Pardon Me While I Barf > NYT: Levin Noms Limbozo For Nobel Prize

[Wiley50]

At Least everyone gets the joke. Well, almost everyone

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/nobel-.../

Nobel Nominations — Left and Right





By Tom Zeller Jr.

Tags: global warming, media, News, norway, politics
Gore and LimbaughBoth Al Gore and Rush Limbaugh were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday. (Photos: Reuters, left; Getty Images, right)

Just as the deadline for recommendations was closing yesterday, the former vice president, Al Gore, was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, The Associated Press reports. Two Norwegian parliament members, Boerge Brende and Heidi Soerensen, put forth the nomination — as well as one for a Canadian Inuit activist, Sheila Watt-Cloutier.

Said Mr. Boerge:

A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference. …

Al Gore, like no other, has put climate change on the agenda. Gore uses his position to get politicians to understand, while Sheila works from the ground up.

Mr. Gore has been a dogged advocate for the environment and an evangelist for addressing the potential ravages of global warming — particularly since leaving office in 2001. His film “An Inconvenient Truth,” which documents the science behind climate change estimates, has been nominated for an Oscar. (There is also relentless speculation that Mr. Gore will throw his hat into the ring for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.)

Not to be outdone, the Landmark Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm “fighting for conservative principles in America,” submitted a nomination for its own candidate — someone, the group’s president, Mark R. Levin, said, whose “tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all humankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin,” deserves to be recognized: Rush Limbaugh.

Said Mr. Levin’s nominating letter to Professor Ole Danbolt Mjos, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, which was published along with a press release:

Rush Limbaugh is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host in the United States and one of the most popular broadcasters in the world. His daily radio show is heard on more than 600 radio stations in the United States and around the world. For 18 years he has used his show to become the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today. Everyday he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law — and it is fitting the Nobel Committee recognize the power of these ideals to build a truly peaceful world for future generations.

The Nobel Institute did expand its rules in 2003, allowing for a wider array of nominators. From the Institute’s Web Site:

Any one of the following persons is entitled to submit proposals:

* members of national assemblies and governments;
* members of international courts of law;
* university chancellors; university professors of social science, history, philosophy, law and theology;
* leaders of peace research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs;
* former Nobel Peace Prize laureates;
* board members of organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize;
* present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (committee members must present their nomination at the latest at the first committee meeting after February 1);
* former advisers at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

We’re not sure which of these categories encompasses the Landmark Legal Foundation, but we’ll assume that Mr. Levin knows what he’s doing. It’s worth noting, however, that the Nobel Institute adds this suggestion at the same Web site:

“The nominators are strongly requested not to publish their proposals.”

* * *

UPDATE: Ummm … To all the posters (and mad e-mailers) who complained that the nomination of Mr. Limbaugh was a hollow gesture, and likely made with no hope of success, well, yes — we apologize for assuming that this was obvious. It is rendered more so given that, as many readers have also pointed out, the Nobel Institute extends invitations for nominations, and Mr. Levin’s letter was, as he himself noted, “unsolicited.” We hope this clarifies things. Now chill.

[muntrv]

1. Keith Olbermann named Levin one of the 3 worst persons in the world yesterday.

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Nobel nominations have been a bad joke for some time

[AlGore-08.com]

3. Sadly, not surprised by the snarkiness of the NYT's update at the bottom

Our nation has been sold up the river by the mindless attack chihuahuas in the MSM...

[pnorman]

4. “The nominators are strongly requested not to publish their proposals.”

I actually know some people who take that "nomination" seriously! I'll save the above for them.

PMWIB ("Pardon Me While I Barf")

pnorman