Mike Allen at Politico reported Time magazine assembled a strange (some would say "diverse") panel at the Time & Life Building in New York to discuss their annual Person of the Year cover story. Time editor Richard Stengel picked hip-hop musican Wyclef Jean, Google's Marissa Mayer, Democrat consultant Joe Trippi and Ground Zero mosque developer Daisy Khan. Oh, and to add so-called Republicans to this left-tilting panel, Stengel brought on that mega-watt intellectual....Meghan McCain.
In a discussion led by TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel, McCain suggested the Tea Party or Glenn Beck. She ruled out Christine O’Donnell, saying she is “in no way qualified to do anything.” Mayer talked about first discovering the idea of a personal computer on TIME’s cover at the end of 1982, “Machine of the Year: The Computer Moves In.” She then suggested Steve Jobs of Apple. Khan said that Mayor Michael Bloomberg could be Person of the Year, for his support of Park 51. Jean said that Haitians should be honored as “people of the year.” Trippi nominated Nancy Pelosi, who Jean supported later as well by saying that the cover of TIME should “represent legacy … Pelosi does that.”
Liberals clearly feel strongly that Pelosi is some kind of Profile in Courage, valiantly passing humongous "historic" bills that the people didn't want, and suffering the consequences. But Pelosi wasn't doing it despite the conservative tide. She thought pundits (like Time magazine's Mark Halperin) were right when they predicted passing ObamaCare would be a big plus on the campaign trail. Jim Geraghty of National Review Online's Campaign Spot blog responded:
The biggest news event of the year, with little dispute, is the backlash against the Obama administration and its policies, manifested in a variety of ways but most dramatically in the Tea Parties. From where I sit, the two individuals who most clearly articulate and personify that backlash are Sarah Palin and Chris Christie. Of course, the magazine’s Men and Women of the Year usually are presidents, innovators and dictators, so a former governor turned Fox News commentator or a first-year governor of New Jersey would be an unorthodox choice.
If we’re looking abroad or beyond politics, intriguing choices would be British prime minister David Cameron, the plumber who helped the design of the plug for the Gulf oil-spill leak, and the creative geniuses of Pixar.
Having said that, it would be kind of fun to read, “For leading the Democrats to their worst defeat in two generations, Nancy Pelosi is our Woman of the Year.”
The only idea that matches that is an award for Larry King, since his ratings went south. The New York Daily News reported "Stengel also raised a few eyebrows when he introduced Jean as the 'Haitian Mandela.'"
Hillary Busis at Mediaite added more to Daisy Khan's remarks:
Daisy Khan, who also serves as Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, joked at first that she should be named POTY for making Americans aware of Islamophobia. Her real suggestion, though, was Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose speech in support of Park51 was a turning point in that project’s struggle. “I think he was very influential… When he did it, many other politicians came forward. And even the President had to follow suit,” she explained. She also suggested Jon Stewart, for “try[ing] to restore sanity.”
When asked for "bad guy of the year," Khan said that while there are “so many” people she’d like to pick, she would say someone like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, since, in her opinion, they respect neither immigrants nor religious freedom. “I don’t know how they call themselves American,” she said.
