–bumped, updated version cross-posted at Huffington Post–
“If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” – Jon Stewart
Can a sanity rally inspire people to get out against the Sharron Angles of 2010? We’ll soon find out. Let’s just hope all this energy might dampen the right-wing and make extremists stand out. It’s not over until it’s over.
One of the best moments of the day was listening to Tony Bennett sing “America the Beautiful.” Maybe because I was at home sipping a cold beer by then.
“Don’t tread on my head,” said one sign.
“Facts are cool. Reality is for adults.”
“Sanity is sexy,” said another.
“Drinking Age is Too Damn High!”
Everyone is now playing the counting game, which was predictable, as Jon Stewart mentioned himself. The turnout was massive, no matter how you count it, some saying 250,000, which I wouldn’t doubt, because there were people everywhere.
Not surprisingly, there were a lot of mid-age hipsters.
…and oh, that smell on the mall…
Kid Rock and Cheryl Crow sang lyrics, “Screaming on the left, Yelling on the Right, while I sit in the middle trying to live my life.” If anything summed up the Stewart-Colbert message this was it. A take off on Bill Clinton’s “third way,” with a 2010 twist, because it was delivered by a mid-age hipster just under 50, just like Bill when he designed his answer, which progressives hate today, just as Tea Party activists hate the middle of the roader Republicans.
It’s the one missing element in Jon Stewart’s outreach, because what he’s suggesting simply isn’t where the political activists today live and breathe, which includes those who hate both big two parties.
Somewhere in between is the revolution Stewart represented yesterday. The rally more of an ode to Independents; the people with no ideology who sit in the middle and wait for inspiration from one side or the lack thereof from the other.
Politics is about differences, usually stark if the philosophies are worth anything.
That’s why Sarah Palin is robocalling against Joe Sestak.
One thing Stewart and Colbert forgot is that modern hate speech began in earnest when Ronald Reagan deregulated the airwaves letting Rush Limbaugh and right-wing radio rise unchallenged, which today has led to a monopoly, but also people like Glenn Beck on Fox News, who have amplified the anger by ten. These early hate hucksters and their offspring led to the hunting of Pres. Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton in the ’90s, which ended up in an impeachment drive that the American people did not support. This was the launch to where we are today, with the rise of Fox News and the Roger Ailes candidate stream. It has brought MSNBC to the front with several hosts from the left, because Fox isn’t going to tell the truth about the assault of a woman, or do documentaries on abortion doctors being murdered, rant about the union working man’s plight, or even give hard interviews to Rand Paul, let alone call out Lou Dobbs, or offer special comments that channel how voters on the left are feeling like Glenn Beck does on the right. As Stewart showed, no doubt Keith Olbermann, as well as Ed Schultz, go way over the top sometimes, they both did on Hillary, but nothing compares to what happens on opinion Fox.
Even Stewart wondered aloud what his Rally to Restore Sanity was all about. In a nutshell, he represents the frustration people feel with all media that goes for ratings and rants over perspective, truth and objectivity. Partisanship and lack of transparency, lack of trust and skepticism rules today, with Stewart and Colbert getting laughs out of the circus.
Truth isn’t subjective, however, which I’m reminded of every day. Sometimes one side is absolutely wrong, like when Sarah Palin talked about “death panels,” or when Rand Paul talked about private business owners being exempt from the Civil Rights Act. That would have been worth Stewart or Colbert pointing out. Pres. Obama and the Democrats were wrong not to fight for the public option, but also a stronger finreg bill, should have stood strong for women instead of selling us out. But that’s a hell of a lot different than Sharron Angle’s charge that Second Amendment remedies should be used, which is not a way to solve differences. There is no one on the left suggesting such dangerous notions, which should have been said. No one on the left had a reporter handcuffed, like Joe Miller did in Alaska, or threatened to take a reporter out as Carl Paladino did in New York. These things matter, all of which Stewart and Colbert ignored for drawing false equivalents to the right and left.
