Libertarian blogger Ross Kaminsky takes third in Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list

"I'm extremely proud today," writes Ross Kaminsky, a local libertarian columnist and blogger, about taking the bronze in MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list this past Wednesday night. Kaminsky got the dubious award for a 4th of July post he wrote under the pseudonym Rossputin...

By Joel Warner

July 10, 2009

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"I'm extremely proud today," writes Ross Kaminsky, a local libertarian columnist and blogger, about taking the bronze in MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list this past Wednesday night.

Kaminsky got the dubious award for a 4th of July post he wrote under the pseudonym Rossputin on the blog for FreedomWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit. The blog, titled "Happy Dependence Day," notes that workers and lobbyists for AIG, GM and other companies that angle for federal earmarks "are the antithesis of this nation's founding, the antidote to liberty and free markets, the source of the smiley-faced fascism which creeps further into our lives daily." Unfortunately, as Olbermann points out in the segment above, the chairman of FreedomWorks, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, is also lobbyist for AIG and GM.

D'oh!

In a response Kaminsky posted to the piece in question, the blogger says he was unaware of Armey's activities outside of FreedomWorks. Furthermore, he notes, "I am NOT an employee or contractor of FreedomWorks and I receive no compensation or instructions from them; Dick Armey is NOT my boss."

And as for his third-place finish -- next time, promises Kaminsky, "I'll have to do better."

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner