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Colbert's Candidacy Tested Today

latimes.com — If a campaign as fantastical as Colbert's can have a crossroads, it comes today, when the entertainer must register to be included on January primary ballots in South Carolina.

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  • johnny222, on 11/12/2007, -5/+66Stephen: You see, the Vice President knew that we cannot win this war if we go by the book.
    The Word: Or The Constitution.
    Stephen: You... you do whatever it takes. You go beyond what's legal. You go past what's acceptable.
    The Word: You Shoot A Man In The Face.

    My vote is set.
    • TomPlansMedia, on 11/02/2007, -14/+2i love colbert because the genius is often subtle. this is the same reason i don't find The Word entertaining at all. it's way too literal.

      /comedic snobbery
      • renegadeafk, on 11/02/2007, -0/+6The Word kicks ass
      • dforty3, on 11/02/2007, -0/+6It's a play on Bill O's talking point segment. It's a technique they use at Fox to drill in their programmers. Some people are better auditory learners while others are better visual learners. This addresses both types to maximize the number of people they reach. Colbert's "The Word" is brilliant as is his entire show.
    • djh816, on 11/02/2007, -1/+2good luck.

      http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/01/so ...
  • RoadTipper, on 11/02/2007, -2/+8At least he is funnier than the rest of the field. Reminds me of Pat Paulson's Presidential campaign.
    • fallenone05, on 11/02/2007, -4/+6I don't know, I always crack up when I see George Bush's speaches
      • gungaroo22, on 11/02/2007, -4/+6...speeches?
        You are so much better than him, obviously.
        • sgtbutterscotch, on 11/02/2007, -3/+5No, he definitely meant peaches.
    • diggSJaustin, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3Pat Robertson's presidential campaign was pretty funny, too—though unintentionally.
    • Humptydank, on 11/02/2007, -1/+3It also reminds me on Ron Paulson's Presidential campaign. Now that's funny.
  • pedrovoltaire, on 11/02/2007, -25/+10isn't it unfunny yet?
    • nexah3, on 11/02/2007, -6/+23No.
      • Lylepalooza, on 11/02/2007, -13/+6@ Nexah3
        Lol, you got my vote
        @Pedrovoltaire
        Lol, burried
        • notque, on 11/02/2007, -0/+8@ Nexah3
          WOOT
          @Pedrovoltaire
          SUCK IT
          @Lylepalooza
          Was that really needed? Voting does the job pretty well.
        • seventoes, on 11/02/2007, -0/+4@ Nexah3
          Ha!
          @Pedrovoltaire
          Shut up
          @Lylepalooza
          Unneeded.
          @notque
          I wonder how long we can keep this going
  • SquareOak, on 11/02/2007, -2/+29Even if he doesn't run, I'm voting for him.
    • whataboutdave, on 11/02/2007, -27/+12Even of he does, I'm not. People died in a revolution for my right to vote, and I'm not going to waste it on a cable show gag. Even a really funny one.
      • nymphetamine, on 11/02/2007, -7/+29Dear Grandpa,

        When did you get a digg account? How's grandma doing? We're all doing fine back home.

        Love,
        Me
      • Murdats, on 11/02/2007, -2/+10so which corporate whore are you wasting yours on then?
      • Humptydank, on 11/02/2007, -0/+15Hello whataboutdave --

        On behalf of Digg customer service, I am writing to warn you that you have failed to respect Digg rule 13a, which reads:

        "Nothing, even items that are factually accurate or well thought-through, shall be posted if their effect serves to kill the collective buzz."

        Be aware that the buzz is dynamic, and can quickly change from "we're young and awesome" to "the reason I'm getting low c's in community college is because of the fascist federal government." So please judge the mood more carefully in the future.

        Best Regards,
        The Digg Team
      • Bamborzled, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2Any vote away from Hillary and Giuliani is a vote well spent.
      • RobotBuddha, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Going by Washington's farewell address, I think he'd be more annoyed with people not doing everything in their power to derail the current party system.
  • Nudar, on 11/03/2007, -1/+55According to CNN, the Democrats rejected him today. Doesn't look like we'll see a President Colbert anytime soon.
    • rz8472, on 11/02/2007, -0/+7This is a serious mistake for the SC democratic party (and I'm not joking).

