NBC's Andrea Mitchell this weekend named the Tea Party as her Person of the Year. Two others on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" disgustingly chose WikiLeaks' Julian Assange (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Welcome back, our big question this week: who is your nominee for Person of the Year, David?
DAVID IGNATIUS, WASHINGTON POST: It's painful to say this but I would say Julian Assange the head of WikiLeaks. I’m sorry if I took your person.
HELENE COOPER, NEW YORK TIMES: Did he steal my person?
IGNATIUS: The release of the WikiLeaks documents is one of those game changing events about public information and the way the world works, and I, people will be talking about it 50 years from now.
MATTHEWS: Yes?
COOPER: What he said.
IGNATIUS: Isn't that right, Assange?
ANDREA MITCHELL: I'm not going to say Julian Assange. I would say because of the midterm elections, the House going Republican, the Senate not going Republican, the Tea Party. They’ve changed the debate on deficit reduction. They’ve got, you’ve got Ron Paul now in charge of monetary policy from the House. They have changed politics for now in Washington.
MATTHEWS: Mike Duffy.
MICHAEL DUFFY, TIME MAGAZINE: I'm not telling you. I voted early by absentee, I haven't told my wife, can't tell you. But tune in Wednesday, find out. It's a great parlor game.
MATTHEWS: I think it’s Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader who forced the President to the left on every issue from healthcare to the stimulus. He made him into a left-wing president because of Republican policy. It was brilliant. It allowed the Republicans to have a brilliant political year. I’m not sure it was in the country’s interest, but he made the big difference this year.
The Tea Party as Person of the Year really makes a lot of sense. Likely no other entity had a bigger impact on politics this year than this movement.
But given how the liberal media have beaten on this group and its members since day one, would Time dare give them such an honor?