Thank You For Your Concern in This Matter

In this post, Steve Benen of The Washington Monthly covers the questioning Robert Gibbs received in the wake of the president winning the Nobel Peace Prize. CBS's Chip Reid lived up to his name by chipping away at Gibbs with annoying questions about the award being a "partisan thing" and asking why Obama won the award when Reagan never did.

Benen writes:

Reid's fears that a Nobel prize the president did not seek might "widen the partisan divide and make things even more difficult to accomplish on every front" are almost comical. It reminded me of the scene in "Life of Brian" when Matthias says, "Look, I don't think it should be a sin, just for saying 'Jehovah.'" Shocked, the official overseeing his execution says, "You're only making it worse for yourself!" To which Matthias responds, "Making it worse? How can it be worse?"

This is a brilliantly simple point that I hope is not lost on the White House. Partisan rancor coming from conservatives can't be worse. Chip is just predicting something negative the conservatives probably will say and asking why the Democrats didn't avoid the situation that they had no control over in the first place. The Republicans have decided a long time ago to do their worst. Motivating them to do political damage need not be a concern.