Top five biggest political gaffes of 2010

The past year was stingy with certain political qualities -- bipartisan cooperation, say, or appeals to public reason. However, since 2010 featured many hard-fought congressional and statehouse battles, one thing it didn't lack for was that most common currency of information-age politics: the gaffe. Misstatements and malapropisms abounded, and with digital technologies and social media flooding the midterm election cycle, this year's gaffes were documented and recirculated with unusual abandon. It was hard to narrow the field to just five, but after close study of the past year in political language-mangling, here is our 2010 guide to political gaffes.

1. Michael Steele calls Afghanistan "a war of Obama's choosing." After a year's worth of lavish verbal slipups, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele presented us with an embarrassment of gaffe riches. But in June, he was scolded by Republicans and Democrats alike for his remarks on the Afghan war, which he also described as "not winnable."

[Rewind: High honors for Palin's imaginary word]

2. Christine O'Donnell can't name a Supreme Court decision. In the first Delaware GOP Senate debate, the tea party candidate stumbled when she was asked to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with. "I'm very sorry, right off the top of my head, I know that there are a lot, but, uh, I'll put it up on my website, I promise you," she replied.

3. Richard Blumenthal implies he served in Vietnam when he didn't. In May, the New York Times published a blockbuster front page story accusing the Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate of falsely implying he had served in Vietnam. He claimed it was nothing more than a few "misplaced words" and later went on to win his race.

[Media spotlight: 'Exausted' woman joins chorus in Obama's bad week]

4. Mark Kirk embellished his military service. The Illinois Republican was forced to apologize for several claims he made about his service as a reserve intelligence officer in the Navy. Among other things, he claimed he had served in the 1991 Gulf War invasion, when he had not, and that his aircraft had been shot at during missions over Kosovo and Iraq. Kirk, who went on to win President Obama's old Senate seat, said he couldn't be sure about the account.

5. Joe Miller declares an early victory on Twitter. After winning Alaska's GOP primary in September, the tea party candidate mentored by Sarah Palin visited Washington, where he bragged on Twitter about "house hunting" and buying "office furniture." He later deleted the tweets, but not before they were mocked by his opponent Lisa Murkowski—who, according to unofficial results, defeated him by more than 10,000 votes last month.

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(Photo of Michael Steele by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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