Stephen Colbert's presidential campaign

[Eric]

Fun's over.

No joke.

[Sonic Youth]

Fun's over.

Stephen Colbert Drops Presidential Bid

Nov 5, 1:51 PM (ET)


NEW YORK (AP) - Stephen Colbert has dropped his bid for the White House.

His announcement came after the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted last week to keep the host of "The Colbert Report" off the state's primary ballot. The vote was 13-3.

Colbert poses as a conservative talk-show host on the Comedy Central show.

"Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history - only 10 votes - I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle," Colbert said Monday in a statement. "It is time for this nation to heal."

Colbert had said he would run only in his native South Carolina, a key primary state. He said he planned to run as a Democrat and a Republican - so he could lose twice. Colbert, 43, later declined to file with the GOP, which has a much higher filing fee ($35,000) than the Democrats ($2,500).

"I want to say to my supporters, this is not over," Colbert said. "While I may accept the decision of the Council, the fight goes on! The dream endures! ... And I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping."

In reality, "The Colbert Report" was going off the air because of a strike by Hollywood writers that began Monday. Many talk shows were expected to be shown in repeats during the strike.

[Sonic Youth]

Sonic, you must know that the reason the FEC hasn't ruled that way is because

Why would you possibly think I wouldn't know this? That came off as condescending.

But I blame myself. I should know by now not to set my expectations of you so low, because you always exceed them. Once again, I'd have thought my point - that the bureaucratic process treating everything with equal weight can be breathtakingly, embarrassingly stupid in cases such as this - would not need clarification, and then I forget that you're still around.

[criddic3]

You know absolutely nothing about this process.

"Polls don't take place in the real world?" I shouldn't believe you said that...but seriously? Likability isn't a factor? Of course it is, but with the loathsome slate of Republicans, I can believe they'd vote for Hillary and just because you don't like her doesn't mean others don't...

And 12% is actually kinda low...if you know anything about Colbert's followers, you know that they can turn out en masse for the most ludicrous things. He's had a bridge named after him because of his fans...you need to do some research in the real world before making proclamations like that.

Oscarguy, I meant that THESE polls don't take place in the real world, because people are not paying as much attention to the race as they will later on. That makes these "results" unrealistic. Consider that 12% say they would vote for Colbert. I find that astonishing. If true, it really does say a lot about how some voters think and the power of TV.

Remember the Robin Williams movie Man of the Year? Think about how unrealistic most of that was. Sure, I can believe that a comedian could win an election by fooling people, but that's a very distant possibility. While some people would get a kick out of voting for the comedian as a joke, I really think most people would eventually turn more serious as voters and say "no, I can't throw away my vote for a joke."

Sonic, you must know that the reason the FEC hasn't ruled that way is because actual steps have been taken by the Colbert people to register as a real campaign. That's why they are questioning the true motives behind this "fake" candidacy. Maybe they want to see how well they can do, like Williams in the movie. Shaking things up is fine and protesting is fine, but it is the truth that even a phony campaign can mess up a real election for all sides.

[Sonic Youth]

Who's gonna actually vote for the comedian? I don't say it is impossible. Some people might do it as a joke, but 12%? That seems excessive. Especially when it is soooo obvious this is a ploy for ratings.

Not so obvious, apparently. I'm appalled to note that some people aren't sure this is a joke. There are people (that is, morons) who believe this is a sincere candidacy, even as they acknowledge he's in character.

Even the FEC hasn't yet decided this is a satirical campaign, for friggin' god's sake!

I think it's a perfectly funny idea in principle, and I'm all for active political protest (which, in its way, it is) but when Tim Russert takes time from his show to do a fake interview, that's when I get off the bus. It's one thing to parody, it's another to intentionally blur the lines between satire and reality. Especially when someone as eminent as Russert could have used the time to talk about IMPORTANT things, like the Turkey-Kurd standoff or the falling dollar, or something, anything?! Not this silliness.

Anyway, I think he'd be doing this no matter what the ratings were. He's just that sort of conceptual artist.

[Akash]

I'm not even going to get into this one with criddic. As always, he's absurd. But I just want to say, I actually don't find any of this funny at all. Well...ok, I thought it was pretty funny right up until Colbert jumped ahead of even Kucinich in the polls. That to me is just sad. I'm grateful for shows like Colbert's and Jon Stewart's (and Bill Maher's sometimes) but is that all we have left of a real Left in America? We can't talk about any of these things seriously so we just settle for laughing at them? Does anyone else find this disturbing?

