Politico Has Concerns About Rally To Restore Sanity

[nmbluesky]

Yesterday, we noted Ryan Kearney's able takedown of the handful of self-proclaimed cultural critics who've had themselves a round of the piss-and-moan blues over the Rally To Restore Sanity. At that time, I should have predicted that Politico would try to wade into those waters, because reliably, here they are today, doing something Politicoey with it. Essentially, they've taken that smallish gaggle of walleyed concern-trolls, mixed in a clueless academic and added a heaping helping of straw-men to contend that Jon Stewart will utterly destroy his brand by staging a comedy show for people.

Kearney's piece is cited by name, but Politico carefully omits Kearney's central premise -- the essential witlessness of the rally critics -- in order to pretend that they form some sort of important cultural vanguard.

It contains paragraphs like this:

Stewart will navigate two sets of risks Saturday: He will, a handwringing legion of journalists and bloggers worry, cross the once-bright line from commentary to political participation, and find himself stranded, unable to return.

And he could - television industry analysts say - alienate portions of an audience for his show that isn't as polarized as that of the real cable news shows, with viewers divided starkly left and right.

Sounds scary! But here's what's going to actually happen. Stewart will face the same risk he's faced every single day of his life as a stand-up comedian -- that his decades of performance seasoning will fail him and his jokes will fall flat. Whoever is playing the DC Improv Saturday night will be facing the same risk.

As for the chances that he'll alienate his fans, well that's not likely. Let's recall that it was "Daily Show" fans who originally asked for this in the first place -- calling for a Stewart/Colbert driven event in Washington on October 10, 2010. Originally conceived by fans of the show as the "Rally To Restore Truthiness," the call went out in early September for the comedians to do something to serve as a counterweight to Glenn Beck's "Rally To Restor Honor." When the two shows returned from a hiatus, the hosts then began to cryptically hint that they were going to honor the request.

LINK
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/28/politico-gets-into-the-ra_n_775381.html

[whathehell]

1. Who the hell is unreccing this and why ?

[tomg]

6. Probably because they hit the wrong

button. Or they are complete assholes. I'm betting wrong button, but I am an optimist and believe we are going to hold on to the House.

[whathehell]

7. Yes, it's one of two, I expect....I agree with you about holding the House. n/t

[tomg]

9. That makes two of us. nt

[whathehell]

20. Only two of us?

[Donnachaidh]

48. nope -- I'm with you too.

And I'd love an early christmas present of Boehner being trounced by Jason C. THAT would have this old broad doing handsprings in public - if he not only doesn't become Speaker, but loses his job PERIOD.

[whathehell]

59. Great!

..The more the merrier!

[polmaven]

39. Nope!

That makes three of us.

[RoccoR5955]

41. I'm in too... Make that four!

Whenever Democrats get out the vote they win. Therefore, it is essential that we get out the vote on Tuesday, so that the Cons can lose!
We can make GAINS in the House and Senate if we do this. Then let's see those bass turds quiver.

[tomg]

42. Hey Rocco, how

are things in The People's Republic of Rosendale and Ulster county looking? I'm a Rosendalean, but overseas. Voted absentee.

[aquart]

51. If the UNlikely voters vote, we win.

Which is why all those flyers are going out telling blacks and Hispanics not to vote.

[JDPriestly]

34. The words recommend followed by a number and then

unrecommend right after that with almost no space is confusing if you don't read carefully.

The recommend needs to be where it is. The unrecommend needs to be at the far left end of the line. That way it is clear that the number of plus votes is related to the word recommend. That's why people who have not been on DU a lot of even others who are careless may click on the wrong thing.

[RoccoR5955]

40. Unrec should be on the RIGHT... all the way on the right. Rec should be on the LEFT

Just a matter of semantics.

[JDPriestly]

57. Yes. Thanks. You explain it much better than I do.

I'm not really all that stupid, but the first time I saw a screen with both choices, I pushed unrec. I was quite embarrassed. I can believe that some people may never have figured out that the unrec really means unrec.

[Stellar]

49. I guess you can call me the same

optimist too. I can't listen to all this wave hype any longer. I wish more people would talk about the us chamber of commerce more...

How The ‘US’ Chamber Uses Its Money To Pay Pundits, Manipulate Google, And Create Fake News Outlets

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/28/thinkprogress-media-chamber/#comments

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Matariki]

21. I swear, someone has written an 'unrec' app

the unrec's always come as soon as an OP is first posted.

