Time goes with Ben Bernanke as Person of the Year.  My choice, at Politico’s Arena, is the tea partiers. 

“Maligned by all the “right thinking” people, denounced by Democrats and liberals as ignorant and racist, abandoned by much of the conservative intelligentsia, these ordinary Americans persevered, devoting their personal time, standing in the cold and rain, to stand up against the massive government power grab now underway. In doing so, they gave the Republican Party courage enough to offer at least some reasonable resistence to the statist juggernaut, and they reminded America of its better part: the part that yearns for freedom; that despises the crony capitalism of the current administration; that seeks only to be left alone rather than to rule; that is law abiding and peaceful even when the Administration is full of tax cheats; that maintains its decency and manners even as the high-browed, ruling class falsely accuses it of fomenting violence and hatred.

“These people represent America at its best, dedicated, involved, and prepared to defend their freedoms from the arrogance of power in the face of unending ridicule and overwhelming odds. These are the descendents of the people who won American independence. Those who mock them would most assuredly have been Tories.”