Al Hore is a joke

Gore gets Nobel -- conservatives scoff

Conservatives reacted to the long-awaited news this morning that Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with mocking derision. For those on the right, the decision to confer the prize to the former vice-president and UN's climate change panel for their efforts to increase awareness of global warming represents the further politicization of what has traditionally been viewed as a prestigious award. "So now 'Algore' will join Yasir Arafat among the list of noble Nobel peace laureates," Rush Limbaugh said with much sarcasm at the top of his broadcast today.

The Norwegian committee, Limbaugh said, has "rendered themselves a pure, 100 percent joke." Citing Arafat, the former Palestinian leader, and former President Jimmy Carter's award in 2002, Limbaugh added that "The Nobel committee has lost all credibility since long before they awarded this award to 'Algore.'" Conservatives think that the Oslo-based committee has become little more than a vehicle for the international community to stick its collective finger in the eye of the Bush administration.

In addition to Carter and Gore, the awarding of the prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director, Mohamed ElBaradei, in 2005 for their effort to promote diplomacy and de-nuclearization was also widely seen on the right as a slap. "I confess, I have been in a bit of a funk after learning of the Gore/Nobel news," conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham said in an e-mail. "I really thought Cindy Sheehan should have been recognized."

Blogger and former Bush campaign staffer Patrick Ruffini also took the sarcastic route, predicting future Nobels should Hillary Clinton win the presidency next year.
In a post on TownHall.com, Ruffini predicted Hillary Clinton would win the peace prize in 2010 "for ending the Iraq war" before her husband, "Special Presidential Emissary Bill Clinton," picked up the honor in 2012 "for the so-called Bubbahmedinejahd Pact guaranteeing no U.S. attack on Iran in exchange for a cap of 20 Iranian nuclear weapons." Limbaugh, though, seemed to capture the views of most conservatives (not to mention most political reporters) by expressing delight at what the award would mean for the complicated Gore-Clinton relationship.

"This majordomo of his, Albert Arnold 'Algore,' wins the Nobel for a movie!?" Limbaugh said of Bill Clinton. "He's supposed to be the guy who gets away with lies." As for Gore's award, Limbaugh had a suggestion: "I call on Albert Arnold 'Algore' to redirect his Nobel Peace Prize to genuine agents of peace." And who might that be? Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. troops in Iraq. "If there has ever been an engine of peace it’s the United States military," Limbaugh said, surely to the delight of his audience.As of 12: 30, none of the GOP presidential hopefuls has released a statement yet on Gore's prize.