2009: The Best and Worst
As is the tradition, a tour through the best and worst of the year.
The Best
The year started off on the high note that was watching the Worst President Ever leaving the White House for the last time, which brought with it another yearly best: the endless video compiliations of the worst Bush moments. YouTube never had it so good.
Here in Wisconsin, decisive and effective action from Madison earlier this year is leading Wisconsin out of the worst of the Bush recession. Unemployment here has been dropping since June and is lower than the national rate, and despite the worst rhetoric from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce bashing Wisconsin’s economy, business are opening and relocating here and bringing jobs to the state.
For sheer entertainment value, President of Teabag-istan Sarah Palin’s descent into madness during 2009 is second to none. Remember when she quit being governor on July 4th weekend? What a patriot! Remember how she doesn’t even ride in that stupid bus on her stupid book tour? Or how she still demands to be called governor and requests English-only reporters?
Combining two of her most juvenile and irritating hobbies, namely lying and facebooking, she launched the Lie of the Year: Death Panels. And at her no cameras, no cell phones, no media, no nothing event in Milwaukee for Wisconsin Right to Life on November 6, she floated another whopper, suggesting that President Obama and ‘teh libruls’ conspired to move ‘In God We Trust’ from the new dollar coin when in reality it was the previously mentioned Worst President Ever.
The Worst
The worst of the year came thanks to Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. No, it wasn’t his groveling for Sarah Palin’s endorsement. It was the stomach-turning pictures of stalled toilets, overflowing garbage cans and trash piled up in the bathrooms and hallways of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. What stunk more though was the apparent pay-to-play scheme that led to the mess at the Courthouse. The owner of the cleaning company gave the Walker campaign $1,000 contribution right before his company was awarded the housekeeping contract.
Not to be outdone in worse-itude, the newest justices on Wisconsin Supreme Court wasted no opportunity to sully the reputation of Wisconsin’s highest court. The eminently under-qualified Mike Gableman decried loopholes in a race-baiting campaign ad last year, and then used a loophole in the law to avoid any repercussions. Then in perhaps the biggest guffaw-producing moment for the court, Gableman cited teabagger-conspiracy favorite George Soros during court proceedings.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce had a good year in front of the court. In a coincidence of epic proportions, WMC’s hand-picked justices Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler ruled in favor of the WMC position in every big case of the year, going so far as to vote in favor of rule written word-for-word by WMC. Thanks to Gableman and Ziegler, corporate interest groups can now spend as much money as they want to get corporate’friendly justices elected.
Worst of all though is looking back on the Decade to Forget, thanks to the failed economic, social and foreign policies of George W. Bush and the party of the no ideas, the GOP. Thanks a lot.