Well, kittens, you’ll be glad to know that Meanie is keeping up with at least one of her New Year’s Resolutions for 2012: She’s staying on top of current events. How? By following the buzz for the upcoming Presidential race, of course. And guess what, kittens? Mr. Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report is putting himself forward as a potential President of the United States! Again!

That’s right: On last Thursday’s Report, Mr. Colbert announced his bid for “candidacy of for the president of the United States of South Carolina. Although Mr. Colbert stated, “I don’t know if I can put myself through that again. Clearly it’s a tough decision. I would not want to be in my shoes… but I am.” And how!

You’ll recall, kittens, that Mr. Colbert attempted to run for President once before in 2008; his plan was to run for both the Democratic and Republican nomination in South Carolina. He changed this plan upon learning that the fee to file for the Republican primary was $35,000, filing only for the Democratic primary. However, although he did indeed pay the $2,500 fee to be included in the South Carolina Democratic ballot, he was ultimately denied a place on the ballot by the South Carolina Democratic Party executive council. He then officially dropped his Presidential bid on November 5, 2007.

Naturally, much was made of Mr. Colbert’s bid for Presidency; his opponents objected to the fact that he is, at bottom, an entertainment personality—indeed, even more so, he is in fact a character—while his supporters claimed that he was more suited to the job than many of the United States’ actual politicians. But now he’s at it again—though to what end?

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To be fair, Mr. Colbert has elaborated that he has not actually launched a campaign for president (yet!), but rather, according to ABC News, an “exploratory committee” geared towards finding out “if there is a hunger for a Stephen Colbert campaign.” He went on, “I’m exploring right now. I’m like a one-man Lewis and Clark and I’m looking for my Sacagawea.”

And yes, kittens, Meanie finds this analogy intensely amusing.

However, as one might expect, there is more to this stunt (if, in fact, that is what it is) than just the typical funny-funny-ha-ha for which Mr. Colbert is known. Bear in mind that the purpose behind his faux (?) bid for the White House may, in fact, be to draw attention to some new campaign finance laws that have recently come into being. According to these laws, unnamed donors can dump unlimited funds into “super PACs,” more formally known as Political Action Committees, which can then spend that money to support political candidates—or attack them—as long as there is no direct coordination with a candidate. As such, Mr. Colbert has handed over the management of his own Super PAC to Mr. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show. It is now called The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC, of course, and Mr. Colbert has been adamant in saying that he himself has nothing to do with the ad launched this week in South Carolina declaring Republican candidate Mitt Romney a “serial killer.”

Now, Meanie does not actually think that Mitt Romney is a serial killer; she does, however, get Mr. Colbert’s point. Super PACs have been making some pretty heavy-handed plays lately, and although they aren’t technically affiliated with any of the candidates they are supporting, there’s a good deal of attacking and—dare Meanie say it—dirty fighting going on. For instance, Mitt Romney's and Newt Gingrich’s people have sure been going at it, haven’t they?

In any event, according to the good people at… well, People, Mr. Colbert is polling at 5 percent in his home state of South Carolina. And to be honest, Meanie can’t wait to see how this will play out. Entertainer or not—really, character or not—Mr. Colbert always has something interesting to say, even if not everyone agrees with what he is saying. Because at the end of the day, kittens, isn’t freedom of speech one of the greatest rights of all?

XO,

Mean Betty