So, last night Stephen Colbert announced that he was considering running for president on “The Daily Show” and 15 minutes later on his own show announced that he IS running for president.
Well, that is interesting. I mean, what if he won?
Should we think he is taking this seriously? Who is it that is running, the person, or the arrogant/ignorant conservative character?
If he’s serious, I’ll vote for him. I’m not happy with the field anyways.
If I understood him correctly, he’s only running in South Carolina. He is running as both a Democrat and a Republican (not sure if that’s permissible under the primary rules of the state) with the goal of obtaining 2.5% of the vote and garner one delegate to the convention.
I’d vote for him, seriously. I hope he wins it. Better than the rest of these jerks.
And presumably he would be his own delegate (who else is worthy?), which would present many opportunities for televised hijinks on the convention floor.
Nah. That plot’s been done.
I suspect his campaign will be similar to Pat Paulsen’s .
Lousy movie, too. 21% on the tomatometer.
I’ll vote for him if he’s not serious. Previously I’d been leaning toward voting for Dick Gregory.
Alas, he was being comedic about the 2.5% thing. The Democratic Party has a 15% threshold (at the district level) to win delegates, and the Republican primary in South Carolina is winner-take-all by district.
I respect his thoughtfulness - after all it took all of ten minutes for him to make up his mind to run! (Less considering they had to get the balloons ready.)
What I’d like to see is him invited to a Republican debate. It might even get Fred Thompson to wake up. It would also beef up their ratings.
And before him, Jimmy Durante in 1952. And before him, Gracie Allen in 1940. And before her:
Nothing at all new about comedians conducting mock presidential campaigns. They’re great for ratings. And it’s not the tiniest bit a coincidence that he announces this the week after his book came out.
Money, money, money. That’s the only thing to take seriously.
That’s “thoughtiness”. 
He’s not ready.
Lets give a few years…
So what does it take to put him in the primaries outside of South Carolina? As lackluster a field as the Republicans are sporting, it’d be fun to see him shake things up beyond SC.
He’s a liberal that makes the GOP look foolish by pretending to be ultra conservative. If he did win, I’m not sure he’d drop the act.
Are there any SC dopers?
What if Colbert won all the delegates to the Republican convention?
Obviously the ultraconservativism is an act, but what evidence is there that he is liberal? I always kind of pictured him as pretty moderate (since during his Daily Show days he would make fun of the Left just as aggressively as the Right). I’ve heard he’s a pretty devout Catholic (which doesn’t preclude him from being a liberal), but I know next to nothing about his true beliefs.
I can’t believe I’m about to share a link from fricking Parade, but they did make mention of his religion in their interview with him:
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_09-23-2007/AStephen_Colbert
Down deep, very deep, he is … a funny, geeky D&D playing Tolkien fanatic. So, I would guess, he is a monarchist.
From interviews on programs like Fresh Air, he appears to be a moderate with liberal tendencies as far as things like Gay Rights. I never heard his views on Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life. I have heard him say, he liked the father a lot more than the son, speaking about the Bushes. I never heard discussed for who he has actually voted. I would say, we know less about him than even Obama or Thompson.
Jim