Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear” brought over 250,000 people from all over American to the National Mall in Washington yesterday.
The comedians blamed the press and politicians for creating a political atmosphere defined by extremist rhetoric.
Stewart told the crowd “The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false…We work together to get things done every damn day.”
He said “I can't control what people think this was, I can only tell you my intentions," Stewart said. "This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear.
"They are and we do. But we live in hard times, not end times, and we can have animus and not be enemies."
Along with the messages from the comedy mock-rivals there were live performances from artists such as Ozzy Osborne, Yusuf Islam, Sheryl Crow, The Roots, Mavis Staples, Kid Rock, Tony Bennett and Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco.
Although no politician’s were invited and no partisan comments were passed the attendees at the rally appeared to favor the left-leaning Democratic Party. The message of the day was to ban political extremes.
For Stephen Colbert’s part, he stayed in character through out with his “March to Keep Fear Alive.” He whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he arrived on stage in a replica of the Chilean miner’s rescue pod dressed as a superhero.
It was clear that Stewart reasonableness won out off Colbert’s attempts to incite panic and sanity prevailed.
The original idea for the rally was to mock Glenn Beck’s “Rally to Restore Honor,” which took place in the same venue in August, however yesterday the rally turned into a national and sober call for civility.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.PolinDeB | Nov 02, 2010, 08:01 PM EDT
As for Irish central being biased.. yeah, Daniel O'Connell refused donations from Irish American slavers for the Repeal cause too...may be out of touch with the American heartland but not so much with Ireland..
PolinDeB | Nov 02, 2010, 07:59 PM EDT
mrkennedy what a strange creature you are? I hear there were 7 carts damaged at the Hill of Tara gathering of approximately 1,000,000 in 1843 and people only went because of the fiddlers.. and in fairness it the English press called it only 750,000 which is less than 1.5 million... and they were all young too.. Accept it, people care about their country..
Searlit | Nov 02, 2010, 04:45 PM EDT
NY news is wrong. Trust your own eyes, you could see how large the crowd was for the Restore Sanity Rally from the TV footage and pictures. Don't let denial delude you. It was at least 200,000 people.
BigDaddy | Nov 02, 2010, 12:37 PM EDT
Watching idiots underestimate the numbers who attended Stewart's rally, you can see how easy these people make the job of corporate media and those who control it. It bothers them to think that there are more reasonable people than there are idiots, so they choose to believe the comparatively small crowds that went to see Beck were, in fact, larger than the actual crowds that went to see Stewart. If they were smarter, they would know to be ashamed of themselves.
bogsidebunny | Nov 02, 2010, 03:20 AM EDT
Yea bronxjames, Tops 60,000 obnoxious, (see their posters on YouTube) bully-boy, Liberal brats throwing a temper tantrum. GO REPUBLICANS!!!!!!
seanomelbourne | Nov 02, 2010, 01:22 AM EDT
Don't need obamacare we have one of world's best public/private health systems.Obama tried and the party of no stuck up for their rich health insurance mates.You yanks love cutting off your collective nose's to spite your face.
bronxjames | Nov 01, 2010, 08:27 PM EDT
Where did they come up with 250,000. According to NY news it was more like 60,0000
maloney | Nov 01, 2010, 06:34 PM EDT
seano...don't they have medications in aussie land to treat your senility? Or maybe it IS medications that are the problem. You need a good dose of obamacare.
seanomelbourne | Nov 01, 2010, 05:55 PM EDT
The mean spirited tea baggers are upset because Beck was upstaged by more intelligent speakers and larger crowds. Go suck your thumbs.
mrkennedy | Nov 01, 2010, 04:47 PM EDT
My neighbor who is a D.C. policeman says that the 250,000 is not accurate. The number was closer to 200,000. The great majorty were people in the 20's who were there for the musical entertainment! In addition the Communist and Socialist parties were there in numbers carrying their signs. Also 5 police cars were severly damaged while at the Beck rally none were damaged.
Ratslayer | Nov 01, 2010, 03:04 PM EDT
Tea-baggers, Palin, Beck, etc. are a cancer on America. Period.
McNabb1966 | Nov 01, 2010, 02:56 PM EDT
250,000 is a preposterous number. Why not just go with Stewart's 10 million estimate... And as for restoring "sanity" that's problematical since "sanity" has always been minimal anyway for the lunatic Left. But I will concede that the egos of Stewart and Colbert were stroked fairly effectively. Sorry wingnuts, it takes more than red koolaid, drum circles and mimes to be politically relevant.
MalcomAC | Nov 01, 2010, 02:44 PM EDT
I was at the Library of Congress and saw Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon and Jesus Christ walking down Independence Ave. Some of the signs were hilarious. "My wife thinks I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail," "I didn't learn hate in Sunday School," ... then there were the people chanting "THREE WORD PHRASE" over and over. Great fun.
MikeRock | Nov 01, 2010, 02:29 PM EDT
Cathy, I was there. Your 250,000 number is far exagerrated.
Watchman | Nov 01, 2010, 12:39 PM EDT
Yes, let's hope the Rich and Stupid Party trounces the Cowardly Party on Tuesday.
jdi2269 | Nov 01, 2010, 12:27 PM EDT
GUESS WHAT IRISH CENTRAL? WATCH A REPUBLICAN DOMINATION ON TUESDAY. YOU ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH AMERICA!!!!
Searlit | Nov 01, 2010, 11:37 AM EDT
It was a good show of opposition to extremism.
killowen | Nov 01, 2010, 10:22 AM EDT
the comedic pair were out of their minds to venture as they did
francisquinn | Nov 01, 2010, 08:56 AM EDT
When it is a conservative group the press holds the numbers down but when it is a group of Lib...it is hi...we all know 250,000 was a fake number. We hear about "bringing civility back" but over the weekend BO tells an Hispanic audience to fight your enemies...He talks out of two sides of his (?) mouth. Remember "transparency" remember "I will not sing a bill until it has been on C Spann" remembe "It will be poste for 3 days before I sign it" What a joke...Tomorrow he wont be laughting....
Watchman | Oct 31, 2010, 08:57 PM EDT
250,000, my arse. Not even the organisers claimed that. I admire Stewart and Colbert and they certainly drew a big crowd. But the event itself was a bit of a damp squib. In their determination not to offend, the organisers and participants ended up saying nothing in particular. A wasted opportunity.
maloney | Oct 31, 2010, 07:26 PM EDT
much bigger turnout than one nation rally.
wouldbelass | Oct 31, 2010, 03:01 PM EDT
Impressive. Bravo to Stewart and Colbert. Now maybe Stewart can get Rick Sanchez his job back.
KateQuinlan | Oct 31, 2010, 10:28 AM EDT
I attended the rally yesterday. I'm a high school teacher, so my purpose was similar to what I do already in class: ask people to stop shouting, take their seats and get their work done. Although the crowd certainly leaned to the political left, there were those in the crowd bearing signs such as "Republicans for Sanity." No one had his or her head stomped on for not being part of the ideological crowd. I carried a sign that asked, "Can we put the civility back in our civil liberty?" The gathering was very large, densely packed, and very polite and considerate. I hope to heaven that our politicians and our news channels got the message to tone down their narrative of fear and concentrate on the jobs they were hired to do.