It was sooooo tempting to pick Tom Ashcraft, the George Will wannabe whose smarmy mug disgraces the pages of the Charlotte Observer on Saturdays. But this year’s award has to go to Thames, even though he’s an editor, not a columnist, and by all accounts a nice guy. Before the McClatchy company offered the Observer a lifejacket, Thames was all-too-frequently filling the shrinking newshole with tedious and overly long explanations of changes in the Knight Ridder-owned newspaper that could be summed up thusly: We’re cheap, get used to it. These earnest attempts at justifying unwise budget cuts brought to mind this adage: Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.