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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Rally thread

Rally thread

by DougJ|  October 30, 201012:59 pm| 278 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Everyone is asking for one.

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Reader Interactions

278Comments

  1. 1.

    Hunter Gathers

    October 30, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    There are eleventy billion in attendance.

  2. 2.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    October 30, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    Beer not FEAR!

  3. 3.

    henqiguai

    October 30, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Everyone is asking for one.

    And yet, three minutes into the entry’s existence, no chatter ! What’s up w’ that ??
    ETA Okay, so right after hitting submit, two entries preceded me (and yeah, I hit <refresh> before typing away).

  4. 4.

    shoutingattherain

    October 30, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    I can’t be the only one who doesn’t think Samantha Bee is funny. At all.

  5. 5.

    Studly Pantload

    October 30, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    Rally getting all geeky with demographic samplings.

    And now, there’s Stephen, trapped in his Bunker of Fear!

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    Edit: Deleted. Wrong thread.

  7. 7.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    Thanks DJ and BJ!

  8. 8.

    Hunter Gathers

    October 30, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Hopefully for Colbert’s sake, there are no bears.

  9. 9.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    Chi
    Chi
    le
    le

  10. 10.

    Bnut

    October 30, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    So far this thing sucks.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 30, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    @shoutingattherain #4:

    No. You’re not.

    But Colbert coming up in the FENIX was funny.

  12. 12.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    The comedy sucks.
    However the Roots, with and without John Legend, kicked ass. One of the best live acts in music.

  13. 13.

    shoutingattherain

    October 30, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Wow there must be 5,000 people there!!

  14. 14.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Father Guido!

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 30, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    AWEtothefuckinSOME!! Father Guido Sarducci is giving the benediction!

  16. 16.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 30, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    I don’t get it.

    I’ve read articles about the Rally and comments about it and I still don’t get it. What is it for?

    Understand that there is nothing wrong in getting together and having a pleasant time, without a specific agenda. Is that what this is about?

    Or do they actually have something to say?

    ETA: Maybe it’s a “be-in”?

  17. 17.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 30, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    Color me unimpressed.

    You can cut the “all politicians are liars — don’t vote, it only encourages them — we’re too cool for school” ironic-detachment vibe on Comedy Central with a knife.

    This isn’t exactly Woody Guthrie, people….

    When Pete Seeger’s funeral draws this big a crowd — and may he live longer still — then I’ll be impressed.

    You’re seeing 200,000 or whatever Nader voters.

  18. 18.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: If you have to ask there is no question you don’t get it.

  19. 19.

    Trentrunner

    October 30, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    Love Stewart, but hate hate hate the fucking false equivalency bullshit he’s based this rally on.

    Both sides are NOT equally insane, violent, racist, sexist, homophobic, and just plain ignorant.

    It would be pretty to think so, but ain’t true.

  20. 20.

    demkat620

    October 30, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Okay, I am so thinking this is the dumbest thing ever so far.

    Falling completely flat.

  21. 21.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    That’s right, spend every fucking second of your miserable ass lives thinking YOU are changing something for the better by being all hysterical and “critical”. Bet they’re having a big time at FDL today too!

  22. 22.

    MeDrewNotYou

    October 30, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    @stuckinred: Even at my tender young age, I’m a huge Father Guido Sarducci fan.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 30, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    I loves me some Fr Guido. Now I have to go find the pope in the pizza.

  24. 24.

    TR

    October 30, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    I hope Waterston’s poem is about robot insurance.

  25. 25.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    @Trentrunner: or, as Medea Benjamin put it, “sane people protest crazy wars”.

  26. 26.

    Montysano

    October 30, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    This isn’t exactly Woody Guthrie, people….

    Comment of the day.

  27. 27.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    @Trentrunner:
    Stewart isn’t a journalist, and he’s barely a pundit. He’s a comedian, and it’s all he’s ever claimed to be. We treat him like a journalist and a pundit because he has higher journalistic standards than actual journalists. And as he’s said many times before, that’s a travesty.

    I think he’s content to take cheap shots at Democrats, and especially Obama, but he’s a comedian and cheap shots are his bread and butter.

    As for the rally… well, let’s face it, the main message is ‘We like TDS and Colbert.’ #2 and #3 are probably ‘Voting is important, period’ and ‘Try not to be completely insane about your political position’. ‘Bull-headedly stupid’ is a breath of fresh air after this political season.

    Wish I was there. It’s something to go to for fun, not to send a message.

  28. 28.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    @Montysano: And it ain’t Abbie Hoffman and this ain’t 1968.

  29. 29.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    October 30, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    Wow there must be 5,000 people there!!

    So, what, 472,000 by Fox News standards then?

  30. 30.

    WayneL

    October 30, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    Does this prove that insanity is a lot more fun?

    Bummer. Busto. I’m going to do better things, like getting the jam out from under my toenails.

    Somebody write about it if it gets better.

  31. 31.

    demkat620

    October 30, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    Oh sweet Jesus.

    Cat Stevens? Where has he been hiding?

  32. 32.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    That fucking false equivalency of the Peace Train

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    @Trentrunner: Yup. I always liked Stewart better than Colbert, but in the last year or so, Colbert has gotten better and better, and in the last few months, Stewart has flirted with insufferability.
    @BobS: and this

  34. 34.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    @demkat620: UK

  35. 35.

    WayneL

    October 30, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    Okay. Ozzie.

    That’s better.

  36. 36.

    TR

    October 30, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    Peace Train vs. Crazy Train.

    Outfuckingstanding.

  37. 37.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 30, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    @stuckinred:

    If you have to ask there is no question you don’t get it.

    You are absolutely right. :-)

    Hope everybody has a good time. I’ll go do something else. Peace.

  38. 38.

    justawriter

    October 30, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    So who’s next, Boxcar Willie?

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    The rally is not working for me… So far it is a one note joke being wrung dry. Maybe it will get better, but oy.

  40. 40.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: pax back

  41. 41.

    BR

    October 30, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Agreed. I have a hard time watching the daily show these days. I wonder if Jon Stewart is feeling pressure (from others or self-pressure) to play the fair and balanced game of false equivalence. He keeps getting profiled in magazines and newspapers as being the most trusted reporter, etc. That combined with a tendency towards cynicism (and granted, I share that) makes him throw the Dems in the same pile and set it afire.

  42. 42.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    I’m not sure what you guys expected. They are comedians and satirists.

  43. 43.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 30, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    I remember the all-city block-party-cum rally the PCI and L’Unitá used to throw in the dry moat around Hadrian’s Tomb in Rome I was at was in 1978 — back when there was a PCI – and this is the opposite of that.

  44. 44.

    shoutingattherain

    October 30, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    @Phoenician in a time of Romans #29

    Yes well I originally wanted to post the number “150,000” but didn’t proofread before submit. Then the EDIT feature didn’t edit, so I gave up and hoped nobody would notice.

    I blame Obama.

  45. 45.

    justawriter

    October 30, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    I was close.

  46. 46.

    Trentrunner

    October 30, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    Yusuf. Fox will LOVE that.

  47. 47.

    PanAmerican

    October 30, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    You kids get off my lawn!

  48. 48.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    @Jen7: not very good ones, judging from their performance today. They should just turn the stage over to the musicians.

  49. 49.

    MMonides

    October 30, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    Just went to give some friends metro cars so they could skip the 2-hour line at the station, and get in the 1-hour line for a train.

    Holy heck.

  50. 50.

    AB

    October 30, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    lol, so they actually called a rally about nothing?

  51. 51.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    @shoutingattherain: I’ve got it worse, I’ve never found Stephen Colbert funny in the slightest. That faux conservative schtick gets old after about ten seconds. Clever, at times, just not funny.

    For me, anyway. He seems just as tedious here, interrupting the song, yes, he’s conservative we get it. Oy.

  52. 52.

    quaint irene

    October 30, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Cat Stevens in DC? See, that just proves Obama is a Muslim. (Not ruling out someone seriously making that connection.)

  53. 53.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    Why the fuck would anyone watch it if they didn’t like it? Goddamn

  54. 54.

