Opinion> Bill Oreilly> Person Of The Year

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Person of the Year

This is the time of year when media types begin bloviating about the person who has most impacted the country in 2008. Well, there's not much drama this time around because of Barack Obama's amazing achievement. But there are other folks who have influenced us greatly, as well. Please consider the following list:

Congressman Barney Frank/Sen. Chris Dodd/ Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox:

These three were given the charge to watch the financial system in America, to make sure Wall Street greed-heads and other pernicious people did not hurt the folks. So tell me, how did they do?

Cox, a former Republican congressman himself, simply did nothing, allowing bad mortgages to be traded like sports cards as he fiddled in his lavish office.

Frank and Dodd, as finance chairmen in the House and Senate respectively, actually promoted irresponsible mortgages in the name of "inclusion" — the liberal concept of giving people stuff if they can't buy it. Dodd also took a sweetheart mortgage from since-failed Countrywide Financial, which saved him close to $100,000. And Frank publicly said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in "good shape going forward," just weeks before both government entities collapsed.

I'd say these three had quite an impact in 2008.

Sarah Palin: The governor of Alaska completely upstaged John McCain and, depending on your political point of view, was either a breath of fresh air or the ruination of the Republican Party. Either way, she had a huge impact.

Sen.

Ted Stevens and Gov. Rod Blagojevich: These two proved once again that political corruption knows no party. The Republican Stevens and the Democratic Blagojevich should now get their own reality program entitled "Scamming with the Pols."

I especially like the governor speaking on the phone about getting bribes for delivering Obama's senate seat, all the while knowing he was under investigation by the feds. Even O.J. Simpson wasn't that dumb. Well, maybe I'm overstating.

On the positive side, Hillary Clinton and John McCain both ran spirited campaigns against President-elect Obama, and that helped the nation decide a new direction.

Michael Phelps and the U.S. Olympic Team performed with class and skill in Beijing. When Phelps hits the water, the impact is amazing.

But above all this year, the U.S. military has had a major impact on the country and the world. Overcoming enormous obstacles to bring a measure of stability to the beleaguered people of Iraq, our forces have performed brilliantly. And, along with NATO troops, American troops continue to protect the Afghan people from the horrors of the Taliban.

These brave, unselfish men and women proved once again in 2008 that America is a noble nation. Their impact and sacrifice should be positioned in the forefront of any "person of the year" exposition.

Bloviating aside, that's the truth.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Who's Looking Out For You?" To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Web site www.billoreilly.com.

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Sir;... How you chowder brains have the gall to deny government fair revenue, and the power to protect the people from big business; and then complain when it does not do anything, or enough, or on time, or at the right price -is beyond me...You look at it from the wastland for just once... I got a big mouth; but I once nearly choked to death on Hog antibiotics, because I had no insurance, and my family had no insurance... I lost one child to a brain aneurism... It is a simple thing, hard to detect, but there were some symptoms, and they were neglected in any event, and that is easy enough to explain.... When you are working hard, and you are sweating pennies and you can't afford the co-pay, and you can't afford the time after work in the ER because you can be replaced, and the boss does not want any excuses, and he is paying full wages for a 100% effort; then you are inclined to sleep on a problem that may end up being fatal... There is no nice word for the kind of people who drive the poor to make life or death decisions because they want to keep a few more buck that they squeezed out of poor people to begin with...There is plenty enough of wealth to go around.... Wealth is not the problem... The problem is how hard people must work for poverty, and the choices they must make between bad and worse, worst and worser... You don't know how hard people in the wasteland are working for the nothing they got, and you go from one week bragging about your money in the bank, and in the next blaming government regulators for not doing more... What did you pay them to do??? Did you want them to go to war??? That is less money for regulation... Did you want to pay less tax??? That is less money for regulation... All that less money for less government means more cost for private individuals at the lowest levels... I can't afford any more for better roads, but I have to pay for fixing the car... I can't afford better health insurance because my insurance is actually paying for many without insurance, and how is that the responsibility of the insured, when it all has to be covered by his labor??? Your system does not work...What you have supported does not work... You are a failure...Capitalism and republicanism are failures... Because of people like you squeezing people like me, I lost a son... And I am the lucky one...Because people like you have lost your souls....Thanks for nothing...Sweeney

Comment: #1
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:01 AM