      This was their chance to show younger voters that they have a sense of humor and are hipper than the Republicans.
      Oh well, at least Obama and Edwards have sex appeal. You can't get that with any of the GOP candidates... unless anyone's into *shudder* Rudina...
      • blaaguuu, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3It is not government's place to have a sense of humor... Of course not much of anything the government does these days is in it's job description.
        • RobotBuddha, on 11/04/2007, -0/+6And yet they keep on voting on issues such as whether or not to condemn punny headlines.
    • oDGuardian, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2Colbert said he only wants to run for President...not be President. Its why he is only campaigning in the state of SC. Democrats probably rejected him because they think he is going to treat it as a joke.
  • msaleem, on 11/02/2007, -2/+9Unfortunately the (probably) best suited potential candidate was stopped short.
  • SilverStandard, on 11/04/2007, -1/+16Television's content is almost all *****, besides Colbert and South Park.
    • gmiley, on 11/04/2007, -3/+22Do not forget the Daily Show.
    • crispee, on 11/04/2007, -6/+8This season's South Park is less than great.
      • uziko, on 11/04/2007, -0/+7The imaginationland trilogy is actuallyone of my favorite southpark episodes.
        • look4alec, on 11/04/2007, -0/+5imaginattttiiiionnnnland 1,2,3 make a great social and political commentary without getting preachy or departing from humor... priceless
    • FreydNot, on 11/02/2007, -4/+5and robot chicken
    • HedwigDies, on 11/02/2007, -4/+3and the office, boondocks, lost, entourage,... I need to get out more.
      • phnx0221, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1dugg for the office and boondocks, those are two of my favorite shows. Especially boondocks. I've never seem the other two.
        • atheinostic, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1lost is, suprisingly, very good through the 2nd season - and more addicting than crack. 3rd season, not so much.
    • uziko, on 11/04/2007, -2/+5Southpark is the best adult cartoon, simpsons and family guy are not even on the same level.
    • dillibob, on 11/02/2007, -1/+2man heroes is pretty good
  • TomPlansMedia, on 11/04/2007, -1/+18a dark day for fake candidates everywhere
  • AdamAbeles, on 11/03/2007, -20/+6http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAyrvbD3NTE

    SEN. HILLARY'S STRANGELOVE: How she Learned TO LOVE THE BOMB

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLn2T2vL-E

    Hillary Clinton, a wishy-washy Pseudo-Republican who masquerades around Washington as a Democrat,learns to Stop worrying about Bill and starts LOVING the BOMB. Loving the Bomb for a war with IRAN.

    "ALL OPTIONS ARE LEFT ON THE TABLE WITH RESPECT TO IRAN"= CODE FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRIKE

    STOP THE BOMB- www.gravel2008.us





  • jodofashodo, on 11/04/2007, -0/+20I love where news is heading...instead of going out and getting quotes, why not take some from witty digg comments? Oh Journalism, what will you think of next!
    • rexbron, on 11/02/2007, -0/+9I'd bet you'll see this in the next latimes article.
    • TSSaloic, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3Who doesn't love primary sources?
  • Ifishbein, on 11/02/2007, -7/+4I think these elections are prime for a 3rd party to step in. Say..........a Paul/Colbert ticket.
    • bingobongony, on 11/02/2007, -3/+4And get 0.1% of the vote?
    • turpenine, on 11/02/2007, -1/+4they are from different parties and ron paul secretly cannot win, and neither can hilary clinton.
    • wheremyarm, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Colbert (in real life) wouldn't run with Paul ever. His character might, but given how he talked about not wanting to give the republican party $35k, I don't think he would even jokingly.
  • MaxPowers2007, on 11/02/2007, -0/+8Stephen Colbert is better than anyone else the democrats are fielding in SC. Too bad the Dem party leaders in SC are such pussies. It sucks to live in a democracy where 16 assholes get to decide who is on the ballot in a presidential election.

