Vlad Putin, Time Man of the Year 2007

[southsider2k5]

Opinions?

[Soxy]

I did not see that coming.

[EvilMonkey]

Suprised they didn't pick Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Their whole group was a joke. I can half-way understand The Goracle, but Dinnerjacket? JK Rowling? Jobs? C'mon, there has to be people out there better deserving than those.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Alpha Dog

[southsider2k5]

For debates sake, here is the historical list. In regards to this year, I really expected Al Gore to win, and would have been fine with that. My #2 guess would have been Sarkosky (the new Pres of France, as I probably spelled his name wrong).

 

1927 Charles Augustus Lindbergh

1928 Walter P. Chrysler

1929 Owen D. Young

1930 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

1931 Pierre Laval

1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1933 Hugh Samuel Johnson

1934 Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1935 Haile Selassie

1936 Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson

1937 Generalissimo & Mme Chiang Kai-Shek

1938 Adolf Hitler

1939 Joseph Stalin

1940 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

1941 Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1942 Joseph Stalin

1943 George Catlett Marshall

1944 Dwight David Eisenhower

1945 Harry Truman

1946 James F. Byrnes

1947 George Catlett Marshall

1948 Harry Truman

1949 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

1950 American Fighting-Man

1951 Mohammed Mossadegh

1952 Elizabeth II

1953 Konrad Adenauer

1954 John Foster Dulles

1955 Harlow Herbert Curtice

1956 Hungarian Freedom Fighter

1957 Nikita Krushchev

1958 Charles De Gaulle

1959 Dwight David Eisenhower

1960 U.S. Scientists

1961 John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1962 Pope John XXIII

1963 Martin Luther King Jr.

1964 Lyndon B. Johnson

1965 General William Childs Westmoreland

1966 Twenty-Five and Under

1967 Lyndon B. Johnson

1968 Astronauts Anders, Borman and Lovell

1969 The Middle Americans

1970 Willy Brandt

1971 Richard Milhous Nixon

1972 Nixon and Kissinger

1973 John J. Sirica

1974 King Faisal

1975 American Women

1976 Jimmy Carter

1977 Anwar Sadat

1978 Teng Hsiao-P'ing

1979 Ayatullah Khomeini

1980 Ronald Reagan

1981 Lech Walesa

1982 The Computer

1983 Ronald Regan & Yuri Andropov

1984 Peter Ueberroth

1985 Deng Xiaoping

1986 Corazon Aquino

1987 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

1988 Endangered Earth

1989 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

1990 The Two George Bushes

1991 Ted Turner

1992 Bill Clinton

1993 The Peacemakers

1994 Pope John Paul II

1995 Newt Gingrich

1996 Dr. David Ho

1997 Andy Grove

1998 Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr

1999 Jeff Bezos

2000 George W. Bush

2001 Rudolph Giuliani

2002 The Whistleblowers

2003 The American Soldier

2004 George W. Bush

2005 Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, & Bono

2006 You

[NorthSideSox72]

I think its an excellent choice. Not because he's a great man, but because of his huge impact on the world. That is the criteria as I understand it.

 

[Jenksismyhero]

Isn't this the same publication that had Hitler as a top choice for man of the century, but ended up choosing Einstein?

 

I don't have anything against the pick, but I just feel that there were more newsworthy people. I love how they couldn't think of anyone last year, so they gave it to "us."

[FlaSoxxJim]

I figured it would be Gore for sure.

[Cknolls]

Makes me want to run out and buy the magazine.

[Balta1701]

This is a much, much, much better choice than the copout after copout after copout that has made up the last 6 years.

[NorthSideSox72]

This is a much, much, much better choice than the copout after copout after copout that has made up the last 6 years.

I actually liked 2006's too.

 

[southsider2k5]

I think its an excellent choice. Not because he's a great man, but because of his huge impact on the world. That is the criteria as I understand it.

 

If that is the standard, how could it not be GW Bush? Has anyone had a bigger impact on the world?

[NorthSideSox72]

If that is the standard, how could it not be GW Bush? Has anyone had a bigger impact on the world?

It was Bush - in 2004. Which was his biggest influential year, I think. Well, maybe 2001. But 2004 was a solid choice.

 

[Balta1701]

It was Bush - in 2004. Which was his biggest influential year, I think. Well, maybe 2001. But 2004 was a solid choice.

No. By far his most influential year was 2003. That was the year he made the decision that defined his presidency and probably the next 20 years of American foreign policy.

[NorthSideSox72]

No. By far his most influential year was 2003. That was the year he made the decision that defined his presidency and probably the next 20 years of American foreign policy.