    KG

    October 30, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    @stuckinred: because they need something to bitch about?

  55. 55.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 30, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    Well, over at DemocraticUnderground.com they’re convinced this is the progressive Quatorze Juillet bis, and we’re all just dumb or fossils who aren’t getting it.

    Me — I’m going to go vacuum the kitchen floor where the cats just got to the sugar canister, and sing;

    Avanti populo, alla riscossa
    Bandiera rossa, bandiera rossa…

    Back in a bit.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    @stuckinred: I am watching in the hope that it gets better.

  57. 57.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    @KG: No shit, I mean take a fucking walk or something. Or is this, whining for shut-ins?

  58. 58.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @stuckinred: I just think people expected something completely different. More political? I dunno.

  59. 59.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @stuckinred: The Roots, Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples…

  60. 60.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @stuckinred: How would they know if they liked it without watching it?

  61. 61.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I actually don’t think it’s all that great, often stuff in big settings like this doesn’t carry well on the tube. But it’s not like there were sine claim that this was going to “mean” anything.

  62. 62.

    Moses2317

    October 30, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    Not to be a downer, but I am a bit worried that this rally is taking away time and resources that could be better spent on GOTV.

    Winning Progressive

  63. 63.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: True dat. But it seems to me there is a whole bunch of front end hate going on.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    @stuckinred: Good music happening too.

  65. 65.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yea but it’s like the music at the superbowl, the sound just doesn’t do it justice.

  66. 66.

    Cacti

    October 30, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    There is no difference between…

    Chalk and cheese

    11,539 and 1

    Shakespeare and a ham sandwich

    Democrats and Republicans

  67. 67.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    @Moses2317: Time is an illusion

  68. 68.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    OK, let’s all bitch about the little girl, I mean the world is about to come to an end on Tuesday and they have a little girl on stage. What IS wrong with these people??

  69. 69.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    @stuckinred:
    I also hear it keeps on slipping into the future.

  70. 70.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @Cacti: or Tweedy and Staples

  71. 71.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @stuckinred: most of the bitching here seems to be by you.

  72. 72.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 1:48 pm

    @stuckinred: Well, it would be harder to criticize it without having seen at least some of it. Though there are people on the religious right who do that often, hating on some movie that they refuse to see.

    Well, I can say that I loved the first musical act, never heard John Legend before. My first thought was man, is he listening to Donny Hathaway or what? Which he confirmed by doing a Donny Hathaway song as the second one.

    Great album by the way, the original. One of my top few of all time.

    The song.

  73. 73.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: The wooden music comes across way better than the amp’d.

  74. 74.

    Comrade Coffin

    October 30, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    @stuckinred: Lunchtime doubly so.

  75. 75.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    @BobS: And?

  76. 76.

    Cacti

    October 30, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    Call me cynical, but from the get go, this event struck me as a giant handjob from the cool kids to themselves.

  77. 77.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    Velma Hart? are you f-ing kidding me?

    Well at least she gave him a shout out.

  78. 78.

    wasabi gasp

    October 30, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    I watched the Rally to Restore Sanity and all I got was distracted and a big bloody gash while stuffing apples with razor blades.

  79. 79.

    Bootlegger

    October 30, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    Oh c’mon, the “Naked Man Running With Scissors Fear Award” is damn fucking funny!

    And giving it to Anderson Cooper’s t-shirt? Bravo!

  80. 80.

    gbear

    October 30, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    @stuckinred: The beratings will continue until morale improves.

  81. 81.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    @stuckinred: and I’m sorry I’m not a Stewart or Colbert sycophant?

  82. 82.

    freelancer

    October 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    @Cacti:

    I’m in favor of it simply because the major news media got a serious case of butthurt about its existence. “How come we don’t get a handjob?! They’re’s nowhere to fit this in our canned narrative!”.

  83. 83.

    ChrisZ

    October 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    How long is this supposed to go?

  84. 84.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    Sheesh you guys, lighten up. God, why so serious? Ya’ll are hard to please….

  85. 85.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    @BobS: well I’m sorry too, how’s that?

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    @Uloborus:

    It’s something to go to for fun, not to send a message.

    If anything, the message is, “Look, we can get twice as many people to show up for a comedy show as showed up for Beck-a-palooza. Can the media please STFU about the Tea Party representing anything but angry white Republicans?”

  87. 87.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    Me thinks some bought into the msm/right wing hype about this rally.

  88. 88.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Thank you

  89. 89.

    Cacti

    October 30, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    Well, whatever my misgivings about it, I’m sure there are at least 11 million billion people in attendance.

  90. 90.

    BDeevDad

    October 30, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    @Mnemosyne: This

  91. 91.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    @BobS:

    really? sycophant?

  92. 92.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    @Mnemosyne: That works for me.

  93. 93.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne:I LIKE me that message. Looking at the other comments, I’d say that’s a message all of America can agree on.

  94. 94.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    CNN, of course, is covering a Sarah Palin rally featuring Ted Nugent.

    Not joking.

  95. 95.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    I like the “Greatest Strongest Country in the World” song.

  96. 96.

    John O

    October 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @Jen7:

    No kidding. It’s about exactly what *I* expected anyway. Of course, they’re the only TV “news” I watch.

    Different strokes, I guess.

  97. 97.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @Suck It Up!: yeah, really. Seems ready to shed a tear at some of the criticism here.

  98. 98.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @Southern Beale: Dear God. And we are attacking a comedy show? C’mon guys…:)

  99. 99.

    mapaghimagsik

    October 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    Sycophant = you like something I don’t.

  100. 100.

    You Don't Say

    October 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    @Jen7: Yep.

    Reasonable by definition isn’t going to be exciting. But I’m finding it a very pleasant distraction from all the screeching elsewhere. And it couldn’t have come at a better time seeing as I’m depressed as hell that Sharron Angle will soon be my senator.

  101. 101.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    @BobS: Hey, fuck you asshole. I don’t even watch the goddamn daily show. How’s that?

  102. 102.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 2:05 pm

    @You Don’t Say: Think positive. Don’t believe the polls.

  103. 103.

    Jules

    October 30, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Jesus people, lighten up.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    @Jen7:

    I think some people still feel that this rally took a lot of the air out of the One Nation Working Together rally a few weeks ago and stole their spotlight. I’m not sure I agree, but I can understand why they might feel that way.

  105. 105.

    Zuzu's Petals

    October 30, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    @stuckinred:

    I found that bit hilarious.

  106. 106.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    I don’t get this, why is it suddenly verboten or… shocking, that anyone would criticize a comedy show?

    If it is, all I can say is boy, is Dennis Miller going to be happy!

  107. 107.

    Cacti

    October 30, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    I know Ted Nugent is supposed be a rock star/former rock star, but could anyone name 5 songs by the Nuge without looking?

  108. 108.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    What spotlight? Look, tea party rallies are covered because they’re In Narrative and show us how a groundswell of exciting grassroots enthusiasm is going to annihilate the Dems in the midterms. Progressive rallies are not part of the narrative and are ignored.

    The problem with Stewart and Colbert is that they can’t be ignored. They make their own publicity. Presumably that’s why FOX whines about them so much.

  109. 109.

    Jen7

    October 30, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    eww, kid rock.

  110. 110.

    JPL

    October 30, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    @Southern Beale: oh fuck…not wonder our country is going down the tubes.
    I’m cleaning storm windows and listening. Never before has window washing been so much fun.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Dennis Miller hasn’t done comedy for years, so there.

  112. 112.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    CNN, of course, is covering a Sarah Palin rally featuring Ted Nugent.

    Well yeah, but their Twitter feed is just BURNING UP with important twits about Snooki and the Douche.

  113. 113.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    Anyone think that Jon looks a little like Evel Kneivel in that stupid jacket. Maybe he’s planning to jump the yawning partisan divide on a motorcycle or something.

  114. 114.

    Cacti

    October 30, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    @Jen7:

    eww, kid rock.

    The Ted Nugent of this generation, minus the guitar playing ability.

    But he’s a double threat. He sings and raps badly.

