Update: Reader opinion poll now open! Voting is closed.
If T&S is running Mormon of the Year, it must be time for the BCC Boggs-Doniphan Award for the non-Mormon with the biggest impact on Mormonism in 2009, be it positive (Doniphan) or negative (Boggs). Let’s discuss candidates and we’ll vote later.
Original nominations:
Stephen Colbert: high-profile coverage of Mormons on several issues.
Rupert Murdoch: continuing to provide Glenn Beck a platform.
Color of Change: successfully lobbying many of Beck’s sponsors to pull out.
Andrew Sullivan: kindly giving the church props for supporting the SLC anti-discrimination law.
City of Rome: (maybe) allowing a temple to be built there.
Fred Karger: suing us all the time.
ACLU lawyers: successfully defending ProtectMarriage from having to turn over all internal documents relating to Prop 8 campaign.
Helen Radkey: continues to trawl Family Search to find Jews.
Who else?
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
Jeffrey Goldberg: prompting Orrin Hatch to write “8 days of Hanukkah”
Max Weinberg: writing a Mormon Song in response
Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer: desecrating our temple rituals on HBO
City of Rome: (maybe) allowing a temple to be built there
No points awarded for “maybe.” Maybe (ha!) next year.
I vote for Colbert, as he probably had the biggest impact.
Boggs: Delilah
Doniphan: Conan O’brien Show Cast
Rupert Murdoch: continuing to provide Glenn Beck a platform.
Clever. That gets my vote.
Links in support of Colbert’s candidacy:
Here is Stephen Colbert wondering if NOM (National Organization for Marriage) is really the LDS church (see last 5 seconds): http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/224789/april-16-2009/the-colbert-coalition-s-anti-gay-marriage-ad
Stephen briefly reviews history of the church’s founding in Palmyra, New York: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/224011/april-07-2009/better-know-a-district—new-york-s-25th—dan-maffei
In a “Yahweh or No Way” segment, Stephen opines on whether Obama might be a secret Mormon instead of a secret Muslim: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/240802/august-06-2009/yahweh-or-no-way—dinosaur-adventure-land—black-market-kidneys
Extended coverage of the Main Street Plaza gay kiss arrest incident, including guest appearance by a BYU professor: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/254666/november-03-2009/nailed–em—mormon-church-trespassing
You can put Sullivan in both camps.
Andrew Sullivan’s very classy piece praising the church.
Color of Change.
I’ve heard rumors that someone in my stake is writing an anti-Mormon book, so we’ll see how next year turns out.
The Color of Change item goes a little bit further. They chased away many of Beck’s sponsors, but then Beck was active in the successful campaign to rescind Color of Change founder Van Jones’ nomination to a position in the Obama administration. Tit for tat.
How about Rex Rammel, once Mark Brown gets him exed?
That won’t work because I’ve changed my mind.
I’m now going to campaign in favor of Rammell. He has no chance to win the primary, so the idea is to encourage him to run as an independent in the general election, become a spoiler, and hand the election to Allred.
I encourage anyone who cares about the constitution to vote for Rex Rammell.
My vote is for Sullivan. He is my favorite conservative.
Keith Olbermann for putting Dallin Oaks and Glenn Beck in the same “3 Worst People in the World.”
Classic.
Tom Hanks for Boggs, calling Mormons un-American back in January 2009.
How about all of the ponzi schemers?
(I see today news that Ty Detmer has been sued for fraud, but I’m not sure how much involvement he’s actually had.)
What about Max Hall?
Hey David J, long time no see. Olbermann surely made quite the splash.
queuno, aren’t all of the LDS-related ponzi schemers LDS? Ditto Ty Detmer, Max Hall. This is the Gentile of the Year award.
Good call, Jack.
I nominate Bridget Jack Meyers for the Doniphan award. She may not be an obvious choice and may not have made headlines in 2009, but she continues to slog along, making friends in both the LDS and Evangelical blogospheres and does, I think, a great behind-the-scenes service to the Church . . . even if she did walk out of BYU with a degree but with no baptismal certificate. [wink]
And yes, I am aware that she has posted some offensive comments about the Church. (The post on advising Evangelicals how to deal with the full-time LDS missionaries was lousy.) Still, she is a bridge that helps maintain the conversation between these two disparate groups.
Bridget Jack Meyers deserves the 2009 Gentile of the Year award.
I appreciate the gesture Hunter, but I have to respectfully withdraw my nomination. My influence has largely been limited to the Bloggernacle and Mormons on the Internet. Bloggernacle Mormons already hat-tipped me at the Niblets last year.
even if she did walk out of BYU with a degree but with no baptismal certificate.
But I walked out of there with my MRS degree, which is all that really matters.
I’d vote for Bro Rammell. Or maybe Murdoch, and I never thought I’d say that in a gazillion years.
Poll will be posted tonight GMT, so keep the nominations rolling.
I nominate celebrated filmmaker Reed McCowan.
