Really, how long did anyone expect this to go on?Earlier on Thursday, the South Carolina Democratic Party decided to keep Stephen Colbert's name off the ballot, saying that he didn't meet the national standard of viability and didn't seem to be campaigning to win. Plus, the state party would have had to pay $20,000 to the state election commission to have Colbert's name on the ballot. $20,000 is an awful lot for a drawn-out joke.
Honestly, I fail to understand why some people didn't see this coming. I'm looking at you, Facebook kids. I mean, I love Colbert as much as the next Report-obsessed person, but thinking realistically, this joke really could have only gone so far. Let's say Colbert did make it on the ballot, or even win. The fans would rejoice, the Report would have a boost in ratings, old people with no cable would get confused, and then what?
Then again, if this had managed to somehow work out, it would have been interesting to see how Colbert and his team carried on coverage and campaigning. With the impending writers' strike, there will probably be no new episodes of the Colbert Report to keep the Colbert Nation updated. I'm super-excited about tonight's episode, though.* What will Colbert do? Silently sob onto the sleeve of his Brooks Brothers suit for a full half hour? Down a couple pints of Americone Dream to drown his sorrows? Totally nail the GOP and Democrats? Whatever it is, it'll be good.
* Post written before the episode actually happened. Colbert actually responded in the most Colbert-y fashion possible. Doritos and iPhones were involved.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-02-2007 @ 10:17AM
No1Dad said...
"saying that he didn't meet the national standard of viability and didn't seem to be campaigning to win."
Of course. Why would the Dems waste all of the moron vote on a candidate who isn't serious about winning when the morons could be supporting one of their real candidates?
But hey if they're still interested in backing a guy with zero shot at becoming president, there's always Ron Paul.
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11-02-2007 @ 10:28AM
GigG said...
There have been no-chance candidates on primary & general election ballots since the first GW ran. (George Washington)
What happened here was SC was worried that this particular no chance candidate might get enough votes that it would screw with the election.
If we are going to use that as a cut-off point then Nader shouldn't have been allowed on the ballot in 2000 and Perot shouldn't have been on in '92
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11-02-2007 @ 10:38AM
Bash said...
This is so god damn ridiculous.
So you folks are telling me what keeps any person in the US from running is
a) the party system with just two major parties
b) money issues
On the other hand I am glad that the US isn't italy where silvio berlusconi managed to get the popular vote via his conglomerate of TV stations.
There are pros and cons.
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11-02-2007 @ 11:16AM
Oreo said...
My favorite is he had the woman from the SC Demo party and she said something to the effect of "seems to be joking around" or something like that. There are 20 people running for president in the two main parties, can someone tell me which one of them isn't a joke? EVERYONE running for president is a joke, and the sad thing is Steven Cobert would be a better president than 90% of the other people running.
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11-02-2007 @ 2:31PM
Aberdeen said...
Yet Ralph Nader runs over and over and over again...oh, the irony!
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11-02-2007 @ 1:16PM
Tapin said...
No1Dad @ #1: Ron Paul's a Republican. Try "Mike Gravel" for the same effect.
GigG @ #2: Nader wasn't on the South Carolina Dem primary ballot in 2000, same with Perot in '92. Both were independents. I'm sure the Dems (in the former case) and the Republicans (the latter) would have loved to have been able to keep those two off the general election ballot if they could, but it (naturally) doesn't work like that.
I'm not sure I see what the fuss is about -- Colbert (the actor, not his character) was on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me a week or two ago and outright said that SC was the beginning and the end of his campaign. The SC Dems showed that they take themselves too seriously, which was pretty much expected from the beginning. People actually thought this might happen?
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11-02-2007 @ 1:24PM
Oneiroi said...
I think they're just worried about someone making a mockery of the electoral system, because if you've ever seen some of the coverage of some of the "fringe" presidential candidates...some of them are just downright insane, but they're allowed to run.
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11-02-2007 @ 4:11PM
Pinwiz said...
How many write-in votes will Colbert get? I still think it will be significant.
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