In the tradition of political jesters

RE "COLBERT Nation" (Editorial, Oct. 27): In 1981, the French comic who went by the name "Coluche" threw the political establishment in disarray. After his press conference announcing he was going to run for president, he was third in the polls (16 percent) after Valery Giscard D'Estaing and Francois Mitterrand, the eventual winner.

His platform was to unify all those who felt that politicians did not take them into consideration ("blacks," "Arabs," "lazy bums," "women," "parasites," "the French," etc.). Some thought his candidacy was an outright insult to the Republic. Eventually, he was pressured by the establishment to drop out of the race.

What one hopes is that Stephen Colbert's candidacy, by its very absurdity, will point out the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the candidates, thus making for a more transparent election. Of course, we expect him to make us laugh, but as Coluche said of his batch of politicians, "I didn't start making you laugh, they did."

WAHYD VANNONI
London