    Colbert on the ballot would dramatically improve turnout among the 18-34 year old crowd. I think polls had him running at around 2.5%.
  • TehFonz, on 11/02/2007, -1/+1"Man of the Year" only BETTER!
    • Vapor17, on 11/03/2007, -0/+3you realize if i crapped in a plastic bag it would be better than man of the year right.....
  • NaziHatinChimp, on 11/02/2007, -3/+3The reason the Dems rejected him is because the SC Dems would have had to pay 20,000 dollars to add him. The SC Democratic committee doesn't have the resources to pay for that considering his candidacy is a self proclaimed joke.
    • bingobongony, on 11/02/2007, -4/+2they didn't add him becuase he is not a serious candidate. It is bad enough they gotta put Gravel there.
      • NaziHatinChimp, on 11/02/2007, -5/+1Someone who works there told me that so don't argue with me.
        • iansaddiction, on 11/02/2007, -2/+2I work for the South Carolina Democratic Party; So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies. Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about. But trust me.... You don't. I think you just want to make yourself sound smart, when in reality you don't know what you are talking about. This is how bad info gets passed around. If you dont know about the topic....Dont make yourself sound like you do. Cos some Diggers believe anything they hear.
          • atheinostic, on 11/04/2007, -0/+3uh-huh, sure.. And I work for the Catholic Church.
          • vvelox, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2Nice to meet Mr. Pope. Now if you will just hand over the keys to your Pope Mobile and I will be getting out of here.
    • Scheissen, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Dorito's would have paid for it if the democrats weren't paranoid about companies donating money.
  • JasonCox, on 11/04/2007, -3/+5Frak the Democrats and Neocons, Colbert for Independent!
  • rkiga, on 11/02/2007, -3/+1Sil369 will you be the father of my babies? you are like so hawt
  • bingobongony, on 11/02/2007, -0/+12LAdies and gentlemen, here is the reason why Digg should not be used to time sensitive news.
  • dserfaty, on 11/03/2007, -0/+12Dugg for the reference to Digg - FTA:
    Someone who went by the name Sil 369 on Digg.com, the news aggregation website, asked: "Who would become president? His character? Or his actual self? Really, I'm curious."

  • joshuagor44, on 11/02/2007, -0/+9He'd actually make a decent president (better than Bush at least). He clearly knows politics even though he has a comedic approach to it.
    • yevkasem, on 11/02/2007, -3/+1no, he doesn't. by your logic, ebert and roeper are award winning actors. it has nothing to do with bush. any of the candidates would be better.

      stephen colbert is a talented comedian.
  • notque, on 11/04/2007, -1/+28Contact info for the South Carolina Democratic Party:
    1-800-841-1817

    Joe Werner, Executive Director - jwerner@scdp.org
    Lance Jones, Field Organizer - ljones@scdp.org
    Cherie Mabrey, Field Organizer - cmabrey@scdp.org
    Cedric Jackson, Field Organizer - cjackson@scdp.org
    Ashley Medbery, Finance Director - amedbery@scdp.org
    Barbara Bowman, Operations Manager - bbowman@scdp.org
    Keiana Page, Research/Communications Assistant - kpage@scdp.org
  • coolian, on 11/02/2007, -2/+5He's out of the race before it even began. Read the news, peeps.
  • tubular, on 11/02/2007, -3/+4Too Late. Colbert rejected by South Carolina Democratic Party.
  • CapeKid, on 11/02/2007, -1/+15Since when do legit newspapers use quotes from digg in a story?
    I can't wait until I open up a New York Times and read:
    "OMFG t3h moonlanding was soooo faked" said NoobSauce243 on youtube.com
    • tubular, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1reporting about people generally means that using quotes of such people being referenced is standard.

  • Spoomeister, on 11/04/2007, -0/+5Let the write-in campaign begin.
  • Shevanel, on 11/04/2007, -1/+6you can still write him in, don't forget
  • oqm4, on 11/04/2007, -2/+7It's probably best that he was knocked out so early. I'm all for fun and games and am a huge Colbert/_Daily Show_ fan, but the infotainment thing has to have limits. Not to come off like the Venerable Jorge in _The Name of the Rose_, but there are times to laugh and times for seriousness. I mean, this is an American presidential campaign in which the world's model democracy votes into office one of the most powerful people on the planet. We've lived with Bush's disastrous policies for eight years, and we need a way to make things better at home and abroad. This is a time for serious personal and national reflection on serious candidates with a vision for the future. I'm not sure it's the proper time for prankster grandstanding.

    To all those who might respond, "Lighten up, man. It's just a joke," I affirm your position. But what about those who don't know it's a joke? What about the effect such a circus would have and might already have had on their perception of the importance of the process? I'm not sure levity is the proper way to fight voter apathy. Rather, inspirational leadership, professionalism, and intellectualism will always do the trick. Otherwise, we run the risk of making the whole process more absurd than it is even in the best of times.

