Stephen Colbert Shows Off His Super-PAC

    

Colbert has become an anomaly in the world of entertainment-news political commentary. His brand of entertainment satirizes the conservative Republican agenda by pretending to be a member of it, playing a blowhard conservative pundit on his show, The Colbert Report. However, not content to simply taunt from the safety of his studio, he has made a number of forays into the real world of politics. The latest instance, and perhaps the most risky to date, has been the creation of his own Stephen Colbert Super-PAC. Despite criticism and setting a risky precedent of connecting media corporations to political pandering, Colbert was successful yesterday in creating his Super-PAC, Contributions to Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. The implications of this for the 2012 race are bigger than they might seem, and Colbert has gone much farther than making a joke, or even a point about campaign finance. He may change the game itself.

     In March, Colbert announced that he would create his own Super-PAC in response to Tim Pawlenty's announcement that he would crete a Super-PAC as the foundation of his presidential campaign financing. Super-PACS, as I wrote last month on Politics Report, is a new type of fundraising entity that is a result of the 2009 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United. The organization is allowed to take unlimited amounts of monies and use them to buy adspace and airtime in support of or to attack candidates of their choice.

     Many advocates for campaign finance reform saw Colbert as champion for their cause, pointing out the flaws in the present system and educating people about the inadequacies of the laws. However, Colbert will again go up against the FEC in requesting a special "media exemption" for his show in support of his own Super-PAC. A media exemption is usually for talk shows, blogs, and print media to allow writers and pundits to air their opinions about candidates, but Colbert wants to use it to actively fund-raise for his Super-PAC on the Colbert Report. Viacom, parent company to Comedy Central who employs Colbert and airs his show, is allowed to air advertisements for his show, which will be a consistant platform for his Super-PAC, without disclosing costs. In addition, Colbert has access to the airtime, advertising, and viewing audience to continue to promote his Super-PAC.

     Colbert's media exemption could create a dangerous precedent for campaign finance rules regarding media, disclosure, and corporate support. Fox News could easily begin its own Super-PAC, using network resources in support of its pundits, including Sarah Palin and Newt GIngrich. Many of the campaign finance reform advocates that lauded Colbert for his PAC are now actively campaigning against this media exception, particularly amid alleged ethics violations and conflict-of-interest violations by his FEC lawyer, Trevor Potter, according to POLITICO.com.

     What remains to be seen is how Contributions to Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow monies will be used and who might benefit. I think it's likely that Colbert will create a candidate, perhaps even himself, that will benefit from the PAC's support, while running facetious attack ads on everyone else. Of course, he's just as likely to not do anything with the money. With a satirical eye toward the absurd and sensationalized, Colbert is capable of anything. However, the political system, despite its own behavior, is rather sensitive of being made a fool, which seems to be Colbert's only solid agenda. The likelihood of that continuing, I'd say, is very high.