  115. 115.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    I don’t get this, why is it suddenly verboten or… shocking, that anyone would criticize a comedy show?

    I guess the question is, beyond saying it’s not funny (which mostly IMO it hasn’t been, but whatever), what’s left to be critical of?

  116. 116.

    John O

    October 30, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    There are a helluva lot of people on the mall, that’s for sure. Curious about an aerial shot. I have HD, so I should be able to count all eleventy billion.

  117. 117.

    Studly Pantload

    October 30, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    I suspect a highlights reel will do this gig a justice that can’t be conveyed by the real-time unfolding of events. They’re making nice points, but these are somewhat awash in banter and the sluggish reactions from the large crowd (which is why live comedy generally works better in smaller venues).

    And for what it’s worth, TPM is reporting that the event’s organizers seem to have underplanned for the size of the crowd; people are showing up and leaving because they’re too far away with no sound system or jumbotrons with which to monitor events. The local bars, however, are said to be doing great bizz with folks pouring in to watch the rally on in-house teevees. (For my part, I’m finding the rally goes better with a few beers.)

  118. 118.

    Common Sense

    October 30, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    Kid Rock still sucks

  119. 119.

    JPL

    October 30, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Trentrunner: Who cares about Fox… I loved it. That was my growing up years and before Fox News.

  120. 120.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @Cacti: God, I didn’t realize he was in DC, I thought ya’ll we’re talking about Palin/Nuge! Must be part of his community service for jumpin the brother in the Waffle House.

  121. 121.

    shoutingattherain

    October 30, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    @stuckinred:

    Hey, fuck you asshole. I don’t even watch the goddamn daily show. How’s that?

    You’re about 12 years old, right?

    You’re taking this WAAAAY to personally.

  122. 122.

    MeDrewNotYou

    October 30, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    @Common Sense: True that.

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 30, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    @ChrisZ #82: According to Father Guido Sarducci, when he was importuning God to send some kind of sign indicating his favorite religion and God wasn’t responding, the permit is only good until 3 o’clock.

  124. 124.

    ChrisZ

    October 30, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    @fasteddie9318:

    The audience.

    That tends to be what really starts these tiffs.

  125. 125.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    @Studly Pantload:

    And for what it’s worth, TPM is reporting that the event’s organizers seem to have underplanned for the size of the crowd; people are showing up and leaving because they’re too far away with no sound system or jumbotrons with which to monitor events.

    That’s really a shame, because as far as whatever media narrative is concerned, that means they were never there and nobody cared about this silly rally unlike the MASSIVE TIDAL WAVE OF BECKMANIA that’s clearly sweeping the planet.

  126. 126.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    @Uloborus: Yes, and since Stewart and Colbert have their own coverage, they will have the images to do compare/contrast on the Beck/Fox rally and this one. CNN and Fox, in particular, are in for severe butthurt when those segments air. One problem, however, is that this rally is happening at least a week too late to do anything except help the GOTV—if it will even be any help on that. It’s way too late to change the narrative.

    ETA: curiously, given how much crap they have been giving the rally all week, WaPo seems to have doubled down on the coverage, with almost its entire home page devoted to it.

  127. 127.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    @fasteddie9318:

    I guess the question is, beyond saying it’s not funny (which mostly IMO it hasn’t been, but whatever), what’s left to be critical of?

    Er, I don’t know. I haven’t said anything about the show except that I liked the music, it just strikes me as extremely odd that people are coming up with this line about “Oh my god, you’re criticizing comedy?? Lighten up!” and so on. Why in the world would comedy suddenly be sacred or off limits?

    This place is filled with snark and criticism night and day about any number of things.

  128. 128.

    ChrisZ

    October 30, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Ah, thanks. I guess that means there’s not a whole lot of time for it to get more interesting. In fairness, I don’t think I’ve ever found an actual political rally interesting either.

  129. 129.

    MeDrewNotYou

    October 30, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    Did Sheryl Crow just say, “There will be peace in the Senate,” in that song?!

  130. 130.

    AhabTRuler

    October 30, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    @John O: The trick with crowds is that whatever the number of people, they will expand to fill the space (kind of like a gas). Having seen more than my fair share of events on the mall (everything from regular busy summer days to marches, parades, festivals, &c &c) the visuals can be deceiving.

    OTOH, if you could compress the crowd until they became a superfluid, that would be really cool!

  131. 131.

    Maody

    October 30, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    it’s about how many people went to join Stewart & Colbert. it’s about the M$M not allowing their peeps to go. it’s about satire and fun. jesus h christ on a stick.. it may not be what people wanted to see, but okay, did you really think they would do much more than have some okay music and fun?

    the FENIX and Father Guido Sarducci were good. Roots is awesome.

  132. 132.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    @jwb:
    If it helps the GOTV that’s well worth it. We cream the Republicans on everything but the mysterious ‘enthusiasm gap’. But I kind of doubt Stewart and Colbert are trying to help the Democrats here. They lean liberal, but they’re entertainers first, you know? This is a good opportunity for a show for them.

  133. 133.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    @shoutingattherain: Why do you care?

  134. 134.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Why in the world would comedy suddenly be sacred or off limits?

    All the “false equivalence” complaining strikes me as a bit over the top; he’s guilty of it, but it is a little insane that we’re looking to a comedian for serious news coverage.

    And the couple of complaints I’ve read in this thread criticizing the rally for diverting resources or whatever from pre-election work are fairly absurd.

    But I agree, some of the reflexive responses to any criticism are just as over the top. How’s that for sanity?

  135. 135.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Got me there. If this spreads though, he can start again!

  136. 136.

    master c

    October 30, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    stranglehold
    cat scratch fever
    wang dang sweet whatever
    okay I can only get to 3.

  137. 137.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    @AhabTRuler:

    OTOH, if you could compress the crowd until they became a superfluid, that would be really cool!

    That would have come in really handy for the Beck rally, although you’d have clogged up the DC sewage system flushing his fans down the toilet afterward.

  138. 138.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    @fasteddie9318: I agree, particularly with your sanity clause at the end.

  139. 139.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:
    You can no fool me
    there is no sanity clause

  140. 140.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: In Dennis’ defense, it’s hard to do standup when you’re constantly having to change your diapers because somebody in the crowd looks a little too swarthy.

  141. 141.

    gbear

    October 30, 2010 at 2:28 pm

    TPM is liveblogging this too and if you scroll down to the bottom and read up they’re describing some of the signs that people are bringing to the rally. Those are funnier than most of what’s going on onstage.

  142. 142.

    BobS

    October 30, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    @Cacti: Journey to the Center of the Mind, Migration, Baby Please Don’t Go, Stranglehold, Just What the Doctor Ordered…I grew up in Detroit. Before he adopted the right-wing asshole persona, he was tolerable, especially when he was with the Amboy Dukes. Being deer hunting season, radio stations in northern Michigan, where I live now, play Fred Bear about every 30 [email protected]Cacti: I don’t get Kid Rock’s popularity either.

  143. 143.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    @BR:

    I wonder if Jon Stewart is feeling pressure (from others or self-pressure) to play the fair and balanced game of false equivalence.

    Jon Stewart has _always_ been that way. He clung to the McCain mystique longer than almost anybody else. His complaints about Obama and Democrats are not the FDL/wannabe-lefty “they compromise too much”; his issue is that they don’t get shit done. It just feels like the same critique because both Stewart and the Dissatisfied Left talk about the need for Democrats to look and act stronger. But Stewart really is Broderish when it comes to his romantic view of Democrats and Republicans coming together to hash out solutions to problems. That’s not a new phenomenon with him.

  144. 144.

    Studly Pantload

    October 30, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    OK, I’m no Kid Rock fan either (as apparently are most of the rally crowd, based on their tepid response to his intro), but I do give him props for the way-old-school keyboard synth. (Forgive me, but I’ve been pausing the rally on my DVR, and so am about 20 min’s behind the live-feed crowd).

    And here I’d pegged KR as more likely to perform at a Beck or Palin rally that something, er, reasonable.

    Crow’s not unexpected, but always welcome.

  145. 145.

