Purge

Out with the old...

More on Colbert

Many of you already know that I believe the Washington Post is missing out on an important story - what I be sayin'.

Well, it turns out that they are listening to what I say, stealing it, and publishing it without even a measly tip of the hat.

I'm the one that talks about the significance of Colbert's Facebook group! Here and here. From like last week, y'all!

Yesterday, the Washington Post's political blog, The Trail, "broke" a story about Colbert's Facebook group. Jerks!

Actually, there were some interesting nuggets in Dan Balz's post:

"At a political level, comparing Mr. Obama and Mr. Colbert is patently unfair. To join Mr. Obama's group ... requires an explicit statement of political beliefs. Joining Mr. Cobert's group signals that you're a fan of his hilarious TV personality. Of course, there's nothing wrong with this -- but to comapre Obama and Colbert is truly to compare apples and oranges," Fred Stutzman, a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, blogged Monday on TechPresident, the hub of online presidential campaigning.

Added George Washington University's Michael Cornfield, who teaches about political strategy and message development: "Colbert is entertainment and entertainment always outrates politics. People want to be entertained. That's all this means."

Mr. Balz does an admirable job questioning their logic by citing how Facebook has become increasingly political through the causes application and candidate profile pages. To that, I would also add the already demonstrated mobilization results of certain cause-oriented groups, such as those which were so influential in driving the Jena 6 mobilization.

I am of the position that Fred Stutzman and Michael Cornfield (who teaches about political strategy and message development) suck at having opinions about the significance of Colbert's immense levels of support. They suck real bad.

A more reasoned position on the Colbert phenomenon comes from Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, h/t: Attytood:

But the Colbert candidacy becomes a distraction only if the press allows it to. And the sad fact is the press already has allowed it to, because the press literally drives itself to distraction on the campaign trail. That's not an unfortunate side effect of the process. That's the goal... (emphasis his)

...That's because the press has decided to cover presidential candidates as celebrities, as personalities. This media phenomenon became enshrined during the 2000 contest, when the press announced that presidential campaigns were no longer about how candidates might function as presidents; what they might actually do as commander in chief. Instead, campaigns were about personalities -- which candidate was fun to be around and which one was authentic...

...Why else would NBC's venerable Meet the Press invite Colbert on for an awkward 15-minute interview? (And why else would anchorman Brian Williams be hosting Saturday Night Live on November 3?)

Well, Mr. Boehlert has an excellent point here about Colbert's candidacy. It is a joke about something deathly serious. (Not the Iraq War, the potential for WWIII, a sagging economy, an castrated and incompetent federal bureaucracy, a healthcare crisis, a free-falling education system, etc.) It's a joke about how terrible the media is. Infotainment is the word of the day.

But it's not just that. It's not just about the media being a self-serving travesty. It's not just about the media wanting to be famous.

It's about politicians wanting to be famous too. Our politicians compete with those media pundits as to who can self-aggrandize more. John McCain and Al Gore have also hosted Saturday Night Live to boost their profiles. So have Rudy Giuliani, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, and Al Sharpton. Just thought I'd point that out. Stephen Colbert is not just a media spoof. He spoofs the whole ridiculous system that we call democracy. Call it democratainment. Or polititainment. To quote Stephen Colbert, "I have a copyright on those."

Joining Mr. Cobert's group signals that you're a fan of his hilarious TV personality.

Colbert is entertainment and entertainment always outrates politics. People want to be entertained. That's all this means.

NO!

Y'all are absolutely asleep on the man!

Have you seen his show? Did you see him at the press corps dinner? This man is not a slap-stick laugh-fest, he's not Will Ferrell. They have different appeals. Stephen Colbert makes people think.

People rely on him as a news source and end up more informed than those that watch actual news.

We're laughing because we're in on the joke while the media and politicians are the ones being made to look like fools. They've been treating us like idiots for so long, Colbert is reversing the dynamic. When Colbert wins delegates in South Carolina, they can smirk all they want about how dumb and uninformed and disengaged the voters are. He'll be at the Republican and Democratic Conventions this summer.

Stephen Colbert Group Surpasses Goal

The Facebook Group 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T. Colbert now stands at over 1,023,000 members. It has been just over one week since the group was created.

I think that this is a pretty big deal. Mr. Youth Movement Barack Obama has about a third of what Stephen Colbert has.

Laugh it up.

Colbert Is So Serious

Oyster linked to the first encouraging poll numbers for Stephen T. Colbert, Presidential Candidate. He has more national support than Bill Richardson.

I followed a bunch of links around to get more information.

Joshua Green at the Atlantic has written a comprehensive strategy profile for the Colbert candidacy. (h/t: The Fix) READ!

