At least a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC yesterday, heeding a call for sanity in response to the current nasty political climate issued by comedian and fake news reporter Jon Stewart.
After almost three hours of skits, music and video montages centering on the rally’s two competing ideas of “restoring sanity” and “keeping fear alive”, Stewart had the last word with a 12 minute speech exploring the notion that most Americans are reasonable, despite what we see on political campaigns and cable news shows.
Individuals responsible for two of the most famous personal melt-downs in America this year appeared via taped message in support of Stewart’s call for reasonableness, each offering a mea culpa for their bad behavior, including the Jet Blue flight attendant who cursed out a passenger by loud speaker before fleeing down an escape slide. Also appearing was the woman who flipped over a restaurant table on Real Housewives of New Jersey.
In addition to raucous comedy, rally-goers — some dressed in costume — were treated to inspiring musical performances by John Legend, the former Cat Stevens singing Peace Train, The O’Jays, delivering their classic, Love Train, 4 soldiers opening the rally with a soaring and unique arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner and Tony Bennett ending the day with America the Beautiful.
Tee shirt and merchandise sales from the event are being donated to the National Mall to help with restoration.
At the end of a beautiful sunny day, the crowd likely agreed with Jon, who said he “felt good”.
WATCH the speech below, and see other clips and comedy skits from the rally at Comedy Central.
UPDATE: (Monday) Washington Metro shattered a 19-year record Saturday for subway ridership, with 825,437 Metrorail trips recorded. A typical Saturday averages 350,000 fares. (On the date of Glenn Beck’s rally in August, Metro logged 510,020 trips.)
| Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear | ||||
| Jon Stewart – Moment of Sincerity | ||||
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