Houston-area congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul will appear on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report tonight. Paul has quickly distinguished himself from other Republican candidates with his libertarian views and his now infamous exchange with Rudy Giuliani in a debate last month. Paul asserted that the 9/11 attacks were triggered by American involvement in the Middle East, to which Giuliani replied, "That's an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I've heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11."
Although Rep. Paul is not exactly the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, his internet popularity is indisputable. Shortly after announcing his candidacy, Georgetown student and political analyst James Kotecki interviewed Paul in his dorm room and put the video on Youtube, to great acclaim. "Ron Paul" has been among the top internet search terms in the last month, and he is #2 among all candidates in Facebook popularity and #5 on Myspace.
The mainstream media hasn't been so quick to jump on the Ron Paul bandwagon, however. Political columnist Thomas Woods said that "the news media is now trying to keep out of the limelight the one presidential contender (Ron Paul) who has actually bucked the establishment and does something other than parrot government/media slogans." Maybe tonight's national television appearance will be a chance for Rep. Paul to gain offline support. We're getting tired of Stephen Colbert's guests jockeying with him for airtime, so we hope he keeps his antics to a minimum and lets Paul have an opportunity to speak.
When: 10:30 pm (will re-air tomorrow @ 12:30a, 9:30a, 1:30p, and 7:30p)
Where: Comedy Central
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