Colbert announces presidential pursuit

[KrazeeStacee]

Did you guys see this last night? Pretty funny...

http://tv.yahoo.com/show/38498/news/...dent__ER:42717

Colbert announces presidential pursuit
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Today at 4:51 am

Stephen Colbert 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," announced Colbert on his Comedy Central show Tuesday, as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert 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 which spawned Colbert's spin-off) and played cagy, 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 American (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 Wikipedia.com with his version of "truthiness" and "wikiality."

The comedian 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."

[Trotskilicious]

the funniest part was when he showed a clip of his daily show apperarance on his show not but 20 minutes after the fact.

[KrazeeStacee]

Yeah...Mark's Ma and step dad were sitting with me watching it - it was the first time they'd seen Stephen Colbert and they said they hadn't really ever watched Jon Stewart. They were cracking up - I thought the whole thing was just perfect.

[Trotskilicious]

i watch both shows religiously

[Trotskilicious]

[T&T]

i saw it last night
imho he shot his load pre-maturely
i had been thinking he would keep building momentum but not officially declare anything\
and the Stewart stunt of declaring his intention to declare that he was considering to consider his decleration to officially consider running was really good... could have milked that a 'lil more...

anyhow
i hope he wins

[KrazeeStacee]

Well I think the whole point was that he said "on a more respectable show" and then his show comes on right after, and then he announces it - giving the opportunity to replay the scene from 20 mins earlier, like Trots pointed out.

I thought it was perfect. I think everything Colbert does is perfect though, I'm a fangirl...what can I say?

[Trotskilicious]

i'm surprised he hasn't been plugging the Tek Jansen comic book from Oni press.

[Fattening Ass]

Colbert is so awesome.

[Trotskilicious]

the dennis kucinich thing was hilarious

i love when he made him tea and had the cup and kettle in his pockets too

[Trotskilicious]

oh and when he totally disrespects Mike Huckabee to his face. "Why do you matter?"

[ella]

Doesn't that mean that Colbert will have to cut down on his television time? I remember when Buchanan ran for pres he had to take a leave from his tv show until after the campaign was over. Maybe it doesn't matter for the primary.

[T&T]

Originally Posted by ella

Doesn't that mean that Colbert will have to cut down on his television time? I remember when Buchanan ran for pres he had to take a leave from his tv show until after the campaign was over. Maybe it doesn't matter for the primary.

that's why i thought he'd run, but not officially...



and what's with his drinking lately?
has he done it in the past as much
cause it's twice this week...

[Nimrod's Son]

He's going to be pulling votes from Democratic candidates

[Trotskilicious]

to mike crapper: i think the article mentioned that he's going to run as both republican and democrat

Originally Posted by ella

Doesn't that mean that Colbert will have to cut down on his television time? I remember when Buchanan ran for pres he had to take a leave from his tv show until after the campaign was over. Maybe it doesn't matter for the primary.

I think that was because he was out on the stump doing campaigning.

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

to mike crapper: i think the article mentioned that he's going to run as both republican and democrat

anyone who would have voted for a republican candidate wouldn't vote for colbert. he's stealing only the liberal hippie college student pot smoking votes

[Trotskilicious]

he's not really going to steal any votes. I'm sure he's going to get less than 1%

[Nimrod's Son]

that's what people said about ross perot before he gave clinton the white house

[flavin]

That's pretty funny. Colbert is really doing well in the world with this name for himself.

[Trotskilicious]

and it's a primary what does it matter? i don't even know if South Cakkalakky is a closed primary in the first place. If it is, those pot smoking hippies which you seem to think is the only people that watch colbert, would have to register as republicans which they won't do.

[ella]

Yeah, he will be stealing dem votes for sure, but it's only the primary, and it's south carolina....really who gives a fuck, it'll hardly effect anything, like trotz said it'll be about 1%...about as much as Kucinich will bring in....

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

that's what people said about ross perot before he gave clinton the white house

man you're seriously dumb as shit.

[HorseflyKing]

Good, we need another Catholic candidate...

[JokeyLoki]

I'd vote for him.