And, it’s cheap entertainment for the rest of us.
I’m easily amused, can’t help it. It is strange to see someone other than the Right wing fringe calling someone a bunch o’ freedom hating terror loving traitors (or something). If you sling that sort of shit, you have to expect to get some right back on you eventually.
Sorry to burst your bubble of auto-congratulation, but I saw the Maddow video and read the NPP Committee report when they came out. I’ve rarely seen such self-serving blather in my life.
Sure, if the Committee decides to award the Peace Prize to Pol Pot, or to Obama for things they really, truly hope he just might have a chance of possibly doing someday, they can do it … but would that make it right? We were talking about whether Obama had done anything to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize … the terms of which are clearly spelled out under Nobel’s will. We’re not talking about whether the Committee thought he merited the prize. We know those hothouse flowers of groupthink believe he deserves it, there’s no debate there.
I agree that the Committee has raised a whole host of extraneous points, which Maddow has summarized quite well. I suppose you think that makes a difference. I suppose you agree with the Committee that the word of the Committee is what counts, and that Nobel’s will and his wishes are totally immaterial. Me, I’m not surprised that the Committee thinks the sun shines out of the Committees ass, and that they can do whatever they want. It is a bit surprising, however, to watch you lap their bullshit up and try to convince us that it’s ice cream.
I think Nobel put the rules in his will for a reason, and that if the Committee had the balls that the OP thinks the DNC has, they’d follow his rules. Not following Nobel’s rules, giving the Prize to self-aggrandizing politicians and people who might conceivably have an outside chance of possibly doing something for peace someday, instead of real heroes who are actually risking their lives for peace, is the reason that it is turning into the Nobel Piss Prize.
You can whine about how wonderfully insightful the Committee and Rachel are all day, makes no difference to me. I think Alfred saw your particular brand of asshole coming, and that’s why he made the rules.
Did you ever once consider why Alfred Nobel didn’t say “The Committee can award the prize to anyone they wish, living or dead, for anything the Committee wants”? Ponder on that one for a while, and report back to us.
You think that the Committee is doing great things. I think they are self-serving egomaniacs who are turning the prize into a joke. And how are they doing that? By ignoring the express stated wishes of the man who put up the money, by grinding Nobel’s rules into dust. But there are still those of us old enough to remember when the rules were usually followed and the Prize actually meant something.
And under Nobel’s rules, Obama has done nothing yet to deserve the prize. He may do so someday, and as an Obama supporter, I fervently hope he does. But to date, Obama’s been very clear about his desire not to punish torture, and he’s extended Bush’s spying rules, and hasn’t closed Guantanamo, and he is building up Bagram, and he is presiding over the continuance of one war and the build-up of another war … so no, nothing yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disappointed in his presidency, it’s far too early to judge it, and I think he’ll come out of it well … but it’s also far too early to bestow prizes for it.
Of course, under your (and the NPP Committee’s) bullshit rules that amount to “whatever the Committee does shines more refulgently than the sun, we can only bask in their reflected glory and admire their timeless wisdom”, I’m sure Obama is the most deserving man on the planet … ask me if I care. Call me crazy, but I follow Nobel’s rules in judging whether someone is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, not yours.
With respect, the claims in that post are wholly unsubstantiated. For example, you did not specify or link to Nobel’s rules, so how do we know they were broken? I know you have a lot on your plate in this thread, but your argument could use some sharpening. (You may have specified the rules elsewhere in this thread, but jeez the post in question had ~10 paragraphs.)
In other posts, you know somebody is reaching when they use all caps.
More generally, it’s widely understood that this year’s decision was a little odd-- Obama alluded to this in one way, McCain in another. Personally, I don’t think the committee helped the Dems. At the same time, some (not all) Republicans sounded a lot like Taliban spokesmen – which should be viewed with more amusement than seriousness. The DNC may have misplayed their hand, but frankly I perceive some over-reaction on intention’s part. YMMV etc etc.
No, M4M, it is your reading ability which is unsubstantiated. I linked to Nobel’s will earlier in the thread, but for those who aren’t following the plot, it is here.
Am I over-reacting? Well, as a Democrat who voted for Obama, and who now is being told by the DNC that I am siding with the terrorists, and being told by the OP that he’s glad that the DNC is kicking my ass and I deserve it for siding with the terrorists, what would you say would be an appropriate reaction on your planet?
I found it very offensive personally, as well as considering it a huge tactical error by the DNC to insult friends and opponents alike merely because they disagree about the Prize, but YMMV etc. It has certainly made my respect for the DNC plummet through the floor.
Finally, I apologize for having the unconscionable effrontery to ask you to read through a ten paragraph post, particularly when half the paragraphs had two sentences or less. I seriously didn’t realize it would be that difficult, mea culpa. I must have missed the memo on the need to boil everything into a pre-digested fifteen second sound bite. Is this better?
And there I find these words:
Which is Obama.
delted
Tagos, thanks for the response. But y’see, for full comprehension, you have to read it all. It says it goes to the person who did all the stuff you quoted in the previous year. Which for the 2009 Peace Prize was … wait for it … 2008.
So we’re back to my request for anyone brave enough to come forward and tell us what Obama did for fraternity of nations and reduction of standing armies and promotion of peace congresses in 2008.
All Obama did in 2008 was run for president. He didn’t become president until 2009. So even if you were right that he is The Peaceful One Above All Others (which is a separate debate involving things like Obama’s disinclination to prosecute torture and not closing Guantanamo and increasing the size of the war in Afghanistan and stuffing Bagram Prison full of unfortunates without habeas corpus), the prize is still premature.
It is disingenuous to say that the DNC was criticizing aged parents who vote Republican because they remember when it was a party that still wanted America to succeed. The DNC is talking about The Republican Party, which is an organization of paid staffers (with health insurance by the way) that employs people to speak on it’s behalf. They didn’t say “people who voted Republican”, or even “Republicans”. Here is the quote:
I think it should also be noted that the point of comparison was in attacking the President himself just for winning, not just attacking the Nobel Commitee. Obama didn’t give the award to himself or even ask for it (it doesn’t appear that he even had any idea he was in consideration for it), so crticizing Obama for receiving it is lame and al Qaeda-like.
Speaking of reading comprehension, it says year, not calendar year, i.e., in the time since the prior NPP was awarded.
WTF is it so hard to see for people?
The fact that a country with such a long history of racial divide and racist policies well into the 20th century has finally gotten its fucking act together and elected a black man with overwhelming support IS in fact a huge step in the cause of peace! Obama, in 2008, ran and WON the presidency. He deserves the peace prize for the motherfucking decade! This was humongous progress, absolutely peaceful, and something nobody would have thought was possible only 10 years ago!
People who say he’s undeserving are looking at all the wrong things. You think some nobody suffering and dying for a peaceful cause that wouldn’t register a blip on the radar of most news organizations has done MORE for the cause of peace? When Paris Hilton or Michael Jackson can push them off the headlines? You’ve got to be fucking kidding yourself.
The very fact that Obama was elected is enough for him being qualified to have the peace prize. Racial differences are still a large reason why people in this country have conflicts. This man was able to transcend that. Whereas his great great great grandparents may have been owned by a white man, his own father and grandfather forced to sit in the back of the bus or drink from a different fountain, he, by himself, proved all of that is becoming the past rather than the present. His kids and ours will grow up in a world where a black or asian or indian person saying they want to be president isn’t just a fanciful wish told to children to make them feel better, but a real possibility.
Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. His very presence exudes change. Simply by being black and winning the presidency, he’s done more than any Tibetan protester ever did.
