Rally to Restore Sanity: A Poll

[Oliveloaf]

A Poll

[Oliveloaf]

I say good thing. I love the premise that there is a huge number of Americans who aren't screaming idiots.

[Zuul]

Yeah, I like it. I'm pretty disgusted by shrieking zealots, regardless of their politics. Reasonable people never have a reason to rally together about being sane, though, so yay!

[Marsilia]

Pretty much what Zuul said. I think it's great to get together people who might have different stands on different issues for the common goal of saying "The crazies don't represent me."

[What Exit?]

I think it is great and not just because I worship think very highly of Jon Stewart. I was very tempted to drive down for the rally but it is Halloween weekend so that was out.

[Oliveloaf]

They're preparing for 150,000 folks.

I would not be surprised to see twice as many people.

I think attendance at this event makes a wonderful statement.

[Oliveloaf]

From the Huffington Post:

Stewart has, until now, been careful about crossing the line from satire to overt activism and preachiness. The Rally could, at the very least, jump over the line before hopping back. "Yeah, it's a little more dangerous," he said. "I don't know that it's activist as much as it would be cathartic. Just sending out a little message: There are other people like you who think things are a little extreme. It's not, 'You must vote Democratic, you must vote Republican.' It's not legalize pot or any of that kind of stuff. I still think as long as we do it and make it funny and satirical, we'll be okay. Though I could be kidding myself."

[Oliveloaf]

Just heard that an estimated 200,000 people showed up.

[Zuul]

That's pretty cool.

[Queen Tonya]

I am posting from my hotel , enjoying their continental breakfast.

Ok, so we obviously thought it was a good thing, important enough to make the trip for. Had a great time, will post more when we get home.

[What Exit?]

Cool, I missed the coverage yesterday but hope it was great.

[Zuul]

I am posting from my hotel , enjoying their continental breakfast.

Ok, so we obviously thought it was a good thing, important enough to make the trip for. Had a great time, will post more when we get home.

Awesome, Tonya! I can't wait to hear more.

[What Exit?]

Some clips, including the opening are up on Comedy Central.

Big

An estimated 215,000 people attended the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert rally on the Washington Mall Saturday, based on aerial photos and calculations by AirPhotosLive, a company commissioned by CBS News. Yes, that's way bigger than the 87,000 that the same company estimated for Glenn Beck's rally in August.

[Muffin]

Up until now, I didn't realize that Colbert's show was a running gag. I had always assumed that he was just another right wing nut case. Where I live in northern Ontario, I don't receive any TV stations that show either Stewart or Colbert, and Comedy Central does not permit people in Canada to view it on the web.

When I saw posts saying that Stewart and Colbert were putting on a demonstration in Washington, I was surprised that such a nut as Colbert would participate. I read up on him further on the web, only to learn that his show is parody. Good for him! Good for both Stewart and Colbert. Quite frankly, the extremist politics of the USA concern me.

[Oliveloaf]

Quite frankly, the extremist politics of the USA concern me.

Me, too.

[Orual]

Transcript of Jon Stewart's speech.

[Orual]

100 best signs at the rally

I like the one with Super Grover.

[Peeta Mellark]

It was awesome, but I wish people elsewhere would stop trying to make it political. Jon Stewart isn't a leftist political leader. He's a comedian and he fronted a very nice rally that satirized the extremism and hyperbole this country has been suffering from.

[What Exit?]

A lot of good signs there. A few had me chuckling.

What was up with the turtles?

[Queen Tonya]

I'm so happy and exhausted I don't know where to begin.

I will try to get unpacked and get some of our few pictures up once I find cords and such. We are master planners who took a camera with nearly dead batteries and then killed our phones taking crappy pictures of hilarious signs, most of which are already online taken by much better cameras. One of my favorite signs, btw. The incredible amount of creativity, sincerity and wit just in the signs made the trip totally worth it.

What I've seen of the coverage doesn't begin to express what it was like to be there. For one thing, the crowd noises, cheering, booing, laughing, were HUGE and hardly noticeable on most of the taped stuff I've seen. Standing jammed in shoulder to shoulder, everyone's feet and legs and backs cramping up but no one wanting to sit and miss a second of the show, watching people try and do a desperate march of the penguins dance to the porta johns, yet everyone was happy. Complimenting each other on signs, smiling, giving way, helping each other out. A girl a few feet away from us asked to borrow our sign as a landmark for her girlfriend to make it back from a potty break, of course we said sure. Folks willingly putting down their signs so people behind them could see the jumbotrons, trash being passed hand to hand towards the bins, hell a couple of young guys in front of us glanced back and realized they were blocking the view of two short older ladies and volunteered to change places, the amazing restraint and comedic timing by a fellow nearby with a lone vuvuzela, it was a giant love-in. The calmness of the great exodus was a pleasant surprise as well. People mostly moved slowly towards where they wanted to be, taking time to gawk at everyone's signs and costumes.

My husband drew a classic DON'T PANIC and I borrowed from Bill and Ted's BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER, written on 1/4 sized poster board specifically aimed at not blocking people's views. As I'd utterly forgotten sunscreen, my sign proved a handy shade and I only turned light pink, not medium rare, yay!

The cutest part was repeated scores of cute little old ladies and intensely sincere older men who stopped us to shake our hands/take our picture and sincerely compliment our sign sentiments. Neither of us had the heart to own up to our unoriginal cribbing, but thanked each of them for the spirit in which the praise was offered. I got a little verklempt a few times.

Loved all the geekiness being represented. Granted, Halloweekend helped with more costumes than might have been there in April or June or whatever, but RHPS, Dr. Horrible, Star Trek, even a few Firefly references made us feel right at home.

Pretty much all the music was great, although I'd never heard of Mavis Staples before and John Legend and Sheryl Crow seem to be becoming professional rally singers. The train bit was hilarious, the crowd started booing loudly when Steven interrupted Yusef, only to go hysterical when Ozzy bounded out. I appreciated that the producers put in a bit of time making a pre-show for all of us standing waiting hours ahead, just clips of both shows announcing and promoting the rally and/or march, fun jumbo tron silly memory games for the crowd to shout answers to, etc. The whole mood was just joyful conviviality and a mutual awe at one another.

[Zuul]

The whole mood was just joyful conviviality and a mutual awe at one another.

Aw, awesome. That's really what I was hoping for.

[CatInASuit]

From the accounts over here it seemed to go remarkably well. I think the best idea was that they kept it as satire and not tried to state what the next way to go was.

Its good you enjoyted yourself Queen Tonya

[What Exit?]

Thanks for the report Queen Tonya, if it had not been Halloween weekend I would have considered going myself. It looked like a lot of fun.