150,000 Turn Out for Rally to Lame Restore Sanity & Socialism Protest (Crowd Shots) …Update: HuffPo Buses Stuck in Traffic
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 30, 2010, 10:09 AM
With record unemployment, historic deficits and punishing government regulations the left kicked off their “Restoring Sanity” rally today in Washington DC.
When you can’t run on your disastrous record what else are you going to do?
“Send in the Clowns” – How appropriate.
The performers just announced that 150,000 were in attendance.
It looks like they have a nice crowd for their concert.
Kristinn posted the schedule for today’s rally to restore Socialism in Washington DC.
This rally for rich white kids is playing on CSPAN and Comedy Central. John Legend and socialist green queen Cheryl Crow will perform for the kids. They’re expecting a good turnout since none of the kids have jobs.
Pre Show – 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
12:00-12:40 – The Roots will play for the crowd
12:40-12:57 – A comedian (TBA) will warm up the crowd
12:57-1:00 – Video countdown and intros
Main Show 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
1:00-1:05 – Singing of the National Anthem by special musical guest (TBA)
1:05-1:20 – Jon Stewart welcomes the crowd
1:20-1:30 – Stephen Colbert enters
1:30-1:35 – Benediction by actor Don Novello (”Father Guido Sarducci”)
1:35-1:40 – Poem reading by actor Sam Waterston (”Law and Order”)
1:40-1:50 – Performance by Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and Mavis Staples
1:50-2:15 – Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert perform together
2:15-2:20 – Performance by Sheryl Crow
2:20-2:30 – Brief statements from special guests (TBA), both live and taped
2:30-2:40 – Performance by special musical guest (TBA)
2:40-2:50 – Sanity and Fear Awards
2:50-3:00 – Final statements by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
Here’s another shot of the concert.
Comedy Central is going to “strictly prohibit filming” of the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive.
UPDATE: Bummer. The HuffPo buses are stuck in traffic.
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Featured Story:
Busted!… Obama Headlined a DEMOCRAT SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA Event in 1996 **FLIER**
Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 91 Comments
Joe College commented:
First of all, it’s not ‘Jon Stewart’s rally’. He and Colbert are just showing up. It was all arranged for him by powers that be. Of course, we are not to know who they are.
Secondly, it is no coincidence they chose the title Restore Sanity. That plays directly into the meme that conservatives are insane wingnuts.
Hotspur commented:
3:00-midnight: Mall cleanup
reliapundit commented:
the leftist elites who feel cynicism and sarcasm trump good ol’ american values can never restore anything; they can only tear down.
Mark Adams commented:
They call what’s happening in Washington, Sanity? What a joke, of course look who’s hosting it. Bunch of clowns.
Ed commented:
I guess they don’t want to take any aerial shots this time right?
It doesn’t matter, there aren’t enough socialist to turn the fast approaching conservative teanami!
Joe College commented:
We need to repeal the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution:
“The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”
That will restore the Founders’ vision of an adult electorate. I’m tired of being ruled by children who have zero historical perspective, don’t know sh*t about sh*t, and may have been seventeen during the campaign season.
daryl commented:
Live Entertainment now playing by the Jane Goodall Finishing School class of ’64.
Live Video Stream | Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
http://www.comedycentral.com/dcrallylive/
Valerie commented:
Should be very entertaining. I wonder if the point of this exercise will be “A pox on both of your houses.” I also wonder just how close they will come to the Tea Parties positions (not, of course, what they claim the the Tea Parties stand for).
Yesterday I heard Tom Hayden on NPR, and they were quoting “George Bush” as portrayed by Oliver Stone as if it were a factual quote.
Landru commented:
Watching a bit on C-Span before heading out to enjoy the sunny day. They are indeed all white kids! Daddy’s little silver spoon-fed rich kids. All of ‘em. Where’s the diversity, progresso soup fer brains? Oh, and this band The Roots is awful. What a sorry bunch of losers…
Redwine commented:
No American flags in plain sight.
Valerie commented:
It’s 12:50 in DC right now, and the news reports are already on file.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101030/ap_on_en_tv/us_stewart_colbert_rally
Redwine commented:
Another clown (Don Novello) makes a mockery of a “benediction” as “Father” Guido Sarducci.
Frickin’ pathetic.
