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If you haven’t been following the back and forth Daily Show / Colbert Report “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow” Super PAC segments, then you’ve been missing out on potentially the best piece of politic satire of our generation. This all began when Colbert began showing up in early polling results prior to the South Carolina primary. Within a week, Colbert had launched an exploratory committee and enlisted fellow comedian John Stewart to run his newly formed Super PAC. What followed was a hilarious and genius analysis of the current political process – the focus being on the illegality of the coordination between a candidate and their Super PAC leader. My personal favorite moment was when Stewart got his lawyer on the phone to diagnosis exactly how far a candidate could go to coordinate with their Super PAC and still be within the legal limits. Check out the full clip here: -
So, that’s the back story – and now that you’re all caught up, we can talk about why Colbert’s Super PAC is trending today: Yesterday it was announced that Colbert’s satirical Super PAC has raised over a million dollars in donations. A MILLION DOLLARS. Potentially the most lucrative joke in history, the money has been used to launch satirical attack ads against Colbert’s opponents and helped in throwing a Colbert rally in South Carolina where previous Republican front runner Herman Cain actually showed up on stage and seemed to endorse Colbert.
And while Colbert never really entered the race and has since dropped out of actual contention, the take away here is not what did happen, but rather what did – A man with no real political background was able to cause a great stir in the debates and make his presence known to a number of potential voters – all the while turning a mirror on the current political process, showing how essentially silly it has become.
