Brad Pitt.
He started the year banging Jennifer Aniston and ended banging Angelina Jolie.
As I said earlier, this is not an award for the person who will most embarass Bush.
I’ve got $20 that says it’s not Brown. Any takers?
I dunno. Karl Rove maybe?
Look at how the mainstream media has dropped the ball instead of running with stories potentially harmful to the administration. The Downing Street memo and Bush’s desire to bomb al-Jazeera are but two examples. The bloggers have emerged as the Fifth Estate, keeping a check on the Fourth Estate. The infamous Dan Rather memo scandal was largely a product of blogging. Blogging has emerged as a way to get information free of the corporate filtering that the mainstream media is strained through. It’s this unfiltered expression of opinion that is the lifeblood of a republic, and the function bloggers serve to keep the press honest is a valuable one.
I cancelled my subscription at the end of last year after they made Dubya Man of the Year for the 2nd frickin’ time. I feel bad however, because I then missed their excellent cover story on the witty yet controversial Ann Coulter (R - Skeletal). :rolleyes:
If he ends up in a documented three way with both in the next week, THEN I’ll be impressed.
In what way did they check the media, though? Those stories still got little coverage and didn’t have much impact on politics at large.
That’s true. I didn’t say they’ve had no impact.
There’s “unfiltered expression of opinion,” and there’s also talking point dissemination. My basic point is that, at this stage of blogging, people who spend a lot of time on the 'net (as we do) think that blogs are a bigger part of the national media than they actually are. To me, the Rather Memo story is the biggest one the bloggers have gotten published, and that wasn’t this year, which doesn’t support the nomination.
How did everyone feel about the Bono / Gates selection?
Good call. 
Good for Bono, but I don’t see Bob Geldof’s name mentioned anywhere. 
I thought it was a mistake. TIME continues to pander to pop culture junkies.
Why should Bob Geldof have been mentioned?
As for Bill Gates, anyone want to speculate on which year he’s awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? My guess is maybe ten or fifteen years from now, when the benefits of his vaccination programs are clear.
what about judith miller?
This may be in jest, I can’t tell, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised. The Gates Foundation is doing some damn fine work in vaccination systems.
It wasn’t in jest. The contributions Bill Gates has made towards vaccinations in the third world should save thousands (millions?) of lives. He will be genuinely worthy of being awarded the peace prize. (Ever heard of Norman Borlaug? He’s an American who won the peace prize in 1970 for his work in disease-resistant wheat, which reduced malnutrition in the third world. Gates’s work is at least as significant.)
Well, the TIME editors cited Bono’s involvement with Live8: it’s goal of increasing aid to Africa, and cancelling the debts of the poorest nations. Bono certainly was involved, but Geldof was the one who made it happen.
Thanks very much.
True. They seem to be citing Bono’s work overall for debt relief and things, which goes beyond just Live8 and has been happening for years. I guess that’s why it’s him and not Geldof - they picked the poverty theme and also honored the Gateses, although I don’t know that they did anything of note this year that they weren’t doing before.
Was Geldolf picked the year of Live Aid?
A limp-wristed selection, made because it’s guaranteed to avoid offending anyone.
1985 Time’s Person of the Year was Deng Xiaoping