Gore Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize

Clinton Vice President Al Gore could soon join a “prestigious” group that features a scandal-plagued world body infested with bribed officials, a leftwing Guatemalan who lied in her war memoirs and a former U.S. president who justifies Palestinian violence as a reaction to Israeli apartheid.

The former vice president, who couldn’t even win his home state in a run for the presidency, has indeed been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Officials of the international award, named after an industrialist and administered by a Swedish foundation, say Gore is a candidate for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world’s attention to the dangers of global warming.

Norwegian lawmakers, members of national governments, past winners and numerous university professors annually nominate candidates and the winner is announced in the middle of October. One member of the nomination committee, a Norwegian parliament member, said that Gore, like no other, has put climate change on the agenda.

A victory will put Gore in an interesting pool that includes people and organizations with shameful accomplishments. Past winners include the scandal-plagued United Nations and its corrupt former leader Kofi Annan in 2001. Among the world body’s numerous scandals is the infamous Iraq oil-for-food program which has led to the convictions of numerous officials for accepting kickbacks and negotiating with the deceased Iraqi dictator.

In 1992 leftwing Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize, even though she was exposed as a fraud for lying in a biography that detailed how she supposedly suffered in the midst of the atrocities committed against Indians by the Guatemalan government. Her leftwing defenders say the tragic war story is “metaphorically true” and should not affect her coveted international prize.

Then there is Jimmy Carter, a 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The former U.S. president, who struck a deal with Dictator Fidel Castro to allow nearly 200,000 imprisoned Cuban criminals into the country, recently published a book in which he defends radical Palestinian violence. Gore must be proud to be in such great company. A list of all Nobel winners is available here.