Colbert9
The Colbert Report kicks off a week of shows from Philadelphia tonight and Stephen Colbert is all over the local media. Here are excerpts from two recent PA interviews featuring Stephen out of character:

The Philadelphia Daily News: A Conversation with the Real Stephen Colbert

Tell me a little about your plans for your time here — is there
stuff being produced in advance? Are there spies in our city even now?

"They
actually are already there, shooting around your fair city. Keep an eye
out for them. We obviously have got to get to know the city, we've got
to get to know the culture, we have to focus on your contributions to
American political organization and democracy in the rest of the world.
We'll have to learn a bit about Ben Franklin, of course."

You mean about him and the Liberty Bell?

"The
fact that he gave the Liberty Bell syphilis. [Also] we're looking
forward to Mayor Nutter, we're looking forward to [Gov. Ed] Rendell. We
hope the [presidential] candidates stop by. We've got our fingers
crossed."

The Daily Pennsylvanian: Colbert Gets Truthy About PA Primary


DP: What do you feel is the role of the Colbert Report, particularly—


SC: Kingmaker! Kingmaker! I'm tired of pretending that I don't control
the political process. People don't believe me anymore when I say I
don't have influence over the process. And you know what, I'm going to
accept it. I'm the kingmaker. What I say goes. And it's up to the
candidates to decide if they want the benediction of the "Colbert
bump." It's up to them, it's totally up to them. It's out of my hands
now. If they come on, by proximity to me, it's like radioactive
popularity. Check out this week's U.S. News and World Report — the
"Colbert bump" is REAL. There's a report in U.S. News and World Report.
Go read it.

In case you haven't the article Stephen's talking about, you can read about it on Indecision 2008.