Zeitgeist for Stephen Tiberius Colbert Day

Maybe Columbia won’t add ‘Tiberius’, but they did promise to make today Stephen Colbert Day, proclaim Favorite Son, and give him a necktie with Palmetto trees on it. I guess this is his first campaign stop in South Carolina. All aboard the Truthiness Express! Here’s the Zeitgeist for October 28, 2007.

The latest from MyFace
Reaction to the meteoric rise of 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert on Facebook. Membership as of today is over 1,130,000.

• Okay, Fine, I Stand Corrected – Rachel Sklar, HuffPo: “Okay, Fine, I Stand Corrected” [lol - we love you, Rachel!]
• Colbert fan group on Facebook soars like an eagle – C/Net News.com: “Nation, these are frightening times we live in.”
• 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen Colbert gets 1 millionth member – The Palmetto Scoop: “A group that aimed to enlist one million members in 10 days supporting Colbert on the social networking site Facebook passed the one million mark overnight; making it the fastest growing group in Facebook’s history.”
• On Notice: Colbert trounces Obama on Facebook – Machinist: ” Shortly after Stephen Colbert announced that he would be running for president in South Carolina — that is, just last week — Raj Vachhani, a high school student in Montgomery, Ala., created a Facebook group called “1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert.” And unlike the Obama and anti-Hillary organizations, the Colbert group’s name tells the truth: On Thursday night, the millionth member joined.”
• I Was There When The 1,000,000 For Colbert Hit A Million – Facebook.com: “Sorry the name was cut off, but this group is for anyone who should have been studying, sleeping, or even waking up by then, but instead Stayed up all night for 1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert.” [Note from Jennie: I should admit now that I was allowed to join this exclusive facebook group. H/T to TraceyUK for the tip!]

Legal Opinions
Not that I’m worried about this, but I am learning a lot about campaign finance laws from these thought exercises.

• Stephen Colbert and Campaign Finance Law – Daily Kos (Adam B): “I’ve wrestled with this one, and the way I see it, if Colbert makes real efforts to get on the ballot, then he’s a candidate — and it’s not for the FEC to say who’s a “serious” candidate. And if that’s the case, then as a matter of law, I do have a problem with this — replace “Comedy Central” with “Fox News” and “Colbert Report” with “Sean Hannity decides to run for Congress,” and see how you come out on this.”
• Comedy Central serious about Colbert run – Politico.com: “The expert outside counsel in question is the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, whose lawyers have represented the Republican National Committee and the first President Bush’s campaign.”

Where they are talking about Stephen
And the walk to the White House

• Stephen Colbert, Ron Paul and RedState, Iran and the GOP, and Obama’s courtship of Gore – America’s Future Foundation: audio file
• Stephen Colbert, and J.K. Rowling, For U.S. President – Financial Post (Canada): “Two of the best shills in the business, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and TV’s Stephen Colbert, have outflanked the American Presidential candidates in headline grabbing.”
• House Majority Grandstander gets testy – Pittsburgh Tribune-Record: “Less taken aback was Colbert, who said this to Rasmussen Reports about his youthful supporters: “These are my people. They know who I am and what I’m about and so forth. Is this thing working, are we on the air? Oh, it’s the Internet? Well why didn’t you say the Internet?”"

Where Stephen is not
A sub-category of ‘Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert’: Rock the Vote in Charleston and an article about U.C.B. in NYT.

• CofC Students “Rock the Vote” Despite Big Name Cancellations – WCIV.com (ABC, Charleston): “The Comedy Central television host was supposed to hang out with students at the voter registration event, but cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. Colbert wasn’t the only big name to bow out though. “
• Class Clowns – The New York Times: “From noon on May 18 until noon the following day, MTV’s chaotic Midtown set was overrun with dozens of acclaimed guests — not top-flight celebrities like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but up-and-coming comics like Rob Riggle, a correspondent on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” and Curtis Gwinn and John Gemberling, the creators of a Cartoon Network show called “Fat Guy Stuck in Internet.””

Odds and Ends

• Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 is asking for your vote at YOU DECIDE Caption Challenge: Stephen Colbert
• ‘I Am America (And So Can You!)’ is Number 1 on the New York Times best selling hardcover list for the 2nd week in a row.
• John Feerhery doesn’t think Stephen Colbert is funny.
• Stephen Colbert and Mike Gravel share the same birthday! Born to be running mates?
• Stephen Colbert and “truthiness” inspired a 14 year old to write “What ‘Truthiness’ Taught Me about Being Cool,” which was chosen for publication in “RED,” a collection of writings from teenage girls around the country.
• According to Daily Kos, Meet the Press on-line streaming was up after Stephen Colbert appeared.
• 56 % of FishbowlNY readers are erythrophobes.
• Very O.T., but here’s Pittsburgh Paints vision for Homeland Security threat level colors.