[bc3000]

32. I unrecced because I found it to be boring and practically contentless

Not everyone unrecs because of a political difference of opinion. Sometimes people just unrec because they don't think the article is worth reading.

[LiberalLovinLug]

44. So in your wisdom you decide what is "practically contentless" for everyone?

This is one reason why I detest the unrecommend feature.
Folks who read a few lines in the article, and then want to disallow others to make up their own mind about it.

A rally like this has never been done before, partly because of the uniqueness of The Daily Show and to some extent The Colbert Report as being comedy + influential political comment. And if you went to the link your would find that it was not to the Politico story but to a HP article arguing against the viewpoint. It is interesting to ME. It had CONTENT to ME.

Its hard to bite my tongue in this new "civil" DU. I just deleted the line that I was really thinking about your type of behavior. See if you can read my mind.

[Bunny]

58. But who is disallowing anyone to read it?

Unreccing a thread doesn't make it vanish. I can still see threads that are unrecced. I can still make up my own mind about their value.

Why is that so hard to grasp? :shrug:

[whathehell]

62. Well, that was nice of you!

:eyes:

Did it ever occur to you that someone ELSE might be interested in it?

[Tess49]

38. How can you tell if something is unreccommended? I only see the number of

recs.

[whathehell]

63. How can you tell?....When you rec it and it disappears -- immediately.

[blondeatlast]

2. Hey, Jon Stewart! Look at us! We're Politico; over here! OVER HERE!

Please, please, notice us! Our hands are in the air and we're losing the sensation in our arms; NOTICE US!

Please? Pretty please?!

[stopbush]

4. Yep. Who needs who? Jon Stewart or Politico?

[JDPriestly]

35. I think you got it, blondeatlast.

[Cosmocat]

3. The mental gymnastics these douchebags ...

need to engage in to push a meme is mind numbing ...

[otohara]

5. Does The Chamber Fund Politco?

I bet they do!

[xxqqqzme]

8. Jon Stewart - stranded?

Highly unlikely. Anyone watching his interview w/ President Obama last night knows that!

[Bitwit1234]

10. So what was the commentary of beck's rally and the support

fox came him. Did the cross back over from rally to news. Oh hell they never have been news. the have been a 24/7 republican infomerical channel.

[madrchsod]

11. oh no... the kids at politico need their pampers changed.

they are the biggest cry babies on the net...

[SoCalDem]

12. Well, well, well... I have had "concerns" about Politico

since the first time I heard their name. From their inception, it was not hard for a critical thinker to figure out that they were just an organization aiming to get the "soft-right" message into the mainstream media, by pretending to be hip/edgy/new/etc.

They managed to , as a start-up, hire some pretty well known news-people, so there was some "big money" behind them. Does anyone really know who the puppetmaster with the fat wallet, is?

[rocktivity]

16. DING DING DING! SoCalDem, you're our grand prize winner!

they were just an organization aiming to get the "soft-right" message into the mainstream media by pretending to be hip/edgy/new/etc.
Brings back memories of when the Dems invited a group of "hip/edgy/new" citizen bloggers to their 2004 convention. Completely oblivious to the irony, MSNBC inparticular responded by having their reporters file off-the-record, countercultural blog posts along with their "normal" stores.

They managed to, as a start-up, hire some pretty well known news-people...Does anyone really know who the puppetmaster with the fat wallet is?
They literally came from out of nowhere to be one of the sponsors of the '07 GOP debates, and Prince Georgie himself released a statement wishing them good luck.

Here's what Salon.com found out about them.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[glitch]

19. Wo, that's pretty far right

from your link

"The Politico's primary (perhaps sole) funding source is the Allbritton Company, of which Frederick Ryan is an employee. The Allbritton family's leader, Joe, was CEO of Riggs Bank when Riggs pleaded guilty to a series of illegal financial transactions with right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his brutal military that took place throughout the 1990s and into 2001.

Although Allbritton himself was never charged with knowledge of those illegal transactions, he maintained what appears to be a close personal and business relationship with the right-wing dictator (h/t Jonathan Schwarz):

When Joe L. Allbritton was chief executive of Riggs Bank, he received personal gifts from Augusto Pinochet and wanted the former Chilean dictator to visit the Allbritton horse farm in Virginia, according to drafts of letters from 1996 and 1997. "

[JDPriestly]

36. That explains a lot, glitch.

I think we used to have someone who posted videos from Politico -- awful videos with some boring, snide woman on them -- here on DU. Thankfully, those videos are no longer posted. They were obviously very right-wing. Never had a good thing to say about a Democrat. I could not understand why they were allowed on this site.

