Of course it’s 2009, but for the final recap of 2008, I put together two final “top ten” lists: the biggest blunders and the juiciest scandals. You’ll find them both below. Enjoy!
The biggest blunders:
1. Clinton neglects the caucus states
2. “The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” again
3. McCain suspends his campaign
4. Obama’s “bitter” Americans
5. Rudy Giuliani’s late-state strategy
6. The Clintons’ race gaffes: Bill compares Obama to Jesse Jackson; Hillary describes Obama’s weak support among “hard-working Americans, white Americans”
7. McCain abandons the until then-effective celebrity attack in late August
8. McCain thinks it can afford to antagonize the media in September
9. Elizabeth Dole airs the Godless Americans ads
10. Michelle Bachmann’s “anti-American” rant & Murtha’s describing Western Pennsylvania as “racist”
Honorable mentions go to McCain’s “100 years” in Iraq, which would have made the cut had it played any kind of role in the general election; to Barack Obama’s presidential seal; to Joe Biden’s bizarre comments in October predicting Obama would be tested, which would have made the cut had Obama’s numbers tanked; to McCain’s obsessive focus on Iowa in the final weeks of the general election, which is far less defensible than his concentrating on Pennsylvania; to Hillary Clinton’s Bosnia story; and to McCain’s “that one” in the second debate, which crystallized the narrative of a mean-spirited candidate.
I considered adding McCain’s “I’ll have to get back to you” when asked how many houses he owned, as well as the entirety of Sarah Palin’s train-wreck of an interview with Katie Couric, but neither of these events were a blunder per say: McCain and Palin did not commit mistakes there as much as be forced to admit they did not know the answer to a question and do their best while coming across as incompetent, respectively.
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The juiciest scandals:
1. Elliot Spitzer and the Emperors Club VIP
2. Rod Blagojevich and Obama’s Senate seat
3. Ted Stevens’s trial
4. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons
5. John Edwards’s mistress
6. Tim Mahoney’s mistress and blackmail
7. Vito Fossella’s DUI
8. Rudy Giuliani’s Hampton-gate
9. Mike Erickson, the Cuba trip and a forced abortion
10. Sarah Palin’s shopping spree
Taniel - a great list, it is really interesting to see a list of the twists and turns during the year and how heated some of us would get about any or all of them and in the end how things turned out. Certainly a year for the history books!