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I appreciate the non-partisan intent.
In practice, though, I'm afraid it will probably just be a Tea Party rally in reverse.
(@ "Take It Down a Notch For America")
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....html?iref=NS1
Should be interesting to see how many people go to them.
I appreciate the non-partisan intent.
In practice, though, I'm afraid it will probably just be a Tea Party rally in reverse.
(
Last edited by Spurminator; 09-17-2010 at 10:12 AM.
Stewart's Full Announcement:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/th...xrs=share_copy
This is going to be epic.
Just more professional clowns clowning around.
The difference is Colbert/Stewart's fans know that they are clowning, while pitbull /BecKKK's fans think they're dead serious.
Secondly, pitbull and BecKKK expect their fans to SEND MORE MONEY and BUY OUR MERCHANDISE. It's a business, doncha know?
Last edited by boutons_deux; 09-18-2010 at 08:31 AM.
This should seriously set a record for the largest troll job in the history of the world.
It will be good for a segment or two on their shows.
Sad I don't live in D.C...
It's a funny idea but kind of lame. It's basically like "hey FOX News, we're going to bash you and your viewers like we usually do but it will be at a rally in DC". For the record, Stewart has no room to take on bi-partisanship. The man is a hardcore liberal.
For the record, Stewart is a comedian.
Anyone who whines about his politics has a problem.
Palin and Beck are also comedians.
I think Stewart is a comedian when it's convenient and offers protection. Other times, he's a biting satirist. Other times again, he's an astute political analyst. That's alot like saying Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer because he has a radio talk show, IMO.
Stewart does lampoon both sides pretty regularly, so I'm not sure about labeling him in any particular fashion. I think people got in tune with him bashing Republicans simply because they were the prominent political party for pretty much the last decade. Now that Democrats have taken center stage, he's been pretty brutal to them as well.
The difference of course that the Democratic leadership does not bow down to Stewart and Colbert the way the GOP leadership bows down to Rush, Beck and Hannity..
lol @ GOP leadership.
Why are you linking the Democratic party to Stewart and Colbert ala Rush and the GOP?
You're building strawmen when they're not even needed. Insecure today?
Strawman? Do I have to go bouton and post all the times that Steele has cratered to wing-nut talk radio
I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, Dan.
I was actually refering to the comparison of the Dems led by Stewart to the GOP being led by Limbaugh. Im still not sure why you tried that particular illustration.
I don't think the Dems have any leadership connections to Stewart, btw.
Actually, I'm not sure where the Dems have leadership connections to these days.
btw...Steele's an idiot. He'd genuflect to my chihuahua.
Pelosi has done a superb job with a super-majority in the House....Reid, much less so in the Senate...bring back Howard Dean for the DNC..I don't think the Dems have any leadership connections to Stewart, btw.
Actually, I'm not sure where the Dems have leadership connections to these days.
Stewart definitely skews liberal. His criticisms of Democrats are akin to the home team's sports analyst criticizing coaching decisions in the latest game. His criticisms of Republicans are much more biting.
But I don't think it's inherently wrong for a commentator like Stewart to have a point of view. I don't find him overtly partisan in the sense that he toes the Democratic party line on every issue, no matter what.
Colbert, on the other hand, I can't say the same about.
Fox Repug Propaganda network would somewhat justify its' Fair and Balanced lie if it went after the right as much as Comedy Central goes after the left.
So Comedy Central goes after the left as much as it goes after the right?
no, but "serious" balanced Fox never goes after Repugs or conservatives the way
COMEDY often skewers Dems.
Stewart REGULARLY lampoons and attacks Democrats.
Last night he showcased a woman whom basically pointed out everything that Obama has failed at in this administration.
When's the last time you've seen anything of the sort on Fox criticizing Republicans?
Just because Stewart is a liberal doesn't mean he has to be completely in bed with the Democrats. You can have a liberal lean and still remain (relatively) objective.
They could easily draw a larger crowd than OBama.
Ftfy.
And for those wondering about relevance:
----------------------
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/2...ex.html?hpt=T2
Editor's note: John P. Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for The Daily Beast. He is the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America."
New York (CNN) -- Are you tired of the extremes dominating the debate? Angry about hyperpartisans hijacking American politics? Well, Jon Stewart has a rally for you and me.
The Rally to Restore Sanity is slated for October 30, the weekend before Election Day, on the Washington Mall.
This isn't a concealed campaign rally for either party. It's a counterprotest against the rising tide of conformity that causes hyperpartisans to demonize people with whom they disagree. It's the anti-demagogue Saturday on the mall; people taking to the streets and yelling, "Be reasonable!"
Here's how Stewart described it on "The Daily Show": "We live in troubled times, with real people who have real problems. ... Problems that have real but imperfect solutions, that I believe 70 to 80 percent of our population could agree to try, and ultimately live with. Unfortunately, the conversation and the process is controlled by the other 15 to 20 percent.
"You may know them as the people who believe that Obama is a secret Muslim planning a socialist takeover of America ... or that George Bush let 9/11 happen to help pad Cheney's Halliburton stock portfolio. You've seen their signs: 'Obama is Hitler'; 'Bush is Hitler'... But why don't we hear from the 70 to 80 percenters? Well, most likely because you have sh*t to do."
Among the signs suggested for the rally:
-- "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler"
-- "9/11 was an outside job"
-- "Got Competence?"
-- "I'm not afraid of Muslims, Tea Partiers, Socialists, Immigrants, Gun Owners or Gays ... but I am scared of spiders."
-- "Take it Down a Notch For America"
In the week since the Rally to Restore Sanity was announced, more than 100,000 people have signed up on Facebook (not exactly a scientific measure of success but a good gauge of interest), and more than 900,000 people have watched the announcement on the Comedy Central website.
For those who like their mock politics laced with paranoia, the indispensable Stephen Colbert is offering an alternative to the earnestness with his "Keep Fear Alive" rally. Those three words sum up an entire established media and political strategy.
All this excitement is a reflection of the fact that Jon Stewart earned the le of "the most trusted man in news" in a Time magazine online poll last year.
Sure, Stewart and Colbert are comedians and their rallies could wind up boosting ratings for their shows. But there's a serious point underlying these events.
Media manipulation by professional partisans on both sides has become so predictable that satire has emerged as the last, best way to cut through the spin cycle.
Viewers' intelligence is respected even as they are entertained, and between laughs the civic backbone begins to straighten a bit. News doesn't need to taste like medicine, and nonpartisan does not have to mean neutral.
There is a silent majority of Americans who feel politically homeless in today's polarized debates. They are not activists obsessed with politics. But they are no less patriotic than the partisans.
They are active citizens with busy lives. They view government as an attempt to solve problems, not a war between special interests or an hate-fueled ideological debate camp. And too often they are ignored.
Stewart's rally recognizes that there is an opportunity here -- a massive unmet market between the 15 percent of Americans who call themselves conservative Republicans and the 11 percent of Americans who describe themselves as liberal Democrats.
The conventional wisdom media strategy depends on appeals to narrow but intense niche audiences -- frequently using conflict, tension, fear and resentment.
The political extension of that approach is the low-turnout closed partisan primaries that get flooded with out-of-state activist money and nominate a Christine O'Donnell in Delaware or kick out Mayor Adrian Fenty in Washington without ever giving independents or members of the opposite party a chance to vote. All this will seem absurd one day, but right now it's the status quo.
Our country is being polarized for political, partisan and personal profit. And it's time for the center to push back.
Unconnected but not unrelated to the Stewart rally is another sign that the center is starting to strike back -- independent New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is supporting centrist candidates on both sides of the aisle, a mind-blowing idea in the "your team vs. mine" world of Washington.
But of course that centrist approach is how most Americans think -- they try to vote for the person, not the party.
And they understand that the two parties have increasingly become obstacles to the open functioning of democracy. That's why 40 percent of Americans have declared their independence from the two parties, creating the largest and fastest-growing segment of the electorate, independent voters.
I wrote "Wingnuts" to warn about the rise of extremism in the age of Obama, detailing the way hyperpartisans have hijacked our politics and artificially divided our country. We are now locked in a cycle of incitement that is crippling our ability to unite and solve problems absent a crisis.
It's a long war, with plenty of battles won and lost but Stewart has been sounding the alarm for a while. In my appearance on "The Daily Show" five years ago, I first heard Stewart offer up the ironic battle cry "take to the streets and yell 'be reasonable!' " Now it's time to put that idea into action.
People are already asking whether Stewart's "Restoring Sanity" rally can outdraw Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" religious revival on the Washington Mall this summer. It's a proxy for the larger question of whether the centrists will ever care as much as the activist extremes.
Others question why we should take this media event seriously in a high-stakes election season. It matters because we're going to need to draw on this spirit no matter what happens on Election Day.
If humor can help rebalance politics by pointing out the absurdities of what currently passes for debate, it is far better than throwing more red meat into the arena. It's even better if the proponent punches both left and right as a matter of principle, as this rally promises to do.
More examples of independence might be what it takes for the news industry to be trusted again as the honest brokers of American politics.
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