    Ross Hershberger

    October 30, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    It’s a wake. In a week we’ll be bombarded 24 X 7 by the wingers’ top volume triumphalism over their devastating DEVASTATING refudiation of Liberalism (except for the Senate which they won’t get).
    This is a last chance to blow off steam before the partisan divide on Capitol Hill turns into the empty gulf between galaxies and we settle down for 24 months of misery.

    Let them have their fun.

  146. 146.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 30, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    @stuckinred: Sure, he’sa a doctor who cutsa you open.

    Wait, wrong movie….

  147. 147.

    Dino

    October 30, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    best sign: “I CAN SPELL”

  148. 148.

    ChrisZ

    October 30, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    I did like that they had an R2D2.

  149. 149.

    gbear

    October 30, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    Nugent just got busted for hunting without a valid license in South Dakota recently.

    Rocker and celebrity hunter Ted Nugent may have run afoul of South Dakota game laws by shooting pheasants after some of his hunting privileges were revoked in California.
    Nugent's loss of his California deer hunting license through June 2012 allows 34 other states to revoke the same privilege under the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, though each state can interpret and enforce the agreement differently. South Dakota honors other states' license revocations through both the compact and a state law that doesn't differentiate between large game such as deer and small game such as pheasant, said Andy Alban, law enforcement administrator for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department. Alban wouldn't confirm or deny whether the agency was investigating Nugent, but said: "In South Dakota, if a person had any hunting privileges revoked elsewhere, all of their hunting privileges would be revoked here.

  150. 150.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:
    Yeah, I saw the Obama interview, and you’re right. Stewart was constantly asking Obama why he hadn’t gotten anything done, and Obama was always going ‘Actually, we’ve gotten a lot done.’ I’ve never seen Obama look so off-balance. Usually he’s very suave.

  151. 151.

    AhabTRuler

    October 30, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    @BobS:

    I don’t get Kid Rock’s popularity either.

    I’m a cowboy an asshole, bay-bee!

  152. 152.

    PurpleGirl

    October 30, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne:I agree with you. That’s what I was thinking. You (the media) want to talk about numbers… this rally has numbers! (And indeed, it has.)

  153. 153.

    Ross Hershberger

    October 30, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    They’re both from Detroit but let’s not confuse Nuge with Kid.
    Nugent’s a known asshole. Back when he mixed with us common people more Kid Rock was a pretty decent guy. I don’t listen to his music, but he was friendly & not a dick. Which for a rockstar I think qualifies you for sainthood.

  154. 154.

    R-Jud

    October 30, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    Clever sign: “If Obama’s Muslim, how come we don’t have Fridays off?”

  155. 155.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:
    Talk Talk Talk
    sometimes I think I must go mad. . .

  156. 156.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 30, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    @jwb: Post readers will want to know where the traffic is bad, and whether and how the Metro is coping. As for the rest, they could care less.

    Company paper in a one-industry town.

  157. 157.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:44 pm

    @Uloborus: I didn’t see the interview because I really don’t see the point (besides his interviews with major figures always suck), but if Stewart was pushing that line with Obama that’s telling: I mean, if anyone has taken great pains to take apart the media narrative, it’s Stewart; yet there he is reproducing it without any sign that he recognizes what he is doing.

  158. 158.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Hard Times, Not End Times

  159. 159.

    Anya

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    This rally is lame; it just proved that Stewart and Colbert are really old.

  160. 160.

    AhabTRuler

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    Remember that the post can sic the style and metro sections on the subject, while the ‘A’ section can hold it at arms length. I don’t actually read the Post (nor that little pigfart Express they give away, either) but I seem to recall other seeing a few different articles on the rally in others’ papers this past week or so. Certainly, I have heard more than one person in the office or on the Metro talk about the rally, FWIW.

    More people were talking about that than the Metro bombing “plot”.

  161. 161.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: More coverage than needed to tell the locals about traffic. Didn’t go past the headlines, however, so I don’t know what tone they are taking.

  162. 162.

    You Don't Say

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    @jwb: The audience was more with Obama, I thought, when Obama countered the suggestion his administration hasn’t done enough.

  163. 163.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    OT, but this is why apartment living sucks: I just found bacon in the communal washer. About half a slice, all broken up because apparently someone managed to wash a load of clothes without realizing they had A SLICE OF BACON mixed in with them.

    I’m now running the washer empty with hot water and detergent to try and get rid of the remaining bacon because I don’t want to have to schlep everything over to the laundromat. Eeeeewwwwww.

  164. 164.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    @jwb:

    I thought the interview started to get at a bigger problem for the White House, which is that the best they’ve been able to convey about any of their accomplishments is the sense that they checked a box on a to-do list. Stewart seemed to be saying that, OK, you checked the box on HCR (for example), but beyond that it’s not clear what you achieved. Part of that disconnect is Stewart’s fault for swallowing the narrative, but part of it is also the WH’s fault for not fighting that narrative more effectively.

  165. 165.

    You Don't Say

    October 30, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Any estimates on crowd? Looks huge.

  166. 166.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    @Anya: Have you ever been to a rally that wasn’t lame?

  167. 167.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    BIG TIME walk back on Breitbart from ABC News:
    FROM THE LINK:

    I want to explain what Mr. Breitbart’s role has always been as one of our guests at our digital town hall event:

    Mr. Breitbart is not an ABC News analyst.

    He is not an ABC News consultant.

    He is not, in any way, affiliated with ABC News.

    He is not being paid by ABC News.

    He has not been asked to analyze the results of the election for ABC News.

    Mr. Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. For the broadcast coverage, David Muir and Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg will contribute reaction and response gathered from the students and faculty of Arizona State University at an ABC News/Facebook town hall.

    He has been invited as one of several guests, from a variety of different political persuasions, to engage with a live, studio audience that will be closely following the election results and participating in an online-only discussion and debate to be moderated by David Muir and Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg on ABCNews.com and Facebook. We will have other guests, as well as a live studio audience and a large audience on ABCNews.com and Facebook, who can question the guests and the audience’s opinions.

  168. 168.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    @fasteddie9318: My other thought was that Stewart was giving Obama a big fat pitch to hit out of the park, but Obama didn’t recognize it for what it was and so whiffed. But again I didn’t watch.

  169. 169.

    TooManyJens

    October 30, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    @Mnemosyne: So I guess bacon doesn’t make everything better.

  170. 170.

    Ross Hershberger

    October 30, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    I’ll give it a shot:

    The Fox headline – “Several Hundred Disgruntled Leftists Tie Up Nations Capitol, Litter”

  171. 171.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Shorter ABC News Douchebag:

    We’re not paying Breitbart, just giving him a network television platform. Nothing to see here.

  172. 172.

    BR

    October 30, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    @jwb:

    @Anya: Have you ever been to a rally that wasn’t lame?

    Barack Obama in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, two days before the Iowa caucuses. Maybe 300 people.

  173. 173.

    AhabTRuler

    October 30, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    @TooManyJens: You haven’t noticed the warning on bacon packaging that says: Use only as directed?

  174. 174.

    Baud

    October 30, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    @Uloborus:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama is very tired right now. He’s been campaigning like mad for Democrats everywhere, plus his day job of, you know, being President.

  175. 175.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    @fasteddie9318:

    I don’t get that argument – they checked a box on a to-do list? Isn’t that what they are supposed to do? Isn’t that what all his critics are doing? going over the list of promises he made and checking off what he’s done and not done?

    And I can’t understand how they can fight the narrative more effectively when it always seems like he’s just always fighting by himself. When he tries to defend his policies or point out what he’s done its met with ‘har har checklists and all that blah, blah, blah’ or ‘Obama on defense’ or ‘Obama’s scolding his base’.

  176. 176.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Sounds like the pressure is working — we should keep it up.

    ETA: I noticed that the comments are closed on that post. They must be getting slammed. Good job, everybody!

  177. 177.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    @fasteddie9318: Sorta like Obama and Rick Warren?

