Stephen Colbert for President Campaign Gets Another Boost -- From 'NYT'

By: E&P Staff The buzz started again after an E&P report on Thursday about Stephen Colbert's appearance with Larry King on CNN this week. Promoting his new book, the Comedy Central host and faux rightwing blowhard hinted that he might throw his hat in the ring for president next year, if only because the position of "God" was already taken. The largest public TV network in his native South Carolina then invited him to kick off his bid using their studio.

Now a column in The New York Times may give him another nudge.

Maureen Dowd turns over most of her column to Colbert today, giving him a chance to prove his declaration that writing an Op-Ed for the paper is easy to do. She reveals that he proceeded to complete a column while threatening to "shave Paul Krugman with a broken bottle." It appears under his byline within Dowd's column.

But was this just another bit of fakery, and Dowd actually did an excellent job of mocking the mock views of Colbert? Was it faux keeps or not?

You be the judge (it's all at www.nytimes.com) but in any event, it returned to the subject of Colbert running for president, noting "a lot of Americans feel confused about the current crop of presidential candidates." He (or she) then proceeded to make fun of some of the leading candidates, before announcing: "While my hat is not presently in the ring, I should also point out that it is not on my head. So where?s that hat?"

He also notes that "many candidates test the waters with a book first. Just look at Barack Obama, John Edwards, or O. J. Simpson." He then describes a kind of platform. On gender: ?The sooner we accept the basic differences between men and women, the sooner we can stop arguing about it and start having sex.? On race: ?While skin and race are often synonymous, skin cleansing is good, race cleansing is bad.? On the elderly: ?They look like lizards.?

And finally: "Let me regurgitate: I know why you want me to run, and I hear your clamor. I share Americans? nostalgia for an era when you not only could tell a man by the cut of his jib, but the jib industry hadn?t yet fled to Guangdong. And I don?t intend to tease you for weeks the way Newt Gingrich did, saying that if his supporters raised $30 million, he would run for president. I would run for $15 million. Cash.

"Nevertheless, I am not ready to announce yet ? even though it?s clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."

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Check out Thursday's update on the latest developments.