# Time's Person of the Year **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212 "2004-11-17T05:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/1 "2004-11-17T05:44:13Z")
Yes, yes, I realize that the end of the year is six weeks away, but speculating is just so much fun. The problem this year is that the biggest names in the news are mostly noted for failures rather than dynamic successes. (It should also be mentioned that according to Andrew Sullivan’s posting about a recent discussion he had on the subject , they probably won’t choose a generic class of people since they chose “the Soldier” last year.) Bush: Did nothing while Iraq burned. Kerry: Lost an election he should have won. Rove: Interesting idea, but is he visisble enough? What percentage of people even know who he is? Allawi: Hasn’t done much besides offering platitudes. Al Sadr: Got his ass kicked in the end, besides which Time seems to have given up on choosing bad guys. Reagan: A possibility, but he was out of public life for a long time before he died. Brando: Probably not famous enough to get the cover spot just for dying. (Same goes for Ray Charles.) Reeves: He would be a very politically correct choice. Obama: He gave a nice speech and attracted a lot of attention, but he didn’t really do anything that required effort. The Boston Red Sox: They’re my choice. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/2 "2004-11-17T06:21:33Z")
Pfc. Lynndie England? Michael Moore? Murdoch? ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/3 "2004-11-17T06:45:02Z")
**Schwarzenegger** ’s a conventional-type choice. **John O’Neil** if they wanna make the case that he derailed Kerry. I’d pick **Michael Moore and Glenn Reynolds** (or some other big blogger), as symbols of a change in the way political news/opinion is formed. But obviously, _Time_ won’t do that… ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/4 "2004-11-17T06:59:47Z")
> [@ITRChampion](#): > > It should also be mentioned that according to Andrew Sullivan’s posting about a recent discussion he had on the subject , they probably won’t choose a generic class of people since they chose “the Soldier” last year They did The Whistleblowers the year before that, so they’re not totally adverse to doing consecutive years of generic people. Christopher Reeves is interesting, but I don’t think they’ve ever done a posthumous POY. No one person has arisen in Iraq that could really be said to be _the_ central player. If the Times was honest, they’d choose the Iraqi Insurgent, but like the OP said, they don’t choose bad guys anymore. Something relevant to the election, perhaps The Conservatives or The Evangelicals. Ariel Sharon, for championing the new stategy of unilateral disengagement with the palestinians. Maybe something like the “The Spin Doctors” and have Karl Rove, Joe Trippi and others who played an important roll in the 2004 election. You might even be able to fit bloggers in under the same heading. This is my favorite idea, as it would be a way to reference the election (probably the biggest story of the year) without doing Bush a second time in 4 years. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/5 "2004-11-17T07:08:20Z")
The Red States 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/6 "2004-11-17T07:14:22Z")
Christopher’s name was Reeve, by the way. I can imagine “the advisors”, with Powell, Rice and Rumsfeld, as _Time_ analyzes the path to war and the personal cost, especially to Powell. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/7 "2004-11-17T07:19:11Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > The Red States 🙂 59 million People of the Year would definitely be their least interesting call since naming Earth “Planet of the Year” a while back. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/8 "2004-11-17T07:51:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > 59 million People of the Year would definitely be their least interesting call since naming Earth “Planet of the Year” a while back. I seem to recall them honouring “The Computer” way back when. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/9 "2004-11-17T08:29:34Z")
If I had to put money on one person, it would be Obama. But as the OP said, no one’s really done anything that stood out, this year. I would put my money on Kerry, except people don’t generally get accolades for losing elections. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/10 "2004-11-17T08:34:03Z")
There’s Yasser Arafat. He died. And they never had him yet, as far as I recall. They used to have loads of foreigners: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin (twice). Makes you wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/11 "2004-11-17T09:07:59Z")
