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Opinion: Nobel Peace Prize unleashes partisan war

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Is it just us, or does it strike anyone else as deliciously ironic that the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama has occasioned an explosive war (of words, anyway) here at home?

At moments like this, all we can wonder is WWAND? (What Would Alfred Nobel Do? Besides roll over in his grave, we mean. On the other hand, he did invent dynamite ....)


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You probably know that after Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele sniffed at Obama’s peace prize, Democrats went ballistic.

Longing perhaps for the day they could accuse Republicans of siding with ‘the terrorists’ (a charge often leveled at Dems the last two presidential campaigns), their moment finally arrived today.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse seized the day. He told Politico’s Ben Smith:

‘The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists -- the Taliban and Hamas this morning -- in criticizing the president for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the president of the United States for receiving the....

...Nobel Peace Prize -- an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride -- unless of course you are the Republican Party.’

We enjoyed reading a top-ten style list created by Jerome Doolittle, a former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter who blogs at Bad Attitudes. He suggests these talking points for disgruntled Republicans (and the talkers at Fox News Network). Our favorite is No. 6, which gets in a nice slap at Obama for failing to bring home the 2016 Olympics:

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1. What do you expect from a bunch of socialists?

2. Not that I’m a racist, but I know affirmative action when I see it.

3. Carter, Gore, Obama? Do we see a pattern here?

4. A clumsy attempt by Europe to save a failing presidency.

5. The Norwegians are just using Obama to slap George W. Bush in the face.

6. Besides, who cares what a bunch of geeks in Oslo think? The International Olympic Committee speaks for the whole world.

7. No thinking person has taken the Nobel Peace Prize seriously since Reagan didn’t win one for ending the Cold War.

8. We elect a president to keep America safe, not to win prizes.

9. True leadership is not an international popularity contest.

10. Peace is no big deal anyway. No, wait a minute. Strike that last one.

Which one do you like?

-- Robin Abcarian

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A live broadcast of President Obama talking about winning the Nobel Peace Prize is seen at Valois Cafeteria as assistant manager Larry Hatzikonstadonou, center, and others talk on the phone Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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