Yes, Glenn Beck is #1

February 3, 2010 8:15 PM

The Buffalo Beast has finally posted its list of the 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2009.

Tiger Woods, Tyler Perry, Keith Bardwell, Biz Stone, Jon Gosselin, Nadya Suleman, Joe Wilson, Joe Farah, Arianna Huffington, Jake Sully, Richard Heene, Muzzammil Hassan, Chris Dodd, Vince Offer, Virginia Foxx, Teabaggers, Terrell Owens, Orly Taitz, Geese, Michael Bloomberg, Joe Lieberman, Kanye West, Scott Roeder, Barack Obama, You, Michelle Bernard, Frank Luntz, Michael Steele, Carrie Prejean, Sarah Palin, Bob Rubin, Michael Jackson, Don Blankenship, Bill Maher, John Ensign, Bart Stupak, Lloyd Blankfein, James von Brunn, Jay Leno, Erik Prince, Doug Coe, Dick Cheney, Harry Reid, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Armey, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Nidal Hasan, Charles Koch, Glenn Beck.

The 50 Most Loathsome Americans List previously:
2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002

posted by JHarris (85 comments total)

Solid choices, but I'm surprised to not see Tareq & Michaele Salahi.
posted by porn in the woods at 8:21 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hah, I was going to comment about how Glenn Beck was #1 but lo and behold, you've taken care of that. Glad to see all the old favorites on there as well as some new ones. Very glad Bill Maher was there. Well done!
posted by keithburgun at 8:21 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

I half expected #1 to be some sort of interlace flicker algorithm that made the screen reflective.

I don't know if I expected it as much as I was hoping for some sort of variant on the done to death Cracked-style countdown lists.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 8:23 PM on February 3, 2010

Why do we post this every year? Whoever writes those entries is at least as loathsome as the people being written about.
posted by Caduceus at 8:25 PM on February 3, 2010 [14 favorites]

Crap, I meant for that algorithm to be on #26... Ah whatever. Fiddlesticks.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 8:25 PM on February 3, 2010

I wish Tim Kreider still did cartoons.
posted by The Whelk at 8:26 PM on February 3, 2010 [5 favorites]

Boo. Every year they write this cheap shot notfunny fest and every year the Internet links to it in a feast of pointless negativity. One day everyone will bored of pointless cruelty and nobody will link to it beacuse the web will be full of lists of Best People We All Love Who Rock and things like that instead...either that or we'll all be dead. Anyway. Boo.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:28 PM on February 3, 2010 [6 favorites]

Since I don't know their names, I can't be sure...but are any of these people on that Jersey Shore show?
posted by JaredSeth at 8:34 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I always want to hate this list, but I always chuckle at something on it too. I like this line about the teabaggers: The Lolcats of protest sign grammar, they think scare quotes actually make things scary (e.g. ‘Obama is a “communist”’).
posted by marxchivist at 8:37 PM on February 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

Caduceus, a couple of the entries did grate on me a bit more than usual. One of them was the joke in the Michael Jackson entry on Joe Jackson's beatings. The Geese joke seemed a bit pointless. But there were still as many accurate call-outs of dupes, morons, toadies and shills as usual, as well as important light cast on powerful evil people like Charles Koch. That last bit is why I look forward to the list year after year, that and the general accuracy of their pronouncements, even when the jokes go a little too far.

Bathtub Bobsled, wouldn't a Cracked-style countdown list be split up among multiple pages? Also, they were doing this several years before Cracked.com.
posted by JHarris at 8:39 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Very glad Bill Maher was there.

Lord knows he deserves to be there if only for the perpetual cloud of smug that follows him around and blots out the sun wherever he goes. I am however disappointed that Nancy Grace didn't make the cut.
posted by MikeMc at 8:41 PM on February 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

YES! I'm not on the list!
posted by Flunkie at 8:47 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

You

Is your heart filled with pain?
Can I come back again?
Tell me dear: are you loathsome tonight?
Just like me
are you loathsome tonight?
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:48 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I agree. Haven't even heard of half of them. But I still agree.
posted by philip-random at 8:49 PM on February 3, 2010

New name for a rock band - Beacuse The Knight.

