Stephen Colbert is not a conservative, but he plays one on TV. His Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report, is intended as a send-up of FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor. It shouldn’t be difficult to bring off, especially since the boorish O’Reilly is so often a mockery of himself, but Colbert suffers a common affliction among bleeding heart liberals. His attempts at mock self-righteous indignation over subjects he imperfectly grasps the conservative viewpoint on come off as ham-handed and schmaltzy.
But all of this is beside the point for Colbert, who, like Al Franken before him, seems to harbor real designs on a career in national politics. Colbert previously toyed with the idea of a run for president. And now that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint has announced he is stepping down to move into the top post at the conservative tank, the Heritage Foundation, Colbert appears to want DeMint’s Senate seat.
There’s more. The people of South Carolina want him as well, that is if you can believe a Public Policy Polling survey. Noting that S.C. Governor Nikki Haley is the least popular state chief executive in the country, with more voters disapproving than approving of the job she is doing, the site notes appointing Colbert as DeMint’s interim replacement would help her regain her edge.
“Colbert.” PPP writes, “tops the wish list of who South Carolina voters would like to see [sic] join that body at 20%, followed by Tim Scott at 15%, Trey Gowdy at 14%, Jenny Sanford at 11%, Henry McMaster and Mark Sanford at 8%, Jeff Duncan and Joe Wilson at 5%, and Mick Mulvaney at 4%.”
In a field that large, it’s hard to ascribe any real significance to those numbers, especially when you consider that 30 percent of those queried said they had a favorable opinion of the entertainer while 32 percent said they viewed him unfavorably.
This hasn’t prevented Colbert from telling viewers:
I want you to take to the Twitters, I want you to tweet at Nikki Haley why she should appoint me to the U.S. Senate with the hashtag #SenatorColbert.
Many listened, it seems, but to no avail. Haley said today that she is not planning to appoint a “placeholder” candidate to replace DeMint.
Colbert and his fans will just have to wait.
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