Rally to Restore Sanity

[BoMac]

If I was anywhere near Washington, I'd go to this in a heartbeat:

Rally to Restore Sanity


And then, of course, I'd also go to this one:

March to Keep Fear Alive





And, of course, some might say, 'But they're comedy shows'. Nevertheless, I think the underlying point here is of more importance and I think an event like this could be thought provoking.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Jon Stewart's rally title is the absolute best name I've ever heard of for a rally in my life. It's about damn time a public figure stated that the moderate majority needs to be heard over the extremists.

I would KILL to go to these events, I want to be there sooooooooo badly. If I get fortunate enough to find money and means between now and then, I'll certainly try and make going a reality, 'cause I think that sounds like a blast. Yes, these guys are comedians, but they've been doing more to keep rational thought in politics going than most of the media and the political parties in the past few years. I'll take sane, legitimate discussion no matter who starts it, be it a politician or be it Jon Stewart. I'll be very interested to see what comes of these events. Will they change things overnight, probably not, but if they can help calm everything down a smidge, that's certainly a good start.

Angela

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It might be too late

 

[Lila64]

I would love to attend, but it's not possible. I've got to watch last night's Colbert this morning. Only caught The Daily Show last night

 

[trojanchick99]

If I had the money I would be there in a heartbeat.

 

[AliEnvy]

Would you go if flights and trains were available at a 90% discount?

That happened in '95 to gather Canadians in Montreal for a massive "no" rally just before the Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

It worked...barely, but it worked.

Would love to see this DC rally gain momentum.

 

[Liesje]

Would you go if flights and trains were available at a 90% discount?

Sure I'd go to a lot of things with that discount!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Would you go if flights and trains were available at a 90% discount?

That happened in '95 to gather Canadians in Montreal for a massive "no" rally a few days before the Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

It worked...barely, but it worked.

Would love to see this DC rally gain momentum.

yeeeeea... ummmm that was a rally of a bit more importance than this one.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

 

[~BrightestStar~]

Yes, these guys are comedians, but they've been doing more to keep rational thought in politics going than most of the media and the political parties in the past few years.

Angela

Agreed.

I'm not American, but I wish I could go. It's gonna be a helluva thing.



I would take the spider sign, btw. Spiders are scary, man!

 

[Lila64]

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

 

[AliEnvy]

yeeeeea... ummmm that was a rally of a bit more importance than this one.

So?

It's irresistibly awesome that the counter-punch to Glenn Beck is a comedian and it would be even more spectacular if taken just seriously enough for attendance at this rally to be higher. Much higher.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

... never mind

 

[Diemen]

So?

It's irresistibly awesome that the counter-punch to Glenn Beck is a comedian and it would be even more spectacular if taken just seriously enough for attendance at this rally to be higher. Much higher.

I think the point Headache was making is that you're not going to find mass transit providing 90% discounts to a comedian's rally. Whereas a referendum on sovereignty is maybe a bit more deserving of the discounts.

Anyway, I can pretty much guarantee attendance won't be as high as Beck's rally. I'd love to be proven wrong, of course, but I think most Daily Show/Colbert Report viewers tend to be a bit more reasonable and much less fanatical about their support for the shows than, say, viewers of Beck's show.

 

[Lila64]

You mean they're more sane?

 

[financeguy]

The problem is everywhere is insane, not just the US.

Did you see where Sarkozy just evicted an entire ethnic group from France? This simply could not happen in the US, even under a right-wing Tea Party-esque President. Europe is crazier (and definitely more racist) than the US.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I get the impression, which maybe is just stating 'racism' by another name, that Europe is historically fairly beholden to the ideal of every-ethnic-group-to-their-own-nation. Problematic when the group in question is too small and scattered to warrant its own nation. Hilarious when you consider that all of modern Europe, virtually without exception, is composed of the descendents of tribes that post-date (or at best were roughly contemporary with the decline of) the Roman Empire.

 

[AliEnvy]

I think the point Headache was making is that you're not going to find mass transit providing 90% discounts to a comedian's rally. Whereas a referendum on sovereignty is maybe a bit more deserving of the discounts.

Then I should clarify that I wasn't suggesting that there will be (or should be) discounts...was just reminded of '95 because it's right before the elections and the only way to get a substantial number of people there is to make it virtually free.

I'd still like to see them kick Beck's ass, even if it's a longshot.

As BonoSaint said in the other thread, the anxiety is real and can't be ignored. Laughter is a fabulous stressbuster, even if it is just college kids who show up.

