Herman Cain Is In On The 'Stephen Colbert For President In South Carolina' Escapade

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain said on Tuesday that he is getting on the "Stephen Colbert for President in South Carolina" bandwagon -- but that doesn't mean he's going to endorse a recent ad from a pro-Colbert super PAC that encourages South Carolinians to vote for Colbert by using Herman Cain's name.

"On Stephen Colbert's endorsement of himself as Herman Cain, I find it very clever and humorous, as it should be," Cain told Fox411. "Anyone who finds what Mr. Colbert is doing offensive, should simply lighten up. To be perfectly clear, I will not be assuming Stephen Colbert's identity. We are very different when it comes to the color of our -- hair."

He later tweeted the same:

@THEHermanCain
Herman Cain

TO be clear I won't be assuming Colbert's identity. We are very different when it comes to the color of our–hair http://t.co/NFimUaEB

January 18, 2012 12:27 am via TweetDeck Reply Retweet Favorite

Kathy Hoekstra, Cain's director of media relations, later confirmed that he was in on Colbert's attempt to shake up the Palmetto State primary.

"Colbert's people got in touch with us late last week and Mr. Cain will be taping a segment with Mr. Colbert on Friday in South Carolina," Hoekstra said, according to Fox News. "The endorsement of course comes as a pleasant surprise."

Colbert took to his show earlier this week, amid news that it would be impossible for him to get on the primary ballot this Saturday, and attempted to create a proxy candidacy for himself by using Cain's name, which will appear on the ballot.

"Because Cain and I are so similar, I think that if this Saturday Herman Cain were to get a significant number of votes, that would be a sign that voters are hungry for a Stephen Colbert campaign," he announced.

The "Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert" super PAC forged ahead Tuesday night with a new ad vowing to destroy other GOP presidential candidates and their super PACs with "an orgy of pure distortion leaving nothing behind but the clean campaign we all deserve."

Comments

[dbrett480]

08:59 PM on 01/26/2012

This is the side of Herman Cain that I would have liked to see on the real campaign trail.

[kapalabhati]

07:15 PM on 01/19/2012

Dude, just because you're tweeting about it doesn't mean that Stephen thinks you're cool.

[katocat]

07:33 PM on 01/18/2012

A rightie with a sense of humor?

[droppingby]

07:37 PM on 01/18/2012

I thought so....he gave us something to laugh at almost every day of his campaign. ;-)

[FreedToChoose]

08:27 PM on 01/18/2012

Imagine the anguish of being a black Republican without a sense of humor?

[lulubelle1956]

07:06 PM on 01/18/2012

Yes. The self described Hagen Dazs black walnut and Koch brother from another mother who bases his economic plan on a video game and quotes passages from a Pokemon song in speeches is in on the satire. No surprise there!

[WaPoFan]

04:49 AM on 01/19/2012

Maybe Colbert is the serious candidate and Cain is the satirist.

[lulubelle1956]

06:49 AM on 01/19/2012

Well, Cain as a candidate certainly was a joke, but he was too obviously a joke to be called a satirist!

[Mr Universe]

06:50 PM on 01/18/2012

I have never enjoyed politics so much in my life.

[diogenes tub]

10:18 AM on 01/19/2012

I have never looked so forward to voting in the open primary!

[reciprocat]

05:07 AM on 01/20/2012

Oh man! Are you in South Carolina?

[JacksonJones]

06:23 PM on 01/18/2012

That is the best story about Cain that I've heard since the primary season began. I'm surprised he's OK with it. Maybe it's that saying about how there's no such thing as bad publicity. However, since Colbert's move seems designed to damage the GOP's nomination process, I didn't expect any GOPer to sign on.

In any event, as I've been saying for a long time, The Comedy Central News Hour with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is now and has been the best news on TV for at least a decade.

[Christine115]

06:52 PM on 01/18/2012

F&F.couldn't agree with you more my friend! My head explodes from all the pols...including MSNBC...Colbert and Stewart although lean to the left call it like they see it.

[johnnie stallings]

03:49 PM on 01/18/2012

I think h cain has found his purpose "comedy " thank God

[Pwnstar57]

03:39 PM on 01/18/2012

Wow, who would've thought I'd end up liking Herman Cain.

[Former Icon]

03:06 PM on 01/18/2012

Jeezuz. I can talk about FAPping but I can't make a remark about Colbert making use of Ηerb's publicity-seeking instinct?

Goodonya, Alpha Oscar Lima. Βravo.

[Former Icon]

03:00 PM on 01/18/2012

Leave it to Colbert, to come up with a way to explοit Pizza Guy's never-slaked thirst for publicity.

[Ted Glass]

02:32 PM on 01/18/2012

Hopefully Cain will now beat whichever candidate doesn't finish second behind Romney, something like

1 Romney
2 Santorum
3 Cain
4 Gingrich
5 The rest

That would be priceless!

[cancerg01]

07:35 PM on 01/18/2012

what would be priceless is . . .

1. Cain
2. Paul
3. Romney
4. Santorum
5. Gingrich
6. Perry

hmmm....i feel like i'm missing somebody.

[StopMakingSense2]

02:31 PM on 01/18/2012

Go Steve! Expose the shams that have pulled the illusion of America over peoples eyes while raiding it unseen!

[LinkTren]

02:29 PM on 01/18/2012

"Colbert's people got in touch with us late last week and Mr. Cain will be taping a segment with Mr. Colbert on Friday in South Carolina," Hoekstra said, according to Fox News. "The endorsement of course comes as a pleasant surprise."

Huh?? She is aware that the "endorsement" is pure satire, right?

[pearl0002]

02:55 PM on 01/18/2012

Nah! She's a Republican. They don't do or understand satire.

[Jeffrey Bryson]

04:36 PM on 01/18/2012

I got a tongue-in-cheek quality from her response. I'm not a Cain supporter (or any sort of GOP supporter at all), but she gets it.

[diogenes tub]

10:20 AM on 01/19/2012

She gets it.

[Txjwr]

02:29 PM on 01/18/2012

All I can say it is a good think our comedians are taking some of these national problems seriously because our elected leaders think these problems are a joke.

[Glowcy]

01:56 PM on 01/18/2012

Colbert is so subversive. I likey.

[jbg9617]

02:58 PM on 01/18/2012

Its an act of pure genius on Steven's part, I am hoping that people will "get' the message

and the Super Pac will soon be history.