Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Satirical Genius of Stephen Colbert

 Stephen Colbert transferring his "Colbert SuperPAC" money to Jon Stewart.

I've been a regular viewer of The Colbert Report since the first episode. He was one of the funniest 'correspondents' on The Daily Show, and (in my opinion) has far surpassed Jon Stewart has the greatest political satirist alive... maybe ever.

The NY Times magazine had this great article that gives a look behind the persona that he has meticulously crafted.

NY Times Magazine:

His roast of Dubya in 2006 was a legendary performance & guaranteed him a place among the Gods of Comedy.

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However, since then he has continued to bring an insane amount of wit & cutting insight to every show. His character is a consistently brilliant parody of the know-nothing plutocratic jerks who can usually be found on right-wing media like Fox News, as either guests or pundits.

Recently on his show, he has been masterfully utilizing all the great comedic material being provided by the buffoons running in the GOP primaries.

He has also been busy exposing the ludicrous process & laws behind elections in our country. At the forefront of his crusade to highlight the absurdities of our political system has been the 'Citizen's United' decision by the Supreme Court.

NYT:


Basically, it ruled that current election law allows corporations to be considered "people" when it comes to political speech.

Therefore, through supposedly unconnected groups known as Super PACs, unlimited money can be raised by supporters of candidates. There is no requirement to disclose how much has been raised or where it came from.

Therefore, he started Colbert SuperPAC to show the process behind forming these legal entities which are having such a detrimental effect on the democratic system.

This week he made a surprise move to hand over the operation of his Colbert SuperPAC to Jon Stewart. By doing this, he has opened himself up to exploring a run as a candidate in the South Carolina primary election!

This should be very interesting... & hysterical!

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