We’re getting to the heart of the 50 most-viewed posts at Hot Air in 2013, and it’s a great mix of stories. We have a very bad day for John Kerry, a question of biblical scholarship that for once doesn’t involve MSNBC, and a very bad day for burglars who hit the wrong house. We also have two different cases of terrorism and a splendid demonstration of the filibuster in action. Enjoy!
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- #30: Video: John Kerry’s not good, very bad day with Chris Wallace – Kerry had the dubious honor of making the full Ginsburg on the Sunday following Barack Obama’s reversal on going to Congress on the Syrian “red line” question. Someone was going to hold his feet to the fire on the White House retreat, and that someone was Fox News Sunday‘s Chris Wallace.
- #29: Obama letter to conservative: I’ve been quite respectful of you tea-baggers – “On the upside,” wrote Mary Katharine at the time, ““tea-bagger” has now been used by a president on presidential stationery. You’re welcome, George Washington. Love, 2013.” This is why it’s important to make sure you define terms in anything you write yourself.
- #28: Terror: British soldier reportedly beheaded by two men in attack on London street; Update: Video added – A horrible story, only slightly mitigated by the relative quickness of the conviction of the two Islamist terrorists.
- #27: Did History Channel’s “The Bible” get it wrong? – At least they bothered to read it for comprehension, which puts them miles ahead of MSNBC. It wasn’t so much a question of “wrong” as it was of emphasis, anyway. The producers wanted to make a 10-hour miniseries (with commercials) of both the Old and New Testaments, which is going to leave out a lot. Furthermore, the approach was to center the miniseries on Christ as preconfigured in the Old Testament — a legitimate approach, but one which created some debate.
- #26: One Boston Marathon suspect dead, Boston on lockdown; Update: “Shelter in place” extended to entire city; Update: Taxi service suspended; Update: 2nd suspect cornered?; Update: Uncle says both are “absolute losers”; Update: Now looking for two suspects? Update: BPD finds gray Honda CRV empty; Update: NBC: Looking at ties to Islamist terror group; Update: Split up? – The headline almost says it all in this update to the Boston Marathon bombing story. The bigger story may be the lockdown, and whether that saved lives or delayed the capture of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, and whether that will be the new goal of asymmetrical terrorist attacks in the future.
- #25: Fiscal cliff: Does Boehner have the votes? Update: Boehner vs. Cantor? Update: Boehner to vote yes? Report: House has majority for Senate bill; Update: Bill passes, 257-167 – A New Year’s Day entry in the Top 50. “We have reached the point where temporarily averting self-inflicted disasters at the last second is a political success,” Jim Antle tweeted at the time. This New Year, it looks like both sides have tired of the fiscal cliffs, perhaps because no one ever wins them.
- #24: Breaking: Rand Paul launches talking filibuster on Brennan confirmation; Update: Mike Lee too?Update: Rubio chimes in on Twitter; Update:Cruz joins in; Update: Democrat Ron Wyden joins too; Update: Rubio speaks – The first of two very popular talking filibusters for conservatives this year. This one was popular with more than just conservatives, as Rand Paul embarrassed the White House into finally declaring that Obama can’t launch a drone strike on an American citizen on American soil. Er, yet.
- #23: White House holds Benghazi briefing with reporters — off the record; Update: More whistleblowers coming? Update: “Deep background” – Yes, because nothing says “We’ve told you everything there is to tell” and “We’re not hiding anything” like discussing the topic with an off-the-record cap on reporters. Shortly after this, several whistleblowers came forward to completely undermine the Accountability Review Board and the State Department cover on Benghazi. This story is still percolating.
- #22: “If you like it, you can keep it”: ObamaCare set to trigger insurance policy cancellations – We told you so — in May. So did Fox News, and Erika highlighted the scenario that ended up becoming reality. “Pending rules mean that a whole lot of individuals (and some small businesses) with personal insurance plans could be receiving cancellation notices as early as this fall as insurance plans that don’t meet the core requirements are are discontinued.” And that’s exactly what happened — to millions of people.
- #21: Burglars lock homeowner in gun closet with predictably hilarious results – You don’t go into that line of work because of brilliance, and this is yet another example of what happens — when a homeowner can defend himself. In Texas, he can, and did. Consider this your feelgood story of the set.
Tomorrow we’ll crack the Top 20, and we’ll start working on a reader poll of the top stories of 2013, too! We’ll set that up to deliver the results on New Years Day. Be sure to list your nominees in the Green Room post above!
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