Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert Kick Off 'Rally to Restore Sanity' in D.C.

By Christine Fenno Posted Oct 30th 2010 02:32PM

'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart was joined by Stephen Colbert in welcoming thousands to the National Mall for today's highly anticipated 'Rally to Restore Sanity.'

The event, also billed as the 'Million Moderate March' and the 'Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,' after Colbert chose to combine his 'March to Keep Fear Alive' with Stewart's 'Sanity' event (a logical, rational decision that was likely intended all along), is widely seen as a political statement for overwhelmed voters heading to the polls on Tuesday.

The Comedy Central stars have stoked the flames of "reasonableness" in a clear response to Fox pundit Glenn Beck's recent 'Restoring Honor' Rally.

In his opening statements, according to ABC News, Stewart called the crowd "the perfect demographic sampling of the American people," joking, "If you have too many white people at a rally, your cause is racist. If you have too many colored people at a rally, then you must be asking for something...something we as a society are not ready to give."

The day's entertainment included a 'Peace Train/Crazy Train' duet between Yusuf Islam (the folk singer who changed his name from Cat Stevens after he converted to Islam) and rocker Ozzy Osbourne.

Other musical acts reportedly on the roster: Sheryl Crow, The Roots, Mavis Staples, John Legend and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello), 'MythBusters' star Adam Savage and actor Sam Waterston are also scheduled to appear. Colbert initially stormed the stage as his 'Colbert Report' character, dressed in Evel Knievel attire, firing up fans and drawing laughs.

Attendance has not been officially counted yet. Many in the crowd carried irreverant signs with messages like "Support the Right to Arm Bears" and "Decaf Party."

On CNN this week, Jon Stewart insisted in an interview with Larry King that the event was more satirical than political. He explained, "This is for the people that are too busy, that have jobs and lives, and are tired of their reflection in the media as being a divided country and a country that's ideological and conflicted and fighting. This is for those people."

Tags: daily show, jon stewart, stephen colbert

Comments

(50)

Saturday 30 October

By vckvnn

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Attendance has not been officially counted yet. Many in the crowd carried irreverant signs with messages like "Support the Right to Arm Bears" and "Decaf Party.".I love this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via age'gapsingles.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends..

By jlyn

I know most of my peers love these guys...but they are a joke.
Take cues from them and my generation is full of hipster, yippie, tools...way too many people think they are entitled to privilages...womp womp.

By SALLIE

The far left are evil.

By Just Sayin'

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You are entitled to your opinion, of course. But that's all it is - your opinion.

By JUG

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YOU AND YOUR KIND AND THERE ARE MANY ARE JUST CRAZY ENOUGH
TO VOTE FOR GLEN BECK FOR PRESIDENT HOW SAD YOU PEOPLE AND
HATE HAS GOTTEN

Sunday 31 October

By Fran

Evil -like when they tortured prisoners or sent people to foreign countries when you need really enhanced methods. Oh wait, that was your guys, I guess they were doing the Lord's work.

By slliv8

silly little things....

By sammy

I think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are naive about the dangers of the far-left in our government.

By gregory

Two Mutants running the show! Is Colbert related to Olbermann? These two seem if as there ready to loose it! Not funny at all. Bring Back Beck! Now thats a RALLY!

By ttrexxx

twice as many as beck had

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Beck is tarded everyone knows this

By A proud American

You will not be seeing any shots from high above since the true count would be maybe 80,000 or so. It was rather tiny next to the 1/2 million that was at the Restore Honor gathering. And the Honor folks left the place cleaner than when they got there. You can bet the clown show will be filthy when they leave.

By spikednc

Hey proud american,

I saw an overhead shot on the local news tonight in NYC and the crowds went back and back and back in an endless sea. Your theory is wrong.

By rmrmsix

This what you get when you inbred liberals.

By stphnchrn

Maybe more people would take you seriously if you learned how to spell.

By OceanG

INTERESTING that the state-run media won't put out how big the crowd was, but they derided the proven stats of half a million at Beck's rally.
Kind of sums up which way this country is headed after the elections.
And it's about time !

By Mireya

Well, it's only been a few hours since the rally ended. I'm sure they will have some numbers soon.

Monday 01 November

By Chris

Before today the attendance to Beck's rally was estimated at 60,000. Now suddenly is 250,000. We can research the article from a few months ago. Do you think we cannot remember. Danger from, the far left? Who got us into this mess?

The state-run media crowed the whole day of Beck's rally that there were only a "couple thousand".
When the official stats and photos came out of the HALF-million that were there-[and unlike Sharpton's rally and today's- NO litter was found], you could hear crickets.
It's the double standard of the media and the rest of the Left that have this country FINALLY headed in the RIGHT direction.
No insults to Stewart and Colbert- they are what they are.

By Grrr

I don't understand why some conservatives are so mad about this, they actually defended Tea Partiers on this thing and said that it's great that everyone has different opinions.

They're big message was merely: let's not go crazy stomping each someone's head because we don't agree with them politically.

That seems like a good message to me.

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