So the decade is finally coming to an end and with the end of the ‘aughts, comes the usual accumulation of lists, best of and top 10 lists etc.

So here’s a different one for you, who’s your choice for Douchebag of the decade?
Gawker.com started a pretty good list and so far Bill O’Reilly is winning with about 30% of the vote (surprising, isn’t it?).

Don't know if news of this one leaked outside of Canada, but I went with other and picked former Ontario Politician, Michael Bryant.

In 2007, he helped create a safe driving law in Ontario (higher penalties if you are caught going 50km over the speed limit), then in September of 2009, after an altercation with a bike messenger, he sped recklessly causing the death of the messenger after dragging him alongside his car, hitting a mailbox then evading the scene. 

He claims his innocence, but witness accounts contradict his story.  His trial is scheduled for January 2010

Sarah, Joe, George, Rush, and the GOP!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/flipa.gif

Sarah, Joe, George, Rush, and the GOP!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/flipa.gif



and the people who love them

http://www.tomandang.com/blog/images/headUpArse.jpg

Besides the obvious George Bush, I'll pick someone else:

I'll pick...

Tom Cruise!

That jump on the couch was cringe worthy.  ;D

Oh it's so hard to decide. :)

joe lieberman. period. worst human being who ever lived.

Bill O'Reilly gets my vote.

So MANY douchebags...so little time.

I voted for Cheney, O'Reilly, Rove, Limbaugh, and threw one in for Sarah Palin, just for fun.

An interesting list.  From this list I picked Chris Brown and Bono.
However there are a number of names missing that should at least be considered eligible:


Nadya Suleman (a.k.a., "Octomom" or "Octopussy")
Bret Michaels
Christian Audigier (purveyor of the de rigeur clothing line for douchebags, "Ed Hardy")
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Mystery (the dude from "The Pickup Artist")
Ray J


Although maybe Octopussy should not be on the list, because her douchebaggery really has only come into the public conscienceness on for maybe 2 years or so.

Excuse me! You forgot the biggest bastard of them all. Where is Bin Laden's boy,
Michael Moore?

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(

I also add in...Dennis Kucinich!

His dream of impeaching and/or sending Bush and friends to jail was the same as him being President!

I put Cheney, Bush, West, Republican Party, and other..

You forgot Fred Durst

joe lieberman. period. worst human being who ever lived.


Nah, he's still as bad as Hitler or Caligula, but he sure is trying! 
::)

Excuse me! You forgot the biggest bastard of them all. Where is Bin Laden's boy,
Michael Moore?

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(


Would you agree that Bernie Madoff is a douchebag?

And why is Mr. Moore "Bin Laden's boy"?

My vote goes to Bin Laden!

My vote goes to Bin Laden!


But guests can't vote :P

My vote goes to Bin Laden!


Well you know the Bush family are tied in with the Bin Ladens (no babies, just business) and the press tried to say the Bin Ladins "disowned" Osama.  Left him with only $54 million dollars, and that ain't much for the Bin Ladens, but Osama was the freaky weirdo kid.  Just like John Hinckley, Jr.  The Bush family was close the Hinckley family in a sort of oilman-to-oilman way.  The Hinckelys gave a lot of money to the George HW Bush 1980 Republican presidential bid but lost out to the cheeseball fink actor, Ronald Reagan.  George was supposed to be up there in the White House, WTF?  So the Hinckleys helped them devise a plot starring their whacked-out son, John, Jr., in which he would murder Ronald Regan because he (John, Jr., not, Ron) loved Jody Foster!  Neil Bush was scheduled to Have Dinner with John's older brother the night after the assassination attempt, and the families were friends, isn't that strange?  The Texas press was so tin-eared they just ran the story...and then I think somebody told them they should focus and the funny pages and horoscope and never you mind about anything between the Bushes and the Hinckleys.  Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw, and all the news organizations just wouldn't bring it up...
:D


But, you ask, but why didn't they just try it again?  Look they risked a lot on the attempt and if John, Jr., used a higher caliber pistol, or was the bullet 1/4 cm closer to a heart artery, Reagan would've had a shorter term than Garfield (James A., not that cat) let alone JFK!  They didn't kill Reagan but they scared him enough to follow the Bush agenda as much as possible and HW got his turn in 1988.  If they tried it again, the chances of them getting caught were too high. 

