warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Nancy Pelosi Wants To Stop Stephen Colbert

Tracy Bloom |
February 9, 2012 | 4:14 p.m. PST

Deputy Editor

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants to stop Stephen Colbert - but it's not exactly what you think. Pelosii launched a new ad and social media campaign to "Stop Colbert" in an effort to help pass the DISCLOSE Act. The target of the ad is Stephen Colbert's Super PAC, which has raised more than $1 million since its formation.

Pelosi released the ad targeting the host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" Thursday on YouTube.

"Stephen Colbert used to be my friend. I even signed the poor baby's cast when he hurt his hand," Pelosi says in the satirical ad. "But since the day he started his super PAC, taking secret money from special interests, he's been out of control, even using his super PAC to attack my friend, Newt Gingrich. And if that weren't enough, I hear he doesn't even like kittens."

The ad may be in tongue-in-cheek, but Pelosi is seriously about getting Super PAC transparency legislation passed. The DISCLOSE Act is a bill Democrats have been pushing that will help increase transparency in election spending.

Pelosi and Rep. Chris VanHollen (D-Md.) reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act on Thursday.

The House Minority Leader posted on YouTube: "In a first step to reform the money in politics, House Democrats are reintroducing the DISCLOSE Act today to get unlimited, secret donations out of politics. The Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates to unrestricted special interest campaign donations in American elections—permitting corporations to spend unlimited funds, directly or through third parties and Political Action Committees organized for those purposes, to influence Federal elections and opened the door for the emergence of Super PACs."

Watch the ad:



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.