Elmo commented:
Breaks my heart I won’t be there (sniff) … for all (like moi) who cain’t make it. Here’s the condensed version:
(2:02)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kCAFkfFLQQ
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Redwine
October 30th, 2010 | 10:46 am | #10
Shirley … you jest? I doubt you could pay ‘em … to fly the Stars an Stripes!
Fuzzy commented:
They do have a nice crowd, and what do you mean they don’t have jobs? I bet at least half of them (to be generous) are being paid to be there. *Shrug* I just thank my lucky stars that I don’t have to clean up after them. The mall will look like a tornado went through it.
Redwine commented:
This rally is bought and paid for by Soros and his satraps – the unions, Puff Ho, the leftist media.
Notice how quickly the media files its reports. They’ll probably puff up the numbers too.
Redwine commented:
Jim – Why are you putting the media reported numbers in the headline? We have some honest head-counters to figure it out.
Kaitian commented:
So 150,000 people according to the people hosting the event. Plus there’s alot of rude people there just flipping the camera off whenever the camera pans on the audience. One of them has a sign that says “FCK H8″.
AzSlapshot commented:
Music and comedy, it’s like SNL on the mall.
PhilipJames commented:
I sure hope Cheryl Crow is standing by the porta potties to make sure that all the people using them are only using one square… and not sparing another square… when they whip their butts. She could probably do it for them to make sure they don’t sneak a spare square (or even worse, smuggle in spare squares)
Kenny Solomon commented:
Somebody please do a survey of the crowd to find out how many of ‘em showed up just to hear Cheryl Crow perform all the music she stole from the late Kevin Gilbert.
Other than that, this entire rally only serves to amend the list of tar……… Oops….. Never mind.
ebayer commented:
Why is it I only see angry white people in the crowd?
Is this a rally only for angry white liberals?
I thought our country had moved away from this type of bigotry,but the event organizers did have their token black entertainers in order to show that “Hey,we’re a diverse group”.
yarrrr commented:
Nikki Haley tweeted ‘death threat’ by liberal on ‘Rally For Sanity’ day
http://hugh4life.tumblr.com/post/1439746844/nikki-haley-tweeted-death-threat-by-liberal-on-rally
pm commented:
Thnx for the link, daryl, #7.
Crowd size is better than I expected. Stewart and Colbert are lamer than expected.
Forced laughter, if any – painful to watch. Had to turn it off.
newton commented:
Oh, goody!
Best part about this rally: all of five people missed work today!
Reno_Dave commented:
Impressive crowd size. Based on the area covered today to the area covered during Restoring Honor, I estimate that the crowd is 20%- 30% larger than Beck’s rally, though IMO, Beck gets more “props” because his rally was far more grass roots.
The crowd is probably less racially diverse than any TEA Party rally I’ve ever seen, so these folks must be racist.
Reno_Dave commented:
Forgot to mention I used the aerial shots of the mall from google maps to calculate the relative areas covered by the two rallies.
This one goes from third to 15th streets, with some spillover onto the area around the Washington Monument, an area of about 4000 by 200-250 ft
Beck’s ran from in front of the Lincoln Memorial to the WW II memorial, with some around the WM. That’s about 2000 ft by 300 – 400 ft, once you exclude the reflecting pool.
Lee commented:
Earlier this week, Rush said he hoped thousands of libs would show up at this thing. A terrific event to be put on the weekend before election day when they could better be out campaigning, drumming up votes, etc. The more, the better.
Valerie commented:
Gee, Reno Dave, I wonder where you get your image of the area covered. Could you please link the images you reference in your comment at #26 above, comparable to those of the Beck rally? I’d really like to see them. All I’ve seen so far are low-angle views of the people very close to the stage. None of them can be extrapolated to anything remotely the size of the Beck rally.
Reno_Dave commented:
Valerie,
I followed up with a second post indicating that I calculated the area covered based on google maps’ satellite images of the area of the mall and the scale of the maps.
I determined the “length” of the crowd when the “Mythbusters” guys were doing their “waves”, and saw that the crowd runs for the twelve blocks between 3rd st and 15th streets. And the crowd seems to cover from tree line to tree line on either side of the Mall.
Look, I’m not happy to write this, and if someone wants to challenge my calculations of area covered, they’re certainly welcome to.
But the difference between this event and Beck’s Rally is that this is a Comedy Central-produced entertainment show, and in a way, it is as much an “astro turf” event as that rally of socialists, union members and commies a few weeks ago.
Beck’s Rally was far more grass roots, with attendees composed of families and people with lives. This crowd is, for lack of a better term, “stoned slackers”, who have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning.
Betsy Ross commented:
“strictly prohibit filiming”….the truth is too ugly… they will need to revise and re-edit so the insanity is brushed over to look sane…
Reno_Dave commented:
Revising my estimate for area covered.
It’s much lower than my first guess of length of the crowd based on the “Mythbusters” wave. The long telephoto lens used to track it compressed the distance, making it look like the crowd was solid all the way to the Washington Monument.
Here’s a photo shot from the Washington Monument that was posted to Yahoo at 2:25:
http://tinyurl.com/26mevrv
It shows empty sections of grass with people standing on the paths surrounding them. People aren’t on the grass because that area of the Mall was not reserved for the event, which was only permitted between 3rd and 7th streets.
The telephoto shots from the stage made the people on the paths look like a solid crowd, which caused my mistake.
Accounting for the area on the side-paths and the paths between the grassy areas, I would add another block to the three between 3rd and 7th, for a total of four.
The actual area covered by the people is very similar to, and possibly smaller than the actual area covered at the Beck rally, therefore, whatever the crowd size is in numbers, the Restoring Honor rally was its equal, if not its better.
And that makes the Restoring Honor rally that much more impressive, since it wasn’t astroturf like this one.
Chippy commented:
The average demographic for the Daily Show viewer is 43yrs old. I think many in the media think it is much younger. To say Obama appeared on Srewart’s show too get the younger vote is BS.
In five years the demo for the show will be 50 and older. When this happens, advertisers will leave the show and look elsewhere for young viewers. This will be the Daily Show’s undoing . I think this whole event was staged to get younger as well as more newer viewers. That’s it!
Ginger commented:
One thing is very clear…. We sure do have a lot of Dumb, Dumb, and Dumber people!
Demo- rat, Socialist, and Marxist!
Oh, and pot heads!
chas commented:
it really doesnt matter who’s rally has more people. the only “rally” that matters will be held on tuesday. so lets see who has more at that “rally”. the only that counts.
Fearist commented:
Sounds like most of you should have attended the “March to Keep Fear Alive” Rally. We definitely needed some extra firepower today against the socialist gatherings of Stewart.
AuntieMadder commented:
Comedy Central organized and advertised the hell out of a comedy and music concert. To use the taxpayer funded space, the event organizers simply had to include the name “America” in the name of the concert. Admission to the concert was free of charge because there is no rental charge for the taxpayer funded venue, as opposed to concerts held in football stadiums and sports arenas, etc., and the event’s minor celebrity and/or has-been entertainers were more than willing to work for little or nothing more than the free and much-wanted publicity.
Instead of comparing this comedy concert to Beck’s political and/or American patriotism rally, let’s compare apples to apples. Let’s put this into perspective by comparing this live entertainment concert to other live concerts/shows.
From Guiness Book World Records:
“Largest Free Rock Concert Attendance
Rod Stewart’s free concert at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on New Year’s Eve, 1994, reportedly attracted an audience of 3.5 million.”
Paul McCartney as solo performer with largest paid attendance (21 Apr 1990, Rio de Janerio at about 185,000).
From Noise Addicts:
Rod Stewart at Copacabana Beach (1994) 3.5 million people
New York Philharmonic in Central Park (1986) 800,000 people
Garth Brooks in Central Park (1997) 750,000 people
Steve Wozniak’s 1983 US Festival (1983) 670,000 people
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen (1973) over 600,000 people
Simon & Garfunkel in Central Park (1981) 500,000 people
Woodstock 1969 (1969) 400,000 people
Notable Concerts:
(1997) 385,000 people at Blockbuster RockFest featuring Paula Cole, Bush, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Collective Soul, Jewel, Matchbox 20, The Wallflowers
(1983) 375,000 people at Heavy Metal Day in San Bernadino California
(1988) 180,000 people at Tina Turner concert in Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(1990) 180,000+ people at Paul McCartney concert in Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(1998) 100,000 people at Widespread Panic concert in Athens, Georgia
Comparing comedy shows to comedy shows:
In December 2004, George Lopez set an attendance record at Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles with 7 consecutive sold-out performances. The amphitheater has a seating capacity of 6,189.
