GOP Debate: With Trump Out, Might Stephen Colbert Step Up?

One day decades into the future, political science and mass communication scholars will tell their classes all about the curious impact of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" upon how an entire generation's political consciousness developed in that generation's early voting years.

The tones will be mixed essences of amazement, amusement, curiosity and, in some fuddy-duddys' unfortunately droll cases, head-slapping disbelief at how, as Jon Stewart once dubbed his show, "fake newscasts" actually managed to make themselves legitimately politically relevant to an entire generation of new voters - so much so that when Colbert announces his own small Republican presidential debate, we first laugh but then wonder "Hey, why not?"

So billionaire real estate mogul, brief presidential hopeful and originator of NBC's "The Apprentice" Donald Trump bowed out of a planned debate airing on cable's Ion network shortly before next month's Iowa Caucus.

Candidate interest in the moderated throwdown was sparse - OK, non-existent - and candidate/Texas Congressman Ron Paul called Trump's participation "completely inappropriate" to start the ball of "not just 'no,' HELL NO" responses rolling.

Aw, and these debates were really getting interesting. Watching them costs less than ordering a WWE PPV, and there's about equal odds that a chair will be thrown and someone will be dealt a concussion during the evening. Still, Trump claims that he's bowing out because he's still considering a run "as an Independent" and that his hosting the debate would be - to echo Paul - "completely inappropriate."

Well, maybe at Trump's debate, there would be. Stephen Colbert sees an empty batter's box, so he's grabbing some lumber and heading to the plate. The comedian announced on last night's "The Colbert Report" that he's once more promoting the "South Carolina Serious, Classy Debate (Sometime In January)" that he pushed last January. Keeping the field wide open and fascinating, the "organizers" as they were of the might-be-held-in-a-zoo debate were even big enough to invite Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum along.

Calling Trump his very bestest buddy, Colbert added "The man's a boob. He looks like a tangelo had sex with a wet dishrag."

Sure, Colbert jests now. But give this a second's thought. Seriously, what greater show of humanity and composure could there be than actually being able to talk comfortably about the issues in such a smirking, light-hearted environment as something hosted by Stephen Colbert? We know these people can apparently handle a stuffy, magnanimous environment with a cool head under pressure.

But can Mitt Romney talk a polar bear off the ice? If he can, there's my candidate right there.

Check out Colbert's moment from last night's show below. Even serious candidates usually look happier to do Colbert or Stewart's shows than the Alpo-posing-as-Taco-Bell-meat that Fox News tosses them. You tell us: is this an idea whose time has come?