48 Nobel Scientists Endorse Kerry

Here is an open letter from 48 Nobel Prize winning scientists who support Kerry:

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/pr_2004_0621_2.pdf

Can't wait to see the spin the wingnuts would put on this endorsement. Something like, "Of course the elites endorse the Democrats" or "Aren't the Nobel Prizes discredited because of its liberal leanings?" or "Remember: academia has been hijacked by the left."

Oh, well.

•  The ads

  I can't wait to see Kerry start to use this stuff in his ads. There are so many groups out there endorsing him and rejecting Bush. He could put together a full 30 second spot, that's nothing but these endorsements of him, and rejections of Bush.

  by Zackpunk on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:09:42 PM PST

•  I would have to think...

  That everyone on this list is American and that the list represents the majority of American Nobel Prize winners over the last 30 years?

  by Jsea on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:12:56 PM PST

  •  There are a lot of live ones

    71. living laureates in Physiology and Medicine alone!
    8. living at Berkeley ... 17 at Stanford ...

    by RonK Seattle on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:43:47 PM PST

  •  Actually...

    Gunter Blobel is originally from Germany.  He did his graduate work in the NY and still has a very productive lab here, but I'm not sure if he is a US Citizen.

    Folks here in the lab are actually wondering why a couple more that we know aren't on the list.  We pretty sure they are lefties, but like with Blobel we aren't sure if they have become nationalized.

    It is really cool to see Harold Varmus on the list.    I took a class that he taught one session of and was dazzled.  The man is incredibly warm and supremely humble.  Also, his endorsement should carry a bit more weight as he was the director of NIH until a couple years back before leaving to lead Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

    by hazletok on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:59:53 PM PST

•  Endorsements

  Bush will probably combat that with the endorsement of 48 Sunday School teachers or something like that.

  by Bailey on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:16:44 PM PST

•  re:Puh-lease

  Note the small print at the bottom:

   The "Medicine" award is for "Physiology or Medicine."  

  So already these laureates are bending the truth and simplifying facts to suit their purpose.  

  Or should we call them liareates?

  by deminva on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:20:42 PM PST

  •  What?

    From the Nobel Home page:

    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

    Physiology or Medicine is one of the five prize areas mentioned in Alfred Nobel's will. The will was, however, partly incomplete. Nobel simply stated that prizes be given to those who, during the preceding year, "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" and that one part be given to the person who "shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine."

    What exactly is the lie? Just wondering.

    by annalivia on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:34:30 PM PST

    •  He was mocking how the GOP would spin it

      AT least I hope that's the case :P

      by John Campanelli on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:37:19 PM PST

      •  re:Thanks, John,

        for covering my ironic back.  Yes, that was my point.  

        I expect the rightwing attack dogs will more likely denounce this cabal as liberal elitists who have it in for a real person like Dumbya.  Funny, isn't it, how the same people who thank doctors for saving their lives will eagerly curse the lot of them when it suits their purposes?  Here we have some of America's greatest scientists saying, in effect, Please support the candidate that will help, not hinder, our attempts to save lives and ease suffering.  Yet we both know that they will in short order be denounced as self-serving, out of touch, and arrogant.  

        I may be arrogant myself, but I remain mystified, truly mystified, that any thinking person can vote for Dumbya.  I'm less surprised by his support among stupid people.

        by deminva on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 01:38:38 PM PST

      •  whoops

        Scanned quickly and got back to the day job-
        or maybe I'm losing my sense of irony or sense of humor.
        Nuance is bad, right?
        

        by annalivia on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 06:04:38 PM PST

•  awwww shucks...

  we know that all that book-learning is just a bunch of eastern intellectual hoo-hah. what you folks need is an honest, down-to-earth guy like me who understands you and your values.

  why, just vote for me and i'll be sure to protect marriage from homosexuals, and to prevent women from murdering their unborn child.

  and if i happen to pass a few tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of america along the way, well then all the better.

  just remember, though, it's easier to deliver on the tax cut thing than the abortion and marriage things...

  by scottesposito on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:29:13 PM PST

•  Pardon the name dropping

  Two of those guys work in my building.  Maybe I'll work up enough courage to actually talk to them and thank them when I see tthem next.

  by hazletok on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:31:15 PM PST

•  Kiss of Death?

  Yeah, right.  Having a bunch of smarty-pants intellectuals in his corner is just what Kerry need.  What part of being-smart-is-not-an-asset did we not understand from the last election?

  by TomDog on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 12:39:43 PM PST

  •  Exactly

    The USA is so anti intellectual that Kerry would get a lot bigger boost if 41 NASCAR drivers endorse him!.

    by Aspe4 on Mon Jun 21, 2004 at 01:49:35 PM PST

  •  Who listened to "eggheads" on Iraq?

    I agree there is great scorn in this country for academics. Democrats could use this to advantage on Iraq, casting the Republican "chickenhawk" influence as a triumph of ivory tower armchair warriors (Wolfowitz, Feith, Cheney, ...) over people who learned about war by actually being in one or two (Powell, Zinni, Shineski, ...).

    by jts on Tue Jun 22, 2004 at 04:37:43 AM PST