Obsessions
Making it into Yahoo!’s top Obsessions of 2011 requires a combination of factors: a fevered and sustained burst in searches and a viral element that can sometimes transcend the obsession itself. Obsessions Charlie Sheen The Rapture “Friday” (Rebecca Black) Mortgage Rates Extreme Couponing Angry Birds Planking “Game of Thrones” Government…
No. 5: Extreme Couponing
If the daily discounts that flooded our inboxes have demonstrated anything, it’s that frugality has become more than a recession watchword. In 2011 frugality was a way of life, even a calling for some. Indeed, the recession that started in 2008 brought with it a culture of frugality. You may…
No. 9: John Ensign
Nevada Senator John Ensign joined an exclusive club in 2011. Not the cheating politician circle: News of his adultery with his best friend’s wife came to light in 2009, and that club has too many members to count. Not the last-man-standing circle, in which apologetic sinners now stand alone, with…
No. 10: Chris Lee
Is a toad not a toad if it’s a member of Congress, insisting that he isn’t a toad, to a woman he’s emailing in the hopes of a more “intimate” acquaintance? Ah, Chris Lee. We hardly knew ye. Unfortunately for the former New York representative, the same couldn’t be said…
No. 8: David Wu
Before there was Anthony Weiner in his briefs, there was David Wu in his tiger suit. Like his New York counterpart, Wu, who represented Oregon’s first district in the U.S. House of Representatives, resigned his seat amid a salacious sex scandal. Like Weiner, Wu initially vowed to stay in his…
No. 7: Dominique Strauss-Kahn
When he reigned as head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) was a top contender to unseat Nicolas Sarkozy as French president. But accusations that he sexually assaulted a hotel maid torpedoed his reputation and led to a leadership shakeup. Strauss-Kahn was staying in a $3,000-per-night Sofitel Hotel…
No. 6: Kwame Kilpatrick
In the early morning hours of August 2, 2011, the former mayor of Detroit walked out of a Michigan prison and into the glare of the media. He made no comments and quietly walked into a waiting car. He had served just over 14 months for violating terms of parole…
No. 3: John Edwards
John Edwards campaigned for presidency on the notion of “two Americas,” became infamous for his simultaneous relationships with two women, and will soon face a jury that will assess his actions and make one of two choices: guilty or not guilty. The former presidential hopeful was indicted in June on…
No. 4: Herman Cain
When Atlanta businesswoman Ginger White stated in multiple interviews that she had been involved in an on-again, off-again 13-year affair with Herman Cain, it was only the latest — and perhaps most damaging — allegation of the autumn for the presidential hopeful. White was the fifth woman to accuse Cain…
No. 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to have come a long way since his “Conan the Barbarian” period. His reputation for womanizing belonged to his old Hollywood days, and the Los Angeles Times’s attempts to dredge it up during his 2003 gubernatorial bid had been condemned as irrelevant, if not outright sabotage. He…