Earlier this week, television personality Stephen Colbert announced that he is seriously exploring a presidential run in South Carolina, making it legal by handing over control of his beloved Super PAC to Jon Stewart last evening.
A recent survey from Public Policy Polling showed the former “Daily Show” correspondent leading former Utah governor Jon Huntsman by a percentage point. Huntsman, who has spent most of the campaign at the bottom of the pack, just finished third in New Hampshire.
“I am proud to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for President of the United States of America of South Carolina,” Colbert said during the Thursday evening show, several hours before airtime on Comedy Central. “This is a difficult decision. I’ve talked it over with my money. I’ve talked it over with my spiritual adviser.”
The move by Colbert is designed to emphasize the absurdity of U.S. election law. Although he will not compete for the Republican nomination in other states, his candidacy gives Republicans a form of protest against Mitt Romney and his fellow pols in a state where every Republican nominee since 1980 has won the primary.
Now begs the real question – what does it say about our society if a talk show host can challenge seasoned politicians for a potential Presidential nomination? If anything, Colbert is making a mockery of the Republicans and is proving with each passing day that as long as you say what your constituents want to hear, people will vote for you. It is absolutely baffling to think that any Republican would consider voting for Colbert, considering his entire program is one, giant satire of their ideology.
Although Colbert readily acknowledges that receiving the Republican nomination for President would be a long shot, he is certainly making the race more interesting. Additionally, his satire of the party he is claiming to represent can only help President Obama.
