On the heels of The Hill‘s “50 Most Beautiful” list comes Politico Magazine’s stuffy, highbrow Top 50 “thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016.”
Unlike IJR‘s “Cutest Dogs on Capitol Hill” list, which also competes with The Hill‘s 50 hotties, there’s nothing fun about it.
Except you know going in that there’s going to be some internal jabs of are you serious?
All I can say is thankfully washed up talk show host Montel Williams is not on the list. Neither is WaPo‘s race protestor Wesley Lowry or his brother by another mother, HuffPost‘s Ryan J. Reilly.
But professional Black Lives Matter protestor DeRay Mckesson is on Politico‘s list and and high up at #3 at that. As is ex-FNCer Gretchen Carlson, who just settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against ex-Fox News President Roger Ailes to the tune of $50 million. And Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary “What is Aleppo?” Johnson. (Politico might be wishing they could go back in time on that last pick.)
Mckesson, who appears on TV in his stylish protest vest, did not make the list for that time he tweeted that the guy who shot and killed a TV reporter and her cameraman in Virginia was white. “Whiteness will explain anything away,” he said in a tweet that he eventually deleted when news emerged that the shooter was a 41-year-old black man. OOPS!
He also presumably did not make the list for polling at less than 1 percent in Baltimore’s mayoral race.
Another claim to fame is getting GotNews‘ Chuck C. Johnson thrown off Twitter. After Johnson asked his followers to contribute to a fund to “take out” Mckesson, he was dismissed from Twitter forever.
According to Politico, he made the list “for taking Black Lives Matter from a hashtag to a platform.”
An odd trio of women made the list — they seemed to have stuffed HBO “Girls” star Lena Dunham into a box sandwiched by two others so it doesn’t seem so absurd. In this case, with former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright and feminist Gloria Steinem. Thankfully Dunham wasn’t naked.
Carlson earned her spot — #23 — on the important thinkers list “for insisting TV news be held accountable, too.”
Politico wrote, “Her decision to go public not only lifted the curtain on Fox’s history of systemic sexism; it also led to Ailes’ resignation after 20 years atop the conservative media world, a perch from which he had built Fox News into a ratings giant and an indispensable platform for the Republican Party.”
C-SPAN’s programming team came in at #33.
Another threesome included The Weekly Standard‘s Editor-in-Chief Bill Kristol, National Review and Politico Mag columnist Rich Lowry and Republican strategist Katie Packer.
They were awarded the #34 on the list because they are professional #NeverTrumpers.
Politico lauded Lowry for National Review‘s “Against Trump” issue.
But Lowry has at least one enemy out there. A Washington journalist who is trying to get rid of his cat was asked who he’d rather live with — the cat or Lowry. He said, “The cat. She’s less of a pussy.”
The journalist added, “Vomit. Rich Lowry a serious thinker? He’s a fucking dimwit and a coward.”
When pressed for more reasoning, the journo said, “Well he fired John Derbyshire for “racism,” while William Buckley, who Lowry has a boner for, defended Apartheid and segregation.”
Coming in at #7 is the man they call the “intellectual forefather” of the Trump movement.
It’s Pat Buchanan.
The #1 slot is comprised of two strange bedfellows who are famous in their own right: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — yes, in that order.