In the ongoing shit-show for the GOP nomination for president there remains one candidate I feel has earned my endorsement. This man is fearless, speaking truth to power four nights a week and most notably at the White House Correspondents dinner a few years back where no one left the room unscathed. He is also consistent in his views, never breaking character even when frustrated interviewers are desperate for him to. He comes from a working class background, is more of a self-made man than Romney can dream of, and is the very epitome of the American dream: if you work hard enough and are smart enough, you can become a success story. And that man is Stephen Colbert.
In the past several months, Colbert had done what Stephen Colbert does best: mercilessly exposing political hypocrisy by satirizing it from the inside out. He has made headlines by creating his own Super-PAC (A Better Tomorrow Tomorrow) and skewering the ridiculousness of campaigns that allow floods of unlimited corporate money to dominate and shape the races. He’s released attack ads that are often better and more truthful than the real things (my favorite is the “Mitt Romney Serial Killer” ad). And a few weeks back he made headlines again by once again showing us how Super-PACs work by transferring his to Jon Stewart and then running for president himself, hoping once again to get on the ballot in South Carolina.
Yet he never did get on the ballot. Even though he was technically polling higher than Jon Huntsman in the state when Huntsman was still in the race and could have even done reasonably well in his home state of South Carolina.
So why wasn’t he on the ballot? Because Colbert is “a joke.” Because he’s a comedian only pretending to run for president to help himself, and his ratings and possibly even land a better showcase for himself. Uhhh…if that’s the only reason then why was Herman Cain allowed to run? Why has Newt Gingrich (who started his “Make Newt Relevant” campaign hoping to launch it into a new Faux News show once he dropped out) been allowed to not only run but possibly win? Are these candidates really more “real” than Colbert is? Would anyone argue that Romney is any less artificial and self-conscious at human interactions than Colbert?
I know the old (VERY old) line of “I can’t believe young people get their news from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Those shows are comedies!” Well, I would argue that anything on Faux News is too, but at least Colbert knows he’s a comedian. And yet there is inarguably more truth in his comedy—-which slices right through all the corporate-infused b.s. of our political system—-than anything Glenn Beck has ever said. If old people can get their news from Faux News, then why can’t young people get theirs from Comedy Central? And if old people can vote for Gingrich, then why can’t young people vote for Colbert?