Hey Chris H., I’m just stopping by, nothing permanent – I was actually researching some of Craig Criddle’s recent stuff on Spalding/Rigdon/Cowdery wordprint analysis for BofM authorship and got a hit here, so I thought I’d contribute. Olbermann’s piece actually made me laugh out loud – I watch him regularly and this one caught me off guard because it was weird hearing him say “Elder Oaks” on national TV (actually, I thought Oaks had died two years ago, but I guess I was thinking of someone else). Kind of like when Tom Cruise laughed at Barbara Walters for saying the word “thetan” over and over – Tom laughed because to him it is a word restricted to his own circle of esoterica, of which Barbara is not included. Glenn Beck gets enough publicity (sadly – I think he’s a schmuck), so you’d expect that he might show up in Olbermann’s countdown once in a while, but Oaks? It just sounded strange, whether it was warranted or not (I’ll reserve my opinion on that for a different forum).
I nominate coach John Wooden Legs. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/deja-vu-all-over-again-pa_b_389706.html
Kaimi, I almost nominated Chino Blanco, but I’m not sure he really qualifies as a gentile?
If it was the William Law award, I’d be honored to see my name added to the list of nominees. Since it ain’t, Cynthia L. is right. As a product of pioneers, polygamy, and the Porfiriato, I don’t qualify. No BIC should, I suppose. Not even our most celebrated filmmakers.
A link to the Olbermann segment mentioned in #13: http://asoftanswer.com/2009/10/14/keith-olbermann-declares-elder-oaks-one-of-the-worse-people-in-the-world/
I just voted for Stephen Colbert because I think he is the coolest
Who else?
I can’t think of his name right now, but the Catholic Archibishop who asked that we jump into Prop 8 – since the aftershocks of that request were felt throughout 2009.
Honestly, I don’t think any of the choices really had that big an impact or effect on Mormonism in practical terms.
GOT to be Olsen and Scheffer. Putting the Endowment on TV was HUGE.
How on Earth did Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Opposite Marriage not make the cut?
Does Maggie Gallagher really count as a “gentile,” when her activities are being paid for by the LDS church?
I’m surprised there are not more votes for Murdoch, even though he is kind of a 1-off proxy for Beck himself. Beck is easily the highest-profile Mormon story of 2009.
I second Kaimi’s nomination in #23 of Reed Cowan, although his impact on Mormonism may be greater in 2010.
I think that Ronan is probably right in #32. Everything else is kind of meh for me here.
Rigel, if you click through the link in the original post to the “Mormon of the Year” poll, you will see that Reed Cowan is nominated there. It seems rather illogical to have a person in the running for both Mormon and Non-Mormon of the Year. (Also note that Kaimi’s misspelling in this thread is a reference to a little back-and-forth in the comments over there.)
FYI, we’re zapping nominees if we see people trying to game the poll results. RIP Fred Karger (sorry, Chino).
#39 — Don’t worry, visitors! There are PLENTY of other antis for you to choose from! An army of antagonists! A cornucopia of calumniators! A bevy of betrayers! An assortment of assailants!
A variety of villains!
a cornucopia of caper-causing cads!
A stew of scoundrels!
A medley of miscreants!
fine, instead of cornucopia I’ll go with cadre. Satisfied??
A diversity of devils!
A mixture of malefactors!
a plethora of polecats!
Darn time difference, I’m never awake for the fireworks. There’s certainly no lack of worthy candidates in this year’s poll. How was my guy doing before he gave up the ghost?
Gee, how much fun would it be to see everyone eliminated.
Gamers of the poll, please, earn your various names.
And who will be eliminated next? Stay tuned!
Chino, Karger had 121 votes at the time of his poll option’s passing.
I see your McPoint Cynthia. Perhaps a 3rd award category is needed….maybe, “Post-Mormon of the Year”. I was going to suggest a moniker of a notorious individual to go with the award, but I’m feeling in too good of a mood right now to be negative. ;)
I nominate Fred Karger
Well, having finally met the man, if Fred were to be nominated (again), I’d certainly vote for him (again). He’s an engaging and animated Boggs and it’s easy to see why he enjoys such a dedicated fan base.
If Fred had not been on the ballot, I suspect that Colbert would’ve won handily, and rightfully so. However, being asked to choose between these two worthies is something like choosing between cause and effect, between the catalyst for a certain media narrative and the narrative itself. We can marvel at Colbert’s creativity, but Mormons of all people should understand that there is no creatio ex nihilo. Mormon bloggers in particular ought to appreciate what it has meant to cultural production now that our skills in the use of online tools have granted us access to the factory floor.
For what it’s worth, I regret the kerfuffle (if that’s what this has become). I also regret seeing the suggestion being made that somehow someone was gaming the results. I don’t believe that to be the case.
To quote this award’s most-nominated candidate: “Should I ask CA election officials to investigate? lol”
It’s all in good fun, folks. And as far as the election process is concerned, good, *clean* fun.
But it’s absolutely no fun if somebody takes their ball and goes home just because they’re not liking the score.
Peace out.