Thanks to Mark Evanier (again!) for the link. This guy thinks Stephen Colbert's on-going Super PAC riff is injurious to the body politic. Me, I think he's doing the system an enormous favor by dissecting the absurdity of our current, money-bloated electoral process.
I am also intrigued over the irony that the first candidates to squeal over the unfairness of Super PAC big money are mostly the same who supported it from the right, but that's neither here nor there...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stephen-colberts-unfunny-run-for-president/2012/01/20/gIQAyCzWEQ_story.html
3 comments:
I initially was really irritated about what Colbert was doing. I thought he was squandering public donations that could usefully be spent on people who really need it like the poor. Only weeks or even months later did I realize what he was doing.
I still have some reservations about trying to screw with Rick Perry's campaign (even if he is an awful human being, save on immgration) by misleading people about how to spell his name. I'd be really pissed if some right winger were trying to mess up a Democratic primary. Still, for the most part, I'm for it as a great educational process. (Jon Stewart eating from Mario Battali's mouth was unnecessarily gross, though.)
I'm not sure the money that Colbert collected for his Super PAC would have otherwise gone to the poor, but I take your point. (I doubt any of the millions squandered on Perry, Bachmann and Cain would have been offered to charity had they opted not to run, either.) But as you've concluded, I think the educational/comedy value of their mock campaign outweighs any small reservations about their tactics.
Well, my point was that, if one gives money for any cause, one has less to give for any other. I don't get the sense people engage in charity with careful planning.
I don't give much, but if I'm low on cash one month because I've bought a lot of stuff or, say, donated to Colbert, I'm not in the mood to give a homeless person some change or buy them some food. Similarly, many folks gave on faith because they had no idea what Colbert was going to do with their money, but assumed it was something progressive.
Initially, I thought "what a waste; these people could be donating their money to a progressive candidate at the very least or some charity." Yet, I guess it was worth it, in the end.
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