Judging Al Gore and the Nobel

First and foremost, we wish to join in the thousands of people around the world congratulating former Vice President Al Gore and the IPCC on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The growing scientific and popular consensus that global warming poses a critical challenge to every level of society has been essential to progress in the courts and at the state/local level, and the recipients' work has certainly helped along that process.

One person we're betting won't be reacting so kindly is attorney, author, and talk radio host Mark R. Levin of the Landmark Legal Foundation, which earlier this year responded to Gore's nomination for the Nobel by trying to put forward Rush Limbaugh's name. Yesterday on his radio show, an exasperated Levin vowed to open an investigation into alleged "untoward, unethical behavior" if Gore won the prize, claiming that he's been "...getting word that there's been a lot of behind-the-scenes lobbying for Al Gore." He added that, "I would hate for a scandal to break out...but something stinks already. I'm not sure what it is..."

We've previously discussed some of Levin's rantings about global warming and the Supreme Court's decision in Mass. v. EPA, in the context of questioning President Bush's nomination of attorney Steve A. Matthews to a lifetime appointment on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Matthews, who was nominated over a popular judge initially suggested by South Carolina's two Republican senators, serves on the board of the Landmark Legal Foundation, and as such has a fiduciary interest in Landmark's activities; Levin has also thanked Matthews for "supporting me in everything that I do."   

Levin's forthcoming "investigation" has been in the works for many months. Back in March, his pal Limbaugh was claiming that a Gore lecture in Oslo that was attended (and called "a very important message") by the chairman of the Nobel committee somehow constituted improper "lobbying," and suggested that Landmark might take action: 

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.

Please. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his willingness to travel the world with his warnings about global warming. Of course he took this message to Oslo and unsurprisingly, the Chairman of the Nobel committee attended his remarks. This investigation isn't law, it's political hackery.

And Matthews' affiliation with Landmark again raises questions about his nomination to a lifetime seat on the federal appellate bench. He'll have to distance himself from Levin and Landmark, because the last thing we need on the federal bench are political hacks.

Comments

[Ron Franscell]

I give Al Gore credit for bringing a looming environmental catastrophe to the public's attention. For a nation populated by lazy, fat, celebrity-obsessed wasters of time, energy and air, it took a familiar face to raise the issue to cocktail conversation. Despite his political petulance and past imprecisions ("I invented the Internet"), I applaud Gore's leadership on this globally crucial issue.

But the Nobel Peace Prize? Pffft.

While he deserves applause for bringing global warming somewhere nearer the forefront of our American conversation (global warming still doesn't get as much discussion as Britney Spears), Gore's a documented hypocrite. He talks the talk, but doesn't quite walk the walk. A carnivorous, global-jetting, mansion-heating guy isn't exactly practicing what he preaches.

I won't waste any more of your bandwidth. I blogged about Gore's Nobel more fully at Under The News

[Brian Schmidt]

Ron, Al Gore never claimed to invent the Internet. Even many of the fellow travelers of the right wing in the mainstream media have walked away from that canard.

You might want to do a little more research. Check into Al Gore buying carbon offsets, too.