Richard Shelby, Peter Diamond's nemesis, loses a big one

IT ISN'T THAT difficult to pick apart the medieval thought processes of the Republican political class in this awful campaign season. But the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has offered a fat pitch for the GOP's critics to hit out of the park. The Academy awarded Peter Diamond, an MIT economist, a share of the Nobel Prize for Economics - yes, the same Peter Diamond that Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and his GOP colleagues have stonewalled since President Obama nominated him for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. In his Deep South Claghorn wisdom, Shelby has argued that Diamond isn't qualified for the seat. Right. And Shelby has countered that while the prize is "significant" the Academy has no right to determine who should be on our Federal Reserve Board. Huh? What's worrisome about all of this is the forecast increase in GOP power in Congress. You ain't seen nuthin' yet. Like the ancient Vikings' boats, the brains of Republicans like Shelby have a shallow draught, which made the predatory Norsemen's seafarers all the more dangerous.