In the Chicago Sun-Times' Top Year-ends from its bottom rear-end today, columnist Richard Roeper picked Governor Sarah Palin as his top GOOF for 2008... yet got owned himself by awarding her his dubious distinction based on at least one lie and a few dubious assumptions.

Roeper, a man that clearly imagines himself the living embodiment of the lead character on Seinfeld, lapsed into the most supreme case of hyperbolic overload in his description of why he thinks Sarah Palin is a GOOF (a self-fashioned acronym standing for Greatly Overhyped and Overexposed Fool).

Of course Roeper starts with the canard of Palin supposedly not knowing what the "Bush Doctrine" is. The problem with this claim is that there really IS no such concrete thing as the "Bush doctrine." As Charles Krauthammer so cogently revealed, Bush has had several different versions of it himself, so no one really knows what the "Bush doctrine" is. It has changed so much that there really is no way to say there is a single such doctrine.

Roeper goes on to exaggerate the Tina Fey spoof of Palin saying she could "see Russia from my house." Palin did not say that Alaska's close proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy credentials as Roper claims.

Roeper proves that he has boringly sold his soul to the global warming crowd by using Palin's stance that global warming is not man-made against her, as well. However, as each month passes there are more scientists joining the anti-man-made global warming crowd and obviously Roeper is unaware of the fact.

There was also a direct lie in Roeper's "reasoning," such as it is:

…and one gets the distinct impression she thinks "The Flintstones" is historically accurate, with Fred and Dino sharing the same era.

This snipe was based on an early lie against Palin promulgated by a single man that has committed himself to a years-long campaign to attack her. It was regurgitated without fact checking by the L.A.Times on September 28.

A Palin-hater from Wasilla named Philip Munger made up the quote that the L.A. Times gleefully reprinted with no corroborating proof, the quote that Richard Roeper is obviously relying upon on to attack her. In September, the L.A. Times reported that,

Palin told him that “dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time,” Munger said.

This quote taken from a man that admits openly that he's out to attack Sarah Palin, this quote with no secondary sources and no proof other than an enemy's claims was mixed in with loose reporting of Palin's supposed views on creationism. This reporting also led to the widely believed lie that Palin said that she wanted creationism to replace evolution in schools. The fact is, she never asked any school to do any such thing nor did she advocate such a plan, though she did say she saw no reason why creationism could not be discussed in schools.

Roeper then brought up the radio prank.

A Canadian radio host pranked her into believing she was talking to the president of France.

Hmmm. Then Roeper must think The New York Times is a "goof," too? After all, they got pranked, too, but by a fake French mayor instead of a fake French president.

Then there was Roeper's claim that she didn't know what the vice president was supposed to do because she was "foggy on the duties of a vice president."

First of all, she was not "foggy" on what the VP's duties are at any time. But, Slow Joe Biden sure was. In fact, he has twice bungled information about the VP. Once during the vice presidential debate and once in a recent interview.

In fact, one can easily say that Slow Joe Biden has made more absurd gaffes during his campaign(s) than has Sarah Palin. From flagrant and repeated cases of plagiarism to one campaign trail gaffe after another, Biden has for decades been a constant embarrassment for the Democrat Party.

So, with all of Roeper’s misquoting, warping and outright lies, aimed at Palin and his blatant and willful ignorance of more worthy candidates we have to award him the CREEP award for 2008.

That would be the Communist Reporter's Eternally Erupting Pap award.

Lastly, we in Chicago can sympathize with the purported meaning of GOOF. With Richard Roeper constantly turning up like a bad penny on TV, in our newspapers and often as a guest host or guest on umpteen radio programs -- both nationally and locally -- we know a LOT about Greatly Overhyped and Overexposed Fools. We live with a homegrown example, a veritable fungus amongus growing wild. Let’s give it up for the CREEP of 2008; Richard Roeper.

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