Here things get a little more interesting. I can’t point to anything other than truthiness, but I believe the “drunken college student” demographic is being overlooked. Anecdotal evidence lends support. “I’m surprised how many students seem to get their news from Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert,” Blease admitted. “In the grand tradition of student mischief, you could see Colbert having a pied-piper effect.” Indeed, state law doesn’t require voters to register until 30 days before the primary, so there’s plenty of time for a Colbert wave to sweep South Carolina. And because South Carolina doesn’t have party registration, the independents—who, according to Scarborough Research, are Comedy Central’s largest voter demographic, narrowly beating out Democrats—can vote in either primary.

You don't have to feel it just in your gut, Mr. Green. You missed an incredible tidbit of convenient fact that will support your "truth."

Stephen T. Colbert is a Facebook phenomenon.

Since the Facebook group, 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T. Colbert, was launched shortly after Colbert announced his candidacy, it has grown to over 720,000 members. (As of 1:30 PM Central Time) Pasted directly from the group site over at Facebook, here is the pace of growth:

5,000 Members at 4:59 PM (EST) 10/17/2007
10,000 Members at 10:22 PM (EST) 10/17/2007
20,000 Members at 5:26 AM (EST) 10/18/2007
30,000 Members at 12:41 PM (EST) 10/18/2007
50,000 Members at 4:48 PM (EST) 10/18/2007
75,000 Members at 7:30 PM (EST) 10/18/2007
100,000 Members at 12:54 AM (EST) 10/19/2007
170,000 Members at 4:58 PM (EST) 10/19/2007
200,000 Members at 9:43 PM (EST) 10/19/2007
250,000 Members at 11:58 AM (EST) 10/20/2007
300,000 Members at 7:44 PM (EST) 10/20/2007
350,000 Members at 4:43 AM (EST) 10/21/2007
400,000 members at 5:11 PM (EST) 10/21/2007
450,000 Members at 12:16 PM (EST) 10/22/2007
500,000 Members at 5:11 AM (EST) 10/23/2007
550,000 Members at 3:59 PM (EST) 10/23/2007
600,000 Members at 8:06 PM (EST) 10/23/2007
650,000 Members at 11:24 PM (EST) 10/23/2007

That's just incredible.

Let me just put that in perspective:

As of this moment, Barack Obama's Facebook group, oft cited as an indicator of his popularity with young progressive voters boasts over 380,000 members after it's launch nine months ago. The pace of growth chart that had existed on this group page has been removed, possibly because the group's growth has slowed significantly.

Stephen Colbert's group is the fastest to 500,000 in the history of the social networking site.

Don't laugh off the political significance of Colbert Facebook group membership.

The group administrator provides links for voter registration and posts videos and press clippings. The "drunken college student demographic" is eligible to vote just like everyone else.

Soon the media will stop laughing so much. Stephen Colbert makes young people laugh but don't dare believe that he doesn't also make them think. Young voters, coming of age during the Bush Administration, have never experienced the vibrant American democracy so revered in textbooks. When our "leaders" wax on and on about the greatness of our system of government and the democratic process and how it needs to be spread all over the world, a lot of young people wonder what the hell those leaders are talking about. And it's not just because our floundering education system fails to properly explain it. While this protest vote may be good for laughs, please believe that young people, even if they're college drunks, are taking Colbert seriously.

No he won't be the next president. No he won't be a party's nominee. But as he makes a mockery of our electoral process, he'll be the only honest candidate out there. Young people believe this, even if they cannot articulate it beyond the sound of laughter.

Stephen Colbert Announces His Candidacy

HE'S DOING IT!




Stephen Colbert has decided to run in South Carolina's primary. He'll be running in the Democratic and Republican contests and could be extremely "disruptive" in both.

The mainstream media will have fun making a joke of all this. Here's USA Today's take. Editor and Publisher. Yahoo News. The New York Times. CNN. They will report his jokes and give cursory analysis of the role of comedy in society and politics. They will talk about his character, his spoof of the right-wing pundit, his self-aggrandizing cockiness. Sometimes he'll be in the arts and entertainment section, sometimes he'll make it into campaign coverage.

But the jokes on them.

Stephen Colbert is going to keep this serious. No, he won't be our next President. But, he will make a fool out the media and the ridiculousness of the current trends in our electoral system and the way the media covers it.

Howard Kurtz devoted a column to him today. Larry King interviewed him at length. Maureen Dowd gave him her column. He has a new book out.

Every time the man scores an interview with a presidential candidate that wants to appear "hip" and "youthy;" every time the man is interviewed himself by a mainstream news source; every time he has the opportunity to put his "brand" out there; he'll be winning the race.

He doesn't need to be substantive or rational. None of the other candidates seem overly concerned with taking up that mantle either. No gaffe-worthy comment will come back to haunt him. This is just a fame contest.

There is an "I" in America. Or as Stephen Colbert might say, "I am America."

Show us the poll numbers CNN. Who's winning? Who's winning? Who's winning?
We are not. I am.