The 10 Worst-Behaved People of 2010

A not-so-nostalgic look back at the manners lapses that kept 

us talking in 2010...

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Hush! You'll Blow My Cover

Could it possibly get worse? Maybe tomorrow we'll hear that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson crashed the state dinner for Manmohan Singh, too.

Can it be that easy to get into the White House? You simply show up in the right van and get waved right on in? At the very least, that was the case for White House Crasher #3, Carlos Allen. A mortified Secret Service announced over the weekend that the Tarek and Michaele weren't the only uninvited guests hobnobbing with the Obamas that night back in November. And unlike the Salahis, Allen even got to stay for dinner! Only he knew better than to post about it on Facebook.

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Joe Wilson's War

Was Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) correct to call President Obama a liar? No matter what your political views, there are certain things that civilized peoples know not to do when in the presence of an elected official or dignitary. Hating the war in Iraq would not be justification for spitting on your palm before shaking hands with Dick Cheney. Your belief that the British monarchy is a dinosaur wouldn't excuse throwing a pie in the face of Prince Charles. And NRA-hater though you might be, entrapping a senile Charlton Heston into an interview on false pretenses (as Michael Moore did in Bowling for Columbine) are all nothing short of reprehensible. Which is why the Iraqi shoe-thrower deserved his punishment after he removed and lobbed his footwear at President George Bush last year. And yet that was the action of a lone Iraqi with no constituency. Surely we can expect more from an elected American official, an individual who is governed by the House Code of Ethics, which stipulates: A Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall conduct himself at all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives. So does yelling out "You lie!" in the midst of President Obama's healthcare address reflect creditably on the House of Representatives? (Hint: This is a rhetorical question.) One is led to ponder whether South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson had the same reaction upon learning of his own governor's later-disproven alibi for disappearing (forevermore known as the Appalachian Trail Defense). Representative Wilson would certainly have been well within his rights to approach the President after his address to discuss his concerns. In fact, if he felt that voters back home shared his beliefs, he would have been obligated to express those views to the President. But for him to do so in a public forum—and during a live television broadcast, no less—was inexcusable. It reeks of disrespect of the highest order....and as a childish cry for attention. Attempts that Wilson has made in the time since to explain his actions away as an uncontrollable urge simply do not cut it. His conduct has brought shame on his state, on his party and on the House as a whole. And for that, he deserves censure. Bottom line? It's been a sad year for manners from the great (and otherwise decorous) state of South Carolina.

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To Be Quite Frank...

After the recent spate of venom being spewed at town hall meetings across America, it came as a breath of fresh air to hear Massachusetts senator Barney Frank giving as good as he got this week, telling an uptight constituent who was brandishing an inflammatory photo of Barack Obama: "On what planet do you spend most of your time? As you stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, my answer to you is, as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated." Frank was absolutely right. Much as free speech is one of the most valued of all American freedoms, the disrespectful and deliberately abrasive behavior of some attendees at these meetings of late has been absolutely contemptible. In all honesty, these vocal yokels appear to be far more interested in embarrassing elected officials and playing for the always-rolling cameras (and, by extension, waiting YouTube queues) than they are in engaging in constructive dialogue or looking for actual answers. To compare Barack Obama to the leader of the Third Reich is so offensive that it borders on the absurd. Which is why Senator Frank's final zinger let him get the last laugh and avoid the deer-in-the-headlights look of his colleague Arlen Specter a few weeks earlier. Fired back Frank: "Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it." America, regardless of your views, please continue speaking your mind. But do so respectfully. And if your real intent is simple disruption or fleeting YouTube fame, stay at the dining room table, why don't you? The rest of us will hang out and talk in the kitchen, where all of the work (and the fun) happens anyway.

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Lost in Translation?

We've come to accept occasional surliness from our leaders. After all, they are under immense pressure and reside in the glare of 24/7 media scrutiny. Even the best of them can't be counted on to be pleasant all of the time. But what about our Secretary of State? Should he or she be above the fray, an office-holder who practices diplomacy like it is second nature? Condoleeza Rice and Madeleine Albright, different as they were, impressed even their detractors as being level-headed. Which is all the more reason that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's lapse of cool during a Q&A with students in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week is so notable. In response to a question about what former President Clinton thought about the burgeoning influence of China in Africa, the Secretary hurled back: "You ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to channel my husband." The stunned youth later approached the dais to explain that he wasn't actually inquiring about the opinion of President Bill Clinton, but that of her boss, President Obama. Consensus? Either the questioner got all mixed up and nervous or the translator made a whopper of a boo-boo. But the biggest boo-boo by far was made by Secretary Clinton. After all, the question was not posed by a needling (or seasoned) member of the Washington press corps; it came from a student. There was simply no excuse for her shouting him down—and pointing at him—in such agitated fashion. As is very evident from the video, the man was not trying to be rude; he was simply being curious. Even if he was truly inquiring about the opinion of Bill Clinton (which again, he maintains he was not), his question would not have been beyond the pale. "Wait, you want to know what my husband thinks?" Madame Secretary blurted out. "My husband is not the Secretary of State—I am." In some ways, it may be a good thing that her husband is not Secretary of State. As Bill Clinton demonstrated during his wife's campaign last year, he, too, has a testy side. Perhaps it's time for both Clintons to take a lesson from their daughter. Despite the fact that she has never held elected office, Chelsea was firm but polite when confronted with a prickly question about Monica Lewinksy last year, saying simply: "Wow, you're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know, maybe, seventy college campuses I've now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business." Grace under fire. A lesson for Hillary, Bill and the rest of us, too.

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