4 Reasons Why Jon Stewart's Restoring Sanity Rally Is Great for Progressives

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/story/148662/4_reasons_why_jon_stewart%27s_restoring_sanity_rally_is_great_for_progressives

AlterNet / By Adele M. Stan COMMENT NOW!

4 Reasons Why Jon Stewart's Restoring Sanity Rally Is Great for Progressives

More than a Hollywood ploy or a field day for moderates, Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's rally offers a real shot at reframing our politics.
October 29, 2010 |

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Yet progressives and liberals, ranging from left wing to the just left of center, have expressed a range of reservations, missing, I believe, the larger point of this rally's potential for reordering our out-of-whack politics, if only for a moment. But if that moment lasts until the polls close on Tuesday, it will have been worth it.

I agree with Code Pink's Medea Benjamin, for instance, that Stewart has made a false equivalence between the louder voices of the left and the right, setting the right's casting of Obama as Hitler on an equal plane with complaints that George W. Bush presided over war crimes. (The latter happens to be based on the fact that crimes against innocents were committed in the prosecution of an illegal war.) Nonetheless, there are pluses that trump any minuses in the confab that will descend upon the nation's capital tomorrow:

1. Brilliant framing: Restoring Sanity v. Keep Fear Alive - If only the White House had messaging gurus as astute as the writers on the staff of The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

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In his parody of a right-wing talk-show host, Stephen Colbert quickly countered with his "March to Keep Fear Alive." (In fact, the "march" and the rally are a single event.) This framing pours all the recent right-wing demonstrations that have flooded the capital into the "keeping fear alive" category, while everybody else is defined as sane.

2. The inevitable aerial-view photos - In the age of Google Earth, the impact of demonstrations is told in satellite photos. What made Beck's rally so impressive was the view from above. The Stewart/Colbert rally is likely to draw at least as many people -- people who are coming to Washington to make the statement that they stand against the kind of fear-mongering that Beck represents.

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3. Recasting liberalism as mainstream - Everybody knows that Jon Stewart's audience is largely a liberal one. Why, then, is he describing his rally as the "Million Moderate March"? Perhaps because most Americans think of themselves as moderate.

NO. 3 & 4 & MORE AT LINK

[Kurovski]

1. Some fucking dink derecc'd.

As the article states, all Jon has to do is ask, and we may well have many more young americans turning out to vote.

[Hissyspit]

2. I saw that!

Whatever... :D

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. kick

[beac]

4. LOVE your bumper sticker.

:rofl:

Wish I lived in a place where I could display it without compromising my husband's job (he's an educator and I often drive him to work.)

[Kurovski]

8. It's a super-butch bumper sticker.

I love the living shit out of it.

[madmax]

13. In additon to having Obama on TDS

that too was well received. I hope all of you who attend have a blast. Wish I could be there, I'll be there in spirit.

[beac]

5. K&R! I wish we could go. Can't wait to see the photos! n/t

[LittleGirl]

6. I'm packing NOW!

I can't wait. I have never attended anything like this and I am so excited. My hubby gave us the trip (from Indy) as a birthday present! I was jumping up and down when he gave it to me! Whooo HOO!

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. You are so lucky! Have a safe trip, a great time, and if you think of it please

think of me once or twice while you are there so I can be there in spirit? :D

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Anything is good about now

I sometimes wonder what the sad state of political discourse in the US would be if The Daily Show never existed, or if Craig Kilborn stayed on or someone else took his place. (imagine Dennis Miller ugh)

I too am dismayed by Stewart's over all theme that both the left and the right are getting too hysterical over nothing, when I feel (I know) we on this side have substantial concerns, and the other side is so full of bullshit and so well armed to shovel it with its own News Network, a billionaire funded "grass roots" army fighting against their best interests, and a bought out, establishment ass-kissing Washington press corps.

That said I agree that the benefits outweigh the negatives. He is smart doing it that way. I don't know if Stewart actually believes that the "looney left" is just as detrimental as the "whacky right", but he must present it this way to get any traction.

I am wondering how they will combine the sanity/fear themes. I almost think they should have gone completely with a parody of Beck and just had the "keep fear alive" rally with Colbert. But then they would not have had as big an audience without Stewart. But they are mixing metaphors in a way. One is a serious theme and the other is a sarcastic one. I'm sure a few baggers heads will explode.

[lyonn]

9. It's gotta be exciting

What is there to lose by those two teaming up? It worked for years.

[laughingliberal]

11. I think, all things considered, the rally is a positive. nt

[madmax]

12. A genius idea. JS and SC are the best.

[deacon]

14. I hope they slam CNN and Fox into extinction. n/t