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The 10 Dumbest People of 2008

Keith Boykin | Posted December 23, 2008 10:37 AM

I don't mean any harm by it, but I thought it might be useful to put together a list of the 10 dumbest people of 2008.

I'm not trying to be mean, and I promise to do a list tomorrow of the 10 smartest people of the year so everybody can feel nice and good the day before the big Christmas holiday.

Of course, when I say that someone was dumb in 2008, I really mean they did something really stupid this year. That doesn't mean they were or are always dumb. Some of the smartest people do some of the dumbest things. Hey, we all make mistakes. And I'm sure I made a few by picking (and not picking) some of the people for this list.

Hopefully, their mistakes will remind you what you should not do in 2009. But looking back at the year, it makes you wonder what were these people thinking.

10. Young Berg. The (not so) popular rapper made a fool of himself this year. First he said he doesn't like dark-skinned women, who he called "dark butts." Then he got arrested on the same weekend his new album was released and despite this possible publicity stunt, the records sales still weren't good. Then he got robbed and beaten in a Detroit night club. Soon after, another rapper's brother was seen on the Internet wearing Young Berg's jewelry. Not sure who is dumber here: the street-talking rapper who gets robbed or the guy who's dumb enough to wear the victim's jewelry.

9. Eliot Spitzer. So you make a name for yourself as an aggressive state attorney general who will prosecute anyone for wrongdoing and you ride this reputation all the way to the governor's mansion in New York. If you're going to campaign on ethics, you ought not be caught in an illegal prostitution ring. But the New York governor got caught with his pants down and now he's the former governor of New York. That, of course, was good news for David Paterson, who became the first black governor of the empire state.

8. John Edwards. Speaking of dumb politicians, how dumb do you have to be to hide an affair while you're running for president of the United States? To quote O.J. Simpson's judge, I'm not sure if that's ignorant or arrogant. As it turns out, it was both. Fortunately for Democrats, Edwards never had a chance in the 2008 campaign. It was always going to be either Hillary or Barack. And by the way, Elizabeth Edwards's comment that the media only covered Obama and Clinton because he's black and she's a woman is pretty dumb too.

7. Mark Penn. Hillary Clinton's chief strategist was so dumb that he helped one of the most powerful politicians in Washington lose to a little known newcomer. How did he do it? By having no strategy past Super Tuesday, where he mistakenly thought Senator Clinton would finish off Obama and become the inevitable Democratic presidential nominee. Only, he seems to have forgotten that people in the caucus states vote too. Then, after he resigned in disgrace, he left his former client with the multi-million dollar bill. Not sure if that's dumb or audacious.

6. Plaxico Burress. You're a superstar NFL wide receiver for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the middle of the season and you go out to a crowded nightclub with a loaded gun and accidentally shoot yourself. Not only do you endanger yourself and those around you, you also endanger your career, getting suspended for the season and arrested by the police. We may not expect a lot from highly paid celebrity athletes, but we do expect they won't sabotage themselves. We're talking Michael Vick dumb here.

5. Jesse Jackson. After spending his whole life working to empower black people, Jackson seemed determine to throw it all away this year with his comments about Barack Obama. By the time he threatened to cut off the senator's nuts, a lot of black people had had enough. Jackson joined the ranks of Bob Johnson, Andrew Young, Tavis Smiley and other famous black people who made the mistake of talking smack about the first black president.

4. The big three auto executives. For the record, I fully support the bailout for the big three automakers. But showing up in Washington in private jets to beg for money had to be one of the dumbest things they did in their campaign for help. It's nothing compared to the unchecked greed of the Wall Street titans who swindled the public out of billions of dollars and then got a handout from the government, but it sure looks bad. Rick Wagoner, Alan Mulally and Robert Nardelli should have known better, or their PR people should have warned them.

