Colbert: Closet Conservative?

A new study highlightned on Mother Jones contends that many conservatives actually interpret Stephen Colbert's caricature of a firm conservative ideologue as genuine. I always suspected that the more rigid ideological conservatives had cognitive dissonance and the complete inability to interpret material outside of an ideological prism, but this study is an incredibly frightening indictment beyond anything I could ever contemplate.

I cannot imagine anyone understanding Colbert as a closet-advocate of his preposterous diatribes and invectives. What Colbert does is arrange slogans, buzz words, and distortions in a manner that exposes the fallacy of conservative punditry logic. The slogans, buzz words, and distortions Colbert considers to be comic gold are clearly something more important for herds of Palin-ists. This is troubling because it is empirical evidence that Colbert, to some degree, hardens ideological predilections. However, doesn't it take Colbert's humor to new heights knowing that these people actually exist?

Update I

Olberman discusses the study with the author: