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The rally was a combination of what initially were announced as separate events: Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and Colbert's counterpart, the March to Keep Fear Alive. Its stated purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart describes as the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who "control the conversation" of United States politics, the argument being that these extremes demonize each other and engage in counterproductive actions, with a return to sanity intended to promote reasoned discussion. A news report cast the rally as a spoof of Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally and Al Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream rally, while Stewart said it was not.
Origins
Response to Restoring Honor rally
On August 28, 2010, the Fox News Network's Glenn Beck held a "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial. On the same day, Al Sharpton led a countermarch, called Reclaim the Dream, to mark the 47th anniversary of the historic Great March on Washington. According to New York Magazine, discussion for a satirical public event in response took place behind the scenes at Stewart's The Daily Show as early as August 12. Stewart has stated that the rally was never intended to be a means to counter Glenn Beck, but was simply another format for his and Colbert's style of humor, saying "We saw and thought, 'What a beautiful outline. What a beautiful structure to fill with what we want to express in live form, festival form'". Before any public discussion by Stewart, Colbert, or their staffs, Reddit members independently began to discuss the possibility of a Colbert-led rally, often referred to as a "Restoring Truthiness Rally"; after the rallies were announced, some news articles credited Reddit for the idea. The rally was produced by Stewart's Busboy Productions.
Stewart first hinted at the event on September 7, closing that night's Daily Show by announcing that " have an announcement sometime in the near to not so near future". Stewart and Colbert would both reference this upcoming announcement before formally announcing the "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the September 16, 2010 episode of The Daily Show; Colbert followed by announcing the "March to Keep Fear Alive" on the subsequent episode of The Colbert Report. Stewart stated that the rally was for the majority of Americans, "the 70–80 percenters", who don't have extreme political views and lack a voice in the media. To illustrate the point, he unveiled a mock motto for the rally: "Take it down a notch for America", and offered protest signs with messages such as "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler". Colbert stated that now was not the time to be reasonable, "Now is the time for all good men to freak out for freedom!"
On October 14, 2010, Oprah Winfrey appeared on The Daily Show via video and gave the attending audience all free airline tickets to the rally. The tickets were hidden under the audience members' seats in the same fashion as she has given away prizes to her own audience members on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Immediately afterward, Stephen Colbert did the same on his own show, except he gave his audience free Chinatown bus tickets to the rally. It was also announced that the two events had been consolidated into the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear", with a new combined logo.
In the night following the announcement, the pledged number of attendees to the event reached 69,000 on Facebook. Although organizers said in their application for a permit from the National Park Service that they hoped for an attendance at the combined event of about 25,000 people, as of October 13, 2010, the Facebook page for restoring sanity had 203,128 people indicating they planned to attend. According to WashingtonDCHotels.com, the demand for hotels outpaced that of the "Restoring Honor" rally. The planned events spawned several grassroots websites and Facebook groups for organizing and discussion, some with more than 10,000 followers. In addition, there were proposals made for dozens of sister rallies in other major cities, such as Seattle, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles to take place on the same day as the demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Charity drive
Prior to the announcement of the rally, supporters of the movement for a Colbert-led rally began a drive to raise money for educational charities through DonorsChoose.org, a charitable organization of which Colbert is a member of the Board of Directors. In the first 24 hours, supporters raised over $100,000. In the days that followed, that total increased to over $250,000, and by the day of the rally over $500,000 had been contributed. Jon Stewart promoted the Trust for the National Mall, urging his viewers to make donations on behalf of the rally. As of October 31, 2010, over $188,000 had been donated to the Trust.
As the number of expected participants grew, the rally was moved from the grounds of the Washington Monument to the east end of the Mall facing the Capitol. The stage was on the east side of the rally with an open back, allowing the Capitol building to provide the backdrop for the performances. In order to meet the public safety requirements of the National Park Service permit, the Mall between the Capitol and 14th Street was divided into sections, with access aisles lined by portable fences. Speakers and jumbotron television screens were placed along both the north and south edges to encourage the crowd to spread out rather than press against the main stage.
Portable toilets and first aid stations were also provided. Because the rally was held the day before the previously scheduled Marine Corps Marathon, the rally planners originally requested to share the portable toilets planned for the marathon runners. The marathon organizers refused, so a second set of portable toilets was ordered.
Jon Stewart on stage wearing an American flag coat.
Satirical comedy was woven throughout the rally with Colbert expressing, in parody, that fear was superior to Stewart's reasonableness. The theme started with Colbert—costumed like Evel Knievel—emerging from his "fear bunker" in a capsule reminiscent of the 2010 Chilean miners' rescue. Thereafter, Colbert challenged Stewart point by point, usually claiming victory.
One of their battles centered around songs about trains. Stewart started with Yusuf Islam singing "Peace Train", which was interrupted continually by Colbert-backed Ozzy Osbourne singing "Crazy Train". The audience held up peace signs for "Peace Train" and horn signs for "Crazy Train". Finally, Stewart and Colbert compromised singing "Love Train" with The O'Jays.
Later, Stewart and Colbert donned matching American flag coats and sang an original song "The Greatest, Strongest Country in the World" with lyrics that reflected common liberal and conservative stereotypes, such as “I love NASCAR halftime shows with tons of TNT...My hybrid electric scooter does 100 m-p-g. From gay men who like football...To straight men who like Glee...”
In the finale, a giant papier-mâché puppet of Colbert ("Fearzilla") was brought on stage to symbolize his superiority. Peter Pan—played by John Oliver—then appeared and led the crowd in a chant that caused Colbert and his puppet to melt into the stage, thereby handing final victory to Stewart.
