The GOP: Sore Losers - Need a Time-Out

This morning, the President of the United States of America was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Regardless of political affiliation or differences, this is an honor for which every American citizen should take pride.

But instead of taking a moment to share the pride and joy of being an American, instead of sharing in the dignity and honor of such an occasion, the Republican Party and its leaders took another great American moment and trashed it.

Why? Because the Republican Party has become the party of sore losers. It seems the mothers of the current crop of Grand Old Party leaders never taught them how to lose gracefully -- or if they did, they've forgotten the lesson.

Rather than sharing in a great moment for America, the Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele immediately issued a statement saying that Obama had not yet accomplished enough for a Nobel Prize, despite the fact that the Nobel Prize was awarded because Obama has "captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." Rush Limbaugh said the award exposes Obama as an "illusion." RedState.com writer Erick Erickson made a quip about the Nobel Prize Committee having an affirmative action quota. Joe Scarborough said the award "befuddled" him. And the list of outlandish GOPer reactions goes on and on.

The Urban Dictionary defines sore loser as "someone who loses in a fair competition but whines about it on a constant basis, blaming everyone around them for their loss, except themselves." That just about sums up the last 11 months of the Republican Party.

Republican leaders have spent the last year engaged in what amounts to tantrum behavior. They stormed off after losing in November, and instead of trying to work cooperatively with Democratic leaders to solve the difficult problems of our nation, they're basically giving America the finger, taking their toys, and going home.

Even politics as usual have ended. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) famously said, "If Barack Obama has a BLT sandwich tomorrow for lunch, they would try and ban bacon."

Since losing last November, Republicans have offered little in the way of solutions or ideas. They've been too focused on attacking the winner of the election just for winning. They've regressed until their primary activities have become name-calling and obstructing. Today's Republican leadership doesn't want to play the other team anymore, they just want to upend the checkers table.

Ask yourself as you watch the rhetoric today and over the weekend, the reaction to a great moment in American history, the President of the United States winning a prestigious international award, if a child acted this way after losing a game or a contest or a school election, wouldn't they be getting a time out?

GOP, you deserve the time out America gave you last November. Please use this time to think about what you've done.

Follow Dawn Teo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dawnteo

Comments

[Dwight Hales]

What is the legitimacy of a party or an organization whose obstruction is spiteful and baseless, the consequences of which threatens us all? How far does a party or movement have to go before it rightfully loses its legitimacy?

[ReedYoung]

Brilliant analysis! I had to wait two days, and mull over the subject before I thought I had anything to add. That never happens!

Finally, I realized that what doesn't work about the analogy is merely the practical option of sentencing them all to an actual time out. As much as they behave like children, until they commit crimes we must treat them as human beings, meaning respect their rights to speak. But this does not mean we must respect THEM nor the THINGS THEY CHOOSE TO SAY. Representative Grayson has set a fine example for other Congressional Democrats, but it is just a start. I want resolutions, statements of the sense of the Congress or whatever they call them, from both the House and the Senate, calling out their party-line misstatements of fact which have only crescendoed with health care, but extend to the case for the invasion of Iraq, illegal surveillance, and especially in the case of James Inhofe, denial of the proven fact of global warming caused by human carbon dioxide emissions. I want my Democratic representatives to really speak for me. To do so, they must tell their Republican "colleagues" that until you begin to comport yourselves as adults, you will be treated as your behavior warrants: as children.

I don't mince words with such idiots, and nobody who does is honestly representing me or my peers. They are representing my intellectual inferiors, who voted against them AND LOST.

[TRex86]

Having been on winning teams in six different decades I agree completely with the sports analogy. Competitive sports represent a social contract among people who risk losing in exchange for having the chance to win. If it becomes too unpleasant to lose nobody plays anymore. If it's too easy to win it loses its satisfaction. It's a complex social phenomenon, which most people do easily enough, but not always. A while back I was on a champion softball team and noticed that my team-mates loved to deride the opposition well beyond the usual mocking insults that fit with the game. At the end of the season I gave myself a timeout and joined the last place team in the league for a couple of seasons while my former team gradually disintegrated. This is the fate of the Republican Party. One at a time people who were offended by their tactics--even though they shared goals--drop out, making winning impossible, leaving a core of boorish, abrasive, sore losers.

[kenninsf]

Excellent blog! You are so right. I've been telling people that I don't think it's a racist thing (even though there is still racism in this country). But that the republican party behavior is actually "sore loser" behavior and just like the 10 year old group of boys that lost the recess kick ball game, since they didn't win we are going to be sorry. Why would any American be angry that the president of their country received the Nobel Prize? You may not agree that he deserves it, but why would it bother somebody that he won it? Because they only see it as an extension of their loss of power. Thank you for putting the obvious in words.

[guyinAZ]

I don't think that many people are angry. Most of us haven't stopped laughing long enough to get angry.

