Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Colbert Super PAC Issue Ads

The Colbert Report opened last night with a segment on Super PAC issue ads. It starts with an example issue ad by a Super PAC called Make Us Great Again which is just a Perry campaign ad. This is legal as long as the PAC and the campaign don't coordinate. Super PACs have no limit on what they can spend, unlike political parties which is limited to $240,000. The Nebraska Democratic Party created an "issue ad" for Sen Ben Nelson. It cost more than the limit and the party says it was acting as a Super PAC, creating an issue ad, and didn't coordinate with Nelson, even though he's in it. Karl Rove then proposes to take this further.



Colbert brings in former FEC chief Trevor Potter to explain how Rove might lose his case. To "help" Rove, he has Colbert send a letter to the FEC which will be part of the public record with information about the issue.



It ends with the visual aid that Colbert is including, an issue ad that the Colbert Super PAC created starring but not coordinated with presidential candidate Buddy Roemer.



It's a hilarious and brilliant piece of satirical performance art.

1 comment:

Richard said...

I saw and I loved it. It is the laws themselves and the doublespeak people use to get around them that provided the surreal backdrop for Colbert's ad.