track to become its president.

CONGRESSMAN JEFFERSON BUYS LOCK FOR REFRIGERATOR

DURHAM DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO LEAD AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
Michael Nifong praised for his keen sense of justice.

GEORGE CLOONEY COMES OUT
Admits that he’s a closet Republican

JOHN ASHCROFT THE VICTOR IN “AMERICA IDOL”
Acclaim for his performance of “Let the Eagles Soar”

JOE BIDEN HIRES SPEAKING COACH
Told to practice more on talk shows.

GONZALES PUSHES FOR FAIR TRIBUNALS
Attorney General joins Bush in push for defendants’ rights

HILLARY DECLINES PRESIDENTIAL RUN
Cites wish to spend more time with Senate and family

BUSH NEGOTIATES PEACE IN IRAQ
U.S. withdraws with honor and amidst acclaim from world leaders. Iraq becomes a Jeffersonian democracy.

While we have a long way to go to rid ourselves of the pestilence of religion, (see \”The Grand Canyon is not a few thousand years old\” in yesterday\’s TCR posts), 2006 at least gave us some good books that confronted religion head on and called it the superstitious tripe that it is. And better yet, the books were well reviewed, publicly acknowledged and read by significant numbers of people.

1. \”Letter to a Christian Nation\” by Sam Harris

2. \”The God Delusion\” by Richard Dawkins

3. \”Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design\” by Michael Shermer

Also, Al Gore\’s \”Inconvenient Truth\” provided momentum and weight to the argument that science and empirical knowledge has been taking a beating so certain religious, corporate and political groups could turn ignorance to their advantage in recruiting and/or profiting from abusing people\’s fears, degrading the environment and accruing very undeserved power.

Ignorance = Chains
Knowledge = Power, (as all who read TCR understand)

Still so far to go, but in a few areas \’06 was finally a year for bestowing the sobriquet, \”Bullshit\”, on some very deserving recipients.

Best wishes to all in the New Year.

I realize that it’s probably an optimistic delusion fueled by the election results and maybe more holiday cheer than I realized at the time, but I’d like to think that something fundamentally important and beneficial happened in American politics and culture this year: the guiding ethos of the Bush Republicans–“you’re on your own, and the powerful are beyond accountability”–was decisively rejected at home as it has been in the wider world.

All manner of hypocritical scolds (Santorum) and blatant pricks (Burns, Allen) were tossed out of office. Right-wing misrule was thrown off, and now the full measure of the damage it’s done will be exposed. While the justification for the Iraq disaster is still debated, nobody–not Joe Lieberman, not Richard Perle–defends the conduct of the war anymore, and there’s now a universal agreement that competence does in fact matter and that lofty sentiments penned by Michael Gerson aren’t nearly enough.

The Republican Party is in huge trouble at the end of 2006, and I’m not at all sure most of their leaders understand either the magnitude of their danger or the particulars of the public indictment. They’ve put us in a terrible fiscal hole, sullied our good name in the eyes of the world, and landed on the wrong side of every issue from stem cell research to the minimum wage. The southern-fried fundamentalist tinge of their party has made it nearly extinct in large swaths of the country–the blue coasts of the 2004 map–and clearly declining in regions where just two years ago they looked unbeatable, like the Interior West and upper South.

They’ll either have to change or die–and thank goodness. The disastrous tenure of the worst president we’ve ever had might be remembered for salting the earth where bad Republicans grew into noxious life: I’m optimistic that the Era of the Texas Monsters is over, and won’t resume.

Ahh, but this one had “legs”!!!

It kept growing. It kept growing and turned out to be Boffo Box Office.

Swedish businessman with organized crime history… allied to another Swedish businessman with skinhead connections… first one married to a bimbo who got arrested in the other multi-million-dollar stolen ca…, the two guys having organized themselves as “anti-terrorism consultants” for the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority (known primarily for vans to transport seniors) and having two of their guys come flash “badges” and try to chase away the Malibu Sheriffs… “Dieter,” the otherwise-unknown German driver who “ran way” from the accident turned out to be Swede #1 when DNA confirmed whose blood was on the airbag…

C’mon! If that happened in Miami, Carl Hiassen would have thrown up his hands and said “y’got me!” – no writer I know in L.A. would have touched an idea like that for fear of being thrown out of the development meeting for being “too wierd.”

