Comedian Stephen Colbert is urging Iowans participating in the Ames Straw Poll to write in the name "Rick Parry," (with an "A") in what could be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with Texas Governor Rick Perry's chances in the presidential campaign.
Colbert, who earlier this year created a SuperPAC as part of his television show, seems to be interfering with the country's electoral process; and his actions could really have an influence on the Ames Straw Poll results.
While claiming it is all a joke, he may get voters to inadvertently misspell the name of the Texas governor, and possibly derail a possible presidential run. It is unlikely that a ballot in the Ames Straw Poll with the name "Rick Parry" be counted for the Texas governor Rick Perry.
Stephen Colbert has involved himself in the American political process. And even though his comedic routine is to play himself off as a "super-conservative," it is really just a character that he is playing on television. His true political sympathies appear to lie with the liberal Democrats, and he seems to have crossed the line from "comedian" to "political operative."
One must hope that Colbert can take the heat when he is called to account for his actions. By involving himself in the political process and by supporting one political party, he is now a legitimate political target of the other side—the Republicans. And when a person openly supports one political party, but the other side wins office, that person can expect political retribution.
While it is one thing to simply criticize and joke about one side or the other, it is quite another to actively involve oneself in politics. Colbert has actively involved himself in the American political system, but what remains to be seen is if he can take the political retribution when it is aimed directly at him.
Whether the comedian is secretly attempting to interfere with the Republican primary system for nefarious purposes, or if he just thinks it is funny to muck up the works, he will eventually discover that there will be a price to pay for his actions.
It is entirely possible that the Republicans will regain control of Congress and the White House in the 2012 election, and if that happens, Mr. Stephen Colbert may once again find himself sitting in congressional hearings. Only this time, they may be investigating him.
And any future congress which may investigate possible interference in the electoral process will be in no mood to hear excuses about how he was only performing comedy.
Stephen Colbert has crossed into the realm of politics, and while he may now be reaping the benefits with higher ratings, there could be a heavy price to pay.
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Comments: 24
Seems that people forgot about Operation Chaos pretty quickly...
REALLY?
"It is entirely possible that the Republicans will regain control of Congress and the White House in the 2012 election"
It is also entirely possible that 2,012 monkeys will fly out of my butt, and when they do, they will all throw their feces at the author of this tripe.
Take note that all four (4) of the commentors are first time Trolls here on Gather News and as such are not actually political debaters, being only asinine idiots, hellbent on demonstrating their lack of intelligence.
Anytime a debater must explain the political process of candidate staw polling to another debater, it's obvious that the second debater is an inept in political understanding and not worthy of an honest debate on the subject and/or issue of the article being debated.
Party afiliation aside, these Trolls really show their lack of political knowledge and the workings of government, both at the state and federal levels. Whichever candidate and/or party they would like to show support to/for, the Trolls actually do either/both a dis-service in the long run.
Well....maybe not 2012 monkeys but at least a couple of gerbals....lol
Its already clear with his numbers and they are getting worse that Obama will not win the presidency....the only question that is yet to be answered is will he or someone else be the nominee....what great fun this is...lol
From Faux crying that people are thrown in jail for praying to claiming teaching gay lifestyle will cause the death of human race from BABIES NOT BEING BORN,Colbert's comedy is to parrot what the Rethugs say, and people with more than 3 brain cells find it hilarious.
He is quite amusing.
And since your are explaining this to your audience; perhaps someone needs to explain to you the purpose of this PAC -- did you not hear that the runoff election in Wisconsin was the most expensive election of a state senate in the history of the world!! Do you honestly think all of that money came from the good republicans in Wisconsin -- really Mr Flynn Really. Protesting that this might influence the straw poll (which is just a money sham anyway), is a little disingenuous (you might want to look that up) you are showing extreme republican whining and butthurt (you might want to look that up too.)
I'm not sure if he's a die-hard republican or what, but this is the biggest cry baby article filled with nonsense that I've ever read.
If he really wants someone to "pay" for interfering with politics, why not call on Glenn Beck for the complete lies that he spreads, or even Sarah Palin, whom we all know is an entertainment figure, not a political one.
Like hiring Republican presidential candidate and giving them a forum? HMMMMM, where have I heard that before?
Colbert is playing a subtler game than most people can handle, and now he's aiming his prodigious intellectual firepower at the whole political process, not just Republicans. There is layer upon layer of satirical commentary here, continuing a proud tradition that cycles back through Will Rogers, Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, and all the way back to Aristophanes.
One could write a whole Master's thesis based on these two ads alone, but I will limit myself to this comment: the meta-joke, if you will, is that Colbert has built the stage for his latest foray into political performance art LEGALLY, OUT OF THE CURRENT DUE PROCESS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (was that loud enough for you, Flynn?) There is nothing to investigate, because this is the exact environment created by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Colbert is just playing the Republican's game better than they could ever hope to themselves.
Once again, he has articulated the logical conclusion of the conservative position so extremely, that once Papa Bear O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter and the rest of the menagerie finally get there in earnestness, Colbert will have already defanged the bite of that obviously ridiculous position (for thoser of us who are really paying attention).
Flynn, this is the point where you get down on your knees, bow back and forth with your arms outstretched above your head, and repeat a hundred times, "I'm not worthy!"
You have to hand it to Rush as far as being a success, although he piss's off potentially 50% of the country he still has the most successful radio show in history. Althought the left has tried to mimick him all of their endevors have failed......or have much smaller audiences such as msnbc, cnn
Any guy with the cajones to call the POTUS a jerkweed idiot to his face in front of everyone, isn't listening to you. Please watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s&playnext=1&list=PL8E181BDAEE8B275B
You're a douch.
Why? Unlike Alaska, where there was a controversy regarding the spelling of Lisa Murkowski's name because she was a write-in candidate and Alaska requires a candidates name to be spelled correctly for a write-in vote to count, there is no such law in Iowa. In the caucus, everyone hand-writes their choice, and as long as it's not debatable for whom an individual intended to vote, spelling isn't an issue.
I can't imagine the Ames straw poll (which, as above commenters have noted, is largely meaningless--Ron Paul came in second place, for God's sake, and Rick Perry and Mitt Romney both ignored it) has stricter rules than the actual caucus. If a vote for "Rick Parry" would count for Perry in the caucus, which it would, then I'm sure it would have counted in the straw poll.