  178. 178.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    @fasteddie9318: I think Stewart’s point on HCR was different, actually, but even Obama misunderstood it. I think he was saying, in essence, “You didn’t put yourself out there enough to take leadership; you didn’t say what was your vision and your bottom line, and as a result the whole process drifted aimlessly.” He used the word “timid” but what IMHO he meant was that Obama let Congress take control of the process and it was frustrating to watch. Obama reacted to the word “timid” to say that the law was stronger than that, and explained why… but Stewart’s point was about process and optics and less so about the law.

    Of course, what everyone had said for 15 years about the collapse of the Clinton HCR effort was that Clinton pushed too hard and didn’t let Congress have its say, which is why Congress eventually balked. This process may have looked ugly and grueling and meandering, but it worked, insofar as “worked” means “something actually got done.”

    Other than that, I think Stewart’s primary criticism was the not-all-that-interesting point about the difference between rhetoric and reality, and trying to get Obama to admit that he had overpromised. Again, that’s not a “Dissatisfied Left” critique, it’s fairly standard Beltway finger-wagging. Same for the “You said you were bringing change, but what about Larry Summers, neener neener” point.

    My favorite bit was when Obama mentioned the need to take on the misuse of the filibuster.

  179. 179.

    b-psycho

    October 30, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Don’t be shocked if next time there’s egg in there.

  180. 180.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Whatevs abc! he shouldn’t be part of anything relating to news or reality. Nothing!! They are rewarding liars and cheats. How do they not see that?

  181. 181.

    Maody

    October 30, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    signage: “I Believe in a Sanity Clause”

  182. 182.

    TooManyJens

    October 30, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    @AhabTRuler: I thought it was “Apply directly to the forehead.” Have I been doing it wrong?

  183. 183.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    @BR: With 300 people, maybe, because you can actually hear things pretty well. All large rallies I’ve been to, however, have been terribly lame. I much prefer marches, where then you at least have the spectacle of the moving mass.

  184. 184.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    @jwb: There was no “whiff.” He ran down the list of accomplishments, and people cheered. He was a bit testy, ’tis true, but my sense was that it was coming from Stewart projecting an attitude of “So do you regret having promised so much that you haven’t been able to deliver?” Is there a graceful way to answer a question like that? If you say “Yes,” everyone reports it as your admission that you’ve been slapped in the face by cold hard reality. If you say “No,” it means you’re either defensive or overly proud of your disappointing track record.

  185. 185.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    but Stewart’s point was about process and optics and less so about the law.

    I think that’s a pretty lame thing for him to complain about.

    I can understand though why Obama answered the way he did. A lot of critics on the left have been claiming that his policies weren’t bold enough. So when Obama heard “timid” from Stewart, that’s what he was trying to address. I personally thought it was about policy myself.

  186. 186.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    @jwb:

    “What did he say? Blessed are the cheesemakers?”

  187. 187.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    Yeah looks like what the ABC Digital News guy was saying is, “we’re not REALLY giving Breitbart a platform, he’s just participating in this silly little online thingie we’re doing and EVERYBODY KNOWS ONLINE DOESN’T MATTER!”

    I mean, really.

  188. 188.

    Anya

    October 30, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    @jwb: I guess, I was expecting better from two comedians.

  189. 189.

    calipygian

    October 30, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    @Studly Pantload:

    And for what it’s worth, TPM is reporting that the event’s organizers seem to have underplanned for the size of the crowd; people are showing up and leaving because they’re too far away with no sound system or jumbotrons with which to monitor events.

    I arrived at about 1030 and walked around. The people were streaming in, the Metro was just chaos. By the time the rally started, I couldn’t find a place to watch and/or listen so I fought my way through the crowd from 3rd to the Smithsonian Station on 12th (yes, a solid nine blocks of people) where I found it was jammed. Finally I walked a few blocks and caught a cab at about 1345 to go home and watch on TV.

    It was insane.

  190. 190.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    @Suck It Up!:

    To be fair, it’s the stuff that’s in Stewart’s bailiwick. He’s not a wonk like Al Franken, so he’s going to think more about the entertainment aspect of the HCR spectacle, if you will, rather than the actual legislation.

    Which is exactly what’s wrong with our current media and I wish Stewart could see that, but anyway ….

  191. 191.

    valdivia

    October 30, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    So I was down at the mall getting GOTV word out for the DNC. It was kind of hard to do given the crowd and the event. People on the ground were really jazzed about it, the mythbusters guys were funny and the Ozzie-Yusuf thing was too hilarious. The crowd was HUGE, I was there for the Beckathon, this was much much much bigger.

  192. 192.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Then it does sound like Stewart fucked up and bought into the media narrative despite himself. Highly disappointing. It’s not that Stewart needs to do Obama’s work for him and ask easy questions, but since Stewart is well attuned to the problems of the media narrative, I think he at least has the responsibility of not asking questions that are locked into the media narrative.

  193. 193.

    Bnut

    October 30, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    The best clip I ever saw was Kid Rock partnered with Jon Daley at some pro-am. They were getting hammered and using empty tall boy cans as tee’s. Was pretty funny.

  194. 194.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    He was a bit testy, ‘tis true,

    I’d be testy too. Seems like all his interviews feature the same questions or memes. I’m waiting for someone to ask questions that the media/blogosphere hasn’t discussed to death already.

  195. 195.

    Jman

    October 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe they were washing the dog’s clothes and bedding n stuff. Bacon would em smell really good!

  196. 196.

    KDP

    October 30, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    Couldn’t attend, but while setting up the snack bar at the bimonthly Bingo game in our community center, I watched the rally live-streamed on my netbook using my Android phone’s internet connection via EasyTether. Surprisingly smooth, no lag, no jitter. Both the rally and my network connection.

    I found Stewart’s closing remarks moving and honest. I just hope this event inspires some independents to vote against the crazies even if that requires holding their nose to vote for a democrat.

  197. 197.

    JGabriel

    October 30, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    There’s a sign at the rally that should REALLY be a Balloon-Juice banner tag:

    This is why we can’t have nice things

    Please, make it so.

    .

  198. 198.

    RalfW

    October 30, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    @stuckinred: Oh for the love of god, we’ve had 10 years of war and Fox and all this fear, hate, despair. Giving an award to a girl as “the world is about to come to an end on Tuesday” is hardly some travesty that will change the course of history.

    Go buy yourself a bunker in Mizzoula, ’cause you got no joy or optimism in your life.

    This was a giant outdoor TV show for fans of two snarky comedy programs. It was never going to fix next Tuesday or America.

    BTW my doorbell rang while the show was on and someone gave me a GOTV flier. Turned out to be a friend who lives 10 miles away GOTVing on my block!

    So concern trolls, chill on the GOTV-supression mini-meme vis the Rally.

  199. 199.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    @Anya: Me, I figured the best we could hope for is something like the Academy Awards, so I was expecting a high suckage quotient relieved by horrible displays of kitsch.

  200. 200.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    @Suck It Up!: The substance of the complaint was something we’ve heard a lot on the blogs: “Obama didn’t say What He Really Wanted,” thus “Obama didn’t fight for what he supposedly wanted, so maybe he never really wanted it at all.” The whole thing about arguing over whether Obama _really_ wanted the public option, f’rinstance; or the other whole thing about why Obama tended to talk about the outcomes of HCR instead of specific provisions. We’ve heard and argued about it before, a lot.

  201. 201.

    Lauren

    October 30, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    The jokes were a little cheesy and the comic timing was completely hit or miss, but I enjoyed it all the same. And Stewart’s heart is in the right place. That’s what matters to me more than anything.

  202. 202.

    Zifnab

    October 30, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    Hell, I enjoyed it well enough.

  203. 203.

    valdivia

    October 30, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    so this is a bit OT but I see that the media’s new meme is that the dems are scared hitless about losing the senate. I heard it yesterday pimped by those commenting on the Meeks story. And now it’s making the rounds pushed by Ed Henry. I have been working down at the DNC and I have not see ANY of this “terror” they are talking about.

    what gives?

  204. 204.

    JPL

    October 30, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    TPM has pictures up… My favorite sign Fear gives me a Boehner
    Unfortunately, it’s probably true.

