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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Gotta Love the USA

At least on the Democratic side:
Stephen Colbert is starting to show up in the presidential polls.

Not high in the polls, but Colbert, who announced last week that he is running for president, is the choice of two percent of the Democrats nationally, according to reports.

And that - we kid you not - is good enough for fifth place in the Democratic primaries right now.

The late-night political humorist ranks behind Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards - but ahead of Gov. Bill Richardson, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Sen. Mike Gravel.

He is in a statistical dead heat with Sen. Joe Biden - 2.7 percent for Biden versus 2.3 percent for Colbert , a virtual tie in a poll with a five percent margin of error.

Among Republicans, however, he is dead last - behind not only the front runners like Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. Mitt Romney, but also marginal candidates like Reps. Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul.
I think he should start pressing for time on debates and the like. I'm sure it wouldn't take long to get the signatures necessary to run; he should really run. It will make the next year that much more entertaining. Think about it: Wouldn't the look on Hillary's face, on Obama's face, on Edwards' hair, all be great whenever they need to respond to something Colbert has said? Do you treat everything as a joke and run the risk of saying something truly dumb or missing a chance to say something you want? Do you try and take it seriously and come off looking like a tense fool? Colbert wouldn't even need to film a whole show anymore - just show clips from debates. Wouldn't faceoffs between Dennis Kucinich and Colbert be riotous? Plus, Comedy Central would have to give shows to Clinton, Obama, and of course, Kucinich to satisfy the equal time rules, right?

The potential here is amazing. Anyone else have good ideas?

3 comments:

  1. Wow! I had no idea! That's hysterical I'm a big colbert fan the guy is really funny. He's be very dangerous in a debate no doubt.

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  2. There really is a lot of potential for comedic genius here. If he does this right he'll go down in history.

    I feel kind of bad for the real politicians, though. If they act remotely like human beings, they get crucified by the press and voted against by people who get their news in 10-second soundbites. If they act as they have to to get elected, then they get made fun of by satirists and annoy the heck out of people actually paying attention. It's a rare candidate that can seem somewhat real while also never saying anything that can be taken out of context, ever. Bill Clinton had it. Obama might have it. Giuliani has it to an extent. I think Huckabee has it in spades. The man is so damn charming and likeable on t.v. If he weren't nuts on all the issues, I'd think about supporting him. ;-) Hillary does not have any natural aptitude for it, but she's improved a ton over the last decade or so.

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  3. Shades of Pat Paulsen.

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