Hell, Ferrari should have shown the accident pictures as an advertisement for the safety of their cars – he hits the pole at 140 mph, turns the thing into flying confetti (ok, large flying pieces, but you get the picture), and the armor-steel cockpit is in one piece and the only injury he sustains is that cut lip that ended up as the crucial evidence.

You can’t beat that one with a stick – file under “only in L.A.”

Oh, and if you’d have read the article, “Chasing Exotic Cars Is Their Pursuit” turned out to be attached to this, since the three teenagers who video only cars costing more than $500K (turns out there’s a lot of them in a particular neighborhood of The Three-Ten), were the ones who got the goods on the wife of Swede #1, leading to the recovery of two more multi-million dollar cars he’d stolen from England and brought here. The numb-nutted asshole was too stupid to get license plates for them, which was why the kids photographed her.

Like I said, you couldn’t make this up if you were the reincarnation in one body of Carl Hiassen and Raymond Chandler. .

“Extradition Sought in Man’s Death” is one of those James Agee “The Postman Only Rings Twice” stories come to life.

OK, so given my profession I am always looking for stuff like this and therefore read it, but if you read this stuff through the year, you’ll understand why all the other nutty stuff that does belong on a Top Year End Stories list happens. I guess it comes from having a “Carl Hiassen take” on reality.

As to the one you’d choose, I don’t read function illiterates like Joel Stein, who is – other than this one column – a blot on the reputation of writers. How those Chicago halfwits now running the times ever chose that bozo as representative of “Hollywood writing” is beyoooooooooooooooond me.

Breathtaking spin of the year:

HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said, dead or alive, we’re going to get him. Still don’t have him. I know you are saying there’s successes on the war on terror, and there have been. That’s a failure.

TOWNSEND: Well, I’m not sure — it’s a success that hasn’t occurred yet. I don’t know that I view that as a failure.

(Serious, posh, deep British voice): “And now the news.”

I’d nominate the Webb campaign and Allen’s comment as a combined piece for Best Proof That Republicans Are Halfwitted Morons Who Can Be Whacked Any Time You Make Their Stupidity Public Award.

In fact, all the stories involving Republicans that are on this list are contenders for that award, a fact I hope Congressional Democrats will take to heart between now and 2008. The Large Slow People who join the Republican Party are always stupid enough that if you make their stupidity public, the rest of the public will laugh at them, which then makes them mad, which then makes them do more stupid things, which eventually gets them caught out. They’re that stupid little pimple-faced fat kid who was always tattling to teacher, grown up. All we have to do is remember Jim McKelvey’s Dictum: “the only ‘good Republicans’ are pushing up daisies.”

Like Dale, Hankster and others, I too greatly value and enjoy my daily dose of The Carpetbagger Report, and I think the year-end list here covers all the important events.
I’d like to suggest one other category, which would be YEAR-END DEVELOPMENT WHOSE RESOLUTION IN THE COMING YEAR WILL BE MOST IMPORTANT, or something like that only more pithy. For this I would nominate the disputed election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. After the disuputes in Florida and Ohio in the last two presidential election and numerous problems with electronic voting around the country, if Congress fails to investigate and challenge the outcome of this election and subsequently adopt meaningful election reform, it would mark a profound blow to democracy in this country.

Oh. I just realized who “didn’t get” all those L.A. stories. Ed, I love ya, but if you’re going to keep trying to keep pushing solid “outside L.A.” thinking on this place…. it doesn’t work, man. It’s true. Los Angeles is a different planet. 🙂

Flip flop of the year: The Maverick Rebel Republicans on the Torture Your Corpus bill.

Political disappointment of the year: The McCainiac doesn’t come through on his promise to commit suicide if the Dems take the majority.

Scary shit from the powers that be of the year: “ICE” raids a number of meat packing plants and carts away employees who look hispanic in an attempt to find a few illegal aliens who may have engaged in identity theft.

Thirding or fourthing the best Blog o’ the year nomination.

And another nominee for the OpenRoadster YEAR-END DEVELOPMENT WHOSE RESOLUTION IN THE COMING YEAR WILL BE MOST IMPORTANT:

the RNC Robocalls looming scandal. Combine it with OpenRoadster’s nominee and you have the entire political philosophy of that criminal cabal masquerading as a political party wrapped up.

And a nominee for Best Line From A Political Song of 2006 (just heard this on NPR’s morning show) “Cheney’s Got A Gun… The Safety’s Come Undone…” (Everybody Run/The Prom Queen’s Got a Gun). I wish I had been listening closely enough to realize who to credit for that great bit.

