Earning Brownie Points With the US

This piece only caught my attention because of the last part of this quote:

"His tough stance against Islamists following a wave of terror attacks in the mid-nineties and his choice to continue his predecessor's policy of peace with Israel have earned him brownie points with Washington."

I googled it: Girl scouts were rewarded for doing small, helpful, things. Like a star in the book - fine for children but embarrassing for an adult; this is why “The phrase seems to have been a sarcastic, backhanded compliment.”

But what about what I thought it might mean? Well, it means that too:

“The experts are agreed that the sense was given greater strength and impetus through scatological undertones, being intimately (and I use that word advisedly) associated with the older term brown-nose, for a sycophant or toady, a person who curries favor to such an extent that his nose seems to be up his superior’s backside.”

[egypt!] [mubarak!] [brownie point!] [news!]