OSU study: Conservatives think Colbert's for real

savingpaper:

“Using data from an experiment, we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of [Stephen] Colbert’s political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements.”

Sadly, I’ve met more conservatives than you’d believe who think he’s serious. One even went as far as to say he was relieved that the liberally-biased Comedy Central was finally representing “the other side” through Colbert’s show. When I broke the news that it was all a joke at conservatives’ expense, he laughed and told me, “That what he wants you to think! Classic!”

If I’d never seen “Strangers with Candy,” I might wonder if Stephen Colbert was fooling us all.