from washington, the mclaughlin group. the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. the mclaughlin group is brought to you my metlife. guarantees for the if in life. ♪ [ music ] it's the 28th annual mclaughlin group year end awards 2009 part 2. here's the master of ceremonies, john mclaughlin. >> destined for political stardom 2010. >> marco rubio, republican hero in the future. >> eleanor. >> we have a rom woman, meg wittman is tending to be

governor of california and a democratic woman, maria pantwell, senator from washington state who is about to take the lead on climate change legislation in the u.s. senate. >> monica. >> i have three rising stars. on the right, marly. >> is she going to win? >> i think so. i think she has a very good shot. also the virginia governor. the new republican there, mcdonnel, and she has political aspirations of her own and she could be dynamite. >> to run for governor? >> yes. >> the political stars are going to be the republican congressional leaders who are going to have the success of a huge victory in november of next year. >> the envelope please, monica. >> you clean up well there, mclaughlin. >> thank you. now in this envelope, this is the way i remove the thingy and

here we are. we will read this to you as soon as i take care of it. remind you of anything, pat? what does that remind you of? >> the magnificent. >> who was he? >> johnny carson. >> destined for political stardom, john huntsman. obama's ambassador to china. the republican former governor of utah, huntsman, will be drafted by the gop at the 2012 convention to run against presumably, president obama. okay. destined for political obliviance, pat. >> arnold. >> naturally. >> mikeke huckabee, whose presidential ambitions have been short circuit the by his pardon of a felon who shot and killed four police officers in seattle. >> democratic control of the house of representatives and as part of that, the runner up, harry reid, who is going to go the way of his preed sees

predisesso, tom daschle. >> i was going to say, harry reid, is going to lose in his reelection bid next year in november. >> let's move it to the white house. destined for political, rahm emanuel. he is the white house chief of staff and he will be forced to fall as democrats in congress suffer staggering losses, as you pointed out in the 2010 midterm election. okay, best political theater. pat. >> the beer summit with sergeant crowly and joe biden and obama, on tv, john. great theater. >> and gates and biden looks good? >> i think biden, i agree with monica. biden looks very, very good. he had a rough first half. he's doing fine. >> eleanor. >> year started in january. so i'm going with blagojevich, he was impeached in january and went on to a whole saga of

reality shows and it's great political theater, too, because you got the feeling he was somehow enjoying it along the way. >> monica. >> the town hall demonstrations this summer. those demonstrations are exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when their representatives got out of control, the people rose up. >> sarah palin's book tour, she had a lot of support. catapulted not only the number one on theamazon list, but the leading candidate for presidency. >> sarah, power house. best political theater, south carolina's republican governor. mark sanford was reported missing over the summer. his staff said he was backpacking. in reality, he was having a tryst with a lady. okay, worst political theater, pat. >> another south carolinaen, congressman, joe wilson, yelling you lie at president of the united states during a joint session of congress. bad theater.

>> is that carolinian? >> yes. no french kings there. >> the worst political theater. the august town hall meetings masquerading as the real america, when they were taken over by a minority of a minority, yelling and shouting a ab centis. >> and they were racist? >> oh, come on. that is absurd. >> monica. >> that was his best political theater, worst political theater? what political theater? i lost my train of thought. >> this was, yes, this was when the white house passed out those white lab coats to the doctors to use them as props to suggest that all doctors support obama care, when 80% oppose it. >> the whole story was exposed. the white house was passing out

the white coats. mort. >> governor patterson sending caroline kennedy out to replace hillary clinton. is this what you call political hokey pokey and he puts his left foot in his mouth and his right foot in his mouth and he turns around. >> harry reid say opponents were like slave holders. okay, worst political scandal. >> i think it's that crowd of so-called scientists and hoaxers in england, who really put out all this false nonsense of global warming and sensors honest scientists bringing the truth, eleanor. >> right on, pat. >> a very small percentage of e-mails being investigated does not change the science. the worst political scandal, john, who's parents paid off the husband of his mistress, and then the senator intervenes to try to get the husband a job. it's under investigation.

