Voting is Open for the Ass Clown of the Year!

In a PS to the December Right-Cheek Ass Clown post last Friday, I reminded you that it's time to start thinking about the selection of our Ass Clown of the Year for 2016. Today is the official start of the selection campaign.

By December 30th (the last biweekly award for the year) I will have named 26 individual awardees in 2016, all of whom are eligible for the annual award. Of course, if there's someone I missed, you are free to vote for the candidate of your choice. Here are the basic ground rules for the Ass Clown of the Year voting:

- Chicago Rules apply: you may vote as many times as you want, for as many candidates as you want. You may cast votes on behalf of yourself, your family members, your friends, your pets, your friends' pets, or anyone else, living or dead. In the interest of fairness, I ask that you not cast more than ten votes at any one time for any one candidate ... just vote more often.

- You may vote for any of the 26 biweekly award winners (the first 24 are listed below), or for anyone else you wish.

- You need not be legally authorized to vote in an official American election.

- Photo ID is not required. I should note that my friend Tom, in a comment on my Facebook page, asked, "If you don't require government issued photo IDs, how will we know that the Russians did not manipulate the results to undermine the integrity of the award?" My response was this: Those wild conspiracy theorists who are convinced that elections are rigged will assume that any IDs I require will be falsified, anyhow. And in any case, integrity no longer matters in a political world in which "facts" require no proof other than conformity to one's preconceived notions. I worry more about my fellow citizens than I do about the Russians. So, sorry, Tom - ID not required.

- Votes will be accepted from now until 11:59 PM on December 31st. You may vote by leaving a comment on any blog post between now and then; by sending me an e-mail; by sending me a PM on Facebook if we are connected there; or in person if we should happen to meet.

I will announce the winner in my blog on Sunday, January 1st.

Here are the first 24 Ass Clown awardees for 2016, and the dates of their awards, in case you want to go back and review the citations:

January 15th (Right Cheek) - Ammon Bundy
January 29th (Left Cheek) - Maine Governor Paul LePage
February 13th (Right Cheek) - (joint award) Rick Snyder, Karen Weaver, and Darnell Earley
February 27th (Left Cheek) - Martin Peter Trennenborg
March 11th (Right Cheek) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
March 25th (Left Cheek) - (tie) Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) and Donald Trump
April 8th (Right Cheek) - Jamie Gilt
April 22nd (Left Cheek) - The Chinese Ministry for State Security
May 6th (Right Cheek) - The American Electorate
May 20th (Left Cheek) - Caleb Bailey
June 3 (Right Cheek) - The Worst Father of 2016
June 17th (Left Cheek) - Senator David Purdue (R, GA)
July 1st (Right Cheek) - Rep Trey Gowdy and the House Select Committee on Benghazi
July 15th (Left Cheek) - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
July 29th (On Crack) - (tie) Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donald Trump
August 12th (Right Cheek) - Donald Trump
August 26th (Left Cheek) - Ryan Lochte
September 9th (Right Cheek) - Anjem Choudary
September 23rd (Left Cheek) - Wells Fargo CEO John G. Stumpf
October 7th (Right Cheek) - Rudy Giuliani
October 21st (Left Cheek) - Dr Howard Schneider
November 4th (Right Cheek) - (joint award) FBI Director James Comey and the Republican Party
November 18th (Left Cheek) - The Media, Both "Mainstream" and "Alternate"
December 2nd (Right Cheek) - Paul Horner

Vote early, vote often. Let your voice be heard!

Bilbo