CNN

Whose audience has the bigger collection of kooks, dupes, freaks, fools and idiots: Colbutt's, Jon Stewart's or Bill Maher's?

Posted By Tom, Texas, USA

Colbutt's??? Oh I get it, you're from Texas.

Firstly, I am neither shocked nor empowered by the fact that there are so many closed minded conservatives posting impertinent, irate, mudslinging comments to the educated analysis of others on this topic. If you want to make a comment, make one that provides a useful argument in the spirit of debate. Don't waste our time and make yourself look foolish in the process.
As to my useful political commentary...
I will graduate in December with a degree in Political Science and another in International affairs. I think that this is so great. It is making people, particularly the politically ignorant of our generation, aware of the political process. Not only that, but it shows them that although the system claims that anyone can participate, in fact, it is quite exclusive. You still have to be a rich white partisan male to have any chance of success in the current political system. Where is the justice? the equality? Why doesn't the American public care? Because they remain in the dark on the issues. It is surprising to me that he is doing this in South Carolina, which is a predominantly conservative state. As you probably noticed, even the democrats (or dixiecrats, which means that, although they are democrats, they are just as conservative as republicans, a trend unique to the south and east) are up in arms about this. I want to verbally slap that
guy, Howe, in the face. Of course Colbert is making a mockery of the system. The system is a joke. The only reason this guy is so vehemently opposed to Colbert is that Colbert is showing the world what a farce this man's power actually is. I suppose, then, that it isn't a surprise that he chose South Carolina, because it makes the whole thing controversial, and therefore will get more publicity. Perhaps he should have done it
in Georgia... or even Texas...
You cannot label him as a "hollywood leftist" because he is running within the nomination processes of parties, but not on the ticket of either.
I love that everyone is so offended that he is accepting the Dorito's lobby. Would you rather he accepted lobbies from big oil, big business, or any of the other white-collar criminals who own our current leader? He's already made more than enough to bypass the petition and just pay for a party ticket... He is just looking for a way to get heard... and his only option is to weasel his way into the partisan dominated nomination process. He has laid a more honest, solid platform foundation than any "legitimate" politician can claim to do. Colbert is doing a great service to the uninformed citizens of the US by giving them an exciting, blatantly truthful taste of American politics.

Here's an idea to combat the increasing partisanship in the country:

Let's turn off Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly. Let's boycott Ann Coulter and Bill Press.
Let's ingore all of these preaching to the choir people who think political discoure means ridiculing those who disagree with you.
Let's tune out this vicious humor based partisanship.

Let's find commentators and analysts from the left, right, and center that offer solutions, not just criticisms and humorous attacks.

Let's realize that people who hold different social and political views are not as Limbaugh, Stewart, Franken, Coulter et al are evil and/or ignorant.

Let's study ALL of the candidates, not just those who raise the most money. Let's study the platforms of the GOP, Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians, and see what ideas we like and why.

Let's do all of this through the November '08 elections and bring civility and discourse back to politics!

Actually Tricia M, since he is only trying to run in the SC primary, it is more likely that a Democratic candidate put him up to it in order to hurt one of their opponents in an effort to steal an early voting state. Maybe Hillary is concerned about all those socially conservative black voters turning on her and going Obama's way; so her minions send Colbert out there to split the "young, idealistic" vote and hurt Obama's numbers.

Or maybe the company that published Colbert's new book is behind it.

Or maybe the aliens traveling on the UFO that Kuccinich saw set the whole thing up.

Regardless of the intention, I think it's funny.

I only have one question regarding Colbert's Presidential Campaign – Who is paying him the big bucks for such a moronic political stunt? And I'd bet the answer to that question might be the Republican Candidate who has the best chance of losing against Hillary. American Politics at it's best.

He hope he plans on taking a 101 Running a Super Nation Course before he hits the White House. He'll need it! Funny isn't the werd for it. The werd is Ridiculous.

True actors can be Presidents; it shouldn't matter the other jobs you've had, but you should have some public service experience in there somewhere. Hello !

p.s. subliminal message to libs- VOTE COLBERT !

This is the one time I wish that the Democrats were more like Republicans.

our system should be mocked,
a liberal pretending to be a conservative mocking a system in which
2 corupt cartels pick assign a leader pretending to be a democracy is quite fitting

As a Floridian, I want to vote for Stephen. He's got psazz, wit, and much intelligence. As a leader he would shine. His heart is for people, truth, and common sense. Go Stephen, GO!!!

Repubs knocking Colbert for being an actor need to remember that their champion Ronald Regan was an actor, their boy Fred Thompson was an actor, and the guy they elected to be governor of California was an actor! What, would you guys like him more if he was a BAD actor?

I wrote in Goofy for Clinton/Dole. Colbert would be synonymous for a Hillary/Rudy choice..

I love how everyone is blaming Colbert for supposedly making a mockery of the electoral process when in fact he's just exposing what flaws are already there. It's not him that makes the system laughable – it is the system itself. So instead of criticizing his "candidacy" maybe we should all be asking ourselves what it is about our electoral process that is so ripe for being made fun of with his farcical campaign.

