By Kofi Outlaw
If you’re a fan of Comedy Central’s THE COLBERT REPORT like I am, you probably took it for one of many jokes when host Stephen Colbert stated, in his usual manner of mock indignation, that he would be running for the U.S.’s top office during the upcoming 2008 election. In a recent TV interview with Tim Russert on MEET THE PRESS, Colbert elaborated that he would be choosing scandal-embroiled Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, to be his vice presidential running mate.
No need to worry that Mr. Colbert has ‘gone Chappelle’ (i.e., lost his marbles) on us however. The fiery mock-journalist assured that he has no delusions of grandeur when it comes to his prospects of one day being president.
“I don’t want to be president. I want to run for president. There’s a difference,” [Colbet said] in a television interview.
“I’m far realer than Sam Brownback, let me put it that way,” [he added] in reference to Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who dropped out of the 2008 White House race [last week.]
Colbert hopes to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries in his native state of South Carolina “because I’d like to lose twice.” His strategy would be to win sufficient votes to receive a South Carolina delegate to next year’s presidential conventions.
“Why else run as a favorite son if you’re not going to broker a convention? And if I get a delegate, it will be a brokered convention—unless they offer to let me speak, then maybe I would turn over my delegate,” he said.
As of this point, Colbert has not officially approached proposed running mate Sen. Craig, who is still locked in a torrid sex scandal after being caught in a sting operation involving a men’s airport bathroom. Will we in fact see the face of America’s favorite son on the campaign trail next year? If there’s one thing I’ve learned from John Stewart’s influence in the ’04 election, it’s that you can never keep a good mock-journalist down.
Would you vote for Steve Colbert in ’08? Rant and let us know if so—or if you are still saving your vote for the second coming of Clinton.