No, they said people who criticize the President for receiving the Nobel Prize had thrown their lot in with the terrorists. Among them are the Republican Party, and me, and my father-in-law, and a host of other people. Clearly we’re all siding with the terrorists … not.
Look, Democrats screamed when Bush was making his ugly claims that people who opposed his Royal Bushyness were supporting the terrorists. Now the DNC is doing the exact same thing regarding his Regal Obamitude, and suddenly it’s a perfectly fine thing to do, nothing to see here folks, move along … what’s up with that?
That’s the issue to me, and it is also the subject of the OP, not whether Obama deserved it for being the first black president and a decent guy.
What I can say, however, is that I would have hated to be the person who had to explain to the other nominees why everything that they had struggled and fought for and risked their lives to actually accomplish (i.e. done, made happen, not just wished for) wasn’t worth shit compared to the non-accomplishments of some black guy that the world has big hopes for … particularly when said guy is enlarging the war in Afghanistan and building a bigger prison population in Baghram and continuing his predecessors policies of spying and no habeas corpus. Yeah, that’s real peace-bringer type actions, all right …
Well, one assumes that Nobel (not being in our modern litigious nit-picking era) would have thought of calendar years. As do we all. When I say “last year”, I mean 2008, as do most people (except you, I guess). If I mean the 12 months prior to today, I say “the last 12 months”, and never “the previous year” … and I assume Alfred would have as well.
But I’ll bite … the nominations closed in February, so what did Obama do for peace in the 12 months before that (Feb 2008 - Feb 2009)?
Well, if that’s the case, then the American electorate deserves the Peace Prize, not Obama. After all, according to you we’re the ones who have gotten our act together, so we deserve the Prize.
Umm … your ignorance is showing in a way which is most unflattering to you. There is no American slavery in Obama’s family tree, because his father was from Africa. In case you missed it, Africa is a continent on the other side of the world from the US. Amazingly enough, it is filled with black people who were not subjected to American slavery. These and other interesting facts can be obtained by paying attention to the story. When you don’t pay attention, you just look foolish, and people cancel your vote. Or as you might say, “WTF is it so hard to see for you?” …
intention, for the love of fuck, would you please read the Nobel Committee’s reasoning for giving Obama the Peace Prize, and stop claiming that he’s done nothing to deserve it?
Also, you keep implying that getting nominated is this incredibly difficult thing. It’s not, really. Anybody can be nominated, by, among others, a member of a national legislature or professors in a few fields. George W. Bush was nominated for a Peace Prize multiple times.
Cite?
Why’d your split your post into 2? 
And since there’s not 100 million prizes to award, they gave it to the person who represented the change: Barack Obama.
Besides, the American people could have elected a black guy before, but they didn’t. It takes an actual person to coalesce all of the peace and change that the award embodies and deliver it in a way that will get votes. That person is Obama, and he deserves it for having done so. He didnt go the racial route like Jesse Jackson was wont to do, and he didnt hold his ancestry as some kind of social crutch that he beat over the heads of a shameful American public. He did it by being the best candidate possible while just happening to be black. He showed that it is possible for a black guy to succeed to that post, and that’s why he deserves it
It was a rhetorical flourish that was used to encompass generations of blacks in America, not just one family. I said “may” didn’t I? His ancestors may have been owned by whites, as many many African Americans’ were. The fact that they weren’t is besides the point: it could have happened, and it did to thousands, perhaps millions, of black families who have roots going back to the slavery days. That Obama was able take that and mold it into a winner of an election of that very nation says something about his character and his abilities, and deserved the peace prize
Well, this storm seems to have pretty much blown over. We should pause to thank friend Intention for his continuing loyalty despite this dreadful and horrific breach of interparty comity that the Republicans have labored mightlily to respect and support.
I wish him the best of luck in his campaign to force the Nobel Prize Committee to honor his interpretation of the will of Alfred Nobel.
By the way, has anyone ever won twice, or two years in a row? That would be awesome!