No Runny Eggs

Welcome to Day 4 of the NRE 2011 Awards. Today, we focus on the biggest news story of the past year. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/3
– Thank You for Existing, 1/4
– Dumbest Thing Said, yesterday
– Person of the Year, tomorrow

For historical sake, here’s the 2009 and 2010 nominees for News Story of the Year. Now, on with this past year’s nominees:

The killing of Osama Bin Laden (from realdebate) – Obama got one thing right, he gave the right order.

“The Empire Strikes Back”, or “Unionistas, Occupiers, Democrats Unite, Create Chaos” (from steveegg) – It all started when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) first lived up to his campaign promise to balance the budget not on the backs of the taxpayers. The unionistas, who had grown fat and powerful over the last couple of decades, screamed bloody murder and unleashed the template for the wider Occupy movement.

Meanwhile, the pitched fit the Senate Democrats threw by fleeing for 6 weeks in, ultimately, a failed attempt to protect the golden pigs was, sadly, rewarded with two of the three pickups they needed to wrest control of the Senate from the duly-elected Republicans, and they’re back for another bite of overturning the watershed 2010 election. In other states, such as Ohio, they were more successful.

Operation Fast and Furious (from Phineas) – This wasn’t one story, but a series of revelations over the course of 2011 about a monumentally stupid law-enforcement operation that supplied thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels (by coercing legitimate US gun dealers into breaking the law), with no capability of or recovering them until they were found at crime scenes. As a result, over 200 Mexican soldiers, civilians, and federal agents are dead, as is US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, killed by cartel gunmen in Arizona with an OF&F firearm. It has exposed incompetent and probably criminal behavior at the DoJ and its agencies, and has the potential to be the biggest story of 2012, too.

The dysfunctional GOP Presidential field (from Shoebox) – After Barack Obama has done nearly everything he could, short of putting the Whitehouse keys under the front mat, to cause his eviction from the Whitehouse, the GOP fields what is arguably the most dysfunctional group of candidates ever seen.

In a year where GOP voters are looking for some level of, let’s call it “purity” on issues related to spending, government size/influence on our lives or social issues, we get a rag tag bunch, of which none of the leaders can put the whole package together. To make matters worse, the folks who may have some ability in the purity category, have shown themselves to be either stark raving mad or having the presentation skills of a third grader.

Following the 2010 elections, most conservatives entered 2011 enthusiastic and optimistic about the 2012 Presidential elections. As we leave 2011, I dare say most conservatives are at best concerned and at worst, pessimistic about the chances of sending Obama back to Chicago in 2013.

Scott Walker and legislative Republicans produce a balanced budget that erases a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes. (from Kevin Fischer) – The budget also provides much-needed property tax relief in Tax Hell, USA.

The Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl! (from BadgerBlogger) I fully expect to repost this next year too.