Day: 10/12/2007

Rush Limbaugh To Challenge Gore Peace Prize Win?

Posted by on October 12, 2007 at 1:25 pm. 9 Comments :

This morning the Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The announcement stirred predictable speculation as to whether this honor would spur Gore to enter the Democratic primary for president. The announcement also stirred predictable gnashing of teeth and flapping of jaws as anti-planet rightists search for footing from which to bash the honorees. I’m certain that prescriptions are being furiously written for many pundits and politicos whose blood pressure is now rising faster than the global climate.

At the head of the line is Rush Limbaugh whose drug-addled delusions have him fancying himself as a Nobel nominee:

“As you know, I’m an accredited nominee this year for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

He is, of course, no such thing. His lawyers, who are not valid nominators, submitted his name to the Committee, but that doesn’t constitute accreditation. It’s surprising that Limbaugh would even bother to offer up such a lie when he has previously denounced the award:

“The Nobel Peace Prize has nothing to do with peace. I should be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I’ve done more for liberty, individual freedom, and the promotion of that, which is what leads to peace, than anybody in this year’s roster of candidates. I should be the recipient. I’m not campaigning for it. I say this only to illustrate how it’s just been devalued, this whole Nobel Peace Prize has.”

That display of unchecked narcissism is typical for Rush. But even while he disparages the award, he must secretly be stewing. Earlier this this year he went so far as to propose a challenge to Gore’s Nobel candidacy:

“My lawyers at the Landmark Legal Foundation are looking into the possibility of filing an objection with the Nobel committee over the unethical tampering for this award that Al Gore is engaging in.”

By the way, those are the same lawyers that “nominated” Limbaugh. I think my second favorite thing about Gore’s winning will be watching as the light cast by this award sends roaches like Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Beck, etc., scurrying for the darkness they crave. But, like those other creepy crawlers, they won’t stay hidden for long. These are the same sleazeballs that recently attacked a 12 year-old auto accident victim because he had the temerity to speak out for health care for children. These are the same scumbags that call veterans who oppose Bush’s quagmire in Iraq “phony soldiers.” These are the same slime-miesters that are shocked to find that African-Americans eat with utensils and can run restaurants.

While we celebrate this honor for Al Gore and the victory for this little planet we call home, we might want to keep our peripheral vision attuned to the inevitable assaults from the Rapture Lobby who are all to eager to see life on this Earth come to a glorious, searing, apocalyptic end.

Tucker Carlson Is Afraid Of Young People Voting

Posted by on October 12, 2007 at 3:26 am. 5 Comments :

One of the most persistent shortcomings of modern electoral endeavors is the meager participation of young people. There are a multitude of programs run by political parties, schools, and private advocacy groups to educate America’s youth about the importance of voting and to motivate them to get involved in the democratic process.

Sadly, Tucker Carlson thinks that the whole idea of young people being engaged in politics is “creepy as hell.” And that’s not the worst of it. He even compares campaigns that have a youth outreach to the genocidal brutality of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. In discussing Barack Obama’s appeal amongst young citizens who will be eligible to vote for our next president in November of 2008, Carlson says…

“I just — it — politicizing children — there’s a Khmer Rouge quality to it. I think it’s scary. If some — if a right-wing candidate came and targeted my kids, I’d be mad about it. I don’t want my kids near political candidates. Do you?”

In all honesty, if a right-wing candidate came and targeted my kids, I’d be mad about it too. But only because I wouldn’t want them infected by your brand of ideological vermin. However, I would certainly not object to the notion of my kids caring enough to learn about issues and candidates. And I would respect their right to shape their own beliefs and agendas. In fact, I would be proud.

Carlson seems to think that kids (and we’re talking about 17 year-olds) are addle-headed twits that can’t form opinions or make judgments. Well, I don’t know Carlson’s kids, but the ones I do know are intellectually curious with agile minds and common sense. They had better be, because they are at the age that our society asks them to make some serious decisions like whether to enlist in the Army, or what to study in college, and even for whom to vote for president.

It’s really unfortunate that elitist cretins like Carlson can go on TV and purposefully discourage youth participation in government. He is working against the sort of good citizenship that democracy requires. It would be bad enough if he were just insulting kids by asserting that they’re not capable of voting, but using a brutal dictatorship as an analogy for their participation is perversely absurd and diametrically opposed to reality.

If Carlson were truly interested in democracy, he should praise kids who want to get involved, as well as candidates and other organizations that seek to promote such involvement. If he’s really looking for something to be afraid of, he might consider the consequences of not preparing succeeding generations for their role in public life. Carlson’s desire to stifle the voices of the young in this country is counterproductive and disrespectful. It reeks of an unspoken wish that only the pre-approved, prep school, scions of the privileged be allowed to engage in political pastimes. And that, Tucker, is something that I find “creepy as hell.”