I thank you.
posted by Sk4n at 8:55 PM on February 3, 2010

If someone did the exact same thing in rhyming couplets I would love it. It's not the content, it's the banality of this lackofeffort that makes me so annoyed by it.

Here I'll start:
M William Marr, a smarmy cur
claims to talk 'real' yet only slurs.
His hair as plastic as his grin,
i'd rather be correct than 'in'.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:55 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

FINALLY.
posted by grobstein at 8:57 PM on February 3, 2010

I'm impressed it took someone this long to mock this FPP for using the word "finally." Pleasantly circular, that.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:00 PM on February 3, 2010

Reminding me that Erik Prince still enjoys the same position as he did at the start of the Iraq invasion is why I love this list. It's great that they include these little gems of truly evil people that aren't being talked about currently but still deserve to be spotlighted for their crimes.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:07 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Wow, more people wasting time and energy making bitter lists to give more free publicity for people who don't deserve it!
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:23 PM on February 3, 2010

They hate geese. Surely that is something we can agree on.
posted by shothotbot at 9:39 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Spleeen spleen vent vent spleen spleen mmm wakeup, feel angry, spleen spleen snark snark snark over pbreakfast, spleen spleen, , spleen spleen, o boy I'm going to write witty stuff today, spleen spleen, god my analysis is prescient as I walk to my car, spleen spleen, , spleen, spleen, drive suv to office, spleen spleen, spleen eat mcdonalds for lunch trip over homeless guy, spleen spleen see haitian disatser unfold, spleen spleen, watch news, think up snark,say bye bye to rosa the office worker coming in, spleen spleen, go home in suv and sit in suburbia, consider a good day's work done, spleen, spleen, mastrbate furiously to utopian ideal, spleen spleen sleep, repeat.
posted by lalochezia at 9:42 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's catharsis, and it's mostly people who deserve it.
posted by jcruelty at 9:56 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Spleeen spleen vent vent spleen spleen mmm wakeup, feel angry, spleen spleen snark snark snark over pbreakfast, spleen spleen, , spleen spleen, o boy I'm going to write witty stuff today, spleen spleen, god my analysis is prescient as I walk to my car, spleen spleen, , spleen, spleen, drive suv to office, spleen spleen, spleen eat mcdonalds for lunch trip over homeless guy, spleen spleen see haitian disatser unfold, spleen spleen, watch news, think up snark,say bye bye to rosa the office worker coming in, spleen spleen, go home in suv and sit in suburbia, consider a good day's work done, spleen, spleen, mastrbate furiously to utopian ideal, spleen spleen sleep, repeat.

So your point is... it's OK to be inane if you just have a smaller audience?
posted by Cyrano at 10:04 PM on February 3, 2010

the exact same thing in rhyming couplets

My two:

They must have stayed up very late
To choose their V-P candidate.
But if Sarah Palin's annoyed you,
Consider all the caribou.
...
If you want your crowd impressed,
Don't invite Kanye West.
The award night gets diminished
AND YO IMA LET YOU FINISH
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:06 PM on February 3, 2010 [8 favorites]

I notice that they got "you"in there, but there's a glaring ommission. "Me."
posted by Jimmy Havok at 10:15 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Every year they write this cheap shot notfunny fest and every year the Internet links to it in a feast of pointless negativity.

It's too over the top to be taken this seriously. I like Bill Maher, but the write-up on him is pretty accurate.
posted by troybob at 10:24 PM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

EVEN THOUGH THIS LIST IS FUNNY AND TRUE, I'M GOING TO BITCH ANYWAY BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I DO.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:27 PM on February 3, 2010 [11 favorites]

This reminds me a bit of my first blog, called C.H.U.D. Roundtable, because the idea was to have half of it be me raising questions for the small group of my friends who read the blog to answer, and to have half of it be a write-up of someone who deserved to be eaten by C.H.U.D.s. It was a poorly designed blog. Still, it served to remind those fleetingly few people who read it just how horrendous some of those who influence the world really are.

And Fred Phelps deserves to be on this list until eternity.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:54 PM on February 3, 2010

EVEN THOUGH THIS LIST IS FUNNY AND TRUE, I'M GOING TO BITCH ANYWAY BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I DO.

This.

Just because it sort of fucking rhymes.

I know this list is posted every year, but I still seem to get a kick out of it. Thanks JHarris. The posting of this list should really take the place of the now disgraced caps lock day.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:06 PM on February 3, 2010

And now I present: the 50 Most Loathsome Canadians of 2009.

....

Um.........

Stephen Harper! damn prorogue motherfucker!

Actually, No. That's not quite fair, really. Even though many may disagree with his policies and actions it still would be rather inappropriate to label him "the most loathsome Canadian" seeing as he sort is the PM and all.

....

Back to your regularly scheduled metafilter
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 11:37 PM on February 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

EVEN THOUGH THIS LIST IS FUNNY AND TRUE,

While it's mostly accurate, it's not funny at all. It's to political humor what Pitchfork is to music writing.
posted by Caduceus at 11:50 PM on February 3, 2010

At least, it's mostly accurate when talking about people I know about, at least as far as I have knowledge about those people. Seeing as there's nothing in the way of references or links that might back up any of the assertions, particularly the exhibits, it's actually hard to be sure how accurate it is. So on top of being unfunny and annoying, it's lazy.

So, what Pitchfork is to music writing. (Zing!)
posted by Caduceus at 11:59 PM on February 3, 2010

Seeing as there's nothing in the way of references or links that might back up any of the assertions, particularly the exhibits, it's actually hard to be sure how accurate it is.

Yeah! Totally! Who's this Sarah Palin chick? And Bill Maher? Never heard of him! What about Chris Dodd? I'm a political ignoramus, could you help me please?
posted by eyeballkid at 12:03 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah! Totally! Who's this Sarah Palin chick? And Bill Maher? Never heard of him! What about Chris Dodd? I'm a political ignoramus, could you help me please?

Oh please. How about Don Blankenship, or Bob Rubin? Not everyone has a categorical knowledge of powerful corrupt people. Yes, it's easy enough for me to do the Google searches to confirm BuffaloBeast's claims about these people, but if they hadn't been so busy patting themselves on the back over their witty, cutting commentary, they could have included a link to the places they refreshed their memories on the details of the featured loathsome people's crimes.

So lazy, unfunny, and self-satisfied. I stand by my evaluation.
posted by Caduceus at 12:12 AM on February 4, 2010

Why do we post this every year? Whoever writes those entries is at least as loathsome as the people being written about.

Actually, I found the writing mostly sharp, funny and, most importantly (because, as a non-American I don't recognized many of the names) entertaining. Some of the caricatures are pleasingly hideous, too.

Even though many may disagree with his policies and actions it still would be rather inappropriate to label him "the most loathsome Canadian" seeing as he sort is the PM and all.

Yeah, I was surprised to see Obama on the list. But, then again, it makes sense.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:14 AM on February 4, 2010

Glenn BEck

Sentence: Drowned in crocodile tears; eaten by crocodile.

Written by Ian Murphy & Allan Uthman. Illustrations by Ian Murphy.




Holy fuck. Completely excellent. No punches pulled through 50 eviscerated scum bags.

Bravo.
posted by Skygazer at 12:30 AM on February 4, 2010

Oh please. How about Don Blankenship, or Bob Rubin? Not everyone has a categorical knowledge of powerful corrupt people. Yes, it's easy enough for me to do the Google searches to confirm BuffaloBeast's claims about these people, but if they hadn't been so busy patting themselves on the back over their witty, cutting commentary, they could have included a link to the places they refreshed their memories on the details of the featured loathsome people's crimes.


a) For a good majority of this list, 90% maybe?, I was familiar with the subject.

b) I'm sorry searching the internet on a particular topic is so difficult for you. Here's some pointers!
posted by eyeballkid at 12:34 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Solid choices, but I'm surprised to not see Tareq & Michaele Salahi.

Why? Relatively minor infraction followed by media freakout. It's not their fault the media is insane.
posted by delmoi at 12:42 AM on February 4, 2010

Oh please. How about Don Blankenship, or Bob Rubin?

I knew who Bob Rubin was.
posted by delmoi at 12:47 AM on February 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I was surprised to see Obama on the list. But, then again, it makes sense.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:14 AM on February 4 [+] [!]