Richard Clarke’s List Of Problems Denied And Opportunities Lost For 2006:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901238_pf.html

Money quote:

As the president contemplates sending even more U.S. forces into the Iraqi sinkhole, he should consider not only the thousands of fatalities, the tens of thousands of casualties and the hundreds of billions of dollars already lost. He must also weigh the opportunity cost of taking his national security barons off all the other critical problems they should be addressing — problems whose windows of opportunity are slamming shut, unheard over the wail of Baghdad sirens.

Tom (#25), Definitely agree with the worthiness of Clarke’s list. I considered citing it as a counter-example for the LA Times list but figured my post was already getting long. Also agree with you about the remainder of the Joel Stein oeuvre.

Hey! You say that Barack Obama “was the only Democrat in the nation who every Dem candidate wanted to be seen with on the campaign trail in 2006.”

Yet my understanding is that Wesley Clark was the most requested.

I want to thank CB for this site from which I have enjoyed reading the articles and comments. I want to thank the other commenters for many good laughs, links and other viewpoints. I sincerely hope that in 2007 we get to witness our slow-witted misleader experience a sensation similar to the human bottle rocket at the link.
flame on

On a grim note with which to end 2006, we’ve now had an even 3,000 US military deaths in Bush’s Iraq Quagmire. I sincerely hope 2007 will be a happier New Year for everyone.

In part that will require the newly elected Democratic majorities in both houses to remember that WE WON the election. We don’t have to treat the GOP in the petulant, childish way they treated us, but we have absolutely no reason to compromise Democratic ideals on their behalf. The way to quit losing lives and quit losing billions from our treasury is to COME HOME NOW. That will require us to cut off the funds from Cheney/Bush’s misadventure, with a threat of impeachment if they make a fuss.

Looney Tune of the Year

Katherine Harris. So, crazy that even the Bush Brothers shunned her.

Mathematician of the Year

Karl “the math” Rove, whose high school math teacher was reportedly forced to move to South America under an assumed name. (Rove also received “Brain Fart of the Year” for his performance as Bush’s Brain and 2006 campaign strategy).

Best Use of Imagery in A One-Man Play

Hugo Chavez. “The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still today.”

Personal Discovery of the Year: The Carperbagger Report. This counts as a major milestone in my life of intermittent political activism. When I came here (May 2006?) it was the first blog ever I felt drawn to comment in. Not that I’m shy, just cautious. Here I found a quality, honesty and vitality that became indispensible, and irresistible. I had grown weary of the pap on Google News. Even the Guardian and BBC News seemed to miss the grit and detail I craved. Here, I found it all, day after day. Great! And thanks.

Juicy Events to Look Forward to: There’s a lot of them. Obviously, the new Democratic Congress offers great opportunities and possibilities. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations. I’m also looking forward to all the pending lawsuits and trials — the Palme case, the Robocall challenge, Cheney and the Lewis boy, the NH phone-blocking cases, and a myriad others. These things take a long time cooking but often they’re worth the wait.

Fiasco of the Year: I put Saddam’s execution as the most unseemly, sordid event in the catalogue of Bush-engineered fiascos. I think that will unravel and backfire in some quite unfortunate ways. Of course, I could be wrong, and I am prejudiced against capital punishment as a solution to anything.

Happiest Event of the Year: His Holiness the Dalia Lama’s visit to America.

Best Wishes. Here, in Romania, in a few hours, we join the EU.

Hear! Hear! TCB is my favorite blog for real meat-and-potatoes commentary on the stuff I care about. Thanks, man!

I forgot: Best Bush = Concrete Albatross Moment:
Crist snubbing the BushBaby a couple of days before the 2006 election.

I’d add to the stupidest comment category: T. Snowjob’s attempt to equate denying people the right to marry with civil rights measures.

And really, anything any ReThuglican said about the Foley scandal, especially Big-tent Denny’s theory it was all “a prank.”

How about:
Foreign Policy Coup of the Year? ‘Course it’s rough to know where to start on this one.
Our scintillating rhetoric with North Korea, or Iran?
Reachin’ out to all them brown people and guv’mints south of the Rio Grande?
Keeping the peace in Lebanon?
Friendly persuasion in Pakistan?
Making Sudan a funner place for all?
Watching Russia embrace western values?