[Mz Pip]

37. Sounds like

penis envy to me.

Politico is envious. Jon Stewart, a comedien from a basic cable network does a better job of political analysis than any of the twits at Politico and more and more people are starting to notice that fact.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

46. !

+

[Coexist]

60. its funny to see hip/edgy and Politico in the same sentence

lol.

[SoCalDem]

61. That's why I put "pretending" in there

:)

[rocktivity]

13. In the interest of fairness and balance, anything Huffpo prints about the rally

should include the disclaimer that they're supplying the buses.

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[Gabi Hayes]

64. and the guns for union leadership

[Winterblues]

14. Who knew, "Restoring Sanity" is a partisan idea.....

Do these people ever stop to think before they write their BS?

[beac]

30. Sanity, like reality, has a known liberal bias.

Actually, that may in fact be true.

[monmouth]

15. You should read the comments at HuffPo..hilarious. Politico is

made to look like the fools they are.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

18. Well, the weather will be good.

upper 60's and sunny.

Oh, i almost forgot, fuck politico.

[spanone]

22. no surprise, they have concerns about democrats winning too

[fascisthunter]

23. sounds like the Frauds are scared...

[FirstTimeVoterAt37]

24. I think this will have a huge GOTV effect, myself

Lots of people who aren't into politics are fans of Jon and Stephen. A huge-profile event days before the elections that's getting mirrored in cities all over the nation... I believe the effect will be very significant to get people to the polls who might otherwise skip it.

[beac]

29. As do I. I think it is going to be especially motivating for young voters.

As for Politico:

[prolesunited]

43. Exactly, and that's why Obama went on his show this week

and exactly why the MSM has to denounce and downplay the event. They also aren't mentioning the satellite rallies being held across the country.

[Stellar]

52. Good point!

I hadn't thought of that! thanks. :thumbsup: !

[progressoid]

25. What's a Politico?

Is that the thing they use to castrate hogs?

[PBS Poll-435]

26. No, it is leash for an Elephant to constrain a Donkey. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

27. Stewart might alienate his right wing fan?

O NOES!

Colbert probably does have a clue-deficient following on the right, but they will be equally stumped over the Rally to Restore Fear, so no risk their either.

[malaise]

28. Jon Stewart has more credibility than all of the RW media

corporations.

Br afraid ReTHUGS

[myrna minx]

31. K&R n/t

[NBachers]

33. Stranded, Unable to Return! Morooned!

Please, Johnny, heed them before it's too late!

[femrap]

45. I'd only attend

Colbert's rally...'Keep Fear Alive.' Jon...ick.

[defendandprotect]

47. Who are these Politicos ... and any background on them ... .???

However, commentary would have only been seen by me as political participation --


Maybe, long, long ago, comedians played both sides politically -- Bob Hope, Will Rogers,

Johnny Carson? Don't think it's really possible any longer.

[spanone]

53. it's a republican 'think tank' of sorts...link

Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency.<1> It was a sponsor of the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on May 3, 2007, and the 2008 Democratic Presidential candidates debate at the Kodak Theater on January 31, 2008.
John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei left The Washington Post to become Politico's editor-in-chief and executive editor, respectively, launching the newspaper on January 23, 2007. Frederick J. Ryan Jr., former Assistant to President Ronald Reagan,<2> is president and CEO.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politico_(newspaper)

[defendandprotect]

55. Affiliation ABC/Disney ....

Politico is financed by Robert Allbritton, chairman and chief executive of Allbritton Communications, which owns television stations in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, all affiliated with the Disney-owned ABC network.

Politico is a partner with several news outlets that co-report and distribute its video, print, and audio content. Partners include CBS News,<6> Allbritton Communications's ABC station WJLA and cable channel TBD TV,<7> radio station WTOP-FM,<8> and Yahoo! News election coverage.

Journalists covering political campaigns for Politico carry a video camera with them to each assignment,<7> and journalists are encouraged to promote their work elsewhere.<8> Though Politico seeks to break the traditional journalism mold, it expects to initially make much of its money from Washington D.C.–focused newspaper advertising.<9>


Evidently, there's also a website --


Thanks for all the info -- should have looked it up myself -- but appreciate your help!


:)

[spanone]

56. no problem...they are not our friends

[spanone]

50. i have concerns about politico

[gratuitous]

54. Please don't concern yourselves, Politico

No one thinks this rally will make you sane, and we're not expecting it.