I suppose it would be a good idea to revisit 2005 one last time before we toss it into the ashcan, so here's a look back.
Like most years, it had some ups and downs, but all in all, we made it, so that's something to be thankful for (and I'll try not to take easy shots at "the usual suspects," though that will be difficult to avoid).
Darkest Moment
Release of the grand jury report on pedophile priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Most Inappropriate Wording From A Politician
Jim Kolbe
Continuing Search For A Pulse Award
Bob Casey Jr.
Biggest Story
Devastation of Hurricane Katrina
Biggest Non-Story(ies)The "Runaway Bride"
Daylin Leach's Blog
Update 1/7: The Philadelphia Inquirer named Leach today as one of the legislators who gave back all of a portion of the infamous pay raise to the state recently (see below). That's another reason why I don't care about his blog.
Weirdest Story
The naked "Zorro" guy in Doylestown, Pa.
Most Outrageous Moment Of Thievery
The PA pay raise scam
Most Inappropriate Comparison By A Politician To A Dairy Farmer
John Perzel
Most Shameless Political Grandstanding
"Dr." Bill Frist diagnosing the terminally ill Terri Schiavo on T.V
Most Pornographic Republican
Mary Carey
Most Courageous Performance By A Conservative
Andrew Sullivan on "Real Time with Bill Maher" (particularly when he said, "I'll never trust this guy (Dubya) again.")
Worst Columnist
J. D. Mullane (lots of competition here...one runner up would be Richard Cohen for saying that Patrick Fitzgerald should give up on trying to determine who "outed" Valerie Plame because it's too complicated; it only takes eight letters to figure it out, Richard, and those would be K-A-R-L-R-O-V-E)
Most Disgusting Attack By A Repug Mouthpiece On Fox Whose Father Is A Journalistic Legend
Chris Wallace
Worst Writer Pretending To Be A Political Operative
Scooter Libby
Most Courageous But Disgruntled Government Official Who Brought Down A President
Mark Felt
Worst Performance By A Businessman Pretending To Be A Politician
Doug Forrester
Best Political Story
Victory by Smith/Caiola in LMT Supervisors election
Worst Political Story
Bush wiretapping scandal (I've got more coming up on that)
Silliest Sports Soap Opera
The Terrell Owens saga
Most Underrated Deceased Celebrity(ies) From '05
Ernest Lehman
Shelby Foote also
(both men would probably scoff at that characterization)
"Don't Let The Door Hit You" Award Winner
William Rehnquist
Most Esteemed Individual To Leave Us In '05
Rosa Parks
Political Rogues Gallery
Mike Brown
"Duke" Cunningham
John McCain
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Creepiest Political Actor Who May Yet Make A Comeback, Unfortunately
Scumbag Santorum
Person Of The Year
John Edwards (at least two reasons: his letter taking the blame for supporting the Iraq War and his foundation to fight poverty at Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2006!
4 comments:
I totally agree about JD Mullane. He's one of the reasons that I cancelled my 20+ year subscription to that right wing rag, The Bucks County Courier Times. I just couldn't take it anymore.
I understand how you feel. I know I take shots at the paper when they deserve it, but they're sort of torn between reporting just enough national news to be taken seriously and making sure they provide plenty of red meat for the right wing hammerheads which constitute the vast majority of their readership. Maybe in a way I should take pity on them for that reason, but I won't.
I actually had a correspondence with Mullane at one point. I gave him credit for a time because of the hardscrabble way that he made a reputation, but the problem is that he's totally co-opted himself to the individuals I mentioned above. One time I called him on it and the attitude he gave me was "it's my column, so I'll do what I want," which I think is a crappy way to be (Kate Fratti, on the other hand, will at least be honest enough to admit some of her biases from time to time, though I don't make much of that because her point of view happily coincides with my own). The point of no return for me on Mullane was his utter fawning and groveling during Dubya's "fear and smear" show at Broadmeadows Farm in Lower Makefield during the '04 presidential campaign (for which Dubya typically stiffed the township about $20 G). Mullane lost all pretense of objectivity as far as I was concerned at that point.
By the way, since you've cancelled your subscription, you may want to get caller ID on your phone because the C-T will ABSOLUTELY HOUND YOU trying to get you to renew (even using charities to do their bidding - un-freaking-believable!). I got some elderly gentleman on the phone who actually said, "Well, I don't understand why you don't want to renew," and I ripped him a new one telling him it wasn't any of his damn business why I cancelled, and then I proceeded to feel bad about it later, though I shouldn't have.
I hope this helps - thanks for checking in.
They hounded the crap outta me when I cancelled and I just kept telling them no, and finally they gave up. Back in Sept i mysteriously starting getting the paper again. I got a letter saying that Boscov's was paying for a 13 week Fri, Sat and Sun sub and after that they would bill me. I never responded and never paid the bill and they've stopped and so far (knock wood) they haven't been bothering me.
But if they do, I'm gonna rip em a new one too. Love your blog, btw :)
Thanks for the good words. Right now, I have no idea what I will or won't be able to do this week, but I'll keep this thing going somehow as long as I'm able to do so (can't wait for the young one to return to school...).
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