WASHINGTON, D.C.- Tens of thousands descended upon the nation’s capital for Comedy Central comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear on Saturday, a cause that organizers said was non-political but nonetheless radiated strong political overtones just days before the midterm election.
At a rally with an overwhelmingly liberal crowd but no Democratic politicians taking the stage, where many carried homemade signs denouncing the idea of signs, it wasn’t necessarily clear what the event’s intentions were.
Some sign-bearers expressed their outrage at conservative politicians such as Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell and “Faux News,” while others pleaded for calm.
“I already regret choosing to carry a sign around all day,” one read.
Even Stewart couldn’t quite articulate what the main purpose of the gathering on the National Mall was.
“I’m really happy you guys are here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here,” he said. “Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder.”
However, the comedian tried to explain how his rally was different from most.
“This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to 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,” he said. “But we live now in hard times, not end times.”
Stewart’s harshest critiques were reserved not for Republicans, but for the “broken” media system.
“The country’s 24-hour politico-pundit-perpetual-conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder,” he said. “The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false.”
Colbert, the rally’s co-host, was shown on a video screen to be trapped in his “fear bunker” at the start of the event. He soon surfaced in a Evil Knievel-style costume and tried to scare the crowd away from Stewart’s call for reasonableness while sharing his own fears, which he said included the sight of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in a tight black T-shirt.
“Mostly I’m afraid that no one showed up to our rally,” Colbert said.
Though no elected officials from the Capitol Building that loomed behind the stage were invited to speak, several entertainers performed, some with political messages, including The Roots, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Sam Watterson of “Law and Order,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tony Bennett. Ozzy Osbourne countered Yusuf Islam’s, formerly known as Cat Stevens, “Peace Train” with “Crazy Train,” and the O’Jays pretended to clear the air with their hit, “Love Train.”
Billy Ford, a 35-year-old Department of Defense employee from Baltimore, was one rally member who said he had had enough from both sides of the aisle.
“I feel like we just need to bring it down a notch,” the registered Democrat said, while holding a sign that read, “This sign probably won’t change anything.”
Fifty-five year-old Amy Knapp of New York City carried a more specific message, asking politicians to “Man-ner up.” She said she was responding to the contentious Senate race in Nevada, where GOP candidate Sharron Angle told the Democratic incumbent, Harry Reid, to “man up” on the issue of social security.
“I think that’s an example of totally non-productive personal attack politics that doesn’t serve voters or democracy well,” she said.
Knapp, a Democrat who said she was “very politically active,” described the crowd as “very upbeat and determined” and praised Stewart for bringing moderates together.
“It’s kind of like group therapy,” she said.
Staff writer Josh Cain contributed reporting to this article.
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