'NYT' Editorial Board Blog Takes a Semi-Serious Look at Stephen Colbert Candidacy

By: E&P Staff It's strange enough that the august editorial board of The New York Times now has a blog. It's even more disorienting that they have turned their attention to the presidential candidacy of Stephen Colbert -- and even tried to make a broader, serious point.

One response from a commenter at the site: "If it?s a bad thing for Comedy Central and its corporate parents to advocate a faux candidacy for Mr. Colbert, why is it a good thing for corporate entity New York Times Company to provide millions of dollars worth of PR propaganda in the form of editorials? Oh, yeah. The First Amendment. I forgot that only covers the press."

Here are excerpts from today's posting at www.nytimes.com.

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Stephen Colbert, or his Comedy Central persona of a flag-waving, sound-biting right-leaning pundit, is running for President ? at least semi-seriously....

It?s a stroke of comic genius ? such genius, in fact, that some people are screaming that it threatens to violate campaign law.

On a recent show, he filled out forms to put himself on the ballot of South Carolina, his home state, as both a Democrat and a Republican....

Now comes word from ABC news that campaign finance experts are saying that Mr. Colbert?s campaign may run afoul of campaign finance laws barring corporate contributions to campaigns, because it is being promoted by Comedy Central, the network he appears on, and by his sponsor, Doritos.

Mr. Colbert and Comedy Central are taking the legal issues seriously enough, ABC says, that they dropped plans for Comedy Central?s website to post signature forms to put Mr. Colbert on the ballot.

Since it?s hard to take Mr. Colbert?s campaign seriously ? he has said he is willing to consider Larry Craig as a running mate ? it?s a little hard to take the complaints seriously. But the thing is, they?re right in a way.

If a television personality who is not a comedian were to run for President, it could be a serious candidacy (and we can think of a few we?d be seriously worried about), using the exposure given to him by his television network to campaign and win votes.

So, we hope Mr. Colbert keeps his campaign going, for the sheer fun of it, but we also hope it doesn?t end up muddying the campaign finance laws.