It might be hard to give an actual award. Do we pick Condi, Lil’ Georgie, Darth Cheney, or that paragon of visionaries “Ol Rummy?

-j-

Personal Discovery of the Year: The Carperbagger Report. This counts as a major milestone in my life of intermittent political activism. When I came here (May 2006?) it was the first blog ever I felt drawn to comment in. Not that I’m shy, just cautious. Here I found a quality, honesty and vitality that became indispensible, and irresistible. I had grown weary of the pap on Google News. Even the Guardian and BBC News seemed to miss the grit and detail I craved. Here, I found it all, day after day. Great! And thanks.

goldilocks @31

I definitely could not have said it better. CB – a lot of hard work and tremendous results. Posters, one and all, thanks for making me think and making me laugh, sometimes at the same time.

Happy New Year!

CBR: I really have enjoyed your site and the “conversation” going on here. While I know the Republicans will continue to provide ample fodder for ridicule and disgust, I do hope 2007 brings in some news which allows for celebration, and I don’t just mean the Democratic take over of the Congress.

On point #2, in what way exactly was the fiasco in Dubai ports? I hope you mean the absurd overreaction to the deal. The Dems scored a clever political body blow against Bush, but in the process created untold damage for the US, particularly and paradoxically on port security (not to mention trade, foreign investment, relations with the Arab world, etc, etc).

The real fiasco is the the American left’s reactionary, ignorant and, quite frankly, racist position on the deal (gee, almost sounds like a leftwing critique of the Bush foreign policy). It would be refreshing for the anti-Dubai ports/anti-Bush crowd that foamed at the mouth, and in the blogs-o-sphere, last winter, to use their self-ascribed intelligence and critical thinking on themselves every now and then. But that would presuppose they are actually imbued with either. Overestimating one’s intellect and capability of independent thought is a dangerous thing, no matter what your politics.

The LA Times made the point quite nicely a couple weeks ago.

15 December 2006
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition
A-42
English
Copyright 2006 The Los Angeles Times

SIX MEMBERS OF Congress traveled to the Dominican Republic on Sunday for a look at the future of U.S. port security. At Puerto Caucedo, east of Santo Domingo, they examined an X-ray scanning system for cargo containers. The port performing this cutting-edge work is operated by Dubai Ports World.

Yes, that’s the same company that Congress thinks can’t be trusted to run U.S. ports. Earlier this year, Dubai Ports World bought a British firm that operated several ports and cargo terminals in the U.S. Unfortunately for the company, the deal came during an election year when lawmakers were having chest-thumping contests to prove who was tougher on national security. Though Dubai Ports World is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, one of this country’s strongest Middle Eastern allies, the fact that the UAE is a Muslim country was apparently enough to prove to lawmakers that the deal would make U.S. ports unsafe. Dubai Ports World headed off congressional action by promising to sell its U.S. assets.

On Sunday, insurance giant American International Group agreed to buy the port operations. The lawmakers who spearheaded the xenophobic attacks on Dubai Ports World have since made a lot of self-congratulatory noises, but they have yet to explain why the Dubai company can be trusted to oversee foreign ports where cargo is screened before it’s shipped to the U.S., but not ports in the U.S. itself. Nor is it clear why these U.S. port facilities are better off being owned by a financial services company.

Puerto Caucedo isn’t the only Dubai Ports World facility where new security programs for U.S. cargo are performed. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that, starting in February, six foreign ports will scan U.S.-bound cargo for nuclear materials. Of those, only three will scan 100% of U.S.-bound containers, and two of the three are operated by Dubai Ports World.

Ports all over the U.S. are facing a capacity crunch amid a flood of imports, especially from Asia. For East Coast ports — like the ones just purchased by AIG — this problem will worsen in the long run after the widening of the Panama Canal. At a time when ports need money to expand, the United States has sent a self-defeating message to foreign port operators that they aren’t welcome to invest here. Three of the four biggest such companies in the world (including Dubai Ports World) are foreign owned.

The best thing about the AIG deal is that it closes the chapter on one of the most embarrassing fits of isolationist hysteria in recent U.S. history. Unfortunately, with a pack of protectionist Democrats about to enter Congress, there could be more bouts of hysteria on the way.

Dinnermask @37 refers to “the American left’s reactionary, ignorant and, quite frankly, racist position” on the Dubai ports deal. Nice try. For the record, the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress at the time, and were well-accustomed to using strong arm tactics to ram through any legislation they supported — but they didn’t support the Dubai ports deal.