Now, tell me why we’re supposed to be impressed that this well advertised, admission-free and, for many attendants, free transportation included, comedy concert drew a crowd of 150,000.
AuntieMadder commented:
That Comedy Central strictly prohibited filming at the event only further confirms that this was a comedy concert held at a taxpayer-funded venue and not a political rally. The – ahem – entertainment at today’s comedy concert is the property of Comedy Central, hence Comedy Central’s right to prohibit filming. Comedy Central owns the distribution rights to any and all portions of today’s comedy concert. Filming and distribution of recordings of the speeches given and songs sung at political rallies are not prohibited; they are not the property of any entity(s).
steph commented:
I am concerned by the lack of logic in most of your arguments. Most of the comments that are being made sound like those of an angry and scared populous of individuals. What are you defending? The right to call people names and be angry and hateful? Saying that it was a Socialist rally is a flat out lie. The purpose of this rally was to bring to the forefront the fact that the fringe groups don’t represent the popular opinion of the people. Your comments and this article show a lack of logic and sanity. Beck is a media figure and actor. He is NOT a grassroots activist. His arguments don’t even make logical sense most of the time. I know that you are all smart people, and I hope that empathetic and caring can be added to the list.
steph commented:
Oh and Obama isn’t perfect by any means, but he is cleaning up a mess left by 8 years of Republican rule and has helped us stave off another Great Depression. The Recession started before him, not because of him.
Best,
s
AuntieMadder commented:
steph #45 – The event today was entertainment. It was no more a political rally than the Ringling Bros Circus is and made no more a political statement than do the circus clowns.
#46 – Comedy Central should have headlined you at their comedy concert today.
Fran commented:
The HuffPp buses got stuck in traffic! Ha! It’s sad they couldn’t send in ALL the clowns.
Chisum commented:
Wait a minute! Didn’t that hairbag Arianna pay $250,000 for the buses to make the trip?
And they got stuck in traffic?
I smell a metaphor.
Hahahahahahahaha!
steph commented:
@AuntieMadder
If it was not a political rally why is it spurring this political discussion and what were all those political signs about ? Hmmm…. curious.
AuntieMadder commented:
steph #51 – What a circular argument you make. That you and others are comparing Comedy Central’s free, outdoor comedy and musical show as if it had been a political rally doesn’t make it one. Nor do the political signs and banners (some nuts have been known to brandish them at ball games, which didn’t make those events political rallies, either) make Comedy Central’s show a political rally.
No one there, not the performers nor Stewart’s and Colbert’s adoring fans and others in the audience, rallied for or against any policies or politicians. Instead, they were there to tell jokes and yuck-yuck it up at the expense of Glenn Beck fans, American patriots, TEA Partiers, Republicans and conservatives.
It was basically Stewart’s and Colbert’s comedy shticks taken outside for the audiences combined, with other minor celebrities and B, C or even D list entertainers filling out the day’s program.
steph commented:
@ Auntie
The comedy of BOTH is always political comedy. That is the entire point of their shows. Politics can be funny, you know. It’s not always and angry thing.
If you researched the rally and looked at more pictures you would see that many participants held up political signs supporting or denouncing policies. In fact, even the signs that seemed ridiculous to you were political because they were making statements about the current political climate and their dissatisfaction with it, telling people/politicians not to be so angry and to create a real democracy where conversations can happen and people can have civil discourse and disagree without resorting to insults, and attacks. We have to work together to make this a better place for everyone.
On another note, many of the people interviewed stated that they wanted politicians to know that they vote too.
Oh, and just because you don’t know or enjoy the entertainers doesn’t make the B, C or D. Many of them are actually quite well known and respected in the musical community, particularly The Roots and John Legend. Just goes to show how diverse and beautiful the United States is.
