Self-described Nobel Peace Prize “accredited nominee” Limbaugh: “I don't even know why Gore's qualified for this”
Written by Julie Millican
Published
On the March 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, after noting that Ole Danbolt Mjos, the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, reportedly “praise[d]” former Vice President Al Gore's efforts to draw attention to global warming, Rush Limbaugh declared: “I don't even know why Gore's qualified for this. ... I have done more for world peace to promote liberty and freedom than Al Gore has.” Limbaugh stated that he is “an accredited nominee this year for the Nobel Peace Prize” and asserted that it was “cheap” that “Gore's over there” in Norway “lobbying” for the award. He later said: “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.” In fact, according to a February 22 Associated Press report, Limbaugh's “nomination” by the Landmark Legal Foundation “appeared to” be “invalid” because the foundation may not have “nomination rights.”
According to a March 29 Reuters article, Mjos attended a March 29 speech by Gore in Oslo, Norway, and afterwards “prais[ed]” Gore for advancing a “very important message” on the threat posed by rising global temperatures. Referring to the report, Limbaugh claimed: “Gore's over there lobbying. That's cheap. You're not supposed to lobby for this thing. You're supposed to have dignity. You're supposed to sit back there and let the selection process take its course.” Limbaugh then offered himself as a contrast to Gore: “I'm not over there speaking to these people about anything” and asked: “What in the hell's global warming have to do with world peace?”
On February 1, Landmark president Mark Levin sent a letter to Mjos purporting to nominate Limbaugh for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “nearly two decades of tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all mankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin.” But according to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, only certain individuals are “qualified to nominate” people for the award: “members of national assemblies, governments, and international courts of law; university chancellors, professors of social science, history, philosophy, law and theology; leaders of peace research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs; Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of previous years; board members of organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize; present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and former advisers of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.” Moreover, only those individuals who are specifically invited by the committee may submit candidates. As Levin made clear in his February 1 letter to Mjos, the organization's nomination of Limbaugh was “unsolicited.”
Meanwhile, Gore was reportedly nominated by two Norwegian lawmakers, who the AP reported are “among the thousands of people and groups with rights to nominate Nobel candidates.”
From the February 22 AP article:
The 181 nominations received for the 2007 Nobel Peace prize are believed to include former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, a woman who rescued Polish children in the Second World War and two prominent Canadians.
[...]
The deadline for nominations is Feb. 1, but the number traditionally creeps up during the month as late mail arrives or the committee makes its own nominations at the year's first meeting, which this year was on Wednesday.
Apart from deep secrecy, the list of candidates is further clouded by groups announcing nominations that are invalid, either because they arrived too late or because they don't have nomination rights.
This year, that group appeared to include American radio personality Rush Limbaugh and former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali."
From the March 30 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Also, ladies and gentlemen, I'm being forced into taking drastic action. Listen to this: Al Gore won praise -- he was in Oslo yesterday -- he won praise from a man with the power to change lives, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, after he gave his speech -- Gore did -- urging more action to fight global warming. Ole Danbolt Mjos -- if I'm pronouncing that right -- said that Al Gore's speech was “a very important message” after hearing Al Gore, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, say the planet was under threat from the build-up of greenhouse gases mainly caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
Well, Gore's over there lobbying. That's cheap. You're not supposed to lobby for this thing. You're supposed to have dignity. You're supposed to sit back there and let the selection process take its course, but there's Gore over there lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize. I'm not doing that. As you know, I'm an accredited nominee this year for the Nobel Peace Prize, and I'm not over there speaking to these people about anything. We submitted our application full of qualifications: the résumé, all of the support materials. We're not going over there trying to influence these people and their votes.
Stein Tonnesson, head of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo said, “I have Gore as a clear favorite here for the Peace Prize. I think the committee will be unable to resist the temptation to add their voice to concerns about global warming.”
Objections include that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter won only in 2002. It may be too soon for another U.S. Democrat to win. They're going to announce the '07 prize winner in October.
I don't even know why Gore's qualified for this. What in the hell's global warming have to do with world peace?! I have done more for world peace to promote liberty and freedom than Al Gore has.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: 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. This is clearly above and beyond the pale. I mean, this might happen in high school class president elections and so forth, but this is shameless.
It's not just tampering, it's pandering. Al Gore flying off -- look at the carbon footprint. Look at the carbon footprint just to get over there and make a speech. He could have made a DVD in his mansion in Nashville -- outside Nashville -- and sent that, but he flew over there to give a speech about global warming and, of course, the Nobel committee is -- one of the principals there was in attendance and made some very positive comments about this.
Al Gore actually behaving in a way totally opposite that which he recommends in his movie, and they're sitting over there going gaga -- and, to me, this is unethical. This is tampering with the entire process.
So, we're looking into the possibility -- we're considering filing an objection with the Nobel committee over the unethical tampering Al Gore is engaging in, in his quest to win the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in October of this year.