  205. 205.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    @valdivia: You forgot, however, that you need apply the wingnut multiplier for Beckfest and the wingnut divider for the Rally. So Beckfest ends at eleventy billion and the Rally had ten people at it.

    Who are you going to believe, wingnut imagination or your lying eyes.

  206. 206.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    @JPL:

    Thanks I saw some pics at Democratic Underground but they just whet my appetite for more!

  207. 207.

    Maody

    October 30, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    @jwb: The Jan. 26 2003 march against the preemptive war on Iraq was huge. 200K people (at least) that warmed most of us since the high was something like 27 degrees. Most of the speeches sucked and no one could hear them. I’m afraid that all marches/rallies/spectacles on the National Mall have become useless. If CNN was covering a Palin shitfest and ABC is having Breitbart anywhere near election coverage… oh, but who’s really surprised by that? Seriously, even if Stewart and Colbert produced a massive fail, what the hell does it matter to the corporate states of america? can’t wait to hear what my neighbors down the road thought. I can imagine 2 different stories.

  208. 208.

    morzer

    October 30, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    Well, speaking as someone who watched pretty much the whole thing, I thought parts of it were great fun, parts of of it were a little flat, but that overall they achieved something that was pretty sane and and fun, and if more people got into the spirit of not taking their precious selves so precious seriously, rather than yapping from the sidelines about how they know better or how it should have been a GOTV/Democrat TV function, we’d all be a lot better off.

  209. 209.

    RalfW

    October 30, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    @valdivia: More voter suppression efforts via dispiriting “news” of the impending GOP landslide. Ignore/refute, move on to GOTV.

  210. 210.

    Bill in Portland Maine

    October 30, 2010 at 3:20 pm

    Who knew the sequel to the “I Have A Dream” speech would be delivered by Jon Stewart with his “We’re all equals stuck in traffic” speech?

    (Certainly not Glenn Beck)

    –

  211. 211.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    @jwb: Well, to be fair, it’s not _only_ the “media narrative.” There are a lot of alternative media and blogosphere types who say all of those things too. Anyone who has ever said that Obama didn’t fight hard enough for the public option, or should use the “bully pulpit” more, has been using similar rhetoric.

  212. 212.

    cckids

    October 30, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: This, this, this. I cannot express how tired I am of hearing how massive the TP’ers rally & movement was/is. It just isn’t. It is merely loud & overexposed.

  213. 213.

    Mike in NC

    October 30, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos.

    Does Stephanopoulos still have Sean Hannity on speed dial for his political consultations?

  214. 214.

    valdivia

    October 30, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    @jwb:
    LOL. Yeah forgot ‘facts’ don’t matter.

    @RalfW:
    this has been the hardest thing to fight against when phonebanking. A lot of people don’t even want to talk because they think all is lost. But once you get them talking and tell them what is going on they commit to vote.

    Y’all the signs were the BEST thing there. I was busy working GOTV so did not take pictures but they were amazing.

  215. 215.

    Jules

    October 30, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    The amount of butthurt coming coming from the progressive pundit class (just wth? is up David Corn and Olberman’s asses?) on twitter is amazing and delightful

  216. 216.

    Oscar Leroy

    October 30, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    Has Jon Stewart saved us from Code Pink yet?

  217. 217.

    Maude

    October 30, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    People are pigs.

  218. 218.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Obama reacted to the word “timid” to say that the law was stronger than that, and explained why… but Stewart’s point was about process and optics and less so about the law.

    I think we’re both making the same point but you’re doing a better job of it. Stewart’s complaint is that they’ve been timid, not in what they tried to achieve but in how forceful they were willing to be about it. That goes in two directions, their timidity with respect to Congress and their timidity with respect to getting the message out to the public. I think the first is unfair, given the lessons the Village Elders wanted everyone to take from Clinton’s failure, but the second is not so unfair. This White House has not been good at messaging. Obama has as much as admitted that they take a certain wonkish pride in trying to do the right thing regardless of the optics, but the problem with that is that the optics really do matter when they start costing you elections. A great example was the decision to spread his tax cut out into everybody’s weekly take home pay instead of cutting everyone a single rebate check. That’s probably the right policy decision if it means increased consumer spending throughout the year, but it’s lousy politics because nobody notices the tax cuts. It’s great that they got the policy right, but now they’re about to lose an election partly because 3/4 of the country has no idea that their taxes were cut last year. Losing that election is going to hamstring the rest of his agenda, so in the long run the right policy made for the wrong decision.

  219. 219.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Loved the “Hitler Is Hitler” sign. LOL.

  220. 220.

    cckids

    October 30, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    @You Don’t Say: Oh, hell no!! I think I will have to move out of state if that happens. The sheer mortification would be killing.

  221. 221.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    @RalfW:

    it

    was

    snark

  222. 222.

    JGabriel

    October 30, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    @valdivia

    what gives?

    Republican ops trying to psych up their team, and psych out the rest of us. It’s like a HS football team bragging that the other team is all pussies and oh so scared of them.

    It’s a shame, but utterly typical, that the networks are buying into it and reporting it as news instead of the cheerleading it is.

    .

  223. 223.

    stuckinred

    October 30, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    OK, Georgia-FLA

    GO DAWGS!

  224. 224.

    Oscar Leroy

    October 30, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    @stuckinred:

    “Sorta like Obama and Rick Warren? ”

    That only happened once, so we at Balloon Juice are pretending it never happened.

  225. 225.

    JGabriel

    October 30, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @morzer:

    if more people got into the spirit of not … yapping from the sidelines about how they know better …

    … this blog wouldn’t exist.

    Hell, absent yapping from the sidelines about how I know better, I’d be mute.

    .

  226. 226.

    Southern Beale

    October 30, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @Jules:

    The amount of butthurt coming coming from the progressive pundit class (just wth? is up David Corn and Olberman’s asses?) on twitter is amazing and delightful

    Yeah and both seem to be getting a smackdown from Twitter followers too.

  227. 227.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @Maody: Hey, I’m not complaining, and as I said I like the spectacle of the mass crowd, which is why I prefer marches: then you see the mass in motion. Anya complained about the the rally being lame, and I just said I didn’t expect anything else. That’s not a complaint, just reality. Then, too, I think rallies and marches are immensely important from a political perspective because they show that a large number of people are willing to take time out of their day and attend. Would that we had a very large, very lame rally for health care back in spring 2009.

  228. 228.

    morzer

    October 30, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Gabriel, what happened to the better angel of your nature, hmm? Hmmm? HMMMMM?

  229. 229.

    valdivia

    October 30, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    I saw a kid with a sign that said
    “Hitler is Dead Dude”

  230. 230.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    @JPL:

    Fear gives me a Boehner

    that was my favorite.

  231. 231.

    morzer

    October 30, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    DavidCornDC To all my pals, pls explain how this satire-some of which is good-will enhance pol. discourse re economy, climate change, health care

    DavidCornDC Yes. RT @KeithOlbermann: It wasn’t a big shark but Jon Stewart jumped one just now with the “everybody on Thr cable is the same” naiveté

  232. 232.

    Uloborus

    October 30, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    @Suck It Up!:
    I felt like Stewart didn’t see the difference. That he felt like nothing must have gotten done because it wasn’t done the way he was expecting it, or… something. I have trouble understanding the equivilancy there, but I hear it a lot. The process didn’t look right, so it must have not succeeded.

  233. 233.

    Moses2317

    October 30, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    Now that the rally is over, can we get back to turning out the Democratic vote?


    Winning Progressive

  234. 234.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    @Southern Beale: Don’t know about Corn, whom I like, but Olbermann, who sees himself as half-Murrow, half-Mencken, may be just leeeetle bit jealous? Just a thought.

  235. 235.

    thomas Levenson

    October 30, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    Working this aft., so missed just about everything, but on reading Michael Goldfarb (Wingnut-Bellevue) on Cat Stevens at the rally, I dialed up my greatest hits collection. Moonshadow’s on as I write this.

    La lucha continua!

  236. 236.

    Anya

    October 30, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    @jwb: The least they could’ve done was to feature musical acts from this century? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Roots, and I don’t mind Sheryl Crow but some cool acts for the younger generation would’ve been nice. This was woodstock for the Gen. Xers.