I picked Paris Hilton, Lidsay Lohan, and Octomom. OH yeah the Gosselin's too. Who could forget about them?

Would you agree that Bernie Madoff is a douchebag?


Why yes, yes, I would.

For those clamoring for folks like Bush, or bin Laden, or other similar figures as write-ins, I'd suggest you're misreading the question.  It's not about whom you detest more, it's about why you detest them.

There are people I hate more than the five I selected.  There are people more dangerous, evil, or just plain offensive, but Bernie was the only guy whom I both despised and whom I felt qualified as an honest-to-Dobbs douchebag.  (Most of the rest of my answers were celebrity-types.)

Cheney and Clinton are evil to various members of the electorate, but can't reasonably be considered douchebags.  Coulter/Beck and Jackson/Sharpton, on the other hand, act as attention-whoring sycophants to their leaders, and epitomize the sort of douchebaggery that passes for politics these days.

Why yes, yes, I would.



I know you would.  I'm pretty certain Doc Brown would.  My point is, Michael Moore's criticisms of our so-called "Capitalism" is not about free market competition, but thieves who game the system, like Bernie.  Since "Roger & Me," Michael Moore has been pointing out how "corporatism," not "capitalism," weakens the country and destroys people's lives.  So, naturally, the corporatists, who are overrepresented in the media, hate him.

Nah, he's still as bad as Hitler or Caligula, but he sure is trying! 
::)


nope.

"lieberman: worse than hitler." i'm gonna have t-shirts made.

nope.

"lieberman: worse than hitler." i'm gonna have t-shirts made.


I left the "not" out of my sentence, so, gramatically, I was saying Lieberman is as bad as Hitler...just not worse. 

Best not get those t-shirts made.  Folks of the Semitic persuasion might get awful upset, if y'know what I mean...

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/nono.gif

I left the "not" out of my sentence, so, gramatically, I was saying Lieberman is as bad as Hitler...just not worse. 

Best not get those t-shirts made.  Folks of the Semitic persuasion might get awful upset, if y'know what I mean...

Isn't that something you should have thought about before posting in the first place? Now that it's been seen, YOU are going to look like an anti-Semitic! Consider yourself warned.

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(

Isn't that something you should have thought about before posting in the first place? Now that it's been seen, YOU are going to look like an anti-Semitic! Consider yourself warned.

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(


Oh NOES!  Max has been warned by someone who has no authoritah on this board!

Isn't that something you should have thought about before posting in the first place? Now that it's been seen, YOU are going to look like an anti-Semitic! Consider yourself warned.

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(


Oooooh-hooo-hoooo!  I have been warned!  And might I warn you, fine sir, that anti-Semite is the noun and anti-Semitic is the adjective and let us not throw either around lightly.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/nono.gif

Furthermore, I ASKED you a question on your Michael Moore's a douchebag assertion, which you've sidestepped and called me a bigot instead.

I envy Al Franken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVRp52op918

I like Al Franken

I left the "not" out of my sentence, so, gramatically, I was saying Lieberman is as bad as Hitler...just not worse. 

Best not get those t-shirts made.  Folks of the Semitic persuasion might get awful upset, if y'know what I mean...

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/nono.gif


fair point. "lieberman: worse than caligula"? or is it too soon for caligula humor?

Isn't that something you should have thought about before posting in the first place? Now that it's been seen, YOU are going to look like an anti-Semitic! Consider yourself warned.

Your Pal,
Doc
>:(


Ah ok first of all get off you psuedo-ultra sensitivity.  I seem to remember your remark about my friend Daylin Leach.  (The PA state senator who put forth the gay marriage bill)  You were very quick to say he was gay.  Second of all unless you are of Jewish heritage I would suggest you not split hairs where it's not needed.  Question ~ Do you feel it is acceptable to compare President Obama to Hitler?