3. O.J. Simpson. I didn't watch the trial this time, so I'm not commenting on whether he should have been convicted of robbery and kidnapping charges, but he's certainly guilty of being stupid. He had to know that a lot of people were out to get him, so he had no business showing up in that Vegas hotel room with or without a gun last year. Maybe we all have Simpson fatigue, so this time, there was no trail of the century and no outrage about the verdict. I don't believe he was only being punished for the hotel incident last year. Of course this was payback from the Nicole Simpson murder trial. But he should have known this day would come when he set foot in that hotel room.

2. Rod Blagojevech. Yes, I know a lot of politicians horse trade for appointments they make and a lot of them self-deal. Heck, Sarah Palin was planning to appoint herself as a senator if Ted Stevens won re-election and got thrown out of office. There's nothing illegal about negotiating positions for yourself from the decisions you make. Until you start negotiating money. But illegal is not necessarily stupid, until you tell your critics to investigate you and they do. And you're dumb enough to be caught on tape saying some pretty corrupt sounding things.

1. Joe the Plumber. There were a lot of dumb people who did a lot of dumb things in the 2008 presidential election. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright said some dumb things in the heat of the campaign. Then Pastor Michael Pfleger said some more dumb things. After arguing that Barack Obama was inexperienced all year, John McCain made the dumb move of picking a running mate with far less experience. And Sarah Palin, well, she was just plain dumb.

But no one was as dumb as Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the plumber. Joe confronted Obama at an Ohio campaign stop, telling the Democratic candidate that he was planning to buy a plumbing business and was afraid his taxes would go up under Obama. He quickly became a conservative hero when John McCain saw the video and starting dropping Joe's name at a presidential debate and subsequent campaign rallies.

Only problem was that Joe wasn't a licensed plumber, wasn't about to buy a plumbing business, wouldn't have suffered under Obama's tax plan, and would actually do better under Obama's tax policy than under McCain's at his real income level. So Joe was basically a fraud, but like the bridge to nowhere and the plane that Sarah Palin supposedly sold on Ebay, the GOP kept telling the same lie over and over again.

McCain and Palin pimped Joe out for weeks, and he was too dumb to realize it. When the smoke cleared, his gravy train had ended and he was looking for book deals and media contracts. Maybe the people at Fox News will have him back on to talk politics in the Obama administration, but if they're smart they won't.

Sorry Joe, your fifteen minutes has ended. And not a minute too soon.

Keith Boykin is editor of The Daily Voice, a CNBC contributor and a BET political commentator.

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Comments 5

Tired of Misinformation
2008-12-23 17:38:37

Actually, the only dumb one is the author. Joe the Plumber we in front of his own home, and Obama came in his neighborhood. Did you search your facts, or do you get your info from CNN and MS"DNC"? you Talk about dumb . . . get your facts straight!

Cecil Jones
2008-12-23 18:13:11

This is the type of story that makes us lose all credibility. This isn't news, it's just your opinion and there's no factual basis to the conclusion. It's a fact that Joe the Plumber was a tool of the media, but they used him. Was he dumb to get a book deal and whatever comes next? I don't think so. Blago was trapped. OJ was tricked. The Big 3 should be the Big 2 and all they are trying to do is "Keep it going." Jesse Jackson was "Keeping it Real." Plax's ego trip ended when he fired that gun. Mark Penn is overpaid and everybody knows it now. John and Elizabeth Edwards are in pain. Shame on you for kicking them. Eliot Spitzer has daughters and spared them the shame. I've got some honorable mentions...Palin, McCain, Bill Clinton, Oprah, Obama, Rev. Wright, The Shoe Tosser, Chocolate News and you. Stupid is as stupid does these crappy stories stirring up muck. What was the point?

King
2008-12-23 20:09:42

You could have keep this one. How'd it get past the editor. Oh! He is the editor.

Cherubim
2008-12-24 00:24:43

While running for President, John Edwards was the only candidate who dared to tell the American public the truth about the only "real scandal" revealed this year: In this video, John Edwards explains that the problem is "corrupt capitalism", you know that, "other America". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT780q7-GiE

Randall
2008-12-28 12:57:39

Keith you need to let the Jesse Jackson thing drop, how would you feel if someone took your words out of context and ran with them? Not so nice huh

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