an exercise in populism, an easy line of attack.

Dear teachers,

The Times editors' choice (choosing You as the Person of 2006 ) is presented as an exercise in populism, and that's certainly an easy line of attack. In unconnected phone conversations over the weekend, nearly a half dozen people joked to me that they were going to put "Time 2006 Person of the Year" on their resumes.


First, does "The Times editors' choice (choosing You as the Person of 2006 ) is presented as an exercise in populism" mean that "The Times editors' choice is the embodiment of populism"?

Second, does "an easy line of attack" mean sth. is easy to be attack or sth. is easy to be made use of, or something else?

A million thanks.

[Tdol]

1 It's not the embodiment, but it's a case of populism.
2 It's an easy way of criticising them.