Love him or hate him, no one has a bigger sense of his place in history than the WikiLeaks maestro. He has
called himself the "James Bond of journalism." And of his secret document sharing,
Assange has declared, "History will win. The world will be elevated to a better place."
With a few weeks left of the year, however, Assange had to contemplate some less lofty concepts, such as "police," "arrest" and "jail," when he was apprehended in Britain so that he might face sex charges in Sweden.
Where to start with Silvio? There's the state money he appears to have spent to shepherd a friend to the Venice Film Festival. Or maybe the time the Italian prime minister ordered that a statue of Mars, located in his office, have its penis restored. Of course, there's more than Berlusconi's tomcatting and vanity at stake: The most troubling news from Rome of late is his close and seemingly lucrative relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Alessandra Tarantino / AP Photo
New York's Benevolent King (No cigarettes! No salt!) made one of his biggest no-no's yet when he tapped media titan Cathie Black for the city's top education job.
Gary Hershorn / Reuters
The conservative provocateur took a tumble when he tried to out Shirley Sherrod, an Agriculture Department official as a racist. Videotape soon revealed that Sherrod, a 20-year veteran of the department, to be a force for tolerance and understanding. Thanks to a jumpy White House, Sherrod was fired from her position. She got an apology from the White House and an offer to return to her old job, which she turned down. Breitbart has kept his full-time job as media-taunter and liberal-baiter.
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Don't take our word for it: One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's own lieutenants, Rep. Michael Capuano—a Democrat from Massachusetts, dropped the H-bomb when talking about his party's leadership in Congress. When top officials refused to step aside after the Democrats' shellacking in November, Capuano said, "If the Red Sox came in and lost every game of the year, and they kept the manager at the end of the year, that's a problem… The thing that amazes me is the hubris, that no one has stepped aside voluntarily."
Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images
In order to attract the attention of a reporter on the sidelines, then-Jets quarterback Favre sent the journalist some revealing photos of his manhood. Maybe Favre thought that's what they meant by junk mail.
Stephen Dunn / Getty Images
The fabulist returned to the scene with style this year, telling the world about his plans to use a workshop of poor MFA grads to write the next Twilight and produce Hollywood blockbusters. "Andy Warhol's Factory is an example of that way of working," Frey said of his method. "That's what I'm doing with literature," he told prospective worker-bees.
Ulf Andersen / Getty Images
The BP chief executive gave one of the year's most eye-popping statements this year when he whined, "I want my life back" in the wake of the spill. While the Gulf Coast suffered under the slime that had been released by his company's oil rig, Hayward worried about his timesheet.
Rod Lamkey Jr., AFP / Getty Images
"What should I do?" asked LeBron. Well, His Highness definitely shouldn't ever go on television again to ruminate over where he will take his talents. At press time, the Miami Heat, the basketball team that James joined this summer, aren't even the best squad in the state of Florida.
Nathaniel S. Butler, NBAE / Getty Images
The former Fugee started 2010 off with a bang, dodging allegations that his charity, Yele, mismanaged funds and was unprepared for the level of commitment it made to Haiti. Then, Jean made a quixotic run for Haiti's presidency, only to be told he didn't meet residency requirements. "I would have won the elections," he said this week. Showing all the modesty he could muster, he added, "fans on Twitter call me the modern-day Fela or Dylan."
Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
The much-beloved general and architect of a much-anticipated counterinsurgency strategy, McChrystal was humbled by free-wheeling interviews in Rolling Stone magazine that revealed his staff didn't have much faith in many of the officials responsible for the war he was fighting. Now the general teaches at Yale.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
It's almost like Sarah's daughter is running for something, too. Everywhere you turn, the 20-year-old is there, selling stories about her breakup, and subsequent makeup, with her on-again, off-again beau, Levi Johnston. She was an ever-present source of inspiration and frustration for Americans with her weekly appearances on Dancing With the Stars. Then of course, Palin became a spokesman for teen abstinence, which took a certain do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do pretension.
Jemal Countess / Getty Images
Look at the Honorable Rep. Charlie Rangel snoozing outside his Dominican villa—where he declined to pay taxes—and wonder how anyone could doubt the honor of our elected officials. The New York Democrat was censured by his colleagues in the House in December, a punishment not levied for almost three decades.
Brigitte Stelzer / Splash News
A quotation here will suffice. Here's the Jersey Shore muscle-head's take on his own authenticity. "To call me fake," he said, "it's just blasphemy to talk against the leader like that, in other countries you get hung for that type of shit."
Frank Micelotta / Getty Images
Starr was famously found cowering in his closet when the cops came to retrieve him. The Hollywood moneyman was arrested following an IRS investigation that put him at the center of a $30 million, Madoff-like shakedown of clients like Uma Thurman and Martin Scorsese. At the heart of the scheme was Starr's desire to make sure his wife, a former stripper, stayed well-kept.
Nati Harnik / AP Photo
When most parents tell their kids to go play outside, they usually don't mean for them to try to sail around the world. The 16-year-old Sunderland is the youngest member of our Hall of Hubris for her failed attempt to circumnavigate the globe solo. Sunderland made it all the way from California to the Indian coast before running into trouble.
Jaco Marais, Gallo Images / Getty Images
He called himself, "Fabulous Fab," which turned out to be the perfect description of his fall. At 29, the Goldman Sachs vice president emailed delightful reports from the belly of the subprime mortgage beast. In one message, he wrote, "The whole building is about to collapse anytime now." He said that after the collapse, he would be the "only potential survivor." In 2010, Tourre became one of the more remarkable faces of banking villainy. In April, Tourre was dragged in front of Congress to express his regrets. He remains a target of an SEC investigation for misleading investors.
Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
With pals like Bono and the Edge, the theater director launched the most expensive Broadway production ever staged. The musical has gotten off to a very rough start. Even before the opening curtain, three actors were injured during rehearsals. Apparently, the performers aren't the only ones hurting. The New York Post sniffed about the play, "all the special effects in the world can't mask an incoherent plot, lame jokes and dull characters."
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Wealthy candidates ran amok this fall with many spending millions in futile efforts to win office. In California, Meg Whitman dropped $140 million. In Connecticut, Linda McMahon spent at least $47 million. Carly Fiorina was outspent by her opponent Barbara Boxer, but the former H-P exec's loss suggested that even in these tough economic times, not every corner officer veteran was seen by the electorate as a savior.
Reed Saxon / AP Photo; Michelle McLoughlin / Reuters; Chris Carlson / AP Photo
Faisal Shahzad and Mohamed Osman Mohamud joined the ranks of evil-doers' biggest duds. The two utterly failed in their attempts to attack Americans in Times Square and Portland, Oregon.
AP Photo (2)
The boy genius, who lists "eliminating desire" as one of his interests on Facebook, had his ambitions skewered in the much-debated Aaron Sorkin/David Fincher flick, The Social Network. Comeuppance never cost so much—or did such good: Zuckerberg gave $100 million to the Newark public schools as part of his renewed charm campaign.
Retna
