Comedy Central's March to the Sea
Political Waves
So Stewart and Colbert, political humorists in the tradition of of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and all the truth tellers that made us laugh. And now they've upped the ante, Stephen stepping back from the [actual, operating and well-funded] Super PAC he established some months ago. It's cheeky title? Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
As Colbert's home state is South Carolina, and because he already had a small percentage of the presidential campaign vote, he's thrown his hat into the ring (while being legally unable to throw his hat into the ring.) This is shtick Colbert simply can't ignore. Steve doesn't just push the envelope, he stuffs it down yer throat. So, in order to separate himself from the PAC money, he turned it over to Jon -- and in so doing, demonstrated how simple it is to create an anonymous funding source for candidates.
And now -- oh delicious, delicious -- the PAC has released an ad calling corporate raider, Mitt Romney, a "serial killer." Mitt, of course, enhanced his multi-multi-MULTI-millions by becoming a cold-eyed, heartless corporate destroyer (think Richard Gere's character in Pretty Woman) and since Mitt himself has insisted that corporations are people, serial killer isn't really a stretch. And it certainly points up the enormous mess that the Supreme's made for us all with their Citizens United ruling.
Romney is a corporate raider with the instincts of a circling shark. In a year when the 99% lifted their eyes toward the ivory towers that held the dreaded 1% of power and privilege, they might have seen Mitt duck his head out of sight. Mitt's wealth makes him one of the 3,140 wealthiest people in the country — the richest 0.001 percent of Americans. Gingrich's commentary about "vulture capitalism" was well earned. Just watching Romney smile, his eyes empty, his faux-casual clothes pressed and perfect, gives me the eebies. Seriously -- I've seen more warmth in a mannequin.
But because of the way the system works, it's likely that Romney will get the nod, making Florida a mere reprise. If the anti-Romney's can't get their acts together, Mitt will win by default. However, this is still a perfect time for American's to get a tutorial in PAC's, the outrage of Citizens United and the system, itself, and Colbert is just the guy to do it.
Perhaps we'll notice that now, more than ever before, money leads the parade and the fix is in. Maybe if we get a lesson in political science even while we're looking for the punch line, it will finally lead to some kind of campaign finance reform. Until the money is out of our elections, until our representatives can make calls for the good of the nation while NOT in the pocket of their buyers, nothing is going to change.
So here's Stewart and Colbert -- because when the bull is about to stomp you, nothing is more important than the rodeo clown.
And last but not least -- on Martin Luther King's birthday, I'm changing out our signature. Every couple of years I do that, nodding to the changes in energy. We started with a quote from the Dalai Lama, then one from Molly Ivins, then Barack Obama. The new signature is a quote from Dr. King that serves this 2012 time frame very well:
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
1/16/12
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/stephen-colbert-pac-parody_n_1206439.html
This is the first part of a five-part series by The Huffington Post exploring Stephen Colbert's explanation of the nation's campaign finance laws to the public. Stay tuned through the week of Jan. 16, 2012, for the rest of the series.
WASHINGTON -- Two years after the Supreme Court voided many of the country's bedrock campaign finance laws, much of the American public is still confused by the change -- and stupefied by the often-impenetrable jargon that frequently encumbers any discussion of the topic.
But one public figure has managed to pierce the veil of dullness to actually demonstrate -- in an electrifying way -- just how dangerous and corrupt the current system of political campaign financing has become.
In an indication of the desperate state of campaign finance laws -- and the mainstream media -- that person is a comedian: Stephen Colbert, who plays a right-wing blowhard on the Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report."
Colbert has spent much of the past year on a crusade to accept unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and individuals in order to make political statements and lavish himself with luxuries. In so doing, he may have helped bring the troubling issues surrounding campaign finance to the public's attention more than either the reform community or traditional media.
The comedian has often used his on-air persona's actual participation in events to help educate his viewers about what he says are the craziest elements of the United States' political system. This journey began on March 30, 2011, when Colbert announced on his show that in order to influence the 2012 elections, he would be forming a political action committee.
"If you wanna be a political playa in 2012, you need a PAC," he said.
In his ensuing adventures, such as receiving approval in June 2011 for a super PAC, Colbert has exposed many of the potential dangers of the current campaign financing system, including the influence of PACs and unlimited-donation super PACs, secret contributions by big donors, the failure of regulators, and the coordination between campaigns and supposedly independent groups. On Jan. 12, Colbert took his antics to their next logical conclusion: He declared a run for the presidency of the United States ... of South Carolina.
