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Stephen Colbert Revives ColbertPAC With Cover Letter (Illustrating Campaign Finance Folly)

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» 28 comments

Late last month Stephen Colbert formed his own Political Action Committee, or PAC, joining fellow conservatives Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. Last night he learned that, since his nascent PAC ran afoul of some campaign finance regulations, he sadly had to say goodbye to “ColbertPAC.” In what turned into a rather stunning demonstration of the absurdities of campaign finance rules, Colbert followed the counsel of guest legal expert Trevor Potter and quickly resurrected his ColbertPAC with the magical powers of a cover letter!

Rarely has the preposterous nature of campaign finance reform been so clearly illustrated: ColbertPAC was deemed incompatible with accepted practices due to Colbert’s efforts being underwritten by corporate media giant Viacom. But the addition of the cover letter (a veritable paper cape?), the political action committee suddenly came back to life as a SuperPAC. (And the crowd laughed and cheered, if only to mask the deep-seeded anger slowly growing from within…)

Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central:

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  • Barack Must Go

    Oh man, great stuff. I hear on Monday nights program he’ll be lighting Hula Hoops on fire then having his audience members jump through them.

    It doesn’t get much more ” Must See TV ” than that folks.

    Colbert’s career is on fire….literally.

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    “And the crowd laughed and cheered…”
    -CB

    When don’t they?

    They laugh and cheer after every other sentence…
    It’s more cued than a laugh-track…

  • Barack Must Go

    skoorbekim said:
    “And the crowd laughed and cheered…”
    -CB

    When don’t they?

    They laugh and cheer after every other sentence…
    It’s more cued than a laugh-track…

    There is actually a guy ( assistant ) standing just off camera with a dog whistle. He blows into it and Colbert’s special ( Ed ) audience roars with laughter. Other than waking with a slight headache the following morning, they’re non the wiser.

  • Nationman

    Barack Must Go said:
    Oh man, great stuff. I hear on Monday nights program he’ll be lighting Hula Hoops on fire then having his audience members jump through them. It doesn’t get much more ” Must See TV ” than that folks. Colbert’s career is on fire….literally.

    it’d be funny if you didn’t like the shitty late nite series red eye, a series so shitty they actually stole their jokes from a geico commercial.

  • Barack Must Go

    Nationman said:
    it’d be funny if you didn’t like the shitty late nite series red eye, a series so shitty they actually stole their jokes from a geico commercial.

    The term is borrowed, there is a difference you know. Oh wait you’re a lib so you more than likely don’t. How very sad.

  • Bill Huggins

    GREAT SEGMENT

    wait until his SuperPAC starts running ads

    Whoooo boy, it’s gonna be an interesting election season

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    Bill Huggins said:
    GREAT SEGMENT wait until his SuperPAC starts running ads Whoooo boy, it’s gonna be an interesting election season LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

    Like when he tried to enter the South Carolina primaries in 2008?
    that went well/////////////////////////

  • The Tea Weasel®

    It’s pretty obvious from the above posters that the conservatives here really don’t “get” satire…or humor.

    Or maybe Colbert is used to a better educated audience.

    Your call.

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    The Tea Weasel® said:
    Or maybe Colbert is used to a better educated audience.

    They clap like trained seals and laugh like they just got stoned for their first time…

  • grafxmail7

    The Tea Weasel® said:
    It’s pretty obvious from the above posters that the conservatives here really don’t “get” satire…or humor.

    Or maybe Colbert is used to a better educated audience.

    Your call.

    Yeah! Those CLOWN’S post are a PERFECT example of ONE DIMENSIONAL THINKING. I mean look at their responses…..what TOOLS these guys are. Perfect BRAINWASHED RIGHTIES.

  • Bill Huggins

    skoorbekim said:
    Like when he tried to enter the South Carolina primaries in 2008?
    that went well/////////////////////////

    You must’ve not watched the segment above. It’s all legal now, dawg. Try watching/reading the segments before you comment on them. It might help you out in knowing what you’re talking about.

  • Nationman

    Barack Must Go said:
    The term is borrowed, there is a difference you know. Oh wait you’re a lib so you more than likely don’t. How very sad.

    keep cheerleading for gutfield’s unfunny and unoriginal antics.

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    Bill Huggins said:
    You must’ve not watched the segment above.

