He's Joking? You're Joking.

In a study recently published in The International Journal of Press/Politics, students at (The) Ohio State University found that conservatives were more likely to think Colbert genuinely means what he says on his show. As in, they somehow don't get the character he plays is a... character. A participant's identification of themselves as a "conservative" served as a relatively accurate predictor that the participant would perceive Colbert to be 'anti-liberal.'

That's right, there are actually people out there who don't realize The Colbert Report is political satire: the very ones he's making fun of.

And if you had any doubt about the study's accuracy, take a look at the response last week by the National Organization for Marriage to Colbert's spoof (at bottom) of their Anti-Gay Marriage Ad:

"I've always thought Stephen Colbert was a double-agent, pretending to pretend to be a conservative, to pull one over Hollywood. Now I'm sure," said Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

"Thank you Stephen for playing our ad in full on national television--for free. HRC eat your heart out. Plus we all had a great chuckle, too!" said Brian Brown, NOM's Executive Director. "Where can I make a donation to the National Organization for Colbert?"

Now, at first, I thought NOM was joking; perhaps their reply was some kind of bizarre, misguided attempt at humor. Of course, how does one respond when it's rightly pointed out to them that they're a myopic, bigoted hypocrite? In light of this recent study, however... I'm not so sure. Perhaps, just as the conservatives in the study, NOM genuinely believed Colbert was trying to help them out here and is thanking him, with pathetic sincerity, for mocking them.

Which isn't so far-fetched, really, when you think about it. I mean, if they can believe basic civil rights are a threat to the "sanctity of marriage" (or should I say, "opposite marriage") then they can probably believe anything.

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