Stephen Colbert, Presidential Explorer

By Thomas M. Burton

Comedian Stephen Colbert continued his satirical �exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy,� saying his will be the first such committee �to actually have committee members.�

Comedy CentralA scene from “The Colbert Report.”

�We�re going to have someone who�s good with explosives, we�re going to have a guy who�s a mountain climber, and we�re going to have a brain in a jar,� he told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC News�s This Week.

Mr. Colbert recently announced he may, possibly, become a candidate for �president of the United States of South Carolina,� but sounded indignant when told he can�t get his name on that state�s Republican presidential primary ballot.

�They said you can�t go to the moon. They said you can�t put cheese inside a pizza crust. But NASA did it,� he said. �They had to, because the cheese kept on floating off in space.�

When told of remarks that he has as much chance of winning South Carolina as he does of being elected pope, he said: �I�m a Roman Catholic and I teach Sunday school. So I�d say I have a pretty good shot of being pope.�

He returned to what is apparently the main theme of his recent satire, the fact that wealthy people and companies now can secretly fund political ads without disclosing the source of their funding. Last week, as he announced his potential presidential bid, he transferred his own mock �super PAC,� called Americans for a Better Tomorrow Tomorrow, to fellow comedian and pal Jon Stewart.

Mr. Stephanopoulos said the group overnight had released an ad saying that if real candidate Mitt Romney believes that corporations are people, �then Mitt Romney is a serial killer. He�s Mitt the Ripper.�

�If that�s not accurate, I hope they take it down,� Mr. Colbert said. �I don�t know if Mitt Romney is a serial killer. That�s a question he�s going to have to answer.� Mr. Colbert said, though, that the group isn�t his political action committee, that �it�s the super PAC of, and I hope I�m pronouncing this correctly, Jon Stew-AIR. I believe it�s a soft T.�

In any event, Mr. Colbert said he plans to keep on exploring.

�I�m a one-man Lewis and Clark,� he said. �And I�m just looking for my Sacagawea.