George W. Bush named Time Magazine Person of the Year

December 17, 2000 2:33 PM

George W. Bush named Time Magazine Person of the Year Agree? Disagree? Due to the unique circumstances, it seems appropriate.
posted by gyc (18 comments total)

y'know, it's hard to give any respect to Time when one of the runners up for person of the year is Elian. Oh, and Eminem, there's a great choice for person of the year. Richard Hatch?

When did Time turn into People magazine? They should call this "sexiest newsmaker alive" and run the lists in both magazines.
posted by mathowie at 2:54 PM on December 17, 2000

Who would you personally pick as the person of the year?

I'd probably pick Shawn Fanning, the creator of Napster for the heck of it.
posted by riffola at 3:14 PM on December 17, 2000

In honor of the election's virtual tie (a very unique circumstance, to follow gyc's spot-on assessment), I'd've lobbied for both George W. Bush and Al Gore. I'm really not going to be able to think about one without thinking of the other, and that's less about partisan feeling than simple recognition of their twin impact.

So those two, though I could see Nader having a serious claim as well.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 3:27 PM on December 17, 2000

The choice should have been simple: Chad
posted by gluechunk at 3:34 PM on December 17, 2000

Time's Person of the Year is just the individual who has most influenced the news of the past year. It's not necessarily an honor to be chosen. Hitler was named man of the year in 1938. Ayatollah Khomeini was man of the year in 1979. Deng Xiao-Peng was man of the year twice, in 1978 and 1985. So was Stalin (1939, 1942).
posted by shylock at 3:43 PM on December 17, 2000

For everything he did to impact Microsoft, Napster and the election, David Boies seemed to be the appropriate.

posted by luke at 5:02 PM on December 17, 2000

Shylock, why do you link Deng to people like Hitler and Stalin? Do you think him dishonorable? He has erred in judgment at times, but he did very much in putting China on the road towards recovery.
posted by evilmaryellen at 6:09 PM on December 17, 2000

I agree that Boies would have been the best choice, being involved in the Microsoft case, the Napster case, and the election debacle.

Mathowie, if I read it right, only Boies, Craig Venter, and J.K. Rowling were "runners-up." Elian, Eminem, Fanning were just "people who mattered," people who made rules.
posted by daveadams at 7:43 PM on December 17, 2000

Shylock, why do you link Deng to people like Hitler and Stalin?

Mostly because of his role in crushing the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tienanmen Square in 1989.
posted by shylock at 12:02 AM on December 18, 2000

I think the American election system should have been the "man" of the year. The only reason that Bush was so important in the news was because both he and Gore were so goddam boring and lame, that neither was able to make such an overwhelming better impression onto the American people that we had our whole lovely election system put on trial for about a month.
posted by ookamaka at 1:01 AM on December 18, 2000

Mostly because of his role in crushing the pro-democracy demonstrations in Washington DC in 2000.

posted by chaz at 2:55 AM on December 18, 2000

Deng and Stalin then. I mean, Russia was in ruins, it was worse than a 3d world country, imagine half the population gone, because, in ww2, Russia came first in killed. Try raising up the country to where to was at least a bit manageable. Ofcourse that doesn't make for much argument does it?
posted by tiaka at 5:17 AM on December 18, 2000

I'm with Shylock on Deng. Just because he wasn't Mrs. Mao doesn't mean he was a good guy. He has gotten lots of PR about moving China forward, etc., and China definitely has become more hospitable for capitalists, but Tienanmen Square is where the regime showed its true face. "Recovery" is not the same freedom, and the 95% of China that lives outside the cities hasn't even seen that.
posted by rodii at 6:28 AM on December 18, 2000

The magical talking box told me that, even before the election tomfoolery, Time had decided that the Man of the Year was going to the winner of the election (regardless of who it was).
posted by chrish at 8:04 AM on December 18, 2000

Erm ... "PERSON of the Year."
posted by chrish at 8:05 AM on December 18, 2000

So, how many women of the year have there been? Also, have there been any "thing" of the year winners besides the computer?
posted by harmful at 8:18 AM on December 18, 2000

Non-men of the Year: 1988, Earth; 1986, Corazon Aquino; 1982, Computer; 1975, American Women; 1969, Middle Americans; 1966, Young Generation; 1952, Elizabeth II

I thought Margaret Thatcher had been Person of the Year once, but I guess not.
posted by drothgery at 8:47 AM on December 18, 2000

Middle Americans? What does that mean?
posted by daveadams at 10:41 AM on December 18, 2000