Putin Named Time's Person of the Year

The AP reported today on Time Magazine's choice for Person of the Year.

Time magazine on Wednesday named Russian President Vladimir Putin its 2007 "Person of the Year."

The nod went to the Russian leader because of Putin's "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability," said Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor.

There was a push in conservative circles to have General Petraeus named Man of the Year, but Time obviously would have none of that. They'd rather ignore that fact that, in an extraordinary feat of leadership, Petraeus took a country (Iraq) that was in chaos and brought it stability.

No, better for them to honor Putin, whose coming departure from the Russian presidency and ascension into the Prime Minister slot smacks of the kind of stability brought to the former Soviet Union by Stalin, Kruschev, and Brezhnev. Or maybe it's more like Cuba's stability under Castro. I'm not holding my breath for Putin to ever hand over the reins of power to anyone but his puppet(s).

Still, I suppose I should be glad Time didn't give the honor to Al Gore, who was also in the running. We wouldn't want anyone to have to clean up the mess after the Goracle's head exploded from the excessive swelling after too many awards in one year. No, that wouldn't have been pretty.