Comedy Central’s Stewart and Colbert developed a brilliant strategy where, as announced on September 16, dueling public rallies can be on TV. The “Restoring Honor” rally, done by Beck that was in Aug in front of the Lincoln Memorial is what is being made fun of on Oct 30 within the National Mall with the dueling activities. Stewart went on the Daily Show in order for making his statement. That is when everybody first heard of the “Rally to Restore Sanity.” Stephen Colbert countered by announcing the “March to Keep Fear Alive” on the Colbert Report.
Colbert and Stewart respond together to radical fringe
The Stewart/Colbert rally announcements were made about three weeks after Fox TV personality Beck hosted his cleverly hyped “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Beck had his event at the same place and on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which offended many, reports CNN. There were numerous logos and icons created specifically to make fun of Beck for the Colbert/Stewart rallies. They used the exact same style of image and very same fonts as Beck to do this. The National Park Service explains Stewart and Colbert got a permit. This permit will allow them to get on October 30 on the Washington Monument grounds.
As outlined by Stewart, they’ll “Take it down a notch for America”
The bulk of Americans without extreme political views are also called “the 70 to 80 percenters.” These are the individuals interested in Stewarts’ Rally to Restore Sanity. Using visual aids, he suggested signs for the event with slogans such as “I disagree with you, however I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler” and “I am not afraid of Muslims/Tea Partiers/Socialists/Immigrants/Gun Owners/Gay…but I’m scared of Spiders.” The Comedy Central host concluded by unfurling a sheet bearing the rally’s tagline: “Take it down a notch for The United States.”
Colbert says ” … freak out for freedom!”Then there’s Colbert saying, ” … freak out for freedom!”
A rally meant to compliment Stewarts known as “The March to Keep Fear Alive” was announced by Stephen Colbert. Colbert vowed “not take it down a notch.” Then he said something else. He said, “Now is the time for all good men to freak out for freedom!” According to Time, Reddit.com was where all the talk about Colbert satirizing Beck began. Colbert’s catchphrase “Restoring Truthiness,” is being used as the name of a site Reddit users developed. Colbert is a board member of the organizations going via DonorsChoose.org, which got more than $100,000 donated to it in just one day of Restoring Truthiness.
Rallying is only moderate for midterm elections
Stewart and Colbert are entering into rallies and political debates now. Midterm elections could really well be effected by this. The Atlantic reports through Marc Ambeinder that conservatives will not like the timing and message of these rallies. Audiences for The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are younger and more liberal than the older hard core conservatives watching Beck on Fox News. Ambeinder said Stewart and Colbert could stoke enthusiasm among moderate voters who have tuned out politics because of the noise made by the Tea Party and conservative media extremists.
Further reading
CNN
cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/17/stewart.colbert.rallies/index.html
TIME
newsfeed.time.com/2010/09/14/reddit-campaign-for-colbert-rally-breaks-charity-records/
The Atlantic
theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/stewart-colbert-to-hold-10-30-rallies/63142/
