Apparently in the year 2012 all you have to do to become nominated as TIME's Person of Year is throw away your dignity and beg your neighbors in front of Congress to pay for your sex life as a 30-year-old adult child. TIME asks readers, should Sandra Fluke be chosen as Person of the Year? Definitely? No way? Below is TIME's description:
As always, TIME's editors will choose the Person of the Year, but that doesn't mean readers shouldn't have their say. Cast your vote for the person you think most influenced the news this year for better or worse. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 12, and the winner will be announced on Dec. 14.
The daughter of a conservative Christian pastor, Sandra Fluke, 31, became a women's-rights activist in college and continued her advocacy as a law student at Georgetown. After she complained about being denied a chance to testify at a Republican-run House hearing on insurance coverage for birth control, Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut." Democrats and many Republicans reacted with outrage, and the left made Limbaugh's slur Exhibit A in what they called a GOP "war on women." Fluke, meanwhile, weathered the attention with poise and maturity and emerged as a political celebrity. Democrats gave her a national-convention speaking slot as part of their push to make reproductive rights a central issue in the 2012 presidential campaign — one that helped Barack Obama trounce Mitt Romney among single women on Election Day.
Considering TIME named "the protester" Person of the Year in honor of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring last time around, I'm not surprised by Fluke's nomination, but at least Occupy and Arab Spring protesters were capable of drawing a crowd. We can't say the same for Sandra.
FLASHBACK: Fluke rallies crowd of "tens."
FLASHBACK: Fluke "rallies" crowd in a parking lot.
The worst part about this entire thing? Her nonsense helped get Obama reelected.
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