Stephen Colbert will not be President. Now, thanks to the insanely-serious South Carolina Democratic Election Council, the Colbert Nation will not see him make a run at White House this year.
Did Colbert have any chance of winning? No.
Did he think he had a chance of winning? He was actually looking forward to losing twice by running as both a Republican and a Democrat.
It is absurd that the South Carolina Democratic Election Council would vote 13-3 to remove him from the ballot. Apparently the council thought that his campaign was malicious. “He’s really trying to use South Carolina Democrats as suckers so he can further a comedy routine,â€Â said councilmember Waring Howe.
It would be a good assumption that Howe voted against Colbert.
Howe also said that “over my dead body will Colbert’s name be on the ballot.â€Â
There are always two ways of looking at an issue. The majority of the council clearly thought that Colbert was somehow tarnishing their prestigious primary.
Really, South Carolina? Eight votes in the electoral college makes it slightly more important than Oregon and less important than Alabama.
Some Democrats had the other perspective.
“We know he won’t be president. He knows that. But it will bring a lot of people into the party,â€Â said Charles Hamby, the second vice chairman of the South Carolina state Democratic Party.
It’s not just that. Colbert might have been able to do something that no other candidate in any party has ever been able to do — he might have been able to get young people to vote.
The South Carolina Democratic leaders couldn̢۪t have made a worse decision for their party. Maybe they thought that he would take votes away from some of the other legitimate candidates. It is true that voting and running for public office is a serious matter.
But allowing Colbert to run would have done great things for the state of South Carolina and the nation.
Most normal young adults don’t watch CNN. Like me, our generation watches “The Colbert Reportâ€Â and “The Daily Show.â€Â
Yes, they are ridiculous at times. People smart enough to vote know that.
But those shows are powerful.
Many major presidential candidates for this coming election such as Barack Obama and John McCain have been on those shows.
They go on those shows because they are trying to reach out to the younger viewers. Can you imagine what it would be like if the stars of those shows ran for office? Even as a joke it would be advancing American politics.
It would be awesome for voters. It would probably scare candidates. Would Colbert win if he ran in all 50 states? Absolutely not.
However, he might bring out thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands more voters.
Another problem might have been that Colbert hardly ever strays from his character. What the viewer sees is not who Colbert is.
On “60 Minutesâ€Â he said he thinks of his persona as a character, not as an extreme of his personality.
In reality, Colbert, who is from South Carolina, used to have a southern accent.
He does not let his children watch him on television because he said “he doesn’t agree with many of the things his character says.â€Â
Even if the South Carolina Democratic Election Council used the argument that Colbert may have been misrepresenting himself, it wouldn̢۪t be enough.
Colbert could have done more for voting motivation than anyone else.
Now there̢۪s no hope to watch him lose on the Republican side because he didn̢۪t get his Republican bid in on time.
South Carolina missed a huge opportunity to gain national recognition and attention. Fortunately, one citizen is not taking the news too hard.
“Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history — only 10 votes — I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle,â€Â Colbert said Monday in a statement. “It is time for this nation to heal.â€Â