Yeah, that was the only one that gave me pause. But I have to say what was written was true, but I hope they'll be moot points in a years time...
posted by Skygazer at 12:47 AM on February 4, 2010

Only ones I didn't know where Don Blankenship and Muzzammil Hassan. And I had actually heard the Hassan story, just didn't recognize the name.
posted by delmoi at 12:48 AM on February 4, 2010

Solid choices, but I'm surprised to not see Tareq & Michaele Salahi.

I think the best punishment for those two is to forget them, and banish them to the dustbin of douche-O-matics and their dingbat wives, throughout history...
posted by Skygazer at 12:49 AM on February 4, 2010

Oh please. How about Don Blankenship, or Bob Rubin? Not everyone has a categorical knowledge of powerful corrupt people.

God forbid you learn something while reading this article.
posted by mek at 1:09 AM on February 4, 2010 [3 favorites]

I think one of the reasons people are more vocal about hating this this year is because Bush and company are finally OUT OUT OUT OUT I SAY AHH-HAHAHA of the Oval Office. So, their yearly recounting of the worst people in the nation no longer carries the weight of moral imperative.

That's not really true, however. The Republicans seem to be rallying now, and it's looking like we may be in for some even more bitterly contested fights in the near future. Look at Fox News; they have become cartoon characters. It must be a policy of the network that Obama's name cannot be mentioned without some negative cast to it. Obama, one of the most politically milquetoast presidents we've had in the past fifty years! They have proven that there is nothing Obama could do, INCLUDING caving to them on every point, to satisfy them. They don't hate the whys of the man, but the whats; what party he's in, what background he has (they don't care even to get it right), and yes, what color his skin is. They have basically left him with no option except to go ahead and fulfill a fear of theirs or two, because conceding to them sure isn't working.

I have never heard someone so ruthlessly disparaged for stupid, provably false reasons in my life, and one day at the high school I went to they showed us a video claiming that Star Wars was drenched in Wicca theology (due to Lucas' mystical hand-wavey "Force") and thus literally the work of Satan. And before anyone says anything, I'm not even misusing the word "literally" here.

Just to show you what we're up against, I heard one of the people there once claim that Carl Sagan was in league with the Devil. Compared to discussion like that, the Buffalo Beast reads like the New York Times.
posted by JHarris at 1:15 AM on February 4, 2010 [6 favorites]

Jimmy Havok: I notice that they got "you"in there, but there's a glaring ommission. "Me."

A group that contains that fellow, "Us," made it in a couple of years ago.
posted by JHarris at 2:08 AM on February 4, 2010

The Geese joke seemed a bit pointless.

I just assumed that was code for Canadians. And fuck you too, America!
posted by mannequito at 2:18 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Terrell Owens. Really? That's a solid choice? Couldn't get too worked up about him when he was an Eagle, now, he's slightly below meh.
posted by fixedgear at 2:38 AM on February 4, 2010

...below meh

heh
posted by hal9k at 3:28 AM on February 4, 2010

Every time I see the name Erik Prince I think of Freddie Prinze, Jr., then I smack myself and say, "No, the mercenary guy!" and immediately think of Bennett from Commando, then give up and go to Google.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:11 AM on February 4, 2010

Even though I agree with most of this, reading it was pretty goddamn painful.
posted by tehloki at 4:49 AM on February 4, 2010

37. It’s Vince from Shamwow!
...
Sentence: Coke stash raided nightly by the shouting ghost of Billy Mays.

Heh.
posted by zardoz at 5:12 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Terrell Owens. Really? That's a solid choice?

Remember this is a Buffalo paper with a Buffalo audience.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:19 AM on February 4, 2010

And its time for Keith Olbermann to drop his Worst Person in the World segment.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:22 AM on February 4, 2010

So... all these people are from the US (except the geese, which are clearly Canadian)... And this is a list of "Americans"..? there aren't any stupid people in Mexico, or Brazil, or any of those other countries on this side of the oceans?
posted by HuronBob at 5:49 AM on February 4, 2010

Woods is on the list why? Because he cheated on his wife?