the ethics committee. >> it's not illegal, is it? >> there's a crossing of the lines of appropriate ethics in the u.s. congress. it's okay by you? >> you got to get with the times, eleanor. monica. >> i'm with pat, i think that is bar none the worse political scandal. it is a national deficit at $1.4 trillion and a national debt being raised to $14 trillion. scandallist. >> we go to speed it up. >> financial disclosures and tax avoidance of the chairman of the house means committee, charlie rang l. >> i like charlie. >> i like him too, i like him a lot. >> attorney general, eric holder's reopening of criminal probes into cia, counterterrorist officials, and whether there's the cia interrogations amounted to torture, very bad. okay, most under reported story of 2009. >> there's no doubt the arctic icecap is shrinking, but many

times antartica is expanding. how come global warming isn't dealing with that? >> are you buying real estate up there? adopting a few penguins, perhaps? >> the full extent of the ties between the farm pharmaceutical and blocked healthcare reform. >> blame capitalism. >> most under reported, the movement, which is a true widespread grass roots tax revolt. >> any numbers? >> we will see more of this. it was discovered through an explosion that we sent in a rocket that went through the surface of the moon and discovered a huge as no discovery. we should have tried sanctions first. >> are we going to see the building on the moon? >> we are working on it. >> most under reported story of 2009. the impact of the economic

crisis on younger americans, including college dropouts. young americans have the highest unemployment rates and 2/3 of them, 66% of them voted for obama. they have now vanished. okay, the most over reported story of 2009. >> the death of michael jackson and the aftermath, enough already. >> eleanor. >> balloon boy. i know pat loved it, but way over done. >> monica. >> all of the challenges facing the new president. it was as if president obama was the first president to discover the presidency is hard. >> the octomom. she had another eight, which goes to prove you that too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing. >> the most over reported story of 2009. tiger woods, on the basis of journalistic ideals. it was over reported. not the basis of the public interest. the public wants to hear more

and more. okay, most economic waste. > lobby for the chicago olympics, have them rejected before they get down to andrews air force base. >> is that where he had his meeting who came down from london? >> yes. >> was that whole thing designed to get him face to face with mccrystal? >> general get out of my face -- >> wasn't that the first time he had a meeting with mccrystal? >> second face to face meeting. right. >> i don't know what you are getting at. the president has done his due diligence on what he should do in afghanistan and what he came out with, pleases both of you. >> monica. >> no, biggest government waste, the ballooning of private contractors. 74,000 of them in afghanistan. actually, more private contractors than troops this summer. >> are you going to give out awards? >> i would like to do both. >> monica. >> biggest government waste, there's so much to choose from.

$787billion economic stimulous. a $1.1 trillion. a half a trillion spending bill. $100 billion auto bailout. $3.5trillion budget, and my favorite, the impending $2 trillion healthcare bill. >> quickly. >> the billions of dollars wasted contracts in iraq and all the equipment they left behind and the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. >> the spending that we have incurred in iraq, just on infrastructure, which proves to be irrelevant. >> was it over a trillion? >> yeah, for sure. >> was it a trillion or a half? >> close to $2 trillion. >> the biggest government waste. $3billion for cash for clunkers. half the money went overseas to foreign car makers. auto sales dropped like a rock. best government dollar spent. >> the day that the supreme court got paid for taking frank

rickie doing justice to him. firefighters giving him the promotions that these guys earned. >> kers. successful federal program. touched a lot of middle american families. >> this is so much here, i don't know how to untangle it. >> best government dollar spent. the salaries for generals. >> best dollar spent? >> under dollar. they should receive more? >> absolutely. >> the money that they spent for the beer for skip gate and the policeman, because it prompted obama to do another book that follows the audacity of hope. it's going to be the audacity of hops. >> best government dollar spent. the $8,000 first home buyer tax credit. retailers also get new sales, like furniture and appliances,

so it has a multiplier effect. okay. boldest political tactic? >> sarah palin intervenes in the 23rd district of new york and sinks the republican candidate and almost elects a conservative party, third party candidate. >> bold. making lemonade out of a lemon. >> and the republicans lose a seat and somehow that's a victory. >> mayor bloomberg so he can win a third term. > went undercover and blew the lid off of the corruption, leading the congress to pull federal funding, at least temporarily for acorn. >> did you understand that whole story? >> it was the boldest political tactic of the year. >> mort. >> the tactic is that president obama bowing to the king of saudi arabia and failed attempts to list their support. >> because the effort failed.