From CNN

Unusually rancorous debate on the issue has split Bush from his GOP allies in Congress at a time when the president’s approval ratings have plunged and midterm elections approach.

… Earlier Thursday, Senate and House leaders warned Bush that the UAE deal was a lost cause, GOP sources said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and Frist delivered the news to Bush during a meeting at the White House, the sources said.

The leaders told the president they would pass measures to block the deal by veto-proof majorities, sources said. Bush had threatened to veto any legislation that stopped the deal. Bush has said any effort to stall or kill the deal would strain ties with a vital Arab ally in the war on terrorism.

… House Republicans are openly defying the president, apparently to prevent Democrats from outflanking them on national security and outsourcing issues as elections approach. (Questions about the deal answered)

The issue marks an unusual rift between Bush and congressional Republicans, who say they have received overwhelmingly negative comments from constituents.

… Tensions between Bush, whose approval rating is near an all-time low, and Congress have been growing for some time, and the president’s vow to veto the legislation angered many of his congressional allies.

spin of the year:

“we’ve never been ‘stay the course'” – GWB

“The Dems scored a clever political body blow against Bush, but in the process created untold damage for the US, particularly and paradoxically on port security (not to mention trade, foreign investment, relations with the Arab world, etc, etc). ”

Unlike the amazing success the war in Iraq has had in improving US/Arab relations.

Greatest blog of the year: The Carpetbagger report, without question!

Most embarrasing diplomatic moment of the year: Condi’s handling of the bombing of Lebanon by Israel.

Happy New Year, everyone.

The Krug Man renews the call for better health care coverage in ’07.

I have some comments on it, myself, including some not-so-kind comments about the much-ballyhooed “Masachusetts Plan.”

I would add a “warning of the year” for Al Gore’s Inconvienient Truth.

To see and understand that movie is to see the world literally change before your eyes. Buy it, and lend it to all your skeptical friends. Tell them they owe it to their KIDS to STFU and watch it. And note that the first bullet point in Richard Clarke’s list of neglected issues is not terrorism, it’s global warming. A very firm warning, coming from the guy who warned us about 9/11. (thanks Tom Cleaver)…

Richard Clarke:

“Global warming: When the possibility of invading Iraq surfaced in 2001, senior Bush administration officials hadn’t thought much about global warming, except to wonder whether it was caused by human activity or by sunspots. Today, the world’s scientists and many national leaders worry that the world has passed the point of no return on global warming. If it has, then human damage to the ecosphere will cause more major cities to flood and make the planet significantly less conducive to human habitation — all over the lifetime of a child now in kindergarten. British Prime Minister Tony Blair keeps trying to convince President Bush of the magnitude of the problem, but in every session between the two leaders Iraq squeezes out the time to discuss the pending planetary disaster.”

pending. planetary. disaster.

Good luck to all of us in the new year. IMHO, even with all the other serious issues there are to deal with, this has to become issue one. Our kids’ lives depend on us keeping the big picture in mind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901238_pf.html

2006 may be remembered as the year the Religious Right jumped the shark.
Social conservatism, as a political movement, is dying. In the last election, some of the greatest losses were by candidates supported by the religious right. America is slowly becoming more socially liberal, and unless the GOP embraces tolerance, they will continue to lose many elections to come.

The younger generation, especially, seems to be more liberal about sexual matters, stem cell research, etc.
While there might be some conservatism in this country on national defense and law enforcement, most people don’t like the government to tell them what than can and can’t do with their own bodies.

The right is more out of touch of the American mainstream on moral issues more than ever.

There are indeed a small cadre of leftist who hate America. But, at least they don’t try to pass themselves off as “patriots” like America-bashers on the right do.

Attention Comrades,
Please visit http://ministryoflove.wordpress.com to learn about our creative protest of the Military Commissions Act.
Regards,
O’Brien

Catherine,

Yet my understanding is that Wesley Clark was the most requested.

source? FWIW, I’m a big Clark fan, especially as it relates to the 2008 presidential race.

The Answer is Orange,

Political disappointment of the year: The McCainiac doesn’t come through on his promise to commit suicide if the Dems take the majority.

Great one!

Mr. Carpetbagger,

I would like to add my voice to the chorus celebrating this fantastic blog. You are my first stop in the blogosphere, often my last, and sometimes my only. Keep up the great work!

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