 

[maycocksean]

If I was anywhere near Washington, I'd go to this in a heartbeat:

Rally to Restore Sanity


And then, of course, I'd also go to this one:

March to Keep Fear Alive

Brilliant. I would love to go. The irony is that a lot of the people who would go are too busy working for living, caring for their families etc. I've seen some of the promos and John Stewart seems to get that. I wouldn't necessarily call it a failure if the turn out were low. They almost seem to expect that.

I don't know where the Tea Party nuts find the time, to be honest. Perhaps they're more about TALKING about hard-working Americans than actually BEING hardworking Americans.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

I don't know where the Tea Party nuts find the time, to be honest. Perhaps they're more about TALKING about hard-working Americans than actually BEING hardworking Americans.

Most of them are retired, old, bitter, set in their ways, clinging to their guns and racism, too old to fuck or do anything fun, so they have the Tea party to try and make some sense of what's left of their bitter life.

10 years from now the Tea Party should be a non-issue as most of these assholes will be in nursing homes or will have died off.

 

[BVS]

Most of them are retired, old, bitter, set in their ways, clinging to their guns and racism, too old to fuck or do anything fun, so they have the Tea party to try and make some sense of what's left of their bitter life.

10 years from now the Tea Party should be a non-issue as most of these assholes will be in nursing homes or will have died off.

Clinging to their non-socialist Medicaire at that point...

 

[Pearl]

10 years from now the Tea Party should be a non-issue as most of these assholes will be in nursing homes or will have died off.

Some, but not all. Most of my family follows the Tea Party and not all of them are near retirement age. Also, these people will be preaching their beliefs to their children who might grow up clinging to them. One could only hope and pray that the kids do not carry the Tea Party beliefs with them to adulthood.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

Some, but not all. Most of my family follows the Tea Party and not all of them are near retirement age. Also, these people will be preaching their beliefs to their children who might grow up clinging to them. One could only hope and pray that the kids do not carry the Tea Party beliefs with them to adulthood.

Of course, i should be careful with that broad brush of mine. And i mean no offense to your family either.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Agreed.

I'm not American, but I wish I could go. It's gonna be a helluva thing.

It's a shame you can't, but if you were able to, I'm sure they'd be happy to have anyone there, American or otherwise.

I would take the spider sign, btw. Spiders are scary, man!

That was my favorite sign, too. Amen to that, indeed.

I think most Daily Show/Colbert Report viewers tend to be a bit more reasonable and much less fanatical about their support for the shows than, say, viewers of Beck's show.

...ehhhh, I dunno about that. You could say that about Stewart fans, maybe, but Colbert fans....

Seriously, though, I do hope they get a good turnout for these events, and I would find it hilarious if they did indeed beat out Beck. Will be very interesting to see how this pans out, the mission plan for their events is certainly worth a try, at least. And if it does change things even just a bit, all the better.

Angela

 

[Earnie Shavers]

They'll probably do okay crowdwise. They won't have the same kind of passionate nutback traveling across the country, convinced they're on some kind of patriotic mission from God, but I'd imagine they'll half clear out any college within a hundred miles?

 

[Canadiens1131]

I'm kind of disappointed Stewart's people listened to the internet and went through with this. Glen Beck knows his public persona is whacky and that's he's trolling the left...he's just in it for the cash. I can't help but feel like the left is taking the bait on this.

Comedians (at least the bitter, alienated ones I like) are confined to a life in the shadows. You can't spend years sniping at and ridiculing the mainstream or the nut jobs and then go out and become part of it.

The Bush White House Correspondants' Dinner performance was brilliant from Colbert because he was an outsider who got on the inside and completely crashed the party. These public rallies are different.

Bill Hicks never had to pull a stunt like this. I dunno, I just kind of find this depressing news, maybe it won't be as cringeworthy as I think.

 

[BVS]

I'm kind of disappointed Stewart's people listened to the internet and went through with this. Glen Beck knows his public persona is whacky and that's he's trolling the left...he's just in it for the cash. I can't help but feel like the left is taking the bait on this.

Glenn knows this, but his followers don't...

 

[Canadiens1131]

Glenn knows this, but his followers don't...

The last, best hope for a moderate USA is for all the old people still scared of the USSR to f*cking die already so that the spectre of communism can stop hanging over the country.

EDIT: Still trying to figure out what to do about the middle-aged people scared of the USSR.

 

[deep]

I have not read everything on this

but if Stewart does have this rally with Colbert making fun of a lot of just plain folk,
whose most pressing issue is deficit spending and the growing national debt

there will be a much better turn out at the polls against the Democrats

Robert Scheer and Ariana Huffington are not mocking the tea party movement


this a little bit similar to people mocking Obama, early on,
not taking him seriously and assuming there was no way he could beat a well-established Hillary Clinton