    Plus, if Colbert is president, who's going to make us laugh at 11:30pm? I'm NOT going back to Letterman, and I need something to fill the time before Conan comes on.
    • nbcaffeine, on 11/02/2007, -1/+1leno?
    • RobotBuddha, on 11/02/2007, -1/+2I might be nitpicking, but it seems a bit shortsighted on the historical level to say the US is the world's model for democracy. It's just one in a long line of experiments with the concept. Any leader who decided to model a future democratic system only on that of the US, ignoring all those which came before it, would be unworthy of the position.
      • oqm4, on 11/04/2007, -1/+1You are nitpicking. To suggest the US wasn't the model for the modern democracy is absurd. The French used our constitution and our ideals as models in 1789 (after we borrowed their Enlightenment ideology to get started in the first place of course) as did most of the Old and New World democracies that emerged afterwards. After WWII, we rebuilt Japan and Germany in our political image. Contemporary EU Federalism? That's modeled on us too. I suppose if you want to look way back to Greece and Republican Rome, that's fine. They were the models for the US. But as far as modern, industrialized, geo-political (vs. ancient, tribal, agrarian, and regional) Democracies go, the US is certainly the fundamental model. We brought the system back into vogue in the late 18th century when the rest of the world was ruled by kings and despots. The world has been copying the system ever since and to fabulous effect.
        • YourDoom123, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1not quite... most of the world's democracies run a parlimentary system. the problem with the U.S. political system is the amount of power given to the executive. In every country where such a system has been tried since, tyranny has resulted within just a few years. Until recently, the only thing preventing U.S. presidents from doing something similar was tradition, patriotism, etc., but something tells me that that won't hold true for much longer....
    • tdillo, on 11/02/2007, -1/+1The point is that we really have zero choice. The DNC is the same as the RNC it's all about the rich and powerful and basically the election is just a popularity contest. There is more concern over whether or not a candidate wears a lapel pin than any real issues. The whole thing has become a big circus and that is why Colbert is getting all this play. Model of democracy, yeah, might as well just have everybody text their vote like American Idol. It would be just as effective.
      • oqm4, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1You're kind of all over the place here; but to dissect what you've put down, we have much more than zero choice. For any given election including the primaries and caucuses, there are scads of folks to choose from. In the mainstream in the current presidential race, there are currently 9 Republicans and 8 Democrats to chose from plus a huge field of fringe and third party candidates. You may not like what's out there, but there are many folks to chose from. Colbert's absence just subtracts 1 from a field of many.

        The rest of your comment is the typical rant that I don't necessarily disagree with, especially the first part (big money and all that). But to suggest Colbert's candidacy would somehow help us avoid an "American Idol," text-to-vote circus is misleading. His shenanigans would only hasten the development of that end and further the problematic blending of serious issues and entertainment.
  • yevkasem, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1remember the huge internet following for ron paul mass media was finally starting to acknowledge?
    they just proved to the world they're all idiots and will never be taken seriously again.

    good job.
  • thekronz, on 11/04/2007, -2/+1I've never been so sad to see a candidate get rejected. Seeing someone like Hillary Clinton running strong pisses me off because does anyone else see that her political experience is mostly "My husband was president". ***** that. Colbert for Independent.
    • yevkasem, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2you're mostly right, but the rest of her political experience is 7 years in the senate.
      colbert's would be "i make jokes about people in politics" and ...... oh, that's it.

      so if you're pissed at hilary clinton for not having enough experience, i'm not sure where your support for colbert comes from.
  • digbird, on 11/02/2007, -2/+1I'd like to see a Colbert-Paul ticket. One man would tell jokes...the other's candidacy is a joke.
  • tdillo, on 11/04/2007, -0/+2What's hilarious to me is that from the beginning it was a joke, I mean seriously it was over the top and obvious but yet some people got really scared and uptight over it. I love Stephen Colbert, and the show it's like SNL when they first started. For those of you who think it's over, hell it's just begun. Colbert/Putin '08!
  • LordOfTheSponge, on 11/04/2007, -0/+5Hell I live in SC. I'll vote for him as my write in candidate.

    He's a hell of a lot better option then everyone else running right now. (except Ron Paul)
  • rayxtime, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1I just watched his show and he didn't get on the ballot :(
  • mattsw84, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Wow this story is behind the power curve.
  • jebels, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1You do realize that even his fake run would be more legit than Bush's real run? That even though you won't alienate young voters against the democrats you just lost a way to gain their participance? That elections are, in fact, jokes, and you just passed up an opportunity to help the american people figure that out for themselves?

    Can you imagine ANY candidate standing up to Colbert during a debate? Can you imagine the real questions that would have been asked? He wouldn't have won, but he would have made it more likely for someone decent to.
  • UpBeforeSunrise, on 11/05/2007, -0/+1This is the most important election of our lifetime and I cant believe people would waste their time , energy or votes on this Viacom sponsored distraction ,.
  •  

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