U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock has been chastised, ribbed and parodied for temporarily releasing four responses to how the Supreme Court might rule on the health-care law.
Mourdock’s campaign last week briefly posted YouTube videos that showed the Indiana treasurer reacting to the justices’ pending decision to uphold or repeal all or parts of the law, or to not issue a decision.
MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews called the Republican candidate’s videos an “epic gaffe.” The Los Angeles Times said they were “a contingency plan gone wrong.” And New York magazine referred to Mourdock as a “time traveler.”
Faux political pundit Stephen Colbert sided with Mourdock and his “presponse” plan.
“It’s just smart to cover your bases while you’ve got the camera crew there,” Colbert said on Monday’s episode of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”
“What are all the other possibilities? I mean, I think we’ve got to be ready for anything,” Colbert said on his TV show before broadcasting his own series of videos.
Colbert stood in front of a brick wall – as Mourdock had done – to announce:
- The court had declared George W. Bush is president again.
- The court had decided that Carley Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” is “the song of the summer.”
- Justice Antonin Scalia “revealed that the whole time, he’s just been four raccoons in a black garbage bag.”
- The justices “committed octuple murder-suicide, leaving only Clarence Thomas to rule on Obamacare. He has remained silent” – a reference to Thomas’ consistent refusal to speak from the bench.
- Justice Samuel Alito is quitting “to become the bass player for Iron Maiden.”
Conner said Mourdock is opposed to the Affordable Care Act. As for the videos, he wrote in an email, “as the Boy Scouts say, ‘be prepared.'”
bfrancisco@jg.net
