Person Of The Year?

Hey folks,

Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve. I caught this yesterday, simply ran out of time. I’ll admit I had no clue. I guess I’m not alone. I found out about this by Bloomberg. com. Apparently, according to Rasmussen Reports, only 42 % of you DID know.

Forty-two percent (42%) of American voters know that Vladimir Putin was selected as Time Magazine's Person of the Year. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 14% thought Al Gore won the award, 9% thought someone else was selected, and 35% were not sure.

Gee, I wonder why this was not a bigger deal. Remember who the Person Of The Year was last year? Me {Smile} Yup. Me, and you. Bloggers. DB Posters, ETC.

However, Americans were not enamored with the selection. When asked who they would have selected, just 4% named Putin. Only 20% of American voters have a favorable opinion of the Russian leader while 59% have an unfavorable view. Twenty-one percent (21%) believed he has helped Russia while 43% say he has hurt the nation.

He wants to bring back the Soviet Union. He has threatened to revive the Cold War. Person of the Year?

Bloomberg. com reported it this way.

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time's ``Person of the Year'' for bringing his country ``roaring back to the table of world power,'' the magazine said on its Web site.

By threatening Cold War?

Putin, 55, who has said he may become Russia's prime minister after stepping down as president next year, has helped lead the country back to stability ``at significant cost to the principles and ideas that free nations prize,'' Richard Stengel, the magazine's managing editor, wrote in an article explaining the choice.

I would not be surprised if he DOESN’T step down.

``With dauntless persistence, a sharp vision of what Russia should become and a sense that he embodied the spirit of Mother Russia, Putin has put his country back on the map,'' Stengel wrote.

Remember folks, there are some HERE saying that THEY want to bring THIS country to what they feel it should become. With is just as much Socialism as the old Soviet Union. This may be why Putin was selected.

Time, owned by Time Warner Inc., started the annual ``Person of the Year'' cover story in 1927 with Charles Lindbergh, the aviator who made the first solo trans-Atlantic flight. Last year, Internet users behind the self-made content on Web sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube.com won the honor.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, a Nobel Prize winner, ``Harry Potter'' author J.K. Rowling, Chinese President Hu Jintao and David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, were named runners-up, the magazine said.

Time's nomination ``is not a recognition of Putin's positive impact,'' political analyst Yevgeny Volk of the Heritage Foundation in Moscow said by telephone. ``Many people have been named who played a rather controversial role,'' he said.

I’ll admit I did not know this either. Get this., they seem to have ALWAYS liked Tyrants.

Past winners include Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Josef Stalin in 1939 and 1942. Other Soviet and Russian leaders named Person of the Year by Time include Nikita Khrushchev in 1957, Yury Andropov in 1983 and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 and 1989.

``It's certainly a recognition of Putin's impact on domestic and world politics,'' Volk added. ``He really plays a big role in shaping the Russian political landscape and influencing international policy.''

I guess the truth is I did not know, because I really do not care. But it is interesting. Slate. com - Nation, world headlines Russian leader is time’s person of the year

NEW YORK — Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” on Wednesday for imposing stability that restored Russia as a world power.

The magazine recognized Putin’s “extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability,” said Richard Stengel, Time’s managing editor.

The magazine noted that “Person of the Year” is not an honor or endorsement but a recognition of leadership that shapes the world.

Sorry, but I give out the Idiot award for Idiots. Or those that have Idiotic moments. If I were going to award someone for the Person of the year, I would someone for positive reasons. But I’m not a lib.
Peter

Sources:
Rasmussen Reports - Person of the Year: Democrats Would Have Picked Gore, Republicans Rice or Petraeus
Bloomberg - Russia's Putin Is Named Time's `Person of the Year' (Update2)
Slate. com - Nation, world headlines Russian leader is time’s person of the year