Grayson: GOP wishes there were Nobel prize for 'fear, hatred, racism'

Members of the Republican Party are angry at President Barack Obama's Nobel Prize for Peace because none of their politicians will win one anytime soon, says US House Rep. Alan Grayson.

"I think I understand their disappointment," Grayson told MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Friday. "They're not going to be winning the Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon. They probably wish there was a Nobel prize for fear, a Nobel prize for hatred, a Nobel prize for racism. Then they'd be in the running."

Schultz aired a clip of Grayson speaking on the House floor Thursday, in which the Florida congressman took on the Republicans for their opposition to much of the Obama White House's agenda.

"America understands that there's one party in this country that's in favor of health care reform, and one party that's against it, and they know why," Grayson told the House.

"They understand that if Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world, the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation," Grayson continued. "They understand that if Barack Obama were to somehow bring about world peace, they would blame him for destroying the defense industry. In fact they understand that if Barack Obama had a BLT for lunch tomorrow, they would try to ban bacon."

Grayson (D-FL) has recently been thrown into the spotlight as one of the most vocal, and perhaps controversial, supporters of health care reform. Last month, he raised the ire of congressional Republicans when he described the GOP's health care policy as hoping that sick people "die quickly."

When Republicans demanded an apology, Grayson took to the floor of the House and pointed to a Harvard study showing that 44,000 Americans die every year due to lack of access to health care. "I apologize to the dead," Grayson said.

The following video was brodcast on MSNBC's The Ed Show, October 9, 2009.