Last month, TV satirist and comedian Stephen Colbert launched a pseudo-presidential bid, claiming on his show, The Colbert Report, that he intends to submit his candidacy for "President of the United States of South Carolina."
The move was part of a months-long satirical jab at presidential Super PACs (Political Action Committees), namely how they influence political campaigns and presidential elections. In June of last year, Colbert filed a request with the Federal Election Commission to form his PAC, cleverly called "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow."
Colbert told the FEC that the money would be raised not only for political ads, but for "normal administrative expenses, including but not limited to, luxury hotel stays, private jet travel, and PAC mementos from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus."
That move set in motion a long, carefully orchestrated bit of satire that hit its stride last month with Colbert's presidential bid. Through a series of on-air legal maneuvers, Colbert relinquished control of his Super PAC to fellow prime-time comedian Jon Stewart, changing the name of the PAC to "The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC."
"The hilarious spectacle made a mockery of the legal distinction between a candidate 'coordinating' with a Super PAC, which is forbidden, and a candidate 'calling out to' a Super PAC to act in the 'best interests' of the people," reports Anthony Gregory for Eurasia Review.
The stunt was specifically targeted at Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, who recently claimed that his calling out to a Super PAC did not overstep campaign regulations in his own candidacy.
Prior to the South Carolina primary, the PAC began launching a series of political attack ads, some of which assumed the identity of ex-presidential hopeful Herman Cain or took aim at presidential contender Mitt Romney's claim that corporations are people. The latter ad came to the logical conclusion that the former Massachusetts governor is a serial killer.
While the charade was met with mostly cheery responses, many analysts and political pundits were skeptical of Colbert's intent. But late last month, after suspending his campaign, Colbert made an announcement on his Super PAC website:
"Earlier tonight, I confronted Jon Stewart on The Daily Show … The way I see it, the Supreme Court said that money is speech, and Jon Stewart was hogging all my speech. Now I've taken that speech from Jon, making him like that movie 'The Artist': French."
On his show that night, Colbert announced that his Super PAC, now back in his hands, has raised more than $1 million.
Tags : Taxes, finance, politics
Posted: Feb 14th, 2012