  237. 237.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    @Uloborus:

    yeah. me? All I have to say is:

    ‘I don’t care how you get there, just get there if you can’

    ***I know that’s not the exact words.

  238. 238.

    Ross Hershberger

    October 30, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    TPM headline:

    “Cat Stevens Appearance At Sanity Rally Angers Right Winger”

    Too many words. “XXX Angers Right Winger” pretty much covers the majority of situations. The all-purpose headline.

  239. 239.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Jon’s speech at the end was very good.

  240. 240.

    Maody

    October 30, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    @jwb: whoops, I didn’t mean to knock your post at all though ekes, I messed up there. Meant to commiserate on the march v rally idea. I think this Stewart/Colbert event was good for a lot of people. But it was not powerful and I don’t think it was meant to be EXCEPT in numbers.

    Marches can be incredibly powerful as history has shown us. It all depends on who is listening and with Citizens United, they’re not listening or watching marches and rallies unless they are extreme, contain creepy violence which get lobbyists’ chosen stoopyhaided candidates elected.

    My beef as an organizer is exactly this: The egos of far left (and I am far left, but pragmatic) got everything fucking ass backwards in the run up to Iraq. They kowtowed to too many groups, speakers, political theatres et al so that no speech held attention or had any power.

    Remember the past… March, then rally. March, then sit in. March, then speak. March, then civil disobedience.

  241. 241.

    gil mann

    October 30, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Hope you guys are having fun spitting on the progressive movement!

    Stewart’s rally is indeed not a political event aimed at informing grassroots progressive activists such as union members. It is an “entertainment event,” in the tradition of Glenn Beck, aimed at increasing ratings so Comedy Central can raise the costs of ads and make bigger profits. The rally is about selling TV time and making money off of the Left’s long-standing tradition of mass mobilizations like Woodstock and the Million Man March. In fact Jon Stewart is doing the opposite: he is spitting on the progressive movement’s proud history of direct action.

    Way too many things these days remind me of an old Dave Barry quote (which I’m totally paraphrasing): “Activists speak for The People, and they hate people.”

  242. 242.

    morzer

    October 30, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    @Suck It Up!:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/the-rally/65447/

    His speech is here. Fallows liked it.

  243. 243.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    @gil mann: Do you think the guy gets the irony of publishing that at a blog run by Arianna “Will there be TV cameras?” Huffington?

  244. 244.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    @Anya: I would agree with that. The musical choices were bland (whatever the politics of the musicians themselves).

  245. 245.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: You really like David Corn? He strikes me as a version of Jonathan Turley, only one who unaccountably thinks he’s funny.

  246. 246.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    @Maody: Yup, marching is key, because a moving mass is powerful thing to behold.

  247. 247.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 30, 2010 at 3:57 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: I haven’t read him regularly in years, and I don’t watch Hardball anymore so I don’t see him much, but he always struck me as one who had his facts straight and didn’t let whatever ‘winger he was paired with spew unchallenged bullshit. I never noticed him trying to be funny, but that’s how I see Olbermann’s reaction to this, and La Huffingabor’s, who would give half her settlement to be as funny as Al Franken, and often thinks she is.

  248. 248.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    Has anyone on the right or in the media yet compared this rally to Beckfest and dared to argue that Beckfest was significantly larger? If not, how long will it take and who will be the first in?

  249. 249.

    gil mann

    October 30, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    @Moses2317:

    Way ahead of ya, buddy. Oh, wait, did you say “turning out the Democratic vote?” I thought you said “getting drunk and making a Halloween costume for the dog.”

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Eh, you go where the page-views are, y’know? Can’t blame him for that, but Christ, maybe temper your message so’s the audience has at least a chance of being receptive to it. Self-righteous screeds like that just make me look for opportunities to be a scab (don’t worry, Teamsters, I have no skill set).

  250. 250.

    monkeyboy

    October 30, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    Since officials have stopped giving crowd size estimates of Mall rallies, I have come up with a cool proxy: Have the porta potty companies report how many gallons they hauled away.

    Sadly, if this metric was regularly reported some would try to game it by bring an extra liter of water to dump in the loo.

  251. 251.

    Mnemosyne

    October 30, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    @gil mann:

    I think somebody missed the point. Especially since this was specifically supposed to be a reaction against Glenn Beck’s insanity, not a general “progressives rule!” rally.

  252. 252.

    gil mann

    October 30, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think somebody missed the point.

    Could be, rabbit, could be:

    Perhaps Jon Stewart does care about working people and the labor movement. So, I invite Jon Stewart to cover the story of locked out Honeywell workers that despite its lack of mainstream coverage, Joe Burns writing for a labor publication Working In These Times calls labor’s “highest profile ongoing dispute.”

    And yeah, okay, maybe I’m just busting on this guy out of guilt over my own inactivism (a condition known as “Blue Stater’s Lethargy”), but seriously, the fuck, dude.

  253. 253.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    Didn’t expect the Times to report this: “The rally seemed to be channeling something deep — a craving to be heard and a frustration with the lack of leadership, less by Mr. Obama, some participants said, than by a Democratic party that they saw as timid, fearful, and failing to stand up for the president’s accomplishments.”

  254. 254.

    gizmo

    October 30, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    I think we’d be better off if all those people in DC were out on the streets in their hometown, doing GOTV.

  255. 255.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    @jwb:

    “The rally seemed to be channeling something deep — a craving to be heard and a frustration with the lack of leadership, less by Mr. Obama, some participants said, than by a Democratic party that they saw as timid, fearful, and failing to stand up for the president’s accomplishments.”

    That’s certainly one of my frustrations, not sure I agree that this is what the rally was channeling. I do wish the media would stand up for their viewers more often.

  256. 256.

    Suck It Up!

    October 30, 2010 at 4:51 pm

    @morzer:

    thanks!

  257. 257.

    jwb

    October 30, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    @gizmo: This is hard to say. My sense, judging from the media reaction I have scanned, is that the media seem flummoxed by both the size and constitution of the crowd. Much will depend on whether Stewart and Colbert can effectively press this advantage (and whether they want to) and how well the left’s media and new media can come together and forge a different narrative. My best guess: everyone will be too busy forming the circular firing squad after Tuesday and the opportunity will float away, much like the opportunity after Obama’s inauguration was squandered.

  258. 258.

    water balloon

    October 30, 2010 at 5:13 pm

    Stewart is not a political activist. He doesn’t work to promote liberalism. He is a liberal comedian who is reacting to Glenn Becks’ crazy party by throwing a rally of his own. His decision is not to counter it directly from the Left, like the Ed Schultz/labor rally a few weeks ago, but to promote a less vitriolic discourse.

    Whether Schultz and Olbermann like it or not, they use the same tactics O’Reilly and Beck do. It just happens that they do it for a good cause.

  259. 259.

    gil mann

    October 30, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    @gizmo:

    Not casting aspersions on you personally, but if everybody making that same point on the internet were themselves doing GOTV, I’d have doorbell-induced tinnitus by now.

    So while it’s uncharitable to the point of dickishness for me to say this, I gotta wonder if all the lefty whining about Stewart is just prep-work for the blamefest we’ll be treated to in the wake of the midterms.

    p.s. Not to bring you down, but you do know they’re planning a remake with you as a CGI creation, right?

  260. 260.

    James E. Powell

    October 30, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    @Jules:

    I don’t do twitter. What are you referring to?

  261. 261.

    fasteddie9318

    October 30, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    @gizmo: Sure. We’d be better off if the Republicans would catapult themselves into deep space too, or I personally would be better off if my urine could be sold for $50,000/oz on the open market. But just like neither of those things are going to happen, it seems unlikely to me that the people at that rally would have been doing much GOTV had there not been a rally.

  262. 262.

    ET

    October 30, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    Well I got back, rested a bit, took a shower, and just finished some pizza and feel much refreshed after a 34 block walk and standing for 3.5 hours.

    Otherwise it was good. Lots of people. The Right will declare it a failure because Cat Stevens was there. Of course R2D2, Tony Bennett, Kareem Abdul Jabar, and Kid Rock were as well.

