Have you caught wind of the outrage being expressed in certain quarters, about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize?
I'll admit that there might be a little something to the claim that the Nobel Committee is motivated by politics. My sense is that they tend to recognize people who have done something about a problem that they think merits more attention. But the level of vitriol being expressed everywhere from the WSJ opinion pages to the dank cellars of the rightosphere is truly astounding. Why should this be?
Paul Krugman has as good a list of explanations as any.
One thing PK doesn't mention which has crossed my mind: the right fears Al Gore stepping into the race for president. I no longer think that Gore is going to do this, absent a meltdown by the leading Democratic contenders. But it would be pretty funny if the Republicans' efforts to smear Hillary over the past year were suddenly for naught.
Tangential note: As I look at PK's column at this moment, the first, second, third, and fifth-most emailed articles from the NYT come from people who used to be locked behind the TimesSelect wall. I hope that's working out for the company; you know the columnists themselves have to love it.
2 comments:
Good article, Brendan. Did you notice that the article by Thomas Friedman ( #5 on the list at the right) once you get to PK is almost as good? Also praises Gore and bashes Bush.
I did see (and read) Friedman's piece, yes. I didn't think it merited recommendation, but I'm kind of biased against Friedman lately. I used to like him better, a long time ago.
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