So much for Colbert/Gore…
Published by punkass marc November 2nd, 2007 in Politics
Alas, the candidacy of Stephen Colbert has come to an end:
Stephen Colbert’s bid to formally join the presidential race in South Carolina was rejected Thursday by the state’s Democratic Party leaders, who said that the late-night comedian’s candidacy would distract from the serious business of picking a presidential nominee.
The LA Times isn’t kidding. The Democratic Party in South Carolina actually referred to the primary as “serious:”
“He clearly doesn’t meet the requirements,” said Waring Howe Jr., one of the executive council members who voted against Colbert. “It’s a distraction and takes away from the seriousness of our primary here and takes attention from the serious candidates: Clinton, Edwards, Barack Obama and the rest.”
I’m sorry, but nobody with the name Waring Howe Jr. could be taken seriously. And what, exactly, is so serious about the primary process? Is it its antiquated existence, meant for a time before any moron could puke on his computer screen and have it baby-birded by thousands? Is it the smear campaigns that allege drug use, homosexual behavior, and/or masturbation to American Eagle rape porn? Maybe it’s the candidates themselves, striving to be as innocuous as possible if they’re Democrats or gunning for the triple crown (anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-minority) if they’re Republicans.
For those of you who’ve seen the film Election, doesn’t this strike you as the ultimate Tammy Metzler moment? Whenever a candidate dares to point out the futility, the ridiculousness of some “democratic” charade, you can bet that whoever’s in charge will drive them out of the race ASAP. The fear that someone against the system will actually use it to make enough noise to change it is the ultimate fear of party hacks everywhere.
Howe added that he thought that Colbert “might be trying to use us . . . to achieve some kind of status he doesn’t really deserve.”
The only people who deserve to be the next President are people who had the gall to stand up to the current one before it was cool. And you know who did that? Stephen freaking Colbert. He may well have been the first person in the history of the universe to stand in the same room as George Bush and point out *exactly* why Dubya’s an embarrassment, a war criminal, and a sourpuss. That it was also funny is incidental; Colbert demonstrated more backbone in the face of Republican evil than the other candidates combined. I’m surprised he’s still breathing, honestly.
But executive council members were apparently more swayed by a letter from Donald L. Fowler. The former state and national party chairman wrote that Colbert had failed to register with the Federal Election Commission, to maintain a campaign staff in South Carolina and to meet other requirements to establish a viable campaign.
“He seeks to make a travesty of our primary,” one that could even taint the value of a victory by a mainstream candidate there, Fowler wrote.
All of our real candidates are already tainted. Couldn’t South Carolina have at least let us enjoy a little longer the illusion that someone who isn’t a taint could someday be President?
Sorry to take away from the seriousness of the primary again, but hearing them say “Clinton, Edwards, Barack Obama and the rest.” just makes me think of the Gilligan’s Island theme song. If they’re all supposed to be serious candidates than I think the professor and Mary Ann deserve to have their names included up there with the others. :p
He may well have been the first person in the history of the universe to stand in the same room as George Bush and point out *exactly* why Dubya’s an embarrassment, a war criminal, and a sourpuss. That it was also funny is incidental; Colbert demonstrated more backbone in the face of Republican evil than the other candidates combined. I’m surprised he’s still breathing, honestly.
Good point. Very good point.
It’s always funny when politicians take themselves seriously.
Exactly, that they actually told him that their reasoning was they didn’t think he deserved to be president was such BS. It was excited when I saw he was running even though I don’t live in SC. It was nice to see that someone was finally going to challenge the ridiculous pandering and soul-selling that the current election process seems to be.
I’m torn - part of me wants him to just run as an independent or something; he may not win, but I’m sure he’d win enough votes to shake up the democrats and it would be interesting to see what he’d do to voter turnout. The conservative part of me doesn’t want him siphoning votes from the real Democrat candidate, because things could actually still get worse if we had 4 or 8 more years of Republican leadership; on the other hand, WTF have the Democrats done lately?
And I was so proud he is from South Carolina!!!!
(Well, still proud, but I woulda been DAMN proud to VOTE for him, too!)
“Colbert demonstrated more backbone in the face of Republican evil than the other candidates combined. I’m surprised he’s still breathing, honestly.”
Perhaps Colbert lives precisely because they know the dems wont stand up like the in house court jester playing the fool.
“Humor is disarming, so maybe I’m punking you all” - Jon Stewart
any more serious and we would hung the bastards from the cherry trees on penn ave.
dems have no balls, fuck ‘em.
Colbert for President! I love the guy and even though he’s wacky and wierd, he’d be better than any of the other candidates.