Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart Rallies in DC

@tsarstepan,

Awesome!! Thanks tsar. (What was up with that kittycat?)

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@Butrflynet,

Butrflynet wrote:

Squinney, were you at the rally?

OMG! That looks like me at 14 with the long braids! Too funny!

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Kareem!

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@jespah,

So...has sanity broken out?

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So, from all that were there or have seen the coverage, what did you take away from the event as the purpose?

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@squinney,

A counterweight to Beck and the tea party stuff... basically, OK there are crazy people out there but ya know what, a lot of us are just nice normal people. See?

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@sozobe,

Erm...unless Beck is from the Left, I think, from my reading, you have unintentionally demonstrated just what is being rallied against!

As I understand it the call is for sanity from BOTH sides, Left and Right.

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@dlowan,

Could be... I think it can be both, though. A call for sanity from both sides while also demonstration of sanity from people who are not Beckian or Tea Party folk. (Which includes plenty of Independents and probably many people on the Right, too.)

I do think it was at least partly a response to Beck's rally.

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@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

(What was up with that kittycat?)

OMG!
That kittycat looks exactly like my Dr. Lulu Abromowitz did! (expecially eating, her fav activitiy)

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@chai2,

I couldn't tell if the kittycat was happy to be there or freaked out. Hopefully happy.

Here's a bit more on the origin of the rally as a response to Beck's:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/18/jon-stewart-stephen-colbert-rally-to-restore-sanity-reddit

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@sozobe,

I thought all along it was a reaction to Beck's Rally, but then the message I took away yesterday was that it was an attack of the media for polarizing coverage.

A couple of times I was thinking the President would pop on the screen to say "Remember to vote" or something, but then that would have made it political. I don't know if they had to avoid blatant political references in order to not be seen as a political arm (providing Democrat coverage via tv for free) or if their real purpose was just to say "Hey, we're all just people trying to live our lives. Stop tearing us apart and ruining our country with all this fear mongering political coverage!"

Beck went to great lengths to say his rally wasn't political. So, was the Fear/ Sanity Rally a spoof?

Sanity won at the end of the day according to Jon and Stephens portrayal of how they would like it to be. We'll see how it works out in reality.

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@squinney,

I agree with you that it was a huge criticism of the Media's concentration on conflict to increase their ratings and profits. I'm so disgusted with most of the Media. They have no shame and only care about money.

BBB

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@squinney,

Yep, I agree that was a major part of it.

Beck ties in with that too though don't you think? As a media personage? (See my sig line....)

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Over 200k estimated at the rally, making it by far the biggest one this year.

I see all this as Stewart just continuing what he started long ago on the set of Crossfire. Remember that show on CNN? Stewart canceled it through the force of his personality. He had the guts to come on the show and speak truthfully about how they were hurting America with their hyped up, left vs. right yelling bullshit, and based on his criticism the show was canceled a few months later. It was the first time I'd really heard Stewart talk about how pernicious our media has become to our process, and for the last 6 years he's been hitting the same drum. Now things have reached a point where he is moving this message to a larger audience, and I'm convinced that we will see further effects from it in the months to come.

Sometimes it takes a comedian to point out what we all already know in our hearts...

Cycloptichorn

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From http://thenewsoftoday.com/rally-for-sanity-attendance-estimates-a-day-later-shows-crowd-over-215000/4430/

Quote:

The Rally for Sanity, put on by Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, impressed politicians and comedians alike yesterday in several ways. First indications showed an attendance at the rally exceeding 150,000 people, but as those numbers were reported, both people at the event, as well as those familiar with the crowd capacities at the National Mall in Washington DC, indicated that those estimates were much too low.
If you recall, just over 2 months ago, Glenn Beck held his own rally at the same location. That rally drew about 87,000 people, and was promoted substantially by Beck, as well as Tea Party Republicans. The Rally for Sanity, however looks like it may have exceeded those numbers of the Beck rally by quite a large margin. The Parks service indicated that over 200,000 people were there, while CBS news said an attendance of 215,000 was closer to the actual crowd numbers at the Mall....

Looks like more people are for sanity than fear. Sanity won if by numbers in attendance at a rally for Sanity.

1 Reply

@squinney,

I think it's safe to say they had better signs too!

100 best (according to buzzfeed):

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity

So far this is my fave:

http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2010/10/30/16/enhanced-buzz-3243-1288470705-2.jpg

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@jespah,

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/505534-brett-favre-world-series-game-3-and-saturdays-top-sports-news/entry/24460-kareem-abdul-jabbar-makes-appearance-at-rally-to-restore-sanityfear

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Makes Appearance At Rally To Restore Sanity/Fear
By Marc Pruitt (Featured Columnist) on October 30, 2010

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made an appearance at the Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear today in Washington D.C when hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were discussing Muslims in an obvious mockery of the infamous Bill O'Reilly/Whoopi Goldberg/Joy Behar dust-up recently on "The View."

Colbert had just mentioned that his fear of Muslims--and specifically Osama Bin Laden was indeed, real, when Abdul-Jabbar came onto the stage.

"That’s not a fair example," said Colbert. "Kareem is cool. We’re friends."

To which Abdul-Jabbar replied: "Well, we’re acquaintances. A real friend knows that no matter what religious position someone plays we’re all on the same team."

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@tsarstepan,

Thanks, Tsar, I enjoyed seeing all the photos, the people gradually filling in the huge mall space. Oh, and the cat!

Write more when you get some rest, eh?

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A
R
T

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@Butrflynet,

Thanks Butrflynet. I was limited by my junkie camera's poor lens so instead of getting the stage well focused I went for the back of the head faux artsy news shot.

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Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart Rallies in DC

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