God-fearing, and hyper-patriotic. He claims to be an independent who is often mistaken for a Republican, but uniformly despises liberals and generally agrees with the actions and decisions of the Republican Party. Colbert's character has been described as a "caustic right-wing bully." The character exists not in opposition to political leaders, but to common ignorances; for example, his insistence that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama had Socialist leanings was based on public misconceptions. In parodying the cult of personality, the Colbert character also developed a real-life equivalent, creating what was dubbed the "Colbert Nation". While giving the character a certain mythos was part of the show's inception, show producers did not set out to create a loyal following for the character itself; the joke was that the character thought he had an influence, but that was a figment of his ego-riddled imagination. Despite his appearance of always being in charge, Colbert is vulnerable: he feels deeply threatened by those wielding more power than he, and he suffers from "arctophobia", the fear of bears, which he refers to as "giant, marauding, godless killing machines". He will alert the audience to what he perceives as the latest national threat (the subject of a recurring bit, "ThreatDown"), only to justify his own fears and impose those onto his audience. As the show progressed, Colbert gradually began to tone down the character, allowing guests in interviews to "get his or her own message across." The show's longevity created what The New York Times described as "a winking quality to the act, a sense that we’re all in on the joke." Colbert himself acknowledged that he "rarely hit it as hard as I used to," noting that "You have to be vigilant to stay ignorant." He noted that his own personal opinions can occasionally align with his character's, when liberal guests' agendas appeared based on dislike rather than logical argument. Politician and former vice president Al Gore accidentally referred to the persona as a "character" in a 2011 interview on the show, and in 2013, Colbert further blurred the lines between his character and real life when he spoke regarding the death of his mother on the program. In doing so, many commentators referred the show's longevity and the development of a "third" Colbert — one a faux pundit and one informed by the performer's own life. In the show's credits, Colbert was credited with a