[An article about the selection process from CBS.](http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BFF9A1DBA-B2B6-44D6-939A-26202D6CD272%7D&siteid=google&dist=google&dist=) [An article noting that Rove is a possibility (some common ground between these two).](http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=CELEBRITY&oid=63551) Arafat was a co-winner (along with Rabin, Mandela, and de Klerk) in '93, but more importantly, the first article says that the person must be alive. How they would justify giving to the Earth, the Computer, or Jesus or Muhammad is beyond me. A shared award between Gibson and Moore isn’t the worst idea. If I got a vote, I’d pick Jon Stewart over everyone else they mentioned. [Here is the full list from Wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_the_Year) The non-individual and non-human Whatevers of the Year: 1937- Chiang Kai-Shek and Soong May-ling 1950- The American Fighting-Man 1956- Hungarian Freedom Fighter 1960- U.S. scientists 1966- Twenty-Five and Under 1968- Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders 1969- The Middle Americans 1972- Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger 1975- American Women 1982- The Computer 1983- Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov 1988- Endangered Earth (“Planet of the Year”) 1993- Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk, Yasser Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin 2002- The whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom, Sherron Watkins of Enron, and Colleen Rowley of the FBI 2003- The American Soldier So Time apparently has a proud and long-standing tradition of not sticking to its own rules (and let’s not even get into choosing Rudy over Bin Laden in 2001, which was a transparent cop-out). ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/12 "2004-11-17T09:53:35Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I’d pick **Michael Moore and Glenn Reynolds** (or some other big blogger), as symbols of a change in the way political news/opinion is formed. But obviously, _Time_ won’t do that… A (or the) blogger is an inspired choice. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/13 "2004-11-17T13:16:16Z")
I have a sad feeling they will put Bush… for no other reason than his re-election. Though of course they should in fact put Rove or “Bush Handlers”. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/14 "2004-11-17T13:39:22Z")
I’d have to put money on Bush, or maybe Condi Rice now that’s she’s nominated as Sec of State. I don’t see what Arafat did of importance this year other than die. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/15 "2004-11-17T14:00:36Z")
I think it’s going to be Bush. Some other choices… - Theo van Gogh as an example of the consequences of the march of Islamism. He’s dead though, so they’d have to go with Ayaan Hirsi Ali – also a more positive choice. - An unnamed Chinese entrepreneur. The Chinese economic boom is probably the most important thing happening in the world today. - The EU. For the recent big enlargement. - The blogger. For the new vigour they bring to democracy. - Jacques Chirac. To piss of the conservatives. L’amour violent, heh. - Me. I’s such a nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/16 "2004-11-17T14:06:51Z")
Either Bush, Karl Rove or Bush \*and \* Karl Rove. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/17 "2004-11-17T14:12:37Z")
Looking through the list of past selections, they rarely choose a US president for being elected to a second term. They also tend to choose people for “hopeful” reasons. So I don’t think it will be Bush, as his main activities this year were winning the election and fighting a war. I like “The Advisors” idea, but I don’t think it should be gov’t advisors like Condi (they were more influencial in 2003, during the buildup and follow through to the war) but campaign advisors like Rove. Something to awknowledge the Indian and Chinese economic booms is a good idea, but it’s hard to figure out what person or group of people to finger as most responsible for this. Hu Jintao maybe? Obama has done nothing but win an easy campaign against a raving lunatic and make a speech, it won’t be him. I still think the honest choice would be The Iraqi Insurgent, no one else has been as influencial on world events this year. The fact that Times has basically voided all “not friendly” choices kind of kills some of the interest I’d have in thier selection. They’ve only had one Planet of the Year, I hear Venus is having a good year, maybe it will win. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/18 "2004-11-17T14:18:10Z")
Mabye Osama bin Laden for electing Bush and a last minute comeback ? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/19 "2004-11-17T14:22:36Z")
Justin Timberlake. He blew the cover off one of the biggest stories of the year and led to overreactions by the FCC and the broadcasters. ---
**Author:** ![Wake\_up\_call](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dec6dc/32.png) [@Wake\_up\_call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wake_up_call)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212/20 "2004-11-17T14:43:18Z")
Bert Rutan and his team? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/times-person-of-the-year/275212.md?page=2)