Not to minimize the hurt he may have caused his family, but this smacks of moralistic smugness. Yes, he made a career out of playing the 19th hole with iron bunnies, but if this is all you need to do to get on a "worst" list in a world of 6 billion people, few of us could manage to stay off such a list.

And, no, I've never cheated on my wife. Because that is wrong. Not as wrong as being Glenn Beck, of course.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:20 AM on February 4, 2010

OK, my at-work internet-filter thinks the Buffalo Beast is "mature" content...what exactly has Arianna Huffington done to earn their wrath? (Well, besides giving my annoying PUMA acquaintances a public platf--oh, OK nevermind, answered myself.)

So... all these people are from the US (except the geese, which are clearly Canadian)... And this is a list of "Americans"..?

Oh, stop it.
posted by kittyprecious at 6:41 AM on February 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

So... all these people are from the US (except the geese, which are clearly Canadian)... And this is a list of "Americans"..? there aren't any stupid people in Mexico, or Brazil, or any of those other countries on this side of the oceans?


Huron Bob, this is a list of the Loathesome, not Stupid. Also, of course there are stupid people elsewhere, but pointing that out now is a bit like, upon reading a top 50 American albums list, kvetching "Hey, other people make music too, y'know...". No one's really disputing that.
posted by hell toupee at 6:45 AM on February 4, 2010

Here's exactly where I stopped expecting to learn something: Item 50. Tiger Woods [...] Cheated on his Swedish supermodel wife with over a dozen women, all of whom look like “Rock of Love” washouts.

It's loathsome to not have better taste in a piece of ass.
posted by applemeat at 6:58 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Michael Jackson is one of the 50 most loathsome Americans in 2009.

He's fucking dead.
posted by jeremy b at 7:13 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

OK, my at-work internet-filter thinks the Buffalo Beast is "mature" content...what exactly has Arianna Huffington done to earn their wrath?

Snake oil and pseudoscience. To quote:

HuffPo’s health coverage is like a horny chimp with a switch blade: dumb and dangerous. Arrianna’s “Wellness Editor” holds a “PhD” in homeopathy, the fake science of diluting medicine in water to increase its healing power—the higher the dilution, the more potent. In fact, she and other homeopathic quacks sell “medicine,” which is indistinguishable from Evian. Last summer, Arianna’s “internet newspaper” advised people to protect themselves from swine flu with a deep-cleansing enema. Seriously. Every woo-age celebrity with a vaccination conspiracy or snake oil remedy and a laptop is given column space at HuffPo. It hurts to read Dan Akroyd speculate about the existence of ghosts; it’s agonizing to read Deepak Chopra’s shoddy metaphysics, and it may actually kill to publish Bill Maher’s Luddite rants. Apparently, the only thing Huffington won’t let her writers do is get paid.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:45 AM on February 4, 2010 [4 favorites]

The upside of that is that I would never have known that Jim Carrey's gone around the bend if I hadn't seen an article by him in HuffPo raving about the awfulness of vaccines and vaccinators. So now I know he's nuts, at least.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:37 AM on February 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yep. Jackson is dead. And still loathsome. The reason - if you read it - is that being dead doesn't automatically mean we should forget everything bad you ever did.

I mean, really. When Limbaugh finally suffers that massive coronary he's been deserving for so long (hopefully preceded by a debilitating stroke and months of painful lingering), are we all going to quietly drop a period in some thread here and be all respectful and forget what a hateful, hypocritical, bile-filled, miserable fuck of a human being he was? I'm sure as hell not going to.

Jackson was a twisted fuck who paid out a lot of money to keep some kids quiet about things that may or may not have happened. He should not be forgiven for being a twisted fuck just because he made some good music a long time ago, or because he died. You can make the argument that it's not entirely his own fault that he was twisted, I'll grant you that: but in the end humans are responsible for their own actions, and there's no way you can convincingly argue that Jackson didn't have the resources available to get the help he needed. Instead, he built an elaborate private fantasy world where he could pretend that it's OK for grown men to have sleepovers with little boys, and he was able to stay out of jail because his accuser's mother was portrayed as a money-hungry person willing to sacrifice her child's welfare and privacy in exchange for the potential of a cash payout. There may not be enough there to convict the man but there sure as hell is too much going on for any sane person to willingly leave their child in his care. You absolutely cannot seriously make the argument that under the same circumstances, with the same circumstantial evidence, any "regular" non-rich, non-celebrity person could have avoided being branded a sex offender, placed on a list for life, and quite likely have ended up serving some hard time in prison. Look, I like "Thriller" myself, but that doesn't mean the man gets a free pass, dead or not.
posted by caution live frogs at 8:43 AM on February 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