I love how one member of the democratic party stated that Colbert would be to make a mockery out of the political process...has she been hiding under a rock???

Maybe it was a key word that got my post pulled. Was it perhaps Patriot?
Or was it SATAN...hmmmmm? (think Dana Carvey) Are you telling me that if I insult a FEMNEOCON my post gets pulled?

Guess the only thing now for Colbert to do is join FoxNews as a fair and balanced news pundit (i.e. reporter)!

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?!?! Those of you that are attacking Stephen Colbert for joining a primary are THE WORST KIND OF PEOPLE IN AMERICA!! It's any man's right to run for office, I can give a crap less about your opinion about the man's intent but what the heck are you afraid of? Who are you to say ANYONE can't run for office, if you don't like him DON'T VOTE FOR HIM! and i don't know if you haven't noticed but Stephen Colbert makes fun of the left as well, It's just easier to make fun of the right because you're all too stubborn and easy to pick on. You raise Cane every time someone does something different than the status quo, well guess what YOU DON'T OWN THIS COUNTRY! It was founded by Men that knew how to think outside of the box and weren't slaves to a polical party. You all make me sick to hear this crap.

Comparing Stephen Colbert to Ann Coulter is just terrible and insulting to Colbert. I demand that everyone who said that take it back.

The Colbert Nation will rise!!!

Doug from New Jersey

You're hiding in generalizations when we're talking specifics. Just because some satire (black face minstrel shows, as you bring up) can be hateful, doesn't mean ALL satire is hateful.

Please provide some specific examples of hateful comments Colbert has made.

Some examples of Coulter's hate: -Calling John Edwards a f*g
-Saying how she wants jews to be perfected is neither satire or comedy.
-Calling 9/11 widows "self-obsessed"

Those comments, and countless others, are neither comedy nor satire.

Comparing those two people is beyond idiotic.

Do any of you remember a guy named Ronald Reagan. He was a third rate movie actor and a shill for General Electric on a TV show.

Stephen Colbert would slice and dice Reagan in any type of political debate. Who debased politics by pimping entertainers? The GOP started it.

It's subjective Evan, however if you are honest and not a partisan puppet, then if Colbert is hateful then Coulter is hateful, if Colbert is not hateful as you seem to suggest, then Coulter is not hateful. His attempt at humor at that diner with Bush was just the same as the humor found in an Ann Coulter piece, there is your example if you find Coulter to be hateful.

So Evan (and other libs), I guess all those old 1940's blackface [i]comedies[/i] were not hateful either, I mean they were just satire, right?

Great, a hollywood leftist, elitist pretending to be a conservative.
To be fail and balanced, we need Ann Coulter to run as a socialist liberal!

Posted By Mark, Shreveport, La : October 31, 2007 3:50 pm

You might need to speak to more of these young people that you're concerned about if you really think they think that believe "Colbert and John Stewart are unbiased political analysts." No one thinks that, but sadly, they do a better job of conveying the real news on their fake news shows than the people who are supposed to be conveying real news. What's sad is the number of people like Doug right below you who don't get it. Jersey must be a tough place for someone with such limited logic skills considering the rest of the population.

Oh, and by the way, they're New York liberal elitists. I don't think either of them has even lived in California (though I could be wrong). Colbert's a southerner for Pete's sake.

I think colbert is nothing but another independent who is trying to devide the votes, Period!

Comparing Cobert and Coulter is idiotic.
Colbert is an actor. Coulter is a venomous, xenophobic, racist snake-oil saleswoman.

And to Tom + others who chastise people who watch Colbert/Stewart- check out the Pew Study on whose audience is most knowledgable on current events. http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319
Kind of embarassing that most "in-tune" audience is the one that watches "fake news" (the show that admits to being fake – not the ones on FoxNews that lie + misrepresent facts)

And I suppose all his donations that he's bringing in and are going to S.C. schools are a bad thing as well, just like the ones that went to Veteran's Health Care over the summer.

Take your hate somewhere else.

Hmmm, what would be his next step?
Changing his last name to Nader?

I think what Colbert should do is a DEBATE with everybody EXCEPT the top 3 candidates (Obama, Edwards and Hillary)....

THAT will be a debate... not a loopsided, we-are-not-interested-in-the-rest "debate" like last night!!!

He's not even cute the way I used to see him in his "nation show".........

Here is the problem with Colbert. Many voters may decide to vote for him as a way of saying "None of the above." If "real" candidates are outpolled by Colbert, it will make their candidacies look trivial. If Colbert has a strong showing, then the whole field of candidates cannot outpoll a clown.

The electorate is in a mood that a whimsical vote for Colbert might be used to teach our politicians a lesson.

The pro's know this, and will work to block his candidacy as a joke. Democrats did the same thing to Nader, even though he was a very serious candidate.

I am by no means any of those you listed Tom in Texas. I watch the Colbert Report and enjoy the show. What no one realizes is it's all an act. Stephen Colbert has admitted never actually being interested in politics. This is all just something to wake everyone up and get bigger ratings for the show. As for John Stewart I love his show. He's honest and definetly lets the world know his own opinion regardless of the popular one. Just my thoughts.