There's nothing "funny" to me about protecting social security, or acknowledging universal health care and education as moral imperatives, or the threat of global warming, or the fact that college students can rally around Darfur but not around a war with a country we're actually involved in...

Real news and a Real Left is only represented by comedians in the U.S. To me, that reality is painfully unfunny.



Edited By Akash on 1193408371

[OscarGuy]

You know absolutely nothing about this process.

"Polls don't take place in the real world?" I shouldn't believe you said that...but seriously? Likability isn't a factor? Of course it is, but with the loathsome slate of Republicans, I can believe they'd vote for Hillary and just because you don't like her doesn't mean others don't...

And 12% is actually kinda low...if you know anything about Colbert's followers, you know that they can turn out en masse for the most ludicrous things. He's had a bridge named after him because of his fans...you need to do some research in the real world before making proclamations like that.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1193398749

[criddic3]

For what it’s worth, the overall numbers show Hillary Clinton at 45%, Rudy Giuliani at 35%, and Colbert at 13%.

The other match-up shows Clinton at 46%, Thompson at 34% and Colbert at 12%

I'm assuming, of course, that if Colbert is taken out of the equation, the majority of those 12-13% voters would go to Hillary.

Explain to me again how she's "unelectable"?

These polls don't take place in the real world. Factoring peoples' true feelings about Hillary Clinton will make it tough for her to have major success in the general election. She can win, but it won't be as easy as she seems to think it will be.

Who's gonna actually vote for the comedian? I don't say it is impossible. Some people might do it as a joke, but 12%? That seems excessive. Especially when it is soooo obvious this is a ploy for ratings.

The truth is that most of the people who are going to actually vote next year have not really tuned in to the race in earnest. It's still a distant concept for many Americans right now. I mean, "a year away" is what they are thinking. The reality of primary season doesn't really mean much to a lot of people. Maybe this time more people will get involved in that process in January and February, but in October, even Christmas seems far away.



Edited By criddic3 on 1193375981

[Penelope]

For what it’s worth, the overall numbers show Hillary Clinton at 45%, Rudy Giuliani at 35%, and Colbert at 13%.

The other match-up shows Clinton at 46%, Thompson at 34% and Colbert at 12%

I'm assuming, of course, that if Colbert is taken out of the equation, the majority of those 12-13% voters would go to Hillary.

Explain to me again how she's "unelectable"?

[Sonic Youth]

This absurdity needs its own thread.

From rasmussenreports.com

Comedian Colbert Reaches Double Digits
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Comedian Stephen Colbert is not a threat to win the presidency, but the odds are that that his satire will win plenty of laughs and maybe even some votes.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that Colbert is preferred by 13% of voters as an independent candidate challenging Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani. The survey was conducted shortly after Colbert’s surprise announcement that he is lusting for the Oval Office.

The result is similar when Fred Thompson is the Republican in the three-way race. With Thompson as the GOP candidate, Colbert earns 12% of the vote.

Last week Colbert used his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" to announce that he is running for President as both a Republican and a Democrat, but only in the state of South Carolina. He first informed fellow jokester Jon Stewart on Stewart's program that so far he had only "decided to officially consider whether or not I will announce"—a habitual formulation of both politicians and comedians pretending to be politicians. Fifteen minutes later, however, Colbert was telling viewers of his own show: "After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call."

Colbert does particularly well with the younger voters most likely to be watching his show and therefore most aware of his myriad presidential-like qualities. In the match-up with Giuliani and Clinton, Colbert draws 28% of likely voters aged 18-29. He draws 31% of that cohort when his foes are Thompson and Clinton. In both match-ups, Colbert has more support with young voters than the GOP candidate.

"These are my people," Colbert didn't say when he wasn't asked about the high support from young voters discovered by Rasmussen Reports. "They know who I am and what I'm about, and so forth. Is this thing working, are we on the air? Oh, it's the Internet? Well why didn't you say the Internet?"

An earlier survey found that only 8% of Americans say they would definitely vote for comedian Jon Stewart if he was on the ballot in 2008. Just 38% say they would definitely vote against Stewart. It may be worth noting that the comedian outperformed Katie Couric on this point—62% of American voters would definitely vote against the CBS news anchor.

For what it’s worth, the overall numbers show Hillary Clinton at 45%, Rudy Giuliani at 35%, and Colbert at 13%.

The other match-up shows Clinton at 46%, Thompson at 34% and Colbert at 12%.

Rasmussen Reports releases a daily Presidential Tracking Poll along with weekly analysis on the races for the Democratic and Republican Presidential nominations. General election match-ups and other key stats are also available for all Republican and Democratic candidates.