15 Most Loathsome People of 2008

By Allan Uthman and Ian Murphy, Buffalo Beast. Posted January 31, 2009.

9. Rick Warren

Charges: Dubbed "America's Pastor" by The Nation, he's duped people from both sides of the political spectrum into thinking he's the kinder, fatter version of James Dobson. Though he is fatter, how could anyone think a man who -- professionally -- quotes a book written by a make-believe space-giant, instructing the murder of homosexuals, could be anything other than a delusional bigot? Still riding the undeserved wave of fame onset by a meth-head kidnap victim's ownership of his pop-psych hybrid of churchy prudishness and self-help pabulum The Purpose Driven Life, Warren had a big year hosting a presidential forum at his gay-sounding Saddleback Church, helping to pass Prop 8 and being tapped to invoke said make-believe space-giant at Obama's inauguration. Plus, his neatly trimmed goatee is the queerest thing we've ever seen.

Exhibit A: "God tells us that he created all the land animals on the sixth day of creation, the same day that he created mankind. Man and dinosaurs lived at the same time." Can you feel the wisdom?

Sentence: He shalt giveth The Lord a blumpkin and eatheth of the pie until he bursts.

8. Ashley Todd

Charges: As attention-getting devices go, trying to start a race war is a tad disproportionate. It's a good thing this batty girl was completely hopeless as a fraudster, or her 11th hour "big black Barack backer battered burgled and branded Barbie" ruse could have done a lot worse than throw Pennsylvania to McCain. It's not surprising that log cabin bottom feeder Matt Drudge slapped the headline "Shock: McCain volunteer ‘attacked and mutilated' in Pittsburgh" on his bafflingly popular website in big red letters, as he's got about a 40% accuracy rating on the stories he "breaks." We've tried feeling sorry for Todd, but the fact that she scratched the "B" backwards, because she was looking in the mirror, is just too damned funny.

Exhibit A: "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her cloths [sic] off, but its better if you do."

Sentence: The reverse "B" never heals.

7. Joe Lieberman

Charges: A fickle, flabbery fiend reviled by both parties, Lieberman somehow finds himself more powerful than ever, failing forward by virtue of the Democrats' unfalteringly chumpish lack of discipline. After promising that he was "not going to go to…the Republican convention, and spend my time attacking Barack Obama," Lieberman went to the Republican convention and attacked Barack Obama. But that was just the beginning of his descent into a self-dug hole of betrayal that should have proved inescapable. Lieberman thought it was "a good question" to ask if Obama was a Marxist. He campaigned not just with McCain, but with Palin and down-ticket Republicans, another thing he said he wouldn't do.  But the most loathsome trait Lieberman exhibits is that most loathsome of all: Smearing dissent as treasonous. The kind of suppressive asshole who would accuse you of helping terrorists by beating him at checkers should not be Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, and is not someone worth rewarding for his own dissent.

Exhibit A: "In matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." "Sen. Obama doesn't come to this debate with a lot of credibility.”

Sentence: Lieberman awakes to find himself in the body of an impoverished Iraqi living in a small apartment with 12 family members and no electricity. Shocked by this inexplicable turn of events, he stumbles outside and cries to God, looking up just in time for the white phosphorous to hit him in the face.

6. Rush Limbaugh

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