Best,
Steph
otis commented:
Registered Republican here but I’m a moderate and all of the ridiculous vitriol is what drives me away from the party and the candidates. Focus on the issues. Lighten up. I went to the rally today and it was hilarious.u I think anyone bemoaning the event doesn’t quite get that the majority of america is sick and damn tired of all the negativity, muckraking, smearing ect. We’re sick of gilded politicians and media whores. We want representatives that actually see the facts past the spin. So lighten up. I’m tired of feeling alienated by the party that best represents a number of my political and fiscal views because it has become the party of “no”, of blind followers, and ridiculous pundits spewing a bunch of crap. I’m not a potsmokin liberal leftist socialist huffingtonian rich white kid. I’m an educated middle class white collar worker with a kid and a lot of bills to pay and I happen to think the current political climate is a joke on all sides so I went to have a good laugh at it. It wasn’t lame, it was a lot of fun.
Joe commented:
Wait a second… RICH people are the democrats now? Poor people are the Republicans? What happened? How did I miss this? So rich people want to tax the rich and poor people want to cut taxes for the rich? That sounds stupid. Or… maybe saying that liberals are rich kids is …. hmmmmm….. propaganda?
Paul Hildebrand commented:
I was there. As a libertarian. The HUGE crowd was a mix of people of with moderate views. It was an awesome thing to be apart of. The end message was that Americans as a whole don’t live their lives as fully liberal or fully conservative. And that mix of people gets things done, whether in there job functions or in schools or whatever. And that the polarization of the nation by the powers that control the Government and media are doing more harm than good for ALL Americans. You go, then I go, as an analogy in a traffic situation. Everyone has to get to the same place, so we as Americans work together and take turns. We may have vastly different stickers on our cars (ie: representing our varied beliefs) But we make it work as citizens. But Government and Media squawking about extreme right or left views do nothing but exacerbate the problems they squawk about. That was the point of the rally. And the musical guests were AWESOME.
Paul Hildebrand commented:
On another note, everyone should try to enjoy the life America allows, even though it’s bloated Federal Government bleeds us dry and wants to continue the endless war(s) for their profits and remove our freedoms. We, as a nation, have already given so much…Too much for my kids to have to deal with, just to keep the “economy” afloat. The fact of the matter is that both sides of big government work for the same entities…those who have the most money to influence government. There is NO transparency, and there is NO accountability. We need to take the country back before it’s too late for American citizens on BOTH SIDES of the political aisle.
doug commented:
The photo from the Washington Monument was probably taken during the pre-show. Shortly after 1:30 P.M. the Park Service opened up the blocks to the West that are clear in the photo. That whole section filled in. I was just W of 7th St., NW, at the tree line, I arrived around 1:15 PM, it having taken a half hour to reach there from Constitution Ave. Several blocks north and south of the Mall were filled with people trying to get in (or leaving after having given up, intending to head west and trying to get back to the mall further from the stage.
Reno Dave estimates the mall full for 12 blocks “from tree line to tree line”. That may be all that an overhead show shows, but well past 7th St., the mall was packed museum to museum. The areas under the trees were filled with people standing shoulder to shoulder.
There were a scattering of Amerpoican flags in the crowd, and lots of them on stage.
The portions of the crowd that I could see (when standing on a 3′ platform) were standing so densely that it was extremely hard for anyone to walk through the crowd. With this density and acreage covered, estimates of 200,000 attendees are extremely low.
Traffic to the rally was blocked on roads coming in from all directions, hundreds of people at individual Metro stops could not board the overpacked trains, Metro reported ridership of 330,000 by 2:00 PM, a figure comparable to a normal full Saturday (when ridership is greatest in the evening).
Estimating crowds is notoriously hard, but from the information available and personal observation, it is hard to believe that turnout was less than 500,000.
Someone hear reported that the organizers announced that the turnout was 150,000 at about 1:22 PM. This was about the time that John Stewart announced that there were 10 million in attendance (in keeping with the tendency of organizers to inflate their crowds). That author appears to have gotten the quote wrong.
There were families with children in arms (most had folded up the strollers due to crowd density), grandparents, teenagers, college students, working people, Blacks, Whites, Asians, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and those of other faiths in attendance.
Homemade signs were on many topics, but mostly focused on calming political debate, rejecting slurs and name calling.
From the stage overblown rhetoric of Democrats, Republicans, and others on the right and left were presented as examples of what we as a nation need to rise above. Unfortunately, the comments in this forum provide many more examples.