Only in America: A Joke Can Have Criminal Consequences

Dire warnings to Stephen Colbert, that his announced run for the presidency in South Carolina on both the Republican and the Democratic party tickets, may violate billions of laws, for which he may be financially liable or even go to jail.

It's terrible when the biggest jokes in the nation, the dudes who run the Federal Election Commission, can't take a joke.

Colbert isn't the first goof-ball to run for president. Pat Paulsen did it in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996, and he actually got on the ballot several times in New Hampshire in the Democratic primary. He came in second to President Bill Clinton in 1996 (granted, there were only two on the ballot), and he came in second to President George Bush in 1992 in the North Dakota Republican Primary. Don't ever remember any stink with the FEC about his multiple candidacies, even though he was famous for telling outrageous lies, using double-talk, and launching attacks against his rivals.

'Course, Colbert is considerably more famous than Pat Paulsen ever was and hence considerably more dangerous to the humor-impaired, including to "Papa Bear" Bill O'Reilly.