Gore, Limbaugh nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, a coincidence that gives left and right alike plenty of red meat

Environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. So has radio blowhard and prominent prevaricator Rush Limbaugh.

The mouthbreathers who consider Limbaugh a font of wisdom will argue that their guy surpasses Gore as Nobel timber. Those of us who walk upright will take the opposite view. In the end, the prize likely will go to somebody else, probably a non-American.

But if Gore is somehow the choice of the prize committee (Limbaugh has as much chance as I do, perhaps even less), the dittoheads and their ilk will dismiss the outcome as the devious work of godless European leftists. They'll also mistakenly assume that Limbaugh finished second.

The Landmark Legal Foundation's formal nomination of Limbaugh lauds him for his "tireless efforts to promote liberty, equality and opportunity for all humankind, regardless of race, creed, economic stratum or national origin."

Reads like satire, doesn't it?

Gore was nominated for his environmental work by Boerge Brende, a Conservative Party member of the Norwegian Parliament and a former minister of environment and trade.

Said Brende: "A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference...Al Gore, like no other, has put climate change on the agenda. Gore uses his position to get politicians to understand."

Gore's documentary film on global warming "An Inconvenient Truth," has been nominated for an Oscar.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize usually is announced in October, and the presentation ceremonies are held on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel.