Barack Obama’s Team May Have Caused Stephen Colbert To Cry

Last week Stephen Colbert’s attempt to run for the President was stopped by the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council who voted 13 – 3 to keep Colbert off of the presidential primary ballot. Colbert claims now he has to mourn this decision and will have to take a break from his show on Comedy Central. Conveniently the Writers Guild of America is striking, so his show would be in reruns anyway. According to Colbert, “I am shocked and saddened by the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council’s 13-to-3 vote to keep me off their presidential primary ballot. Although I lost by the slimmest margin in presidential election history — only ten votes — I have chosen not to put the country through another agonizing Supreme Court battle. It is time for this nation to heal. I want say to my supporters, this is not over. While I may accept the decision of the Council, the fight goes on! The dream endures! …And I am going off the air until I can talk about this without weeping.” There is some speculation now that people from Barack Obama’s campaign leaned on some of the members of the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council to keep Colbert off of the ballot. One member of the council said that Inez Tenenbaum, who is a high profile supporter of Obama, “pressured” them to keep Colbert off the ballot. “She said it wouldn’t be fair to the other candidates. That he [Colbert] wouldn’t be sincere. That he was only running in one state,” said the executive council official. State Rep. Bakari Sellers, another major South Carolina Obama supporter, admitted he made phone calls to council members. “I placed the calls as a concerned Democrat, realizing that we are a country in despair,” Sellers told CNN. “It is not a time for games or to make a mockery of the process.” Obama’s campaign denies any connection to the phone calls, and Tenenbaum says it was all about the money. The state Democratic party would have to pay $20,000 to put his name on the ballot. Was Obama’s team afraid they could lose votes to Colbert? John Edwards team took a different stand and actually welcomed Colbert’s entry into the race with political attacks. As soon as the Writers Guild Strike ends we should hear more about this important story.
Alan Cosgrove