OK, my at-work internet-filter thinks the Buffalo Beast is "mature" content...what exactly has Arianna Huffington done to earn their wrath? (Well, besides giving my annoying PUMA acquaintances a public platf--oh, OK nevermind, answered myself.)

Huh. I thought "PUMA" was chosen because it's a synonym for "cougar."
posted by grobstein at 8:54 AM on February 4, 2010

If Michael Jackson were still alive, would he be on their list? Jenny McCarthy should be on there for encouraging people to skip vaccinations.
posted by fixedgear at 9:13 AM on February 4, 2010

Huh. I thought "PUMA" was chosen because it's a synonym for "cougar."

Sadly, I know this because a former friend (who subsequently went a little cuckoo) was one of the founders of the movement: the puma was ostensibly chosen because (a) unlike donkeys or elephants, they're fierce and native to North America and (b) they have ready-made brand ID. (But those are just fortuitous happenstances next to the original acronym.)
posted by kittyprecious at 9:16 AM on February 4, 2010

caution live frogs, everything you said is wrong. Thanks for playing, though.
posted by girlmightlive at 9:18 AM on February 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm not surprised that most of you don't know of Don Blankenship but he totally deserves to be on this list. If he did to your state what he's done to WV you would be pissed. He acts like the EPA is a joke, and because he and his company Massey Energy make huge donations to everyone, Republican or Democrat who runs for office in or from WV, he's absolutely right. I'm glad to see his name on the national stage like this. It's kind of like seeing your state KKK group on Daily Kos. It takes a lot to be the most anti-environmental business in a state with Union Carbide plants. Don Blankenship makes Carbide look good.

On January 19, 2006 a belt line fire killed miners Don I. Bragg, 33, and Ellery Elvis Hatfield, 47, at Massey's Aracoma Alma Number 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. Efforts to fight the fire were hampered by inadequate fire extinguishers, fire house couplings which did not match the water line, and a lack of water in the lines
posted by irisclara at 9:24 AM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

caution live frogs, if I could favorite your post eleventy plus one, I would.

On the day of his death, I sent out a list of MJ jokes to friends. Two wrote back, asking me to never send them such again, because "he was never convicted", and because they were big fans of his music.

Both were mothers of young children.

Agggh.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:32 AM on February 4, 2010

This has been the best end of the year list for several years now. My favorite is the year I won.
posted by zzazazz at 10:05 AM on February 4, 2010

wait. Only 50?
posted by kuppajava at 10:18 AM on February 4, 2010

Was this technically even a list? I mean, yes, it appears to "a series of names or other items written or printed together in a meaningful grouping or sequence so as to constitute a record," but I'm not really sure it's a list.
posted by barrett caulk at 11:12 AM on February 4, 2010

delmoi : It's not their fault the media is insane.

My favorite line from the article was: "and yet the media pays attention to both, because our culture’s an intellectual cesspool."

Because it so succinctly sums up the bitterness I feel towards the media and the way it's viewed right now.

I'm glad Beck topped the list and I'm pleased that they used the word "blubbering" to describe him. Though I still prefer "sobbing coward" myself.
posted by quin at 11:50 AM on February 4, 2010

I have to go with clvrmnky. Woods? He’s a golfer. I can cast stones on this because I would never cheat on my wife. Just not in me. But I’m not immune to other kinds of temptation. And given the magnitude here, guy’s an extremely wealthy superstar. Pretty high stakes there. I can’t say I’d keep on the straight and narrow with everything in my life at that level.

Woods sleeping around bad. John Edwards (not on the list) starting a whole new franchise and denying it and then admitting it – basically ok. Gosh he’d have made a swell president. Not as critical in our lives as some guy who putts balls of course.

Jake Sully – isn’t he fictional? And is he American?
Geese? Aren’t they at least partly Canadian?
You? We’re all American?

