JOLLY DAYS

Time Speaks

One of the more comical spectacles in this season is the choice of the Time Person of the Year. This year it is that best-buddy of Iran and head of a crime-ridden country migrating to unabashed dictatorship Vladimir Putin.

More often than not Time chooses someone of dubious credentials and then are left explaining in the following weeks that they “mean that the person had a significance in the year's news” — that it isn't approbation. Maybe Time's editors should consider the connotation as well as the denotation in choosing a title for their “awards” — perhaps the Time Toxic Impact award would in many cases serve better.

Here they go again :

TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest.

McCain understood who Putin was in 2000:
John McCain @ YouTube