    Watching and understanding are two completely different things…
    Money talks and bull sh#t walks…

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    The absurdities of campaign finance law and how it relates to PACs are ripe for the picking and the Stephen Colbert character is perfectly suited to use satire in educating the public. Right now there’s all this creating a PAC stuff, then maybe issue ads and who knows, if we get another “accidental” candidate or a Chauncey Gardner, he’d be able to take it all the way.

    The trick will be in the execution and how far Viacom will let him go.

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    Bill Huggins said:
    wait until his SuperPAC starts running ads

    I imagine he’ll mostly do issue ads unless a candidate with no chance were to emerge because the Colbert bump could give an unfair advantage, plus it could easily cause guilt or backfire except in special circumstances.

    As for the “issues”, there was an Independent Senate candidate in Florida this most recent go-round, who received some press for his attention-getting calls to lift a state ban on sex with porcupines, kissing your wife’s breasts and men wearing strapless gowns. (To be fair, if you click through to his follow-up interview, he had a larger point)

    Now it would probably be a little unfair for Colbert to come down for Mr. Bean or any other candidate directly, but there would be nothing wrong with him taking Bean’s cause to other jurisdictions or using them (or similar issues) as a springboard for a national campaign.

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    Whoops!
    I didn’t link to the updated version of the Florida story, the one with a linked interview

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    Magister said:
    The trick will be in the execution and how far Viacom will let him go.

    How much do you think that PAC will get?
    Maybe enough for a commercial or two…
    Can’t wait to see the donations rolling in from all the mommy and daddy’s credit cards…

  • Bill Huggins

    skoorbekim said:
    Watching and understanding are two completely different things…
    Money talks and bull sh#t walks…

    You’re right. How foolish of me to believe that if you watched or read the segment, that you’d actually be able to understand it. Thank you for admitting that. Not alot of posters actually admit their stupidity on here.

    Thanks for being honest

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    Bill Huggins said:
    admit their stupidity on here.

    Tell me who is going to contribute to that PAC then I will tell you who is stupid…

  • MrTPar_taY

    If it wasn’t for that fancy $400.00 haircut I’d believe him to be the reincarnation of Heinrich Himmler-OK, sorry, that was a little harsh.

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    skoorbekim said:
    How much do you think that PAC will get?
    Maybe enough for a commercial or two…
    Can’t wait to see the donations rolling in from all the mommy and daddy’s credit cards…

    Though it is somewhat different, Colbert has raised hundreds of thousands for various causes and he has a well-heeled audience, so individual donations wouldn’t be out of the question, but I think the keyword from the clip is the ability to bundle corporate and union donations in unlimited amounts.

    I haven’t actually studied the rules governing PACs in about twenty years and that was long before these new-fangled gadgets became available, but as I interpret the clip, not only could he get targeted donations from like-minded groups, but it sounds like Stewart’s Busboy and Colbert’s Spartina could simply foot the production costs and then throw the ads up on Youtube for viral and media coverage.

    It also seems possible that he could cover his own ads on the broadcast.

    I’m sure you’d and others would like to accuse him of taking sides or trying to interject himself in the upcoming election, but based on this and the prior segments, I’d say that he’s leaning more toward satirizing the system as an educational exercise, plus maybe getting another Peabody for his trophy case.

  • http://www.perceptionasreality.blogspot.com/ skoorbekim

    Magister said:
    think the keyword from the clip is the ability to bundle corporate and union donations in unlimited amounts.

    point well taken…
    It’s mostly a matter of you and I disagreeing over being allowed to spend our own money…
    Furthermore, It just seems this is self promotion using other people’s money…
    Seems a bit tacky…

  • RowdyHoward

    Barack Must Go said:
    Oh man, great stuff. I hear on Monday nights program he’ll be lighting Hula Hoops on fire then having his audience members jump through them.

    It doesn’t get much more ” Must See TV ” than that folks.

    Colbert’s career is on fire….literally.

    Uhh, that’s Beck’s career you’re thinking of. Crying like a school girl (seriously or trying to look like it’s serious) is kinda bad for grown men in T.V.

  • RowdyHoward

    Brilliantly executed!

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  • Chandra bose

    ecstatic adoration to constructive criticism

    Cover letters

  • Chandra bose

    ecstatic adoration to constructive criticism

    Cover letters

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ricky-Dawn/1108925849 Ricky Dawn

    He should have checked out: How To Write A Cover Letter. Maybe then he would have been ok LOL

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