    I personally liked the fear award to the 7 year old girl who was more brave than NPR and the other news stations that either weren’t covering it or told not to comer (not clear on that one). The crowd was skewed young but not that young. There were plenty of over 50 crowd. It was also not totally white either. So on those 2 counts Fox will declare it socialist. They will likely fixate on Cat Stevens and promptly do what they can to ignore/minimize the whole thing.

  263. 263.

    Julia Grey

    October 30, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    Whether Schultz and Olbermann like it or not, they use the same tactics O’Reilly and Beck do.

    Except, you know, without the DELIBERATE LYING.

  264. 264.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    October 30, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    @morzer: I was there, and you summed it up exactly. Word.

  265. 265.

    Cat Lady

    October 30, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    [email protected]morzer:

    I wasn’t there either, but the reason I would have gone was this exactly. Estimates are putting attendance easily over 100,000, and there were satellite rallies in other cities, so mission accomplished. It doesn’t fit the media narrative which means media is already hitting the Ignore button, but generating enthusiasm the last weekend before the election may just make enough difference.

    /hopey

  266. 266.

    Ked

    October 30, 2010 at 7:06 pm

    Drove to the rally from Indiana.

    It wasn’t quite as cool as I’d hoped, but a lot of that was technical issues and music choices.

    My friend and I walked up to the rally around 1030, and were basically stuck a few yards west of 7th street (looking east). It looked to me like the organizers had planned on this being the main overflow area. All the real amenities were in a gated-off area on the Mall proper, including a couple of tents near the back which blocked about half my sightline to the stage. Besides the people in the Mall itself, the streets on either side were equally jammed. There were speaker stacks rigged about twenty feet behind us, but I don’t think there were any further back. And it turned out there were a metric fuckton of people further behind us.

    I can’t estimate size, I just don’t know crowd density averages to calculate with. I will say that I expect direct comparison of overheads and high angles along the length of the Mall to show significantly more bodies than Beck got.

    Oh, okay. IF I’m right about that front block on the Mall proper being the expected/planned/permitted number (which was reported at 60k) THEN the actual attendance was at least three times that. Take that with a shaker of salt.

    I don’t quite like Roots, and John Legend just doesn’t impress me at all. But the performances were good. Huge Mythbusters fan so I rather liked that bit, but for that segment and the first bits of the actual Stewart/Colbert parts they had the mic levels wrong and unless you were in the sweet spot right in front of the stage you couldn’t hear much. Behind us… well, there’s a shot from MSNBC of two or three blocks behind where I was completely filled on the Mall, and a lot more farther back in the streets (and sidewalks across the Mall, about half of which is apparently closed off for repair). We were chanting “LOUDER” (and eventually they fixed it), but I bet the folks back on 10th or so couldn’t hear anything at all.

    While the rally was technically 1200-1500, the first hour was just crowd entertainment. The second and third hours were the real Daily Show/Colbert content. Stewart and Colbert seemed to be a little out of sync (stage fright? I’d freak out with that many people staring at me) in the first half hour, but as it went along, things got better. Except for Kid Rock, whose new song is screechy miserable crap even with Crow trying to help.

    I enjoyed it. Lots of silliness, lots of surprises. And yeah, Stewart gave his little sermon. I subscribe to the false-equivalency criticism to some extent, at least in terms of magnitude if not wretchedness. But this stuff really isn’t anything new – what he said today was exactly the point of both their shows is, and those of us who have been paying attention know that.

    Ultimately, this rally was TDS & CR “in concert”. Nothing new, just something that a lot of us really like. Insofar as there was new political content, WE were it, the thousands of us who came to represent that we agree with the Stewart/Colbert point of view. I came for the show, and I came to vote feet. And I think, barring unfortunate attempts by MSM to minimize that count (which I’m already seeing multiple places), we accomplished what I wanted.

    And then it took three hours to walk back to the hotel. (Took just one to get there.) Okay, we got split up and a half hour was just finding each other. So many bodies on the Mall nobodies cell worked.

  267. 267.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 30, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    @gil mann:

    The rally is about selling TV time and making money off of the Left’s long-standing tradition of mass mobilizations like Woodstock and the Million Man March.

    Wasn’t the Million Man March organized by Louis Farrakhan? That’s “the Left,” capital L and all, now?

  268. 268.

    Lurker

    October 30, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    If anyone cares, my elderly parents were relieved to see the healthy turnout for the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear. Up to this point all they’ve seen on TV are angry Tea Party activists. My parents vote in every election, but they felt alone in their point-of-view.

    Seeing a few gajillion Americans show up to rally for sanity cheered them up about the country’s future.

    Many thanks to Ked and the other posters here who attended the rally and contributed to the numbers.

    PS — my mom didn’t get the “I Can Spell” sign until I told her about the “Get A Brain! Morans!” sign and the other misspelled signs that appear at Tea Party rallies.

  269. 269.

    Morbo

    October 30, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    Whatever the rest of the rally was, Stewart’s speech was a pure Broderian jerk-off. What Davis Brooks really should have been worrying about in his columns criticizing the rally was Stewart angling for his job.

  270. 270.

    Zuzu's Petals

    October 30, 2010 at 11:09 pm

    @Ked:

    I can’t estimate size, I just don’t know crowd density averages to calculate with. I will say that I expect direct comparison of overheads and high angles along the length of the Mall to show significantly more bodies than Beck got.

    Well the expert who helped Airphotoslive do the CBS estimate for the Beck rally will also be helping with this estimate, so I feel pretty confident it will be an accurate count.

    ETA: Oops, here it is. Wow, 215,000 !

    ——————-

  271. 271.

    4jkb4ia

    October 30, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    I have read the articles in both the Guardian and the NYT and this thing sounded great, especially the signs. It appeared to be a Mental Health Break taken to a mall in Washington (this was an Obamaism ragged on by orionATL)

  272. 272.

    4jkb4ia

    October 31, 2010 at 12:00 am

    @valdivia: Nate has spoken. There does not seem to be any new polling of any real consequence except for it all coming down to Washington, which is not news.

  273. 273.

    Steeplejack

    October 31, 2010 at 12:05 am

    I posted my impressions of the rally in the thread upstairs, because it seemed more active than this one (when I started).

  274. 274.

    Cain

    October 31, 2010 at 12:36 am

    @fasteddie9318:

    Well yeah, but their Twitter feed is just BURNING UP with important twits about Snooki and the Douche.

    Is that a modern version of “Chico and the Man”?

    cain

  275. 275.

    Cain

    October 31, 2010 at 12:49 am

    @BR:

    Barack Obama, Oregon 60 thousand people.. people on bridges, people along the river banks, people in boats, people every where. Fucking awesome.

    cain

  276. 276.

    Blackfrancis

    October 31, 2010 at 4:29 am

    @Cacti: I only know one: Cat Stevens Fever.

  277. 277.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    October 31, 2010 at 5:50 am

    Just got back to L.A. from DC – I was there for work and stayed on an extra day for the rally. It was fun! The signs were the best part. There was a “Sane Canadians for Sanity” one (apparently a whole group from Toronto drove down in two buses), a “Decaf Party” one, “Adventures of Unemployed Man” (a new superhero), “Palin/Voldemort 2012,” “Atheists for Masturbation,”and my favorite was the one that spelled out IDIOCRACY using Palin, O’Donnell, Fiorina, Boehner, Beck, Gingrich, Angle, McConnel and O’Reilly’s names.

  278. 278.

    bjacques

    October 31, 2010 at 11:06 am

    But…but…the tens of thousands who showed up for yesterday’s Daily Show lovefest just prove how fed up voters are with both parties. You can be sure that no Democratic rally could get that many people. This just confirms that the Democrats’ partisanship, as well as Obama’s weak efforts at reaching across the aisle, will cost them control of the House and almost certainly that of the Senate. Just as the smart money expects.

    I think I can take Douthat’s job now. Or Jake Tapper’s. Then I can go down to the bus station and give away free blow jobs to regain my self-respect.

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