Stephen Colbert Spoofs Link Between Money And American Politics

Political satirist Stephen Colbert has extended his critique of American politics from The Colbert Report stage onto a new one – the campaign stage for the Republican nomination.

And he’s getting votes – over 6,000 in South Carolina under the name of Herman Cain, since Colbert’s name is not on the ballot but Cain’s name is, even though he dropped out of the race last year.

Colbert has been particularly relentless in his mocking of the separation between Super PACs and the candidates they’re supporting, and of unlimited third party spending on political campaigns:

“Some of you may be too young to remember, but years ago, back in 2010, there were still limits on how much money corporations could spend on elections. And not just corporations – also billionaires and unions. Faced with this tragic lack of corporate influence in our government, five courageous, unelected justices on the supreme court took a stand, while technically still sitting. They ruled that since corporations are people, and people have the right to free speech, and money equals speech, therefore corporations have the constitutional right to spend unlimited money in political speech. With the stroke of a gavel, these brave men leveled the playing field, and then sold the naming rights to that playing field to Bank of America.”

Colbert’s own “The definitely not co-ordinating with Stephen Colbert Super PAC” is reportedly being held hostage by Jon Stewart, who is spending all the money.