UPDATE: Due to Colbert's prank, Wikipedia has locked the entries for potential Romney running mates Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie and David Petraeus.
Stephen Colbert is nothing if not a patriot, and on Tuesday's episode of "The Colbert Report," he exercised one of his basic American rights: screwing with Wikipedia.
When some pundits noticed that Wikipedia updates might be the key to noting who could end up as Mitt Romney's running mate, Colbert took that as an open invitation to push for his close personal friend, Tim Pawlenty.
"T-Paw was born in St. Paul Minnesota... let's edit that to 'The Minnesota town of St. Paul is where born Tim Pawlenty was.' He was the son of Eugene Joseph Pawlenty, and let's say... Mrs. Butterworth. Intending to become a dentist, Pawlenty started his career in... Santa's Workshop."
But why stop there? He added that Tim Pawlenty became Romney's running mate on Friday. Because Wikipedia is reality.
And yes, Wikipedia immediately took notice. Almost momentarily, an editor said, "QUICK! LOCK THE PAGE!" and added a "Colbert Vandalism Invitation" section on the Pawlenty entry's talk page. Stephen Colbert, please never change.