Partisanship comes with philosophical ego, but it doesn’t make you right or your point equal. It’s a challenge to decipher one from the other amidst the noise.
“If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” – Jon Stewart
Stewart got that part right. Unfortunately, by amplifying left and right equally Stewart and Colbert did a disservice to the truth, which is not subjective.
If Jon Stewart truly believes that the left talking softly while the right wields a big rhetorical stick can get the job done he’s not been paying attention to his own show this year and should review the tapes, starting with the ones featuring Fox.
It’s why being clear of where you’re leading is so critical, but more importantly, making sure the people you’re asking to follow you know where you’re going. It’s also why Pres. Obama and the Democrats have gotten in so much trouble and why next Tuesday is going to be grim.
This post has been updated.
I think this year Republicans are going to win big. There has been large early voter turn outs in states. I think the rally was mostly about how both parties are out of sink with the country and Stewart and Colbert was putting fun in not much of a fun year. The democrats have there own selves to blame. The message is what the dems lost on big time and they needed more than ever.
Speaking of Sarah Palin, she was in my state of West Virginia and I went to see what was going on and I couldn’t believe the large size of the crowd that was there and how energized they were.
fair, what was your personal impression of mrs. palin having seen her in person. thks.
Thanks for asking thoreau, It was different, I didn’t agree with everything the crowd agreed on, but Sarah Palin really seemed to get the crowd going. I was expecting men mostly in suits to be there !! LOL !! But instead I saw many working-class people worried about jobs and other things. It seemed Sarah Palin touched the emotional side of peoples passion. I don’t agree with her on social issues, but even I had to admit she knows how to rally a crowd.
So could Hitler and Mussolini so that doesn’t mean very much.
False equivalency between the criticism of the left and right.
The right doesn’t give a crap about the poor.
The right doesn’t mind the exploitation of people by corporations.
The right wants to stick their noses in women’s panties and men’s jockstraps.
The right waves the flag but doesn’t want to do much about helping the entire people of this country which this flag represents.
Most of these idiots live in the South. Let them secede.
http://www.democratz.org says:
30 October 2010 at 10:31 pm
False equivalency between the criticism of the left and right.
I agree with you. To me the left sticks up for the rights of working class people and the poor and the right doesn’t.
Arg, why did I look at this site.
It’s the left that doesn’t care about the poor. Heck, lets look at the effects of where liberals have had the most control for the longest: the inner cities.
For 50 frackin years, the left has utterly controlled these places. About all we can say is there is a lot of hopelessness, despair and death.
You would have thought the liberals would have adapted by now, but it’s clear that the hopelessness, despair and death is an ACCEPTABLE side effect to them. Remember, we’re talking 50 years. You can’t blame Bush or the “last 8 years”.
Either you blame the people (not me) or the people in control. The liberals have done the same things to the Indians too.
I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and it hasn’t changed much.
Obama was doing his organizing, but it turns out that organizing doesn’t help people. Community Organizing is a system that brings out the anger and resentments in people and amplifies them. It’s a continuous process and when someone tries to succeed or get out, the liberals come down hard on them. The anger is built up and the people keep voting for the liberals – year after year after year.
As for the Right, read up on the history of the country, it is Conservative and Conservatism brings about the most benefits ofr the most people over time. The Republicans haven’t been Conservative, but the Tea Party people will keep the Republicans on their toes.
Conservatives are against all unions, the biggest middle class building engine in history.
Conservatives are against protecting Social Security, the biggest engine that kept elderly out of poverty & homelessness.
Under Bill Clinton African Americans had more advances than in 12 years of Reaganism, including home building.
The Tea Party will be absorbed by the GOP, which has already begun.
Since Obama came into office movement progressives have fought for a public option, which helps the middle class. They’ve fought for a tougher finreg bill, they’ve fought to get out of Afghanistan (I’ve dissented here, and am not a movement progressive, so deserve no credit on this one), with the list on and on.
You’ve learned Rush’s talking points, but the truth lies beyond. Voting against your own interests is something he counts on and is going to happen in droves this year because Dems never made the economic case.