"It's not very often that money-in-politics questions wind up in pop culture," said John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that supports campaign finance transparency. "Colbert takes the most legalistic or complicated aspects of campaign finance and boils it down into a digestible popular form in a way that's unique."
Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21 and a longtime supporter of tougher campaign finance regulation, is also a fan. "I think Colbert has made a real contribution to educating a broader public about the dangers involved in our current campaign finance system," he said.
Colbert's personal appearances before the Federal Election Commission and the attention he has generated on the subject even garnered the praise of FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, who thanked Colbert for "shining a little light on this obscure corner of the federal government."
ABOUT THOSE PACS
Forming a PAC seemed an appropriate starting point for Colbert. The committees have traditionally been used to provide a vehicle for a group of people -- employees of a corporation, members of a union, supporters of a political figure -- to pool their money for campaign contributions or independent expenditures in support of the election of candidates.
The first PAC dates back to 1944, but their use exploded in the 1970s and the 1980s.
As he signed the forms to create his own PAC in March, Colbert joked about what else he could do with the money he raises.
"Let's say I'm Sarah Palin and I've got a couple of million dollars in my PAC there. Can I use that to, like, take private jets someplace?" Colbert asked his guest and lawyer Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman and counsel to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his 2008 presidential run.
Potter, who has since become Colbert's campaign finance straight man, responded with a smile, "You can!"
A common criticism of PACs connected to political figures is that they can be used to pay for things like luxury travel with funds contributed by other people. A PAC belonging to former Republican vice presidential candidate Palin, for instance, provided tens of thousands of dollars for her to travel to Israel and to take private jet trips across the United States
As Colbert has demonstrated, forming a PAC can be as easy as filling out a form and asking for money.
Video produced by Sara Kenigsberg. ++
David Edwards, Raw Story
Sunday, January 15, 2012
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/15/colbert-the-more-money-you-have-the-more-you-can-speak/
Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert declared Sunday that he believes in Super PACs because “the more money you have, the more you can speak.”
Last week, Colbert turned the Super PAC that he founded over to Comedy Central host Jon Stewart so as not to run afoul of campaign laws while he considers running for the Republican presidential nomination in South Carolina.
The Stewart-controlled Super PAC released an ad Saturday attacking Colbert’s potential opponent Mitt Romney as a “serial killer” for his record of destroying corporations as the head of Bain Capital. Speaking at the Iowa State Fair last year, Romney had asserted that “corporations are people.”
“If that’s not accurate, I hope they take it down,” he added. “I don’t know if Mitt Romney is a serial killer. That’s a question he’s going to have to answer. … I do not want any untrue ads on the air that could in any way be traced back to me.”
“On almost everything,” Colbert agreed. “Money equals speech. Therefore the more money you have, the more you can speak. That just stands to reason. If corporations are people, corporation should be able to speak. That’s why I believe in Super PACs.”
Jon Stewart (Formerly Colbert) Super PAC Buys Ad Time in South Carolina
Mocking Super PACs Apparently Became Serious for the Guys at Comedy Central
Saul Relative, Yahoo News
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, Comedy Central's tag team of late night faux news hosts, non-coordinated a transfer on Thursday night that gave Stewart control of Colbert's political Super PAC. Why? Because politics is serious business, so Colbert could run for president of the United States of South Carolina. And Stewart didn't waste any time non-coordinating with the former head of the Super PAC. As ABC News reported Friday, the Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow has already bought a substantial amount of commercial time in the Charleston, S. C., market.
According to the report, the now Stewart Super PAC has purchased $10,000 in ad time in Colbert's hometown. There is also a report in the Palmetto Public Record that negotiations are underway for a large airtime buy in Columbia as well.
Still, South Carolinians who are afraid that Colbert (and Stewart) might be going too far in mocking his home state's political process don't have to worry to much, though. Colbert cannot actually get on the South Carolina ballot in the Republican Primary. Republican Party regulations do not allow for write-ins, either.
But that does not mean his (well, Stewart's) Super PAC cannot make a mockery of both the Republican Primary and its candidates, a group that has been providing comedians and the media with plenty of amusing material on their own. Still, given the negative political ads that have inundated the state in the past week in the run-up to the Primary on Jan. 21, a little levity might be appreciated.
~ The Reverand Martin Luther King
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.