Not sure I agree. I mean, I guess you could say 2001, or 2002, or 2003, or 2004 are all pretty close. But 2004 he won re-election, after everything that went on. That was HUGE on all sorts of fronts. 2003 the Iraq War started, I know, that's even bigger in some ways. But 2004, that was the culminating moment for his policies, I think.

 

[Balta1701]

Not sure I agree. I mean, I guess you could say 2001, or 2002, or 2003, or 2004 are all pretty close. But 2004 he won re-election, after everything that went on. That was HUGE on all sorts of fronts. 2003 the Iraq War started, I know, that's even bigger in some ways. But 2004, that was the culminating moment for his policies, I think.

He won that reelection by one of the narrowest margins in history 1.5 years after starting a war and 3 years after the biggest attack on U.S. soil in decades, maybe centuries.

 

IMO, Karl Rove was the correct choice in 2004. And 2001, IMO, was the biggest cop-out of them all. By far. That year, by the award's definition, the winner was Bin Laden. He literally changed the course of world history that year. And the Magazine caved to all the people calling them saying they'd cancel their subscriptions if they named him the person of the year.

[NorthSideSox72]

He won that reelection by one of the narrowest margins in history 1.5 years after starting a war and 3 years after the biggest attack on U.S. soil in decades, maybe centuries.

 

IMO, Karl Rove was the correct choice in 2004. And 2001, IMO, was the biggest cop-out of them all. By far. That year, by the award's definition, the winner was Bin Laden. He literally changed the course of world history that year. And the Magazine caved to all the people calling them saying they'd cancel their subscriptions if they named him the person of the year.

Rove could have been a good choice in 2004 - but I think Bush was better.

 

And Balta, you do realize I am NOT saying that Bush won sort of "mandate" with that narrow victory. Not at all, despite his protestations otherwise. But the reality is that it was, even in a close election, a huge boost for not just the man, but for that set of policies. And that put the US on the course its on now, mostly for ill. I think the rest of the world was still sort of wincing, and waiting for the US to get back on track, in 2003 and early 2004. Then with his re-election, it was obvious the US had just plain derailed, and that it wasn't going to be back on track for at least another 4 years.

 

And here is a screwball for you to play with. It is my opinion that because Bush was re-elected, and because we have gotten now a much more obvious look at just how f***ed up his policies and methods are, this country is now much more likely to go the right direction in 2008 (that is to say, away from pretty much everything he has done).

 

[StrangeSox]

And Balta, you do realize I am NOT saying that Bush won sort of "mandate" with that narrow victory. Not at all, despite his protestations otherwise.

 

Bush had .50 worth of "political capital" but the world wanted a $1.00

 

And here is a screwball for you to play with. It is my opinion that because Bush was re-elected, and because we have gotten now a much more obvious look at just how f***ed up his policies and methods are, this country is now much more likely to go the right direction in 2008 (that is to say, away from pretty much everything he has done).

 

Hopefully.

[southsider2k5]

It was Bush - in 2004. Which was his biggest influential year, I think. Well, maybe 2001. But 2004 was a solid choice.

 

I don't know, sending more troops into Iraq instead of taking troops out like everyone wanted was a pretty big deal. It seemingly has changed the face of not only the Iraq war, but has helped to even up the polls at home. He has also had to stare down the subprime crisis at home without letting the worlds largest economy go into recession. Remember when the US gets the sniffles, the rest of the world catches a cold.

[Rex Kickass]

At the same time, he's been completely paralyzed with his agenda and his attempts at trying to play the peacemaker hasn't quite worked out so well. North Korea's about face has more to do with Bill Richardson than George Bush, Iran's about face might have more to do with Russia than anything else too.

[mr_genius]

2006 You

 

that one was so weak.

[NorthSideSox72]

that one was so weak.

I thought it was one of their best. Dead on with where this society is going.

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

I thought it was one of their best. Dead on with where this society is going.

 

I pretty much agree, but I bet the guy pitching the idea to his bosses was sweating it a bit.

[mr_genius]

I thought it was one of their best. Dead on with where this society is going.

 

Then 'You' should be the person of the year every year. Can a whole nation of people be 'person of the year' or just people with internet connections? How about naming the founders of the internet 'persons of the year'?

[mr_genius]

I pretty much agree, but I bet the guy pitching the idea to his bosses was sweating it a bit.

 

you just liked cause you thought it was specifically you.

[YASNY]

Then 'You' should be the person of the year every year. Can a whole nation of people be 'person of the year' or just people with internet connections? How about naming the founders of the internet 'persons of the year'?

 

So now we are back to Al Gore again.