Person of the Year 2004

It is now revealed that Time magazine has awarded its Person of the Year designation on George Bush. The rationale was for his "sticking to his guns". Since the award is for better or worse (Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942, and Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) proving Bush is in good company, I'd award it instead for destroying our international credibility and abrogating our morale leadership in the world with:

1. Rejection of the Kyoto Protocol dealing with global climate change.

2. Blowing our nation's surplus and putting us hundreds of billions into the red with a $220+ billion war we didn't need and a giant tax cut, most of which went to those who didn't need it and he's still not satisfied, wanting to destroy our economic future more with continued tax cuts, war, and social security changes. Showing an amazing ability to ignore realities in favor of his self-described godly vision.

I'd submit ours is not a nation with God on our side, rather sanctimonious when you think about it. As others have said, we should be more concerned about being on God's side. But, as a cowboy nation, we do need Injuns, as Dick Gregory said a few decades ago. More on this some other time.

But for the international Man of the Year, here are the three prize winners.