[guyinAZ]

Even Obama knows that he hasn't earned the Nobel. This is from Obama's newsletter:

"But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes."

The Nobel committee decided Obama was their man 11 days after the inauguration. That was far too soon for Obama to accomplish anything, which proves that the award was totally political. Let's review what Obama has done since then to earn the prize:

* Continues to allow our troops to die in worthless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* Started a war in Pakistan that has forced over 2 million people to become refugees.

* Obama allows humanless drones to kill innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

* Made covert plans with Israel to attack Iran.

* He has kept Guantanamo up and running.

* Has kept the Patriot bill intact in order to spy on and intimidate Americans.

* Has allowed Bush and his war criminals to go free.

If Obama was smart he would refuse to take the Nobel. The Nobel will be like an anchor tied to his neck -- which might be a good thing considering his record so far. Call it the "peace anchor".

[Lanita Mayes]

Thank you for this articlest, it really needs to be one of the biggest articles in web news. I enjoyed the "medium". Another good read is at michellezmilk blog. Will definately tag your future post.

[Lanita Mayes]

Very well written and truthfull I might add! Thanks for the "medium" good sense of all of this.

[den1953]

The Republicans can't afford to take a time out they have no new ideas that they can spin the only thing that is left is there hate and bigotry toward Democrats. This is a self destructing party that has no direction and talking heads that are as loony as patient in the mental ward. Which when they are in the news this also deflects the fact media isn't questioning them for solutions!

[rich3324]

Well at least this knocks Palin out of the news for a few days. It's so fun to watch these GOPers create great sound bites for the Daily Show.

[LMPE]

No doubt the lunatic fringe wants to use this to claim that Obama is "pro-Europe".

[Bloggerrogr]

I spend a lot of time on Huff Po and John Fitzgerald's post about the difference of the peace prize, specifically "...the [Nobel Peace] Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving a conflict OR CREATING PEACE..."{my emphasis added}.

I shall be referencing that sentence repeatedly tonight on other discussion threads.

Thank you again John Fitzgerald!

FWIW

[guyinAZ]

The Nobel committee shot themselves in the foot by choosing Obama. They have shown that the Nobel peace prize is nothing but a popularity contest among liberal globalists, and they have destroyed what little credibility they had left.

It could be argued that Jimmy Carter deserved the award for all this hard work after he left office, but Obama? Give me a break!

Obama hasn't done anything to deserve this award. The only thing I can think of is that he promises to remove missiles in Poland, but the jury is still out whether that will happen. The only thing I can think of that could have earned him the Nobel is that he denigrates the U.S. and apologizes any time he is in front of world leaders. His snubbing of the Dalai Lama should have disqualified him.

Will the Nobel committee take the award away from Obama when he invades the sovereign nation of Pakistan?

[bdaved]

Guy, you make a good case for Dawn. She really doesn't need all your help.

[Welib]

Another traitorous Republican heard from. You have no pride in your country? No, of course not, you're a Repub.

Republicans are frauds and traitors and the most unAmerican people I have ever seen. Their only goal is to take out Obama. That's it.

Republicans are so traitorous that they sent a delegation to China and Honduras to tell them to ignore this administration because it's illegitimate. That's treason. You should all be tried and hanged for it.

Obama is the MAN. So much more than any, ANY Republican. Don't waste your money on the next election. Repubs won't see the White House ever again now that everyone knows their agenda.

[guyinAZ]

China doesn't need to be told to ignore Obama -- they already own him.

[knowwhatimsayin]

If Barack Obama came out in favor of mom, apple pie and puppies, Republicans would ask why he was against fathers, pumpkin pie and kittens.

[mltaylor13pt1]

Great article, I agree wholeheartedly!
Remind me to apologize to two year olds for comparing the GOP to spoiled two year olds. A two year old can reasonably be expected to mature emotionally and outgrow tantrums.

[BachelorJohnnyCool]

When people complained about President Bush, many right-wingers told them to leave the country if they didn't like what he was doing. Now that Obama is President, those same right-wingers complain that "we have to take back our country." Sorry folks, but it's not "your" country and nothing was taken away from you. Obama won the election fair and square and did it with the votes of millions of moderate and right of center citizens. So quit whining and deal with it. If you don't like President Obama, in three years you'll have a chance to vote for someone else. That's democracy.

[guyinAZ]

It's unfortunate that Dawn tried to make this such a partisan issue. Perhaps she wrote before she really thought things through.

There is no shortage of Democrats that don't approve of what is going on. I have read several other commentaries on Huffington that question the sense in giving Obama this award. Anyone with a sense of fair play would feel uneasy that Obama was given the Nobel. It has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats.

Obama should turn the award down but his ego won't let him. Too bad for him.

[seawolf77]

Agreed. Enough red carpet. Let the guy earn it like the rest of it. Anough already.