Can I Get An Amen?

The South Carolina Primary was very good to Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain. They came in at Number 1, well, okay, actually number 1%, so almost the same thing. Stephen listed the percentages for each of the major contenders, a list that he got from the AP.

Newt Gingrich 40%
Mitt Romney 29%
Rick Santorum 17%
Ron Paul 13%

Interestingly enough, Herman Cain got 45 votes in the Iowa Caucus, he got 160 in New Hampshire, but he got a whopping 6,324 votes in South Carolina. That means he got more votes than Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann combined!

It's just proof of how powerful the Colbert Bump is.

Although it seems like we just had a major announcement, Stephen had another one tonight. Since he didn't do very well in South Carolina, he is going to suspend his campaign. And end his exploratory committee. That's it. He won't be running for president. And since he won't be a candidate, he can get his PAC back. He coordinated with Jon Stewart and long story short, Jon is sitting at his Daily Show desk counting stacks of money. That can't be a good sign.

Shifting gears just a bit - Stephen showed footage of the Rally. (Watch it over at Colbert Nation.) It was wonderful. Signs such as "Skipping Class for Stephen Colbert" were visible in the crowd. There was a choir on stage with Stephen. There were cheerleaders. There were Marching Bands. And it was a great crowd of thinkers and good looking people. Stephen complimented the intelligence of the crowd by telling them, "I don't have to pander to the most beautiful people in the world!"

Next Herman Cain came on stage and talked a bit and sang a bit. Both men were quite inspirational. Herman Cain even called Stephen a "brother from another mother." And yet there is doubt and ridicule from the pundits. They claim Stephen is a joke and his run for office is a joke. Well, if it's all a joke then they are saying our entire campaign finance system is a joke.

Stephen's guest was Bruce Bueno de Mesquita who brought his book, "The Dictator's Handbook - Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics." I actually went over to Amazon and read some excerpts plus looked at a few reviews online. I'm glad I did because it gave me such a different view of what the interview was about. I thought Bruce had said that dictators and Democrats are not really that different - they want to stay in power. But what he said was that dictators and democrats are not really that different - they want to stay in power.

Did you catch the subtle difference? Okay, I'll tell you. It was the difference between Democrats and democrats. The first one refers to people of one political party. The second one refers to people in a democratic society. He also made some predictions. He predicted that Newt Gingrich will be nominated but that he won't win the Presidency. The audience applauded wildly at his willingness to make predictions.