Doug from New Jersey

Of course Colbert is "acting like a conservative." It's a character. But I still don't see how he's "hateful."

And I couldn't help but notice that you haven't provided any examples of Colbert's "hate."

Figures.

Jacob is just another lib liar, I guess you cannot be an honest person and be a democrat anymore, that's sad.

No one who is not a lib ever thought Colbert was anything but a hateful lib acting like a conservative that only exists in the minds of hateful libs and not found anywhere in the real world. Maybe there is a Colbert type conservative on the planet of Dennis K's extraterrestrial friends, but not on this planet, at this point it just invokes a yawn to point out another lib liar, seems they all are.

Since the libs cannot debate real conservatives, they need to create a fake one, Colbert is just like Dan Rather’s 1973 Microsoft font documents.

Colbert and Colter are two very different entities. One uses wit and humor, the other uses hate.

It is true that Colbert takes more liberal positions, mostly from his Christian upbringing, but he role is satire and not advancing any particular agenda.

I do not completely understand his motivation for running, but it is very entertaining to watch.

Well, it is a joke, but no more than any of the other democratic candidates.

Doug from New Jersey – Coulter is a conservative commentator. Colbert is a political satirist. There is a huge difference.

Coulter is not a comedian. She just uses humor as her after-the-fact excuse for her offensive, attention-starved commennts.

Please list some examples of mean or hateful things Stephen Colbert has said.

Whose audience has the bigger collection of kooks, dupes, freaks, fools and idiots: Colbutt's, Jon Stewart's or Bill Maher's?

BTW, if you discount that Coulter and Colbert are not the exact equals on the left and right, then you are too partisan for individual thought

Actually, if you think they ARE then you're brain damaged beyond repair.

The problem is that it took the GOP a while to figure out that his show was a satire and it would take the american people even longer to realize this.

I think it's important to note that yes, this is a joke – but it's probably a little deeper than it would look at first glance.

Look at the CNN Political Ticker. The top stories on it: "Bush: Cheney's Darth Vader for Halloween," "Kucinich: I saw a UFO," "Will the real Joe Biden please stand up?" "Candidates who bust a move," and so on. Colbert is demonstrating that the media, and a lot of Americans, could care less about the issues behind every single one of the candidates. Sure, we see a lot about Romney, Rudy, Hillary and Obama now that the media has narrowed the field a lot, but the media doesn't cover the raw issues behind Dodd's, Biden's, Richardson's, Paul's, or Huckabee's candidacies. Instead, we only hear about Kucinich seeing UFOs and a Comedy Central anchor making a joke out of the political process.

i dn't care about this man.

Is it necessarily a bad thing to have a smart, witty candidate running? What's the big deal? You don't want to vote for him, then don't.

Don't forget that Rasmussen polled a three-way Clinton-Giuliani-Colbert match-up and found Colbert in double-digits.

I know it's a farce, but that's unfortunate that Colbert can't get on the Republican ticket for SC. For what it's worth, he took a higher percentage from the Republicans in a recent Rasmussen poll last week:

Comedian Colbert Reaches Double Digits As Third-Party Candidate "For what it’s worth, the overall numbers show Hillary Clinton at 45%, Rudy Giuliani at 35%, and Colbert at 13%."

I wouldn't vote for Ann Coulter so I certainly won't vote for the left's version of her.

Seriously, how can you guys be so hatetful, partisan and dishonest? To support people like Coulter or Colbert is idiotic, I mean they do say funny things from time to time but to take them serious shows that YOU have a serious problem.

BTW, if you discount that Coulter and Colbert are not the exact equals on the left and right, then you are too partisan for individual thought and should go back to getting your marching orders from Micheal Moore-on.org. Oh and listen to Air America, they need your support to keep going, they recently gave the ultimate sign of being true liberal democrats by trying to create a fake hate crime story about their host Rhodes being attacked by conservatives when she fell down from being too drunk.

I watch Steven Colbert and think he's really funny...but people will vote for him...Steven Colbert is a character....on a TV ....people who actually vote for him...are called "morons"

Great, a hollywood leftist, elitist pretending to be a conservative.
To be fail and balanced, we need Ann Coulter to run as a socialist liberal!

It's sad how many young people think Colbert and John Stewart are unbiased political analysts and not just hollywood elitist liberals using humor to further the left's agenda. They're just liberal versions of Limbaugh and Hannity, albeit funnier.

I can hear it now, there are about to be a dozen or so comments about how Colbert is a joke and this is a mockery to the system. Sorry everybody that's already the case!!! HAVE YOU SEEN THE OTHER CANDIDATES!!!. People like Colbert should be elected president, I wouldn't blindly support the man but I am very interested in seeing what he has to say and I would pay pay per view charges to watch a debate that included him. Just because I want to see him challenge the other candidates' intellect. If anything else don't you think he could at least possibly expose some of the other candidates that aren't ready to face someone that will challenge their wits instead of simply reading prepared questions off to candidates lets see what they're really made of. Give him a chance people that's all I ask.

Still waiting to see that Dorito's split...