>> the effort failed, yes. >> otherwise, okay. >> but it was a bold attempt. >> boldest political tactic, president obama's cancellation of the czech republic. russia is with the united states. it supports sanctions on iran, if iran does not play ball and obama is praised as a statesman. we'll be right back with more group 2009 awards after this. when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up, it gives your assets a potential to grow. while protecting you if the market goes down with a steady stream of income. let america's number one annuity provider help you stay on course with guarantees for the if in life. get answers about annuities at metlife.com.

okay, best idea of 2009, pat. >> sarah palin calling her book, going rogue. 300,000 first week. >> how many mentions of sarah palin have you gotten in, pat? >> paying back to the united nations. >> monica. >> on global warming, former microsoft genius came up with

an idea that wouldn't wreck the global economy, if you believe there's excess co2, pump sulfur dioxide, you can do it with the cost of one spider jet. that's invasion. >> i think the leaking of the information on global climate has caused a major review of all of these issues and one way or another over its office. >> best idea of 2009. protesters used facebook and twitter during their protest. these social networking sites permitted to strait jiz their stratajize. >> injecting abortion politics into the healthcare debate, worst idea. >> hanukkah. >> monica. >> mort. >> tiger woods using text messaging for various of his female friends. >> tiger woods also, i would

say is the worst idea decision to keep mom after his 2:00 a.m. car wreck. reports of a string of mistresses. he should have closed that gap. okay, sorry to see you go, pat. >> mclaughlin panelist, robert novac. >> senator ted kennedy. >> monica. >> four towering conservative minds, bob novak, jim kemp, and bill sapphire. >> two of the journalistic figures and fortunately, they didn't live to see the decline of newspapers in america. i'm sorry to see them go. >> i would echo all of the above and sorry to see you go, senator ted kennedy. democrats and republicans feel his absence. okay, 15 minutes of fame. pat. >> the salahi's. >> now, they were the gate crashers. >> the unwanted guests at the white house. >> eleanor. >> i would agree, the red sorry. >> monica. >> tiger woods numerous

extramarital friends. >> tom delay dancing on dancing with the stars, saying it is connecting him to his feminine side. >> 15 minutes of side has to go to the salahi's. the gate crashers of the white house. their story is going to be spun out further. we haven't heard the end of them. best spin of the year, pat. >> i am resigning because i want to spend more time with my family. >> eleanor. >> president obama and his nobel speech, swearing the circle between committed more troops to afghanistan the just war. it was masterful. >> it was. >> on that subject, the president needed three months to get his decision to increase troops by 30,000 in afghanistan. we got that number weeks before he made that announcement. he was stalling until healthcare got a foothold in the congress. >> i think i join with

eleanor. i think the obama speech at the nobel prize acceptance to deal with the war in afghanistan. >> president obama's blaming bush for his problems. it has been work for the first nine months, which a long time in the world of spin, but now, spent spin. most honest person of the year. >> ron paul. he is moving with his idea after 30 years. >> libertarianism now, eleanor. >> allen greenespan testifying on capitol hill saying he made a mistake. >> clint eastwood, who is a long time conservative in deep left hollywood said this, quote, we are becoming more juvenile as a nation, the guys who won world war ii and that whole generation disappeared and now we have a bunch of teenage twits. >> most honest, mort. >> president obama said hearing who won the nobel prize, who

okay, the most overrated, pat. >> global warming. >> eleanor. > charlie crist, who was mostly an absentee governor. >> monica. >> tim geithner. >> the leaders of most of our major financial institutions in this country. >> the most overrated is freedom. when faced with economic uncertainty, people don't want freedom. when they can't see their economic future, they want the nanny state. okay the most under rated. >> robert gates, most powerful man in the cabinet. >> eleanor. > nancy pelosi, who held together a caucus and is raising money like crazy, so she can prove all you people wrong. >> sarah palin, she has a lot more cultural power than her critics can see or admit. >> mort. >> dennis

most underrated, the intensity of the anger in the u.s. middle class. 78million american baby boomers will wake up to the fact that their net worth is shatters and 15 million americans will realize their jobs are not coming back. we'll be right back with new year's resolutions. when planning for retirement these days, the forecast is full of ifs. if i'm too exposed to downturns. if i'll go through my savings too fast. to help you feel more confident consider putting a portion of your savings in a metlife variable annuity. when the market goes up, it gives your assets a potential to grow. while protecting you if the market goes down with a steady stream of income. let america's number one annuity provider help you stay on course with guarantees for the if in life. get answers about annuities at metlife.com.

♪[ music ] okay, new year's resolutions, pat. >> begin the writing the memoir of my years with richard milhouse nixen. >> eleanor. >> i reserve to stay cool and calm, as the global warming debate heats up. confidence i have science and the facts on my side. >> mort.

>> i can't wait to read pat's memoir about the nixen years. i resolve to try to do a world war ii tour of europe. >> mort. >> proving that modern tabloid newspapers can survive and florrish in american cities. >> my resolution is keep the mclaughlin group the most accurate political program on o happy new year, bye bye.