President Situationalist

Last week Stephen Colbert announced his intention to run as a "favorite son" candidate in South Carolina on both the Democratic and Republican Primary ballots. Besides instigating a history lesson on what that long-lost U.S. political term means, Colbert is engaging in the most risky and surreal satire act since Andy Kaufman donned wrestling leotards.

Sure, there have been a number of notable humor candidates in the past. Pat Paulson in the network-censored Smothers Brothers era (later running again for real, albeit still fringe). Alfred E. Newman, Snoopy, Dan Quayle. But watch Colbert in an unrehearsed, real world/in-on-the-joke-sort-of Meet the Press interview from this morning. It's astonishing watching his mind work, as Tim Russert hits him with research that could potentially burst the bubble of the illusion, and Colbert high-wires the whole thing brilliantly.

I think my personal favorite exchange is the one on Gay Marriage:

MR. COLBERT: Marriage is the basic building block of society. And if gay men get married, that threatens my marriage immediately because I only got married as a taunt toward gay men because they couldn’t.

MR. RUSSERT: So it makes you feel insecure.

MR. COLBERT: Well, I just don’t know else—why I got married other than to rub it in gay people’s faces.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you consider Senator Larry Craig as your running mate?

MR. COLBERT: I would.

MR. RUSSERT: Have you had conversations with him?

MR. COLBERT: Define conversation.

MR. RUSSERT: Have you spoken to him?

MR. COLBERT: No, no.

MR. RUSSERT: Have you met with him? Have you been in the same room together?

MR. COLBERT: Yes. And my...

MR. RUSSERT: And how...

MR. COLBERT: Sorry, my lawyer’s telling me to say no more.

MR. RUSSERT: How did you express your interest in developing your relationship?

MR. COLBERT: Forcefully.

You can read his strategy of trying to get a single delegate and refusing to release it unless given a Convention speaking slot. I'm betting he gets one somehow -- maybe the Democratic Convention, which would be hilarious, especially if he castigated the Dems as he so often has for lacking (there's no way around saying it) balls.

Colbert's breakthrough moment, the turning point for both his career and public perception of Mister Bush, was his wolf-in-the-hen house speech at the White House Correspondents dinner. This Presidential run has the possibility of being the climax of an extended arc that began then, or at least a major act climax. It reminds me of the brilliant pranks of Alan Abel starting back in 1960's NYC and continuing even to when he hit the 2000 GOP Convention with his "Citizens Against Breast- Feeding":

200,000 American citizens have signed a petition urging Congress to declare breastfeeding unlawful. This primitive ritual has and continues to be a violation of babies' civil rights. It's an incestuous relationship with mothers leading to moral decay. Women enjoy an erotic experience that imposes oral gratification on innocent infants after birth. Their reprehensible behavior teaches children illicit sex, subsequently manifesting addiction to promiscuity. Republicans: choose a candidate who supports our cause!

In this age of GOP Christianist pandering, why wouldn't you believe it was for real?