Stephen Colbert tosses satirical hat into ring

Colbert for President
Oct. 17: Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert announces he is running for the White House. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
MSNBC.com


Updated: 12:01 p.m. ET Oct 17, 2007
NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert has 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," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert, 43, 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 that spawned Colbert's spin-off) 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 best-seller, "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 its 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 ("Colbert Nation"), encouraging them to vote to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, for example, or to vandalize Web site Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality."

Colbert 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."

Hey, I might vote for him. He seems to be more involved with the issues and more aware of our problems than many of the other canidates. Plus, he's just funny!

Colbert is the man, I dont care what anyone says lol. Has my vote haha

Colbert definitely has my vote!

oh my god hes so awesome i just saw that on the news a few hours ago! i was shocked but i think thats awesome! its amazing! anyway he definatly has my vote so..YAYYY!!!

Hes got my vote!

Yay!!!

Stephen Colbert will be on Meet the Press on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007

"Meet the Press" is seen on the NBC Television Network from 9-10 a.m. ET in most markets. In Washington D.C. and New York City, the broadcast is seen from 10:30-11:30 a.m. ET.

Colbert is funny, but in all seriousness his show is almost a parody of itself. He mocks arrogant right-wing media personalies who jump to radical conclusions, glossing over obvious facts (which is part of the reason I find his show so humorous), but it's done with an arrogant under-tone and a left-wing overtone that implies radical conclusions that gloss over obvious facts. And the studio audience always seems to be made up of trendy college type know-it-alls who laugh at everyjoke made, funny or not (twice as hard if the joke is on a 'right-winger').

All in all the show is good for a laugh, but I don't take it too seriously.

You are not suppossed to take it serious!!!

Its a satirical comedy. Not the real news!!

Whatever he does it's going to be funny, that's for sure.

man i love stephen colbert. i would totally vote for him!
Becca

I understand it's satire. I said so in my initial post. And on the surface no, you aren't supposed to take it seriously. The thing is people do get arrive at their social and political conclusions based on what’s presented on the show. The show is a parody of right-wing media, that presents a left-wing viewpoint to the audience; that people apparently buy into.

I would vote for him if I could. Sadly he is a one state candidate... or is he? Dum dum dum!!

I consider Colbert and Jon Stewart a breath of fresh air in the terrible and stupifying TV "news" shows here...

One gets more information and better analysis of recent political events from TDS and CR than from actual "news" shows.

I mean they talked about Hillary's breasts for about a full week...on CNN, MSNBC and FOX... I mean come on, and they want to be taken as serious sources of news?

Laughable.

BBC for me and the net are actual sources of REAL news.
Rant off :)

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WHAT YA GONNA DO ??????????????????

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