Nominations Are Open For 2022 Year-End Awards
'Tis the season once again to solicit nominations for our year-end awards. Welcome to the first round of categories!
Before we get to the list, a few words on the rest of the year's calendar. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday Talking Points day, but it will be the final one of the year. The week after, December 16th, the first year-end awards column will appear.
The following Friday, Christmas Eve Eve, so to speak, the second half of the awards will run. I probably won't be posting new columns the final week of the year, unless something noteworthy enough to demand comment happens (which can always happen).
New Friday Talking Points columns will resume on the first Friday of the new year.
For the nonce, here is the list of categories for our year-end awards. If your memory needs refreshment for any reason, check out last year's awards to see previous winners.
Everybody ready? Thinking caps on? Here we go:
Biggest Winner of 2022
Biggest Loser of 2022
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
And don't forget, these are just half of the annual awards. There will be plenty of other categories if anyone gets missed in the first round. The nominations are now open, so let me know who you think deserves recognition for all of 2022.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Biggest Winner of 2022 Big Orange (unless he gets arrested by the 31st)
Biggest Loser of 2022 I enjoyed Palin losing to a Dem multiple times
Best Politician Nancy Pelosi
Worst Politician Herschel Walker
Most Defining Political Moment Roe V Wade
Turncoat Of The Year Liz Cheney
Most Boring Fat Donny taking hostages at Mar a Lago
Most Charismatic Mike Pence wins by a mile
Bummest Rapper KKKanye KKKardashian
Fairest Rap Madison Cauthorn
Best Comeback John "I got back up" Fetterman
Most Original Thinker Unabomber, of course!
Best Photo Op Dr Snakeoil and Crudite!
Worst Photo Op Big Money Joe fistbumping MBS
Enough Already! Dead Queen
Worst Lie We gave back all the documents
Capitalist Of The Year Three way tie (Sam Bankman-Fried, Elon Musk, Ernest Garcia III)
I think you should include
MOST UNDERRATED REPUBLICAN as was last year
And why not MOST UNDERRATED DEMOCRAT while we’re at it?
I think these should be permanently on the list, until they’re not.
Well, whose list is it, anyways, eh?
Biggest winner: US women's soccer team for winning equal pay (i just know you're leaning toward some cop out answer like "democracy" but don't do it!)
Biggest loser: trump
Best Politician: Nancy pelosi
Worst Politician: Herschel walker
Most Defining Political Moment: volodymyr zelenskyi speaking remotely on the net as his country was being invaded.
Turncoat Of The Year: the 5 SCOTUS politician-judges for reversing fifty years of precedent in the most nakedly political decision since bush v gore. Either them or the ten Republican Congress critters who helped plan January 6th
Most Boring: Mike Pence
Most Charismatic: Fetterman
Bummest Rap: Brittney Griner
Fairest Rap: Steve Bannon (i do "not see" Steve Bannon)
Best Comeback: Catherine cortez-masto
Most Original Thinker: whoever started ranked choice voting in Alaska
Most Stagnant Thinker: Vladimir Putin
Best Photo Op: Ukrainian soldier giving Russian warship the finger
Worst Photo Op: guy who threw a cake at the Mona Lisa (he should've gone with pie). That or will Smith at the Oscars
Enough Already!: Forced birth laws, cutesy names for manchin and sinema, 2020 election conspiracies, Kanye Kardashian, Elon musk-Twitter (e-litter)
Worst Lie: Florida teachers who answer students honestly about gender identity are 'groomers' (i can't think of any lie uglier than that one, although the phony referendums in eastern Ukraine come close)
Capitalist Of The Year: the emir of Qatar (world cup in November? Seriously?)
Honorable Mention: Liz Cheney, Adam kinzinger, ketanji brown Jackson, Hannah Green, the return of "bennifer"
Person Of The Year: president Biden
[3]
It’s Chris’s list, duh. I must have missed whatever his deadline was. But he is like a God around here so what’s to stop him from adding them?
Only his own desires. :)
Not JUST his desires. Also, y'know...
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56fae4be1d07c0c393d8faa5/1575818768836-O38C6Z890MJBZ2MDNBVK/Tradition+Tevye.jpg
nypoet22
Did someone say tradition? Or was that something that rhymes with it...
https://www.facebook.com/RandyRainbowOfficial/videos/sedition-a-randy-rainbow-song-parody/402307121075220/
[20] Elizabeth Miller wrote:
"In other words, the Ukrainian government's close ties with far-right extremists highlights just one of the reasons why Ukraine will never be a member of NATO."
I know this was yesterday, but I just had to comment.
