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A demographic shift for Obama?

Stephen Colbert explains why:

Triumph for truthiness

If you haven't had a chance yet, check out Ben Macintyre's article today on truthiness. 

Here's Colbert's original definition:

Truthiness is the reality that is intuitively known without regard to liberal ideals such as reason and logic. It is the truth that is felt deep down, in the gut. It can't be found in books, which are all facts and no heart. It is absolute, and can only be infallibly known by the gut of Stephen Colbert. It can only felt by Americans with huge brass balls.

In the past decade, occurrences of truthiness have tripled in the United States. The rest of the world, sadly, lags far behind.

And while you're at it, here's Clinton's Colbert appearance. Can she fix it? Apparently, she can.

Alice Fishburn

Stephen's serenade....

For those who haven't seen it yet, here's Colbert putting the moves on Michelle Obama...

Who will get the Colbert bump?

The legendary 'Colbert Bump' famously worked its magic for Huckabee. His appearance on the show gave his flailing campaign a welcome boost. And America dared to dream of the best VP it might ever see.

But now Stephen Colbert can only watch forlornly from the sidelines as the Democrats line up to take advantage of his ratings in the tight Pennsylvania race.

Hillary Clinton has announced that she will appear on his show this Thursday. And Michelle Obama braves his barbs tonight.

For those wondering what the Colbert Bump entails, here is a must-read explanation.

And for those wondering exactly what Stephen Colbert is doing down in Pennsylvania, have a listen to this. Perhaps he and the famously tone-deaf Clinton could duet?

UPDATE: It's worth noting the maths behind the myth. According to one academic paper, the Colbert Bump does actually exist. But only for Democrats. Sorry Mike. 

When believing makes it so...

Recession rumours are everywhere. But Stephen Colbert knows exactly what viewers must do to survive. Forget about taking heart. It's all about embracing the hopelessness.

Eliot Spitzer's weekend plans

During a momentary break in wall-to-wall election coverage, Jon Stewart finds a new target to sharpen his claws on.

And what a target he is.

Watch Stewart go to town on Eliot Spitzer in this clip.

The next President: Stephen Colbert

The wounds of the Huckabee - Colbert withdrawal are still healing. But Colbert fans can take heart at this excellent news brought to us by the omnisicent Blockbuster Buzz.

The Comedy Central star may make it to the White House yet. Sadly it will only be in pixellated form but hey, we'll take what we can get.

Alice Fishburn

The dream dies for Colbert

Our hopes are dashed. The chance for the funniest VP since Cheney, Gore, well, since forever, has passed us by.

Here, Stephen Colbert grapples with his grief. If only he could help us with ours.

Colbert has some lessons for the New York Times

How should a sex scandal be reported? Well, says Colbert, the New York Times has a lot to learn.

Check out this hilarious video (courtesy of a pointer from Crooks and Liars.)

Worth sticking with to the end just for the limerick.

What did Mike Huckabee major in at university?

You may think that John McCain has it all sewn up. But Stephen Colbert begs to differ. Here he is on why the Huckanaut rumbles on.

Colbert on Hillary Clinton's new dance-moves

What would we do without Stephen Colbert? Remain sadly unaware of Hillary Clinton's pre-speech warmup for one thing...

All together now. Clap, clap, point, point.

Forget about President. Colbert's new job? Mending the economy

Worried about recession? Never fear. Stephen Colbert has a solution.

The comeback kids...

In all the excitement of the primaries, you may have missed the real news. Forget about McCain and Clinton. The real comeback kids are Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. And this time they're doing it on their own.

Here's a taster from Colbert last night. The man may not have made it to President but it looks like Huckabee's still searching for a running-mate...

Alice Fishburn

Don't give up the day job, Stephen

All good things must come to an end. Sadly the latest to go is the Colbert presidential run. The comedian fell at the first post last night when the Democratic council turned down his ballot application in South Carolina.

Adding insult to injury, the other eight presidential candidates, including three that Colbert beat in recent polls, were accepted onto the ballot.

"It's your loss Democrats" declared Colbert on air.

And ours, Stephen. And ours.

Alice Fishburn

Colbert for President

Pity poor Bill Richardson. He's spent months pacing the campaign trail, knocking on doors, debating fellow Democrats, chasing every last dollar. And all for what?

Only to be beaten in the polls by Stephen Colbert.

The Fix breaks down the figures

In the Democratic primary, Colbert takes 2.3 percent of the vote -- good for fifth place behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (40 percent), Sen. Barack Obama (19 percent), former Sen. John Edwards (12 percent) and Sen. Joe Biden (2.7 percent. Colbert finished ahead of Gov. Bill Richardson (2.1 percent), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (2.1 percent) and former Sen. Mike Gravel (less than 1 percent).

Watch out White House.

Alice Fishburn

And the latest presidential candidate is.....

17 candidates have already thrown their hats into the presidential ring. This week they've been joined by another...Stephen Colbert. Here the comic genius announces his bid for the White House.

Alice Fishburn

Colbert's back and he's ready to mock

We Brits may not have noticed, but Stephen Colbert has been on holiday for the past fortnight. That's a tad unfortunate as those two weeks were ripe for satire - what with Senator Larry Craig's wide stance in a toilet and Alberto Gonzales's bumbling resignation.

