US comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert held their “Rally for Sanity and/or Fear” in Washington DC on October 30, which drew about 200,000 to 300,000 people.
Stewart, host of Comedy Central satirical news show The Daily Show, called a “Rally to Restore Sanity” on air.
Colbert, former Daily Show member and now the “right-wing” host of Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, responded on his show, screened straight after Stewart’s, by calling for a “March to Keep Fear Alive”.
The rally came after a right-wing march in Washington in August. Glenn Beck, a conservative whacko who got a job at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News called organised a “Rally to Restore Honour” at the Lincoln Memorial.
Beck’s rally, which sought to mobilise the right-wing populist sentiments behind the Tea Party movement, drew about 90,000 people, according to an expert in aerial photography hired by CBS News. (Beck claims he drew about half a million).
In the lead up to the announcement of the originally separate rallies, Stewart and Colbert spent a couple of weeks announcing that they were going to make a big announcement and making counter-announcements to each other’s announcements.
Eventually, Stewart announced his rally, followed by Colbert, who announced his as a direct response.
After the rallies were announced, lame-stream news anchors spent a lot of time talking about what might happen and how many people would go.
When Stewart and Colbert failed to get two separate (but close) venues, they decided to hold their rallies at the same venue, the Washington Mall. The two’s public personas are archenemies, with Colbert’s character a send-up of the hysterical right-wing commentators promoted by Fox. But in reality they are very good friends.
The rally was held to give a voice for most US people, who are not right-wing extremist Tea Party supporters. It was held for those who are sick and tired of all the god damn shit. And the numbers that turned out dwarfed Beck’s right-wing march.