Fans of Stephen Colbert in the Spokane area are probably already aware that the popular comedian and pundit is very active on Twitter. Not only does he post regularly on his feed StephenAtHome, but he sometimes creates new hashtags to mock politicians and other public figures.
In April of 2011, he playfully went after Arizona Senator John Kyl with the hashtag NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement. Inspired by a response Kyl made to a claim about Planned Parenthood that turned out to be wrong, Colbert started a new trend by posting false statements about Kyl.
CNN's David Daniel reported back in April that Colbert had used the hashtag to post tweets such as, "Jon Kyl developed his own line of hair care products just so he could test them on bunnies" and "For the past 10 years, Jon Kyl has been two children in a very convincing Jon Kyl suit."
Colbert's latest Twitter campaign was inspired by something presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said about negative campaign ads in a speech he gave on January 31.
According to Norman Byrd of Huliq, "After Romney had been projected to win the Florida Primary, the former Massachusetts governor gave his victory speech (which can be found at Real Clear Politics). Although he targeted most of his comments at the White House, Romney did have something to say about the contentiousness of the 2012 Republican presidential race.
"'Primary contests are not easy,' Romney said. 'They're not supposed to be, as this primary unfolds, our opponents in the other party have been watching, and they like to comfort themselves with the thought a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak. But I've got news for them.
"'A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win.'
"Inspired by Romney's words, Colbert decided to do his part as a faux conservative to aid the Republican cause and help them prepare."
Colbert has described himself in the past as a libertarian and he seems to be fairly conservative on some social and religious issues, so it is up to the reader to decide just how "faux" he is underneath his satirical persona. However, his new campaign inspired by Romney's speech is very real and already trending on Twitter.
Colbert announced the hashtag campaign during a Colbert Report segment on Wednesday, February 1. After discussing complaints Newt Gingrich has made about Romney's attack ads in Florida and other states, he then made the argument that Romney probably considers the negative campaign tactics to just be another way of preparing for the 2012 election.
According to Carol Hartsell of The Huffington Post, "Colbert addressed the campaign-troversy on Wednesday's 'Report,' showing clips of some particularly pointed ads and robo-calls from each campaign. The host then took Romney on his word that the sparring will only "prepare' the GOP for its ultimate stand-off with Obama in November, taking it upon himself to help them prepare even more with a new hashtag."
Colbert started things off with negative tweets about both of the candidates.
"Newt's only hope for your vote is if you've been in a coma for 20 years. And if you have, he probably divorced you. Newt 2012! #preparethem," Colbert said.
For the sake of being an equal opportunity offender, he followed that up with a tweet about Mitt Romney.
"Mitt Romney is not a vulture capitalist," Colbert said. "Vultures only eat things that are dead. Romney 2012! #preparethem."
Since Wednesday, Colbert and many of his fans have been posting a steady stream of tweets mocking Romney and Gingrich. Many of them are fairly amiable, but some people have made serious posts criticizing the candidates or expressing disappointment with the Republican party in general.
In some cases, people have used language that is not safe for work in their tweets. There have also been some shots fired across the bow at Rick Santorum that may not be appropriate to read on an office computer.
With all that in mind, the #preparethem feed is generally pretty fun to read. Politically active people in the Spokane area should be able to take things in the spirit they were intended and have a lot of fun with it.
In the spirt of full disclosure, if people go back far enough on Saturday, February 4 they may see two tweets posted by a certain Examiner writer from Spokane. He didn't intend to condemn either candidate. He was mostly just trying to emulate Colbert's style of humor.
So, if a Twitter user should happen to see a tweet that says, "Newt clearly stole his moon colony idea from Robert Heinlein. Next up: group marriage and naked women in body paint" or another one that says, "Vote for Mitt Romney, or he will sing America the Beautiful again!" please don't send any angry email.
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