Take one black community organiser and put him up against the boot-faced, humourless, divisive lawyer wife of a discredited (if charming) ex-president; assure the black senator's nomination.Run against a Republican party that is labouring beneath the weight of disgust and unpopularity of its retiring two-term president, during a financial crisis of epic proportions.
Create messianic fervour for an untested socialist politician, because WE CAN! Encourage said Messiah to give speeches suggesting that the toothpaste can be forced back into the tube, the genie pushed back into the lamp, and the world denied nuclear weapons, wherever they may be, and whoever may have the recipe.Nominate the new fellow for a Peace Prize as a wild punt, expecting it will in fact be awarded to a worthy brave recipient, or at the very least a long-serving Finnish diplomat who has made many trips over many years attempting to stop rival tribes slaughtering each other in a hot, humid African or Asian backwater.
Watch, open-mouthed, as the 200-1 long shot comes in at a canter.
Let's not blame Obama for this, though. This is what happens when left-leaning peace prize committee members have too much aquavit with their sprats at the pre-vote lunch.
PS James Forsyth at the Speccie finishes his post with this:
My favourite quote on the Nobel Peace Prize comes from a friend who just reminded me that ‘it’s the prize that Gandhi didn’t win but Arafat did.’
17 comments:
'it’s the prize that Gandhi didn’t win but Arafat did.’
Says it all. The Nobel Piece of Cack Prize, more like.
Very well said Monsieur Idle.
An absolute disgrace....but perhaps will help us just to sigh benevolently with a slight tutting when Gordon becomes a highly paid UN / World Bank advisor and /or Sir Tony becomes president of our dear EU.
We are mere spectators and we can but cheer or boo.
Bastards.
Why do these committees always screw up?
The lottery fund that awards a grant for a Zimbabwean solidarity support centre but refuses a new set of goal posts on some playing field.
The art gallery where a piece of conceptual art shaped like or even made from a turd is bought for £100,000,000.
The county council that installs an Obelisk on a roundabout but leaves the roads full of pot holes..
At least Obama had the grace to realise that it was it was preposterous when he accepted. He sounded as surprised as someone who was expecting a tie for Christmas and got given a house.
Still, it was a close run thing. I hear Gaddafi was second and Mugabe and Kim jong il tied a close third.
This crass idiocy in the face of far more deserving candidates has mightily diminished the prestige of this award. Cynicism of the highest order.
...and the Lord of the Ringpiece prize goes to...
Well at least we can ignore this nonsense from now on as this award has devalued the prize for good.
Political agenda behind this. The Swedes are bribing Obama, much like Bush did when he gave Bliar the CMH to get him on board for deposing Hussein, in the hope that Obama takes a less pro Israeli stance in MIddle East peace negotiations.
Obama's gong will not be celebrated in Tel Aviv. Nor in New York.
I'm only surprised that the supreme leader of the Universe 'President Blair' didn't get it!
I read this morning that nominations closed 11 days after he ascended to the presidency. Few people (our host excepted) could earn what is usually a whole life's reward in so little time.
Perhaps the White House will start showing an on-line map of the world (with the USA in the middle, as usual) that shows all the hot spots that Obama has brought peace to.
They could start with.......erm.......erm......
Meanwhile, click here for the inevitable Photoshop of the "Hope" poster.
Just shows how dumbed down all exams are today. If this had been the standard for "peace" in 1938 Neville Chamberlain would have won, having narrowly beaten off the challenge from Adolf Hitler.
Never mind the b****y Nobel, I see you are a Terry Thomas fan. Yippee! I thought that we were nearly extinct.
Killers - we all wish that Bono would get 'it', this - or every time around...
And I don't mean an OBE for farting in church either.
Sanctimonious git that he is!
Hello, loyal idlers.
Not ALWAYS cack, e-k. The heroine from Burma being a recent example.
BC, I still maintain that GayGordo wants an academic chair, it being more in keeping with his intellectual self-worth.
Bingo, Gadaffiduck can console himself with Libya's position on the Executive Committee of the UN. (see top right of this blog's homepage for the incomparable Steyn quote on that institution)
Nomad, we abhor cynicism on this blog.
Lord of the Ringpiece Prize (like it) reserved for Bongo, the warbling Irish troll from YouToo, scrobs.
Thud, I refer you to my e-k comment above. Now get back to treading those syrah grapes and create a Cuvee Idle that I can distribute to my clients.
Wisw words from Savo, behind his iron bars.
Trubes, someone said that the reason Barry got it was because Blair had also been nominated by someone in Sedgefield.
I'll keep you posted on my earnings if they outstrip Billionblaire, Tuscan.
That imaginative Lakelander does his picture-paints-a-thousand-words stuff again. But we wordsmiths will keep battering away at our keyboards, anyway.
Yes, anon, and Darling would be an Economic Laureate for his growth predictions of early 2008.
Yes, C Monkey. I am. Those unbelievers of his genius are an absolute shower.
Killem, see above re my response to scrobs.
Idle...treading away,I must say though that a monster cab franc seems to be our family speciality with the syrah a close second.
Fidel Castro says "it was a positive step". No really. Praise indeed for the decision.
Circus Monkey: Terry-Thomas (don't forget the hyphen - the great man insisted on it) was the original pioneer of television comedy in England (or Br*tain if you must) and contributed more than any other of his contemporaries to the development of both the genre and the medium. He had the rare ability to shine by giving others their head and many, more celebrated, 'comics' acknowledge his worth.
Sadly, his early work was performed live to camera and no recordings were made.
I think School For Scoundrels and How To Murder Your Wife were his best films.
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