Stephen Colbert tosses satirical hat into presidential race:

[Praxius]

I knew it was only a matter of time:

Stephen Colbert tosses satirical hat into presidential race

Stephen Colbert announced his candidacy for president on The Colbert Report, tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race. "I shall seek the office of the President of the United States," announced Colbert on his New York-set Comedy Central show Tuesday, as red, white and blue balloons fell around him. Colbert had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting. Shortly before making the announcement, Colbert appeared on The Daily Show (the show which spawned Colbert's spinoff) and played cagey, claiming he was only ready to consider a White House bid. He entered the studio set pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam and quickly pulled out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer to show that he was "an Average Joe." Colbert said his final decision would be announced on a "more prestigious show," which turned out to be his own. "After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call," said Colbert. His recent bestseller, I Am America (And So Can You!) allowed him to mock the now-standard approach to a White House run, complete with a high-profile book tour. Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, "and South Carolina alone." The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert's native state. Earlier this week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on air. Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn't clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last year. The Comedy Central host has often mobilized his fans (which he calls his "Colbert nation"), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality." The comedian said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: "I can lose twice." He claimed three running-mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert. Minutes after announcing his presidential pursuit, Colbert welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to ask how he had changed the race. "This is going to be one for the books," said Greenfield. A spokesman for Colbert said he would be unavailable for further comment Tuesday evening. In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday's New York Times, Colbert wrote: "I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."

There ya go... the best future president for the US in my opinion

[Thanatos]

If it comes down to Hillary or one of the scarier Republicans I'll be seriously tempted to vote for either him or Donald Duck.

[Milton Bradley]

Being as serious candidates like Ron Paul need the peoples vote this electoin, I'm not happy about what Stephen will likely do to the atmosphere surrounding the debates.

[Praxius]

What he will do to the atmosphere? It's already trash imo with all the recycled talk that all the other candidates keep spewing... something different would be a nice change... and just because he's known for joking around and such, doesn't mean he wouldn't be good for the job.

If you can have buddy from Law & Order run, I don't see why he couldn't.

If anybody can put the other canidates on the spot with hot questions most want to hear as he tends to do, I think it'd be pretty interesting.

[J. Askiloupos]

I say- Bravo. There are worse individuals to run a nation than a satirist.

[Osborn F Enready]

If I knew Colberts political education, and a bit about what he actually values, I might vote for him, but as it stands right now, he is just a comedian. (one that I watch regularly I might add.)

Colberts strategy is most likely to help Hillary win, and most likely that is his intention.

Ron Paul 08!

[ZNFYRH]

I'll wait until I see him actually speak about his plans.

If he can take himself even slightly seriously, he has my vote.

I'm tired of only having politicians to choose from.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Praxius What he will do to the atmosphere? It's already trash imo with all the recycled talk that all the other candidates keep spewing... something different would be a nice change... and just because he's known for joking around and such, doesn't mean he wouldn't be good for the job. If you can have buddy from Law & Order run, I don't see why he couldn't. If anybody can put the other canidates on the spot with hot questions most want to hear as he tends to do, I think it'd be pretty interesting.

The press loves a comedian, and they already have too many excuses not to cover the seroius issues, one more reason will not help.


I imagine a circus like atmosphere developing around him.

[Praxius]

Hey I can explain and talk about serious things as well while still adding some humor to it.... humor doesn't de-evaluate the comment... if he says something that has a point, it's a point none the less.

To me, I'd rather someone talk with some laughter to keep your attention on current issues, then someone who just doesn't answer the damn question and then uses the time to answer the question by shooting off on other non-rellivent issues (Which I have noticed happens a lot laitly)

A question would be asked to a canidate about how they would solve an issue, and instead of answering what their plan is, they'll go on about what needs to be done, how much talk is required, what direction the country has to go, all the bad issues from the past that caused the problem.... .but never explaining their personal solution.

And this happens a lot in our polotics as well, where a polotician will do run arounds and not answer the question.... just shoot off about pointless stuff and preach.

Would he end up doing the same thing? Who knows...

[Suburbanite]

Colbert Putin '08