Stephen Colbert announces presidential bid, but is it the truth or truthiness?
Neither Comedy Central nor Colbert’s personal publicist have issued statements on whether the comedian will actually attempt to get on the ballot, which has left many–including South Carolina’s major political parties–on the edge as to whether the announcement should be taken seriously.
“If Stephen fulfills the requirements met in our delegates’ election plan and he actively campaigns in South Carolina, we welcome him to compete,” said Joe Werner, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, in an interview with CNET News.com. Werner added that representatives from The Colbert Report had placed calls to the state party’s headquarters several weeks ago but that the party thought it was all a joke at the time.
Fulfilling the requirements, however, will be the tough part. Party regulations, Werner said, prevent Colbert from attempting to run on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. “It’s in our rules somewhere that you can’t be on two ballots,” he explained. “He’d have to pick one party.”
Representatives from the South Carolina Republican Party were not readily available for comment.
At 43, Stephen Tyrone Colbert would be the youngest contender in the major parties’ candidate roster. (Barack Obama is 46.) Colbert would additionally be the first presidential candidate to be banned from Wikipedia (which, ironically, has named his buzzword “truthiness” as its article of the day for October 17), have a mass-market ice cream flavor named after him, and have an extensive repertoire of YouTube videos in which he prances around with a Star Wars lightsaber. Currently, he’s riding high on the bestseller lists with his book ‘I Am America, And So Can You!’
Neither Comedy Central nor Colbert’s personal publicist have issued statements on whether the comedian will actually attempt to get on the ballot, which has left many–including South Carolina’s major political parties–on the edge as to whether the announcement should be taken seriously.
“If Stephen fulfills the requirements met in our delegates’ election plan and he actively campaigns in South Carolina, we welcome him to compete,” said Joe Werner, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, in an interview with CNET News.com. Werner added that representatives from The Colbert Report had placed calls to the state party’s headquarters several weeks ago but that the party thought it was all a joke at the time.
Fulfilling the requirements, however, will be the tough part. Party regulations, Werner said, prevent Colbert from attempting to run on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. “It’s in our rules somewhere that you can’t be on two ballots,” he explained. “He’d have to pick one party.”
Representatives from the South Carolina Republican Party were not readily available for comment.
At 43, Stephen Tyrone Colbert would be the youngest contender in the major parties’ candidate roster. (Barack Obama is 46.) Colbert would additionally be the first presidential candidate to be banned from Wikipedia (which, ironically, has named his buzzword “truthiness” as its article of the day for October 17), have a mass-market ice cream flavor named after him, and have an extensive repertoire of YouTube videos in which he prances around with a Star Wars lightsaber. Currently, he’s riding high on the bestseller lists with his book ‘I Am America, And So Can You!’
