The Council has Spoken! (Plus a special announcement.)

Before I get to my special and exciting announcement, here are the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week. On the Council side, first place went to Soccer Dad for Hating israel more than loving palestinians. On the Non-Council side, first place was a two way tie between Jay Cost for On Obama’s Message and Investor’s Business Daily for Barack Obama’s Stealth Socialism.  Exercising my Watcher’s prerogative for this week, I awarded first place to the IBD editorial.  Three members were unable to vote this week, but only Hillbilly White Trash suffered the 2/3 vote penalty.  Here is the list of all posts that received votes this week:

Council:

1.  Soccer Dad (2) :  Hating Israel more than loving palestinians

Two posts tied for second:

2.  Joshua Pundit (1 1/3):  “Ich Bin Ein Beginner!”

2.  Bookworm Room (1 1/3):  Nobody here but us biased chickens

3.  Hillbilly White Trash (1):  China

Three posts tied for fourth:

4.  Wolf Holwing (2/3):  Stop the Destruction of Our Environment – Drill Now

4.  The Colossus of Rhodey (2/3):  And Phil Gramm got grief?  How come?

4.  Rhymes With Right (2/3):  Obama Desecrates Holiest Site in Judaism

Two posts tied for fifth:

5.  Done With Mirrors (1/3):  Us and Them

5.  Cheat-Seeking Missiles (1/3):  An Awful Idea for Renaming a Perfectly Good Mountain

Non-Council:

1.  Investor’s Business Daily (2, winning by a tie-breaker):  Barack Obama’s Stealth Socialism

2.  Jay Cost (1 2/3):  On Obama’s Message

Two posts tied for third:

3.  Jeff Jacoby (1 1/3):  Missing from that Berlin Speech

3.  Gregory Scoblete (1 1/3):  Will Obama Really Withdraw From Iraq?

Two posts tied for fourth:

4.  Maryland Conservative (1):  Visiting Poland : A Warning

4.  Patrick Poole (1) :  Anti-Patriot Act Poster Boy Kidnaps Own Kids

5.  UrbanGrounds (2/3):  Barry in Berlin – I am Not a Presidential Candidate

6.  Daniel W.  Drezner (1/3):  America’s soft military power

Congratulations to everyone for a job well done.

And now for my exciting announcement:  Terry Trippany, who has distinguished himself by creating, managing and writing for Webloggin, and who is a frequent contributor to Newsbusters, will be the new Watcher.  He’ll be up to speed in a week or two and will take over his duties then.  I will keep you posted.  Needless to say, we are all extremely pleased to welcome Terry on board.