Medals
Stewart gave out "Medals of Reasonableness" cast in bronze with an image of an owl and the Latin motto Sit vis nobiscum, liberally translated by Stewart as "May the Force be with you", to:
Colbert awarded "Medals of Fear" cast with an image of a naked man running with scissors and the Latin motto Cave ne cadmium sit, which Colbert translated as "Warning: May contain Cadmium", to:
Several news media outlets, collectively, for barring employees from attending the rally on their own time.
A "tight black t-shirt" that Colbert said belonged to CNN's Anderson Cooper, for always appearing during natural disasters reported on by Cooper.
Zuckerberg's award was presented in absentia. The media outlets' award was accepted on their behalf by "someone with more courage—a seven-year-old girl". Also, videotaped messages were shown of Steven Slater, known from the 2010 JetBlue flight attendant incident, and reality TV star Teresa Giudice, both apologizing for public acts of "unreasonableness".
Closing remarks
Excerpts from Stewart's concluding 12-minute speech follow:
Stewart likened sanity (i.e., "decency") to the habitual courtesies shown when multiple lanes of traffic zipper-merge before traveling through a narrow tunnel. (Shown: The Holland Tunnel, linking Manhattan and New Jersey)
And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity, if that’s OK.
... This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are, and we do.
But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24-hour politico–pundit' perpetual panic "conflictinator" did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the "dangerous, unexpected flaming-ants epidemic!" If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.
There are terrorists, and racists, and Stalinists, and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned! You must have the résumé! Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult–not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more.
We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is—on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. But the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done—not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do. But they do it. Impossible things, every day, that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make.
We know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the Promised Land. Sometimes, it’s just New Jersey.
— Jon Stewart
Crowd size
An aerial photography analysis commissioned by CBS News and carried out by AirPhotosLive.com estimated the crowd at 215,000 people, plus or minus 10%. In comparison, their estimate for the Restoring Honor rally made using the same methods was 87,000 people, plus or minus 9,000. USA Today, Voice of America and ABC News all referred to the crowd as tens of thousands of people, with Voice of America noting, "the crowd filled the Mall, from almost in front of the Capitol to the Washington Monument".
According to local news outlet TBD TV, "Massive turnout for Saturday's rally quickly overwhelmed the Mall, forcing thousands of people into nearby streets and eventually, just giving up and leaving". Jon Stewart, speaking from the stage, jokingly said there were over 10 million people there.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which maintained its normal Saturday service schedule, announced that Metrorail ridership set a Saturday record of 825,437 trips, as compared to about 350,000 on a normal Saturday, equivalent to an extra 237,718 round-trips for the day.
Broadcast
The rally was broadcast live on Comedy Central and C-SPAN. The Comedy Central live broadcast reportedly drew 2,000,000 total viewers, with an additional 570,000 live video streams on the Internet.
Response
Pre-rally
The Wall Street Journal characterized the Rally as a "send-up" of the recent Washington Restoring Honor rally led by Glenn Beck and the "Reclaim the Dream" commemorative march led by Al Sharpton on August 28, 2010. The Canadian Press called the Stewart/Colbert rallies a "not-so-gentle" swipe at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. On September 28, Arianna Huffington announced on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that The Huffington Post would provide "as many buses as people to fill them" at a specified meeting place in Manhattan, although her plans were later trimmed down and required preregistration. In a town hall event on September 29, President Obama mentioned the rally.
Many news organizations sought media credentials to cover the rally. Meanwhile, NPR issued an internal memo barring staffers from attending the rally, stating that: "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers, nor should they sign petitions or otherwise lend their name to such causes, or contribute money to them. This restriction applies to the upcoming Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies." NBC and several other media outlets followed suit, some barring employees from attending the rally outright, while others such as The Washington Post offered more latitude, telling newsroom managers to differentiate between "participating" and "observing".
Post-rally
Keith Olbermann was prominently featured in a video montage shown at the rally that focused on the anger present in cable news. Two days after the rally, he decided to suspend his "Worst Person in the World" segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann in the interest of turning down the volume and anger. However, he defended the content of his show by claiming that MSNBC (the network that hosts Countdown) differs from Fox News in that "sticking up for the powerless is not the moral equivalent of sticking up for the powerful". After tallying an online vote among his viewers, Olbermann announced that the segment would return on the November 17 broadcast as the "Not Really Worst Persons in the World."
Bill Maher criticized the rally, saying that while Stewart and Colbert meant well, he believed the message of the rally promoted a false equivalency between the the left and the right, noting, "the big mistake of modern media has been this notion of balance for balance's sake. That the Left is just as violent and cruel as the Right...there's a difference between a mad man and a madman".
Several web sites, including The Huffington Post, have dedicated a page to collecting "the funniest signs from the rally".
On November 11, Stewart appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and clarified the message he intended to convey at the rally: that too many have "bought into the idea that the conflict is left versus right" when the conflict is actually "corruption versus not-corruption" and that "both sides have their ways of shutting down debate."
Executive Producers: Rory Albanese, Josh Lieb, Jon Stewart (August 12, 2010). ""August 12, 2010"". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |began=, |city=, |serieslink=, |ended=, |transcripturl=, and |seriesno= (help)
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Poster for the rally
A section of the crowd on the National Mall between the National Gallery of Art on the left, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum on the right. Jon Stewart satirically estimated the crowd size at 10 million people during the event. Colbert later tweeted that it had been 6 billion.
Jon Stewart on stage wearing an American flag coat.
