CE Week #10: “South Carolina ballots won’t include Colbert”
Comedian planned multi-primary run
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Gabrielle Russon
Chicago Tribune
November 2, 2007
WASHINGTON – TV comedian Stephen Colbert’s mock presidential campaign suffered a setback Thursday when Democrats in South Carolina, the lone state where he pledged to run in both the Republican and Democratic primaries, denied him the political stage.
Although he paid a $2,500 filing fee, the executive committee voted to keep Colbert off the Democratic ballot, said state party chairwoman Carol Fowler. The filing fee will be returned to him, she said.
“I think this committee that votes took their responsibilities seriously. Our rules are pretty specific about what makes a legitimate candidate,” Fowler said. “There was nothing personal about him; they like him a lot, but they think this is a serious process.”
Colbert also missed the deadline Thursday to pay a $35,000 filing fee for a spot on the GOP ballot, a Republican official said. During Wednesday’s episode of “The Colbert Report,” Colbert said he wouldn’t spend the $35,000 for the GOP’s filing fee.
“Thirty-five thousand, guys?” he asked. “I understand you have to keep a club exclusive, but I paid less for my black-market liver.”
On the campaign trail recently, Colbert said, “I promise, if elected, I will crush the state of Georgia … Our peaches are more numerous than Georgia’s. They are more juiciful.”
With his deadpan delivery, Colbert first gained notoriety on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” before leaving for “The Colbert Report.”
Many have followed the television star’s every move since Colbert first announced his candidacy, which coincides with the release of his new book, “I Am America, (And So Can You!).”
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I think that the Democratic Party, for once has a valid point. I think that if you want to be president of the United States you should be serious and by the commits that he makes it shows that he is not at all serious. Not just that but is there not something saying that if you want to be on both partied primaries you should just be put as an independent. I think that by him doing all this he really is making the presidency see like a big joke and to me that is not right. Its always fun to have a laugh but when it is about who will be in charge of the lone super power of the world I don’t really think that that is all that funny.
But to my next point, me and you both know that he has no chance of winning so why not let him run. I mean then he can say yea I ran for president, and get all his kicks and giggles and the parties both get the money to use for something more important like say a real candidate. I just am thankful that our country as idiotic as we are still has enough since to not have him as our Commander and Chief.
I regret to inform Christine that I disagree with her on this subject. But I do agree with her on the second part of her blog entry. I believe Stephen Colbert should run for President of the United States and the Democratic Party should let him do so. Actually maybe it would be better if he ran as a republican (Elephants rule!) Anyway (Not anyways) I don’t think he could win anyway if he is only running in S.C. So I just think that we should play this whole thing out and see how far Colbert can go. I would also like it if he started his own party. Maybe he would draw some votes. Also, it doesn’t make sense why Colbert wasn’t able to pay the $35 thousand fee for the GOP ballot. I mean he hosts the Colbert Report and is sponsored by Doritos.
The whole Stephan Colbert running for President was a huge joke in my mind. Colbert didn’t even take this seriously. What person says they are going to run as a Democratic and a Republican? I don’t know if Stephan Colbert knows this, but there is a party called the Independent Party. When a Presidential hopeful says “I promise, if elected, I will crush the state of Georgia … Our peaches are more numerous than Georgia’s. They are more juiciful.” You know he really isn’t a real Presidential candidate and doesn’t care for the real issues like Medicare and the war in Iraq. I think the real reason why the Democrats denied him the political stage was because they knew he wasn’t serious about running for President. Also, he didn’t pay the GOP balloting fee. Colbert probably ran just to see how far or how many votes he could receive just for the heck of it. I would love to meet the idiots who would have cast a vote for Colbert. What a waste of a ballot. And actually, this aspect of it is not very funny if you consider what a privilege it is to be able to vote and elect the person you want to run your country. In many countries, this is not even possible. In the end, Stephan Colbert won’t be president of the United States, but hey, at least we get to see him on Comedy Central five nights a week.