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Colbert Ballot Bid Shot Down
wizzard2k writes "Some of you may have seen Stephen Colbert's bid for the South Carolina Presidential Primary, however it seems his hopes to appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Democratic Party have been shot down. From the report: 'Stephen Colbert's bid to get on the ballot for the upcoming Democratic primary in his home state was shot down on Thursday (November 1) by the executive committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Colbert's bid was voted down 13-3 ... Using criteria such as whether the candidate was recognized in the national news media as a legitimate candidate and whether they'd actively campaigned in the state, the committee put the kibosh on the Colbert bid.'"
Two-party duopoly? THREAT DOWN!
Wait a second... not only do the media have massive power to influence how people vote - their approval is also are one of the criteria used to decide if a candidate is allowed to run at all? WTF?
Why does anyone bother to vote at all? It would be faster to just let the media companies nominate our public officials directly.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Yeah that's democracy for you, a bunch of unelected political bosses deciding whether to even give someone a *chance* for people to vote for them. Hell I'm thinking of writing him in anyway (even though he's not even trying to run for president of Mass.).
Well I hope at least they gave him back his $2500.
...why can't Stephen Colbert?
Is it because he is just too damn smart and over-qualified?
Todays WØRD: SHAMOCRACY
Man, I suddenly have a hankering for some Doritos.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I'm reminded or comedian Pat Paulson, a regular fixture on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour back in the late 60's (yes, I'm showing my age). He was a perennial (fake) presidential candidate back then. He managed to get on the ballot a few times, and came in second to George H.W. Bush in the North Dakota Republican primary, and second to Bill Clinton in the 1996 New Hampshire primary.
But what I remember best was his bid to get on the California primary in '96. He had twice the number of required signatures on his petition, paid the fees, filed well in advance of the deadline, but was still denied. March Fong Yu, California Secretary of State, explained the denial as "he's not serious about the campaign."
Paulson's response: "You mean those other guys are?"
310 of us wrote him in anyway....
Man, the irony is that so many people would've voted for him. Regardless of the fact that he's a comedian and actor, he has an amazing sense of people and character, exactly what a good politician should have, as well as charisma aplenty. Add in the fact that he's quite brilliant at just about anything he does, and you have yourself a good candidate. They simply voted him off because of the stigma of being a "joke".
I find it amazing that this board has the power to eliminate him from the primaries so arbitrarily.
If I were Colbert, I'd be seeking justice from the courts on this one. Show them just how serious a candidate he is.
I love how everyone who supports candidates who are massively backed by corporations and special interests (which is the only kind of viable candidate) are attacking him for being "backed" by a corporation. I mean . . . seriously. Pot. Kettle. Black.
He was polling 2.3%, which put him ahead of jokes like Kucinich and Gravel (and serious candidates like Dodd) but far behind Obama and Edwards.
Well, admittedly it had only been a week and a half after he announced his intent to run that his numbers were there. Imagine if he'd had over a year like all the other guys. He'd be at like 120-125% by now.
This guy's the limit!
Otherwise no one would take the Democratic Party seriously. They'd be powerless. Impotent. Laughable. They could run a Nobel Peace prize winner against a guy who can't say "nuclear," and still lose. But by quashing Colbert's bid, they retain their power and dignity.
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
...[I care] whether the politician is honest and will support the positions I care about. I will vote for said person... So, you're saying you're not voting anymore?-G
Their may be a grammatical error, misspeling, or evn a typo in this post.
He's an entertainer. Putting the focus on himself is not only his job, but it's part of his act. I mean, four nights a week, he introduces a guest and then steals the applause that would usually welcome that guest. Stealing the stage from the likes of Hillary, Obama, Mit, Fred, Rudy - that's second nature to him.
When a satirist can steal (or come close to stealing) the political process, it says more about the political process than it does about the satirist. He isn't making politics into a joke. He's simply pointing out that it is.
Bullshit! A vote for a candidate in no way endorses past candidates on the ticket they happen to be running on. It's not as if your theoretical vote for Ron Paul would go back in time and cast a vote for Bush, too.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
In this case I think it is Pringles.
Comes up in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy too. The people who most want power are the least qualified to actually have it, or something similar.
The best part would be when he got 125% of the popular vote... but still lost in the electoral college.
:-D
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Colbert, in his own way is an absolute genius. (personally I believe everyone has a genius, but Colbert has both found his, and developed a way to profitably express it).
The denial of his candidacy is a stark reminder of what is really going on with political parties in the USA. It is an old-boys power network, and frankly, Colbert was not playing by their rules. Those rules are (im my opinion) pretty close to these: be rich, be a career politician, suck up to companies, trade favors with those more powerful, be a political insider, lie cheat and steal your way into power -- and, depending on the party, when one meets most of these rules, the current party system will accept you as one of their own, and "allow" you to run.
Why are there 2 private organizations that run how governement works in the USA? That's crap and very few people see it. No one elected the leaders in these groups to decide "the party line", to pressure senators to vote a certain way, to hide emails, and whatever else they do. Why on earth should 13 people in SC get to tell the people of that state if a legal citizen can or can't run for president? Show me where the Constitutional process for how the Rebuplic runs discusses that kind of political power. It is an abomination of the system the US had.
While I don't think Colbert is a serious candidate, his running was deeply meaningful. His rejection highlights the absurdity of the process, and the entrenched position of political parties that control the US and governements.
Heck, I would vote for him because I genuinely believe he'd be more competent than any other candidate.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking