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Stephen Colbert Super PAC releases “Mitt the Ripper” ad in South Carolina (VIDEO)

GlobalPost

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 30: Comedian Stephen Colbert (L) stands with his attorney Trevor Potter during an appearance before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to ask for a media exemption to create a political action committee (PAC) on June 30, 2011 in Washington, DC. Colbert was given the go ahead from the FEC to launch a super political action committee to raise unlimited amounts of campaign cash for the upcoming 2012 political season. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Mark Wilson

Stephen Colbert, the late night comedian who maintains a conservative persona on The Colbert Report, teased the media by hinting at a run in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. On Sunday night his Super PAC, which changed hands to fellow comedian Jon Stewart, launched an anti-Mitt Romney ad.

The ad, voiced by John Lithgow, uses a clip of Romney’s statement and says, “If Mitt Romney really believes that ‘corporations are people, my friend’, then Mitt Romney is a serial killer. He’s Mitt the Ripper.”

Talking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week, Colbert said, “I had nothing to do with that ad… I am not calling anyone a serial killer.”

The ad posted on Colbert's Super PAC website:

Colbert isn’t actually eligible to run in the South Carolina primaries, as the deadline to get on the ballot was Nov. 1, and South Carolina does not accept write-ins, according the Reuters. However, getting on the ballot seems largely beside the point as, “When he attempted a presidential campaign in 2008, Colbert's jokes were about funny old traditions used to pick modern leaders,” according to The Atlantic, and this time Colbert is making a point about campaign finance laws.

Colbert's satire squarely takes aim at Super PACs which have "have mushroomed following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2010 that made it easier for entities such as corporations and unions to pour money into campaigns, as long as they do not coordinate with a candidate," according to Reuters.

More on GlobalPost: Stephen Colbert mulling run for president – VIDEO

A clip from Colbert’s nightly news satire show, The Colbert Report, has Colbert saying, “Colbert’s Super PAC is dead,” and Stewart continuing, “but it has been reborn as The Definitely Not Coordinated With Stephen Colbert Super PAC.” Beneath the humor, it reveals how easy it is for candidates to have a hand in Super PACs, blurring the line between candidates and the "independent groups" that fund their campaigns. The Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal and Dan Froomkin outline the flaws Colbert's satirical run has exposed.

Stephen Colbert passed responsibility of his Super PAC to Jon Stewart on The Colbert Report:

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