Howabout “Us” there Buffalobeast, for the pseudo hip pop list of self-congratulatory Onion-wannabe snarky retreaded patter culled from Google search and devoid of any genuine humor or even relevance at all?
Gosh, that’s such a hard style to pull off, innit?

Oh, wait, I see “You” has been on the list for a number of years. Like a joke. Ah. Very logical.
You know who else really sucked? Hitler.
Yes. Pat Robertson is also unpleasant.
posted by Smedleyman at 1:14 PM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

girlmightlive, I'd like to hear about where you disagree with caution live frogs' view of Michael Jackson.
posted by box at 1:20 PM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't think Michael Jackson was ever forgiven by much of anyone, really, except perhaps his most rabid fans and by the fawning entertainment media, which approached him (both while he was alive and after he died) with a nauseating mixture of drooling idolatry and sneering disgust that should by all rights have its own separate entry as a Loathsome Person of the Year.

No, Jackson did not ever have to answer to justice. The fact that his money and fame bought him that escape is indeed loathsome. And yet albums by this moldering-in-the-grave loathsome beast were, by a very long distance, the best-selling music of 2009. Life is contradiction.
posted by blucevalo at 1:43 PM on February 4, 2010

HuronBob, I believe it is a case of calling out our own.

clvrmnky, there are usually a few entries in each list that are a little borderline. Woods is arguably the weakest entry on this one (other than "Geese" perhaps), but he is at 50.

A lot of the vitriol behind the Most Loathsome list, I think, comes from the writers' being fed up with the American news cycle, and Woods has been inescapable lately. Thus, a couple years back Terry Schivo figured prominently in the list even though her brain was flat-line at the time. But she was still omnipresent while that particular fever madness gripped the Republicans and the U.S. news media. It doesn't look like a lot of people learned anything from that.

Of course Schivo was blameless of the media circus that formed around her sad corpse. The Beast people knew that; her inclusion was a bit tongue in cheek, as is the yearly inclusion of "You." Most often Loathsome List spot seems to go to someone who has willfully made the political, financial or media life in the U.S. worse in some way, with higher-entry spots going to more profound types of damage. GWB and Cheney got high ranks in most of the previous years. Cheney still made it this time, but more Democrats are up there now. Perhaps understandably; they are running out of excuses for why things are refusing to get better.

For everyone on the list who doesn't deserve it or is a stunt entry, there are eight or nine truly obnoxious human beings with far more power, access or popularity than they should have. Pretty much the same ratio as in past years.
posted by JHarris at 2:52 PM on February 4, 2010

AH! I look forward to this EVERY year. Suck it, haters!
posted by vito90 at 3:31 PM on February 4, 2010

Oh, Jake Sully. I thought they meant Sully Sullenberger. Who could be mad at him?
posted by fixedgear at 4:07 PM on February 4, 2010

I would have bet money that Obama was number 1 -- I was somewhat shocked to see him all the way down at #27.
posted by jpolchlopek at 4:51 PM on February 4, 2010

"They hate geese. Surely that is something we can agree on." Sorry, shothotbot. Looks like you can always find someone to disagree with. And if this list is supposed to be in any sort of order, it appears the authors are implying geese are worse than Joe Wilson. That's just ridiculous!
posted by Hdog at 4:51 PM on February 4, 2010

Wish they hadn't dissed MJ, but spot-on with much of it.
posted by sswiller at 5:47 PM on February 4, 2010

*shakes fist at Hdog*
posted by shothotbot at 7:16 PM on February 4, 2010

I would have bet money that Obama was number 1 -- I was somewhat shocked to see him all the way down at #27.

In the past years the top slot was usually taken by the likes of Bush, Cheney or Palin. Obama may be ineffectual so far, but he's not gotten us into any more wars, or destroyed our economy, or been a national embarrassment, or exuded any palpable sense of menace.
posted by JHarris at 8:04 PM on February 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

girlmightlive, I'll go box' request one further, and state that several of caution live frogs' statements are documentable facts. Many others are polemics, but still: your statement was absolute, and thereby, wrong.

Ironically, this means that "everything you said is wrong," in your short statement. Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:52 PM on February 5, 2010