Ah ok first of all get off you psuedo-ultra sensitivity.  I seem to remember your remark about my friend Daylin Leach.  (The PA state senator who put forth the gay marriage bill)  You were very quick to say he was gay.  Second of all unless you are of Jewish heritage I would suggest you not split hairs where it's not needed.  Question ~ Do you feel it is acceptable to compare President Obama to Hitler?


i find if you ignore Doc B, he usually goes away. if you don't, he'll eventually PM you, call you a terrorist and threaten you physically, so engagement tends not to pay off.

fair point. "lieberman: worse than caligula"? or is it too soon for caligula humor?


I dunno, ask Bob Guccione!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJE329HP08Y

Just replace Malcolm McDowell with Joe.

"Lieberman: No rumor can match the reality!"


Second of all unless you are of Jewish heritage I would suggest you not split hairs where it's not needed.  


You see, his true identity is Rabbi Dr. Bronner, the magic soap peppermint shampoo guy!
:P

i find if you ignore Doc B, he usually goes away. if you don't, he'll eventually PM you, call you a terrorist and threaten you physically, so engagement tends not to pay off.


I shall take your advice.  You've never steered me wrong.

fair point. "lieberman: worse than caligula"? or is it too soon for caligula humor?


In the name of the Senate, and the people of Rome...

Actually, I was thinking, a good headline for a '00s retrospective would be:

Decade of the Douchebag!

:P

But guests can't vote :P


My imaginary vote! :)

For those clamoring for folks like Bush, or bin Laden, or other similar figures as write-ins, I'd suggest you're misreading the question.  It's not about whom you detest more, it's about why you detest them.

I don't think detesting Bush and Bin Laden must necessarily exclude each other. For example, I have a moderate Muslim friend who despises both equally. I chose Bin Laden because of the cruel 9/11 attacks, their brutality and their terrible, unsettling consequences on the western culture of the 00's, although Bush's excessive and unfocussed reaction did not help, either. But I would say that the 9/11 attacks started it all, so I chose their mastermind as the worst guy of the decade.

I did not mean to be some sort of political activist, but come on, it would be hard to deny that Osama was a pretty bad guy from whichever perspective you look at him (whether you are a Lib., a Cons., or an independent centrist like me). So, I did not explain WHY I detest him because I thought it is pretty obvious: 9/11 cast a dark shadow of fear over the whole decade, which was exploited rather ruthlessly by some politicians (especially my former party, the Republicans, which I left precisely because of their fear mongering at a time in which they should have reassured the Nation instead).

The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the wars that followed them were, in my opinion, the defining events of the decade that is about to end. That is why I chose Bin Laden. Terror-mongering politicians would come second, and the third place goes to reality TV producers.

PS - And a special mention goes to:

1) the irresponsible banks that granted sub-prime mortgages to poor sods who should have been renting a two-bedroom apartment instead (my husband and I are currently renting a 1-bedroom, so no offence intended);

2) the irresponsible poor sods who thought they could afford a MC Mansion on minimum wage – and who still can afford it, thanks to our money;

3) both major parties, who agreed to bail out incompetent Big Business corporations with our money;

4) the greedy, incompetent Big Business corporations who survive only thanks to our money;

5) Paris Hilton and the Kardashians (need I say more?);

6) the "campy," "ironic," tacky-chich trend (a poor excuse to adopt bad taste and get away with it).

(The occasional British spelling is due to the fact that I am a stubborn and inadaptable naturalised American citizen, in case you were wondering.)

I don't think detesting Bush and Bin Laden must necessarily exclude each other.


Oh, no, it's quite possible to detest all of the above.  I was just arguing that it didn't make 'em douchebags.


The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the wars that followed them were, in my opinion, the defining events of the decade that is about to end. That is why I chose Bin Laden. Terror-mongering politicians would come second, and the third place goes to reality TV producers.


And while I'd detest all three, only the third would qualify as douchebags in my book.  (The first two categories I'd find more detestable than mere douchebaggery.) 


Actually, I was thinking, a good headline for a '00s retrospective would be:

Decade of the Douchebag!


You're onto something here.  In the 80s/90s, we didn't really have the sort of instantaneous mass media / celebrity culture that the '00s brought upon us.  Sure, there were celebrities, but I don't remember there being celebritards, at least not to the degree of the '00s.  Perhaps the last ten years were the first ten years on which any douchebag, regardless of talent, could become a star.  "Decade of the Douchebag" would be a fit moniker for it.