Stephen Colbert Drops out of Presidential Race
[Guest post by DRJ]
In this era where many young voters get most of their news from Comedy Central shows featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, it’s news when Stephen Colbert ends his bid for the White House:
“Stephen Colbert has dropped his bid for the White House. His announcement came after the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted last week to keep the host of “The Colbert Report” off the state’s primary ballot. The vote was 13-3.
Colbert poses as a conservative talk-show host on the Comedy Central show. “Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history – only 10 votes – I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle,” Colbert said Monday in a statement. “It is time for this nation to heal.”
Colbert had said he would run only in his native South Carolina, a key primary state. He said he planned to run as a Democrat and a Republican – so he could lose twice. Colbert, 43, later declined to file with the GOP, which has a much higher filing fee ($35,000) than the Democrats ($2,500).
“I want to say to my supporters, this is not over,” Colbert said. “While I may accept the decision of the Council, the fight goes on! The dream endures! … And I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping.”
In reality, “The Colbert Report” was going off the air because of a strike by Hollywood writers that began Monday. Many talk shows were expected to be shown in repeats during the strike.”
I’m old and old-fashioned so I don’t often watch Stewart and Colbert, but I’ve seen them enough to know they are funny and entertaining. In that sense, I’m disappointed in his decision. Of course, since this probably resulted from the writers’ strike, maybe I should say I’m disappointed in that.
— DRJ
lol. how old are you?
[Fifty-three, which I consider middle-aged but it’s old compared to some people here. –DRJ]
james conrad (7cd809) — 11/5/2007 @ 3:07 pmA lady never tells.
I figure her for about 24, tops. Too lovely to be any older.
As for “Stevie”, he’s a tool, and is only funny because of those striking writers. Remember the Press Corp dinner? Yeah, that was all him baby.
I fail to see why that idiot is so popular. At least Stweart had a carreer before The Daily Show. Steve was nobody.
Scott Jacobs (a1de9d) — 11/5/2007 @ 3:13 pmColbert has great delivery. He’s not my favorite, but I have to say that both his show and The Daily Show are very witty. I look forward to seeing the show with a Democrat in office.
DrT (b1f404) — 11/5/2007 @ 3:23 pm“… many young voters get most of their news from Comedy Central shows featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert …” I’ve been reading that assertion a lot lately; is it really, empirically true? I pray not.
gp (5c8634) — 11/5/2007 @ 5:56 pmGP,
It’s good to be careful, especially with statistics. According to this CNN article quoting a Pew poll, in 2004 21% of young Americans got their news from Jon Stewart and SNL:
In 2000, only 9% in that age group relied on comedy shows for news so that was a substantial jump in just 4 years. I suspect the numbers may be even higher now but I haven’t checked the polls.
DRJ (5c60fb) — 11/5/2007 @ 6:36 pmMy Top Ten reasons for Colbert for President:
10.) Really, do we need to have any reasons to vote for this guy?
9.) The next time a comedian goes on TV and gets the guys from Crossfire fired it could be the Prez himself.
8.) Nacho Cheese Doritos
7.) Second best interviewer after John Stewart. Maybe this way the leader of the free world can actually hold a conversation with the rest of the leaders of the free world. Instead of just trying to look like they are having a good time together.
6.) 1.200.000 Friends on Facebook
5.) “I, Stephen Colbert, do hereby pledge to practice absinth-tinence by remaining absinth-tinent from Absinthe . . . Since Absinthe incidents in many instances induce incipient synesthetic inspiration and sinister synthetic insistence on sin, I sincerely insist I will be absent from instances of Absinthe ingestion, this instant”.
If you can say this really fast, you can run this country better then most current runners-for-the-presidency.
4.) ~4200 new voter registrations since putting a link up on Facebook, thats 1 voter a minute. Maybe soon 53 percent in the great state of South Carolina go vote.
3.) The other guys didn’t think that he was who they thought he was. They let him off the hook!
2.) Vice President: John Stewart
1.) He is funnier then W, and he does it on purposery.
Peter Illetschko (e2dadc) — 11/5/2007 @ 8:51 pmScott, I hate to disagree, but Colbert
Cella (763b9b) — 11/6/2007 @ 12:04 pmactually deserves to be on a fake news show
more than Jon Stewart. Jon started out as a
comedian and actor, Colbert actually started
out as an investigative journalist. Read his
bio before you think he has no right to be
there, he has more right than Babwa as far
as I’m concerned.
SC said he couldnt be on the ballet since he wasn’t a serious candidate. Anyone know if Kucinish is running there?
buzz (e09efa) — 11/6/2007 @ 7:38 pmok if the guy wants to run let him run. I honestly think he would be a good president. I think he’s the best candidate out there. By the way he is funny and thats good in my books.:)
Unnamed (5cbdfe) — 11/7/2007 @ 7:16 pmColbert for President! I love the guy and even though he’s wacky and wierd, he’d be better than any of the other candidates.
retro (43c7ff) — 11/20/2007 @ 10:13 am