The left also wants everyone to have decent, affordable health care. The right doesn’t care about that. The left cares about equality – the Voting and Civil Rights Acts came from the left, not the right. The poverty in inner cities is something that requires federal, state, as well as local solutions. Until the country is serious about solving the problem, not much will change. And it depends on how you define conservatism – it seems to me some of our conservative administrations have given us the largest deficits.
Secede HELL, send the Federal troops back in and reoccupy it. Then, after stripping the right to vote inperpituity from all white males born below the mason dixon line….there by effectively eliminating the repugnantklan party as a political force for evil in society
They are proud of a TREASONUS past.
They spew TREASONUS rantings.
They HATE America and our Constitution and our form of Government.
They advocate violence to achieve political dominance…RULE!
They want to RULE not govern with the consent of the governed according to the limits and restrictions placed on them by the Constitution.
j stewart employs comedy to critic the media. i think publicly he (somewhat) shields his politics so as not to be dismissed.
media is big business. the deregulation you mentioned expanded under bush. his fcc chairman Kevin Martin changed the rules to allow media consolidation. the right plays to win. to win they need a misinformed if not ignorant public.
I enjoyed his speech alot. Stewart touched on the core issue, in my mind. Not all teapartiers are racists, and it’s an insult to racists who have to work hard at that. *haha
It was funny to see the sign, though, “Teapartiers Scare Me.” Guess that one participant, anyway, didn’t like his message.
I agree with Stewart profoundly that in real life, we all really do get along, and I’m tired of media pundits and politicians who suggest otherwise. I’m tired of the media beating up Fox while Olbermann does exactly the same crud on MSN, just with a different target.
I’m tired of stories like the one today, where a CBS reporter was caught on a voice mail trying to find a sex offender on Miller’s staff. This type of journlism is the problem, and it’s appalling and should be called out by all sides, not just Miller’s campaign people.
Anyway, it was a great turnout, good speech by Stewart; and maybe it will do a little bit to dial back all the accusatory remarks. I know I was so appalled by regular people who were being branded as dumb and racist that I stopped wanting to be affiliated in the least with the Democrats. I personally find that offensive and beyond the pale. I can’t see any reason for smug attitudes on the Left if the reality is that they stereotype as bad or worse than far Right types who label everyone liberal a communist. There’s no difference in ignorance, to my mind. Both are simply lazy ways of thinking.
I loved his metaphor of the car in the tunnel, too. Much better than the car in the ditch metaphor and a play on that one.
touche!
“Not all teapartiers are racists, and it’s an insult to racists who have to work hard at that.”
They are EITHER racist or too fu*king stupid to walk and chew gum at the same time…and probably racist to boot AS WELL as stupid.
Let me try again.
My last post was lost.
I think that progressives have a lot to think about. That’s all.
Greece, France…..and I really do think that they thought a European healthcare system was terrific.
What I don’t get? What are these people really contributing to society?
Obama didn’t try for a European style healthcare. Your post is silly. What he did instate is Bob Dole’s 1996 healthcare reform and a conservative version of Romneycare. Conservatives are the most gullible people on this earth apparently.
The below if from a NYTimes piece today. I’m curious how well it fits the perceptions of people who were there.
“But beyond the goofiness, the rally seemed to be channeling something deep — a craving to be heard and a frustration with the lack of leadership, less by President Obama than by a Democratic Party that many participants described as timid, fearful, and failing to stand up for what they see as the president’s accomplishments.” http://tinyurl.com/248ra6c
Obama was doing his organizing, but it turns out that organizing doesn’t help people. Community Organizing is a system that brings out the anger and resentments in people and amplifies them. It’s a continuous process and when someone tries to succeed or get out, the liberals come down hard on them. The anger is built up and the people keep voting for the liberals – year after year after year.
I was the most annoyed by the cover-up on this junk. Nevermind Palin’s deal over Wright and Ayers.
But this was pivotal.