But on his return, he kicks thing off by using Fred Thompson's presidential campaign announcement to launch his own coverage of the race: "Indecision 2008 - Don't f%#k this up America". Much comedy bleeping of expletives ensues.

Murad Ahmed

The Daniel Finkelstein Bridge

A few months ago I told this story in The Times:

There is a bridge under construction spanning the Danube between Buda and Pest, and I think about it often, always with irritation. You see, it is going to be called the Megyeri Hid, just because it connects Káposztásmegyer and Békásmegye. But this name is an outrage, a fraud, a robbery. And before you walk away shrugging your shoulders, I must tell you that this fraud is about to be perpetrated on you.

In the summer Hungary’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport decided to hold a public vote on its website. The subject — what should the new bridge connecting Káposztásmegyer and Békásmegye be called?

Within days, fans of the US martial arts actor Chuck Norris had pushed his name to the top of the ballot. Now, Chuck Norris turned down a role in Karate Kid on a point of principle, so obviously he deserves to have a bridge named after him.

But, in the end, he didn’t win. The American satirist Stephen Colbert launched a campaign to have the structure named after him instead. And in a two-way fight with the Croatian-Hungarian national hero, Miklós Zrínyi, the comedian romped home. More people voted for him than the entire population of Hungary. The Stephen Colbert Hid it would be.

Oh no it wouldn’t. It was announced that Colbert had won but couldn’t have the bridge named after him unless he spoke fluent Hungarian and was deceased. The comedian felt unable to comply with the latter condition and the Hungarian Geographical Name Committee duly named the structure the Megyeri Hid.

And Dizzy was tempted to bother the Number 10 petition site with this:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to name the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge the Daniel Finkelstein Bridge.

The proposed bridge in the Thames Gateway connecting Beckton in the north with Thamesmead in the south should be named the "Daniel Finkelstein Bridge" after the eminent political commentator and columnist.

Sadly the petition failed. On account of having only 14 signatories. So no Daniel Finkelstein Bridge. Until now.

Last week I arrived at Beech Farm Cottages in Yorkshire for a week's holiday and in the playground my children found this:

Proprieter Rooney Massara, it turns out is a Comment Central reader.

It is a fine structure.

And, incidentally, Beech Farm Cottages were absolutely superb. I warmly recommend them to you.

Gaydar exists!

It does! It's been scientifically proven. Sort of. Read this fascinating article by David France and judge for yourself.

The latest findings suggests that if you're a man, your ring finger is longer than your index finger and your "hair whorl" on the back of your head is anti-clockwise, then you're more likely to be gay. And it's these sorts of physical characteristics that a person's gaydar homes in on. The research is more comprehensive than that though.

Below, France talks to Stephen Colbert about his piece - and of course, the mock-shock-jock treats the subject with his usual tact.

Murad Ahmed

Big Brother for your benefit

If you're paranoid, look behind you. If you're not, look at this. It's Stephen Colbert's guide to the benefits of living in a police state.

Murad Ahmed

A couple of cheap shots at Hilary Benn

Hilary Benn, our International Development Secretary, went to the most developed country in the world on Monday to inform them:

In the UK, we do not use the "War on Terror"

As Hugo Rifkind reported, the Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said in response:

I have never said "War on Terror"... but I don't have to go all the way to America to boast about it

Ouch. Cheap shot. I like it. I liked this bit of faux-shock-jockery from Stephen Colbert better though:

Gee, I wonder how a man called Hilary became so obsessed with names

Double ouch. You can watch the rest of his hilarious rant below.

Murad Ahmed

David Davis on the Colbert Report

Comment Central reader Chris Parker writes to say:

Curious mistake on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report the other night (in a report on the military hospital scandal). Colbert reports on the members of Congress that visited the hospital in question, and flags up an image of all these at once (about 15 secs into the video). Who's that chap on the top right-hand side? Why, our shadow Home Secretary. Even though he has nothing to do with it. Why? Presumably because some researcher used Google image search without checking they got the right David Davis. The one they were after is a Congressman from Tennessee.

Surreal watching.

Here's the clip, which is also funny in itself:

Stephen Colbert guides you through DC

This Stephen Colbert interview really should be seen in full. So here are both parts for your enjoyment.

The Stephen Colbert bridge

In his Olsen lecture (see post below), Shadow Chancellor George Osborne cites with approval the Estonian Government website that calls for policy ideas from site visitors. Some of these proposals ended up in legislation.

The Hungarian Government's experience with direct democracy was less satisfactory. Earlier this year, it asked the public to vote on a website to name a new bridge over the Danube. The US comedian Stephen Colbert promptly asked his viewers to vote for it to be named the Stephen Colbert Bridge. Millions voted for him and the name won in a landslide.

Eventually the Government told Colbert that he had won and could have the bridge named after him provided he could speak fluent Hungarian and was deceased (which I would have thought were mutually exclusive conditions).

The bridge is now called the Megyeri Bridge, a title that won few votes.

The whole hilarious tale is told in this Wikipedia entry. And here is Stephen Colbert reporting on his campaign:

(Hat tip to Coolio for the picture)