Democratic and Liberal political analysis and commentary

John McCain showed his grouchy bad manners by suggesting that the monks in Myanmar would have been the better recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize than Al Gore. News Flash Mr. McCain: The monks would have to be nominated for the prize months ago, before they marched the streets for peace.

However, McCain is eligible to nominate someone, so next year he can get the forms and properly nominate them.

Another interesting talking point on the right is that Al Gore didn't deserve to win the Nobel for a variety of reasons:

1. Global warming has nothing to do (supposedly) with peace (I disagree),
2. Al Gore is just the mouthpiece for the global warming movement, and finally:
3. Gore's version of global warming is so rife with errors that it can't possibly be right.

To the first point, global warming has a huge connection to peace among nations. One does not have to go far to see how natural resouces can start global conflicts...the Iraq war for oil is a perfect recent example. If more than a tenth of the world's population becomes displaced due to the effects of global warming, a nation with strapped resources might turn to armed conflict to gain more space for its citizens.

Al Gore is indeed a mouthpiece for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists who supply policy makers worldwide with the information they need to guide the world direction on global warming laws. But Gore is a crusader in his own right. It's been a lifelong passion and he is the one who decided to take the powerpoint on the road after the 2000 election. Without his vision and passion, it is doubtful this important issue would have gained the importance it has.

Many right-wind pundits draw attention away from the seriousness of the global warming issue by saying that Gore is huffing and puffing unnecessarily. In reality, Gore is only articulating what scientists have been saying for the past 20 years: We are in crisis and nobody is listening.

Even George W. Bush, who's White House has gone out of its way to discredit the movement, had the class to call Gore's award important for the nation and congratulate him. Show some class next time, Senator McCain.