Another possible running-mate for Palin in 2012

3 comments October 9th, 2009

Lots to ponder in these poll numbers

5 comments October 9th, 2009

 These numbers (via DailyKos) are from a Research 2000 poll conducted Monday through Thursday of this week.

 The figures in parenthesis are from last week’s poll.

 Take special notice of the gap in approval ratings for Democrats and Republicans in Congress. 

Limbaugh wants to buy NFL team, but some players want nothing to do with racist jerk

18 comments October 9th, 2009

 

 Don’t hold your breath waiting for radio demagogue Rush Limbaugh to gain ownership of a team in the National Football League.

 As we see HERE, El Rushbo would not be a popular choice.

 POSTSCRIPT: Speaking of Limbaugh, it seems he’s been SELECTED as one of the judges at the upcoming Miss America pageant.

 What are those idiots thinking? Limbaugh’s more notoriously sexist than he is racist. But then, the Miss America thing is not exactly an exercise in feminism.

 In fact, the pageant has become so irrelevant that none of the major TV networks carries it anymore. It’s televised on some off-brand cable channel, and hardly anybody watches it.

Here’s text of Nobel committee’s citation

7 comments October 9th, 2009

 

 ”The Norwegian Nobel committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

 ”Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

 ”For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The committee endorses Obama’s appeal that ‘Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges’.”

UPDATE: Robert Naiman NAILS IT with this:

[A]nyone who thinks this award is unprecedented hasn’t been paying attention.

The Nobel Committee gave South African Bishop Desmond Tutu the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his leadership of efforts to abolish apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid wasn’t fully abolished in South Africa until 1994. The committee could have waited until after apartheid was abolished to say, “Well done!” But the point of the award was to help bring down apartheid by strengthening Bishop Tutu’s efforts. In particular, everyone knew that it was going to be much harder for the apartheid regime to crack down on Tutu after the Nobel Committee wrapped him in its protective cloak of world praise.

That’s what the Nobel Committee is trying to do for Obama now. It’s giving an award to encourage the change in world relations that Obama has promised, and to try to help shield Obama against his domestic adversaries.

Why do some people cheer when America fails to get the Olympics and moan when an American president wins the Nobel Peace Prize?

6 comments October 9th, 2009

 

 Do they hate America?

 Just askin’.

 UPDATE: Ben Smith of Politico posted this a few minutes ago:

 A top Democratic National Committee official reacted furiously to a statement from Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele mocking — and describing as “unfortunate” — President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize.

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party.

“The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it’s an embarrassing label to claim,” Woodhouse said.

 UPDATE II: TPM has a ROUNDUP of reactions, pro and con, to the Nobel thing.

Strange bedfellows: Muslim world and wingnut world incredulous at Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

23 comments October 9th, 2009

 American right-wingers annoyed at President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize have common cause in that regard with certain people with whom they probably would rather not be associated.

 THIS PIECE from Reuters includes this paragraph:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” But critics — especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world — called its decision premature.

 And these:

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, said the award was premature at best.

“Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward,” said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. “Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace. And he has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes.”

 The Swedish Wire has an ARTICLE in which we hear from those lovely Taliban folks (holed up, of course, in their traditional undisclosed location):

The Taliban Friday condemned the decision to award this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama, saying he has “not taken a single step towards peace in Afghanistan”.

“We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

“We condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama,” he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

 And here at home, we find  SOUR GRAPES among the same people who cheered so lustily just a few days ago when Chicago (and, by implication, Obama) failed to win the 2016 Olympics:

The [Nobel]  award is a symbolic statement of opposition to American exceptionalism, American might, American capitalism, American self-determinism, and American pursuit of America’s interests in the world.