Top Cougars of '08: Hillary Clinton & Sarah Palin

Two of the most influential women jumpstart our countdown of the Top Cougars of 2008. If they fit the most traditional and strict definition of what it means to be a cougar - that they not only be older and hot, but also date younger men - undoubtedly these two women would rank higher on the list. But given that we here (as well as others) are trying to change the definition of what it means to be a cougar, as well as the important role they both played in shaping our politics this year, we'd be remiss in not acknowledging them. Plus, by featuring them both we get to cheat and feature 11 cougars in our Top 10. It's like college football's Big Ten!


Hillary Clinton

Senator Clinton started off the year as the frontrunner to become the first female president in U.S. history and has ended it as her rival's Secretary of State. Not a bad consolation prize. Some would argue that a poor Democratic primary campaign was her undoing, but it's hard to argue that she didn't run into a truly unique candidate in Barack Obama. She fought hard and whenever she faltered, she got right back up and fought harder still. She was strong in competition and gracious in defeat and seems poised to be one tough head of the State Department. And we can't be the only ones who were like, "Wait. When did Hil get kinda hot?"


Sarah Palin

Unlike Clinton, Alaska governor Sarah Palin emerged from relative obscurity in all her schoolteacher hotness to galvanize a moribund Republican campaign and further polarize the nation. Despite a disatrous misstep in an interview with Katie Couric, Palin still managed to thrill folks on the stump. Whether she was ultimately a boon to the campaign or a drag is up for debate. What's not is that she added much needed sex appeal to the Republicans, brought Tina Fey back to briefly save SNL, and her mantra "Drill, baby, drill," had most men thinking about anything but oil. We can only hope she'll be around to spice up our national politics for years to come.



So there you are, our first two top cougars of 2008! We leave you for now with this hysterical skit from Saturday Night Live featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton respectively...