Ties with far right extremists has NEVER stopped any nation from becoming a NATO member.
Cases in history that prove the point besides Ukraine:
POLAND, HUNGARY, and PORTUGAL. In fact, Portugal had been a dictatorship since 1933 when it became a founding member of NATO in 1949. Portugal did not become a democracy until 1974.
Biggest Winner of 2022 - Democracy
Biggest Loser of 2022 - Donald Trump
Best Politician - Raphael Warnock
Worst Politician - Herschel Walker
Most Defining Political Moment - Russian invasion of Ukraine
Turncoat Of The Year - Kyrsten Sinema
Most Boring - Lindsey Graham
Most Charismatic - Raphael Warnock
Bummest Rap - (I choose the criminal meaning) Brittney Griner
Fairest Rap - (Again criminal) Trump organization guilty on all 17 counts
Best Comeback - John Fetterman
Most Original Thinker - Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Most Stagnant Thinker - Vladimir Putin
Best Photo Op - Medal ceremony for Capitol policemen
Worst Photo Op - Dr. Oz at the grocery store
Enough Already! - Vladimyr Putin
Worst Lie - Elon Musk promising to make Twitter better
Capitalist Of The Year - Kanye West (Ye) for the biggest self inflicted drop in wealth in recent history
Honorable Mention - Elon Musk for the Twitter disaster
Person Of The Year - Ketanji Brown Jackson for inspiration and making history
9] John M wrote:
[20] Elizabeth Miller wrote:
"In other words, the Ukrainian government's close ties with far-right extremists highlights just one of the reasons why Ukraine will never be a member of NATO."
Sorry, also forgot: GREECE and TURKEY, at both times, multiple in the case of Turkey, ruled by right wing military dictatorships during their NATO membership.
And European Union members: AUSTRIA, who had a neo-Nazi as part of their government recently, and ITALY, who currently has a neo-Fascist as their Prime Minister.
Suggested category: Most likely to piss off the entire judiciary. Nominees: Donald Trump and his legal team.
John M,
Well, I did say just one reason why Ukraine will never be a member of NATO.
The biggest reason is its intertwined history with Russia AND its proximity to Moscow. It has never made sense for Ukraine to be a NATO member and, indeed, if it still has aspirations of being in NATO it will have to give them up to end this war. Is that fair? What's fair in this world?
Biggest Winner of 2022: Joe Biden. Since World War II, the first midterms of a Democratic president would generally see their Party lose approximately 40 seats in the House and 5 seats in the Senate. Not Joe. He knew what mattered to the vast majority of Americans and kept plugging away at his message.
Biggest Loser of 2022: Donald Trump and his election lying disguised as "denying." This con is just a liar fleecing the rubes who are dumb enough to believe him.
Best Politician (Living): Barack Obama, who obviously deliberately followed the style of Abraham Lincoln.
Best Politician (Deceased): Abraham Lincoln.
Worst Politician: Donald Trump who is killing the Republican Party, but they're a bunch of cowards allowing it.
Most Defining Political Moment: The Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and taking away a right of Americans.
Turncoat Of The Year: Still Donald Trump. He called for the suspension of the U.S. Constitution and continues to aid and abet insurrectionists, even promising pardons to them.
Most Boring: Boring in a good way -- Joe Biden.
Boring in a bad way: Sarah Palin... the repetitive airhead type boring.
Most Charismatic: Barack Obama... still.
Bummest Rap: Widespread election fraud... still a Trumpian lie.
Fairest Rap: Herschel Walker is dumber than a bag of hammers; although, not really fair to hammers.
Best Comeback: The Red Wave that never came.
Most Original Thinker: Katie Porter
Most Stagnant Thinker: MTG and the idiots who can't speak without inciting violence against others and then the resultant walking it back claiming it was "just a joke." It's all fun and games until someone gets attacked or killed. Idiots.
Best Photo Op: That FBI photo of Trump's stolen documents:
https://www.newsweek.com/photo-trump-documents-spread-over-mar-lago-carpet-sparks-ridicule-1738378#slideshow/2107005
Worst Photo Op: Ron DeSantis and those stupid white go-go boots.
Enough Already!: Kari Lake... needs to go jump in the lake.
Worst Lie: Ivana Trump's grave near the first hole at Bedminster.
Capitalist Of The Year: Elon Musk for being forced to go through with his Twitter purchase.
Honorable Mention: Me... Twitter shareholder since 2017.
Person Of The Year: Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Biggest Winner of 2022 -- FIFA and Qatar. So much money made off the blood and tears of so many innocent people thanks to the massive corruption that the two didn't even try to hide from view. FIFA has proven that it is the most powerful crime syndicate in the world once again.
Biggest Loser of 2022 -- Women. American women having the right to determine whether you choose to be a mother stripped from you was a massive shock. For women all over the world, it's been a right that they have never known. We need to focus on securing basic human rights for all Americans, then we should demand it from the countries we do business with.
Best Politician -- Katie Porter. No one makes CEO's and executives from the largest corporations break out in a cold sweat like she does simply by rolling out her whiteboard. She makes puts difficult economic topics into very plain language that anyone can understand. Porter has made more than one CEO have to say outloud the truth about how their companies are knowingly robbing us blind.
Worst Politician -- Can we really call Herschel Walker a "Politician" since he lost his bid to become Georgia's Congressional Senator and he's never held office? No, we will stick with Trump as the Worst of the Worst.
Most Defining Political Moment -- Liz Cheney's standing firm in her condemnation of Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow our government to remain in power... even as it cost her her seat in the Senate.
Or maybe it was Georgia's Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan telling reporters that he did not vote for GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker in the runoff election against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
"I had two candidates that I just couldn’t find anything that made sense for me to put my vote behind, and so I walked out of that ballot box showing up to vote but not voting for either one of them," he added. Gotta respect his honesty for not supporting Walker.
Turncoat Of The Year — Liz Cheney
Most Boring — Mike Pence. The man is Ambien incarnate.
Most Charismatic — John Fetterman. I don’t know how he summoned the courage to continue being part of the political debates after suffering his stroke. But that man is without a doubt blessed with brass balls the size of grapefruits! I have good friends whose ability to speech was forever altered from suffering a stroke. One was a 18yo senior baseball player at one of the schools I worked with. I know how he struggled with the frustration of not being able to speak at the same pace that he could form the words in his mind. How ashamed he was to speak up at all for months after the accident. Courageous doesn’t seem to be enough to describe the respect that I have for Fetterman.
Best Comeback — “Yo Mama!“
Most Original Thinker — Bernie Sanders.
Most Stagnant Thinker — Donald Trump. The BIG LIE is all he can talk about. That we refer to it as “the Big Lie” should be a clue as to how effective repeating it constantly has been at getting people to believe it.
Best Photo Op — The signing of the PACT Act by President Biden and his acknowledging the passionate calling out and shaming of Republicans by Jon Stewart that resulted in the bill getting passed just days after it had failed in the Senate.
The Ukrainian grandmother who gave Russian troops handfuls of sunflower seeds and told them to put them in their pockets for safe keeping. That way, she said, when they are killed and their bodies turn to dirt, the seeds will grow and serve as markers for where they died. I wonder how many of the Russian troops that surrendered and gave up the fight did so with sunflower seeds in their pockets.
Worst Photo Op — The family of a police officer who died after the January 6th insurrection refused to shake either Mitch McConnell's or Kevin McCarthy's hand during a ceremony awarding all the brave cops who fought that day for democracy the Congressional Gold Medal. This was precisely the level of respect that both McConnell and McCarthy have earned, it almost goes without saying.
Ivanka Trump not showing up for Daddy Dumbest’s 2024 Presidential Campaign kickoff. She doesn’t want that ruining her brand. That had to hurt! Makes you wonder if that wasn’t why Trump was in such low spirits that night… his sexy daughter had rejected him.
Republicans voting against the PACT Act that gave veterans exposed to toxic burn pits access to expanded health benefits and Jon Stewart’s flaming response that humiliated them into passing it days later.
Enough Already! — Trump’s cultists’ claims that he won the election in 2020. They love to say that there is plenty of evidence to support their claim, yet none of them have ever bothered to produce one shred of evidence as proof.
Worst Lie — Hunter Biden’s Laptop. The GOP is going after the family member of the President who is not in politics. If there were truly any evidence of wrongdoing by the Biden’s, Trump’s FBI and DOJ would have made the case for it before the election took place. But the truth is that no one can provide any evidence that it was Hunter Biden who handed over the laptop and hard drive to the shop owner to be repaired. Not even the shop owner can testify to the identity of the person he received the laptop from because he is legally blind. The chain of evidence was broken at the very first link. Hunter Biden has plenty of faults… many that he has been very open and honest about suffering from. This story should be ended before it drives Hunter Biden to suicide — the most likely outcome that the GOP is hoping for. They know this story is crap, and they could care less.
Capitalist Of The Year — Without a doubt, this award/title belongs to Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. Here is a link to his letter explaining why he deserves this. https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/
Person Of The Year — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has held his country together and showed the world that if the people have the will to stand up to bullies, they can be beaten.