At the Rally to Restore Sanity — or, I should say, on the Rally to Restore Sanity, because I'm watching C-SPAN — it was great to see Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) singing his great old song "Peace Train." It was also amusing to have Ozzy Osbourne barge in with "Crazy Train" and okay for the O'Jays to resolve matters with "Love Train."
From my TV perspective, it looked like a huge crowd on the Mall. It was overwhelming white. And — I'm not lying — I wrote "overwhelmingly" before I remembered that "overwhelmingly white" had become a hilariously common way to refer to crowds drawn to conservative rallies.
The crowd also looked pretty young and disproportionately male. Because it's comedy?
UPDATE: Ed Morissey has video of the Cat Stevens performance and a good summary of the controversy — which also comes up in the comments to my post — about presenting Stevens as an emissary of peace when he spoke with some degree of approval of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.
UPDATE 2: Tobin Harshaw collects opinion about the larger event.
October 30, 2010
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What is with you guys and how "white" a crowd is?
Do you all, secretly - or not so secretly - hate yourselves?
Seems kinda weird in a country that's mostly white to begin with,..
Whiter than the New York Jets. Not nearly as white as NPR.
Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens called for the death of Salman Rushdie. He should not be at any rally to "restore sanity" unless we start with his own.
http://patterico.com/2010/10/30/wtf-islamofascist-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity/
Yeah, that's about the size of it. Even in the 60s, if you weren't on drugs and a Leftist tool, you knew the Peace Train and the Love Train were really the Crazy Train.
Many minorities there, actually saw hispanics and asians. Bet you didn't see them at Beck's Rally. Crack, I think you are on crack.
Vicki
I think you're missing what was supposed to be the theme for the rally.
@Crack
1. As noted, the conservative rallies are criticized on this ground, so it's worth observing that the same thing is true of this liberal rally.
2. It is Washington, DC — 60% black.
Billions of Muslims in the world and Stewart and Colbert ask Cat Stevens, who endorses the fatwa issued calling for the murder of Salmon Rushdie, to appear on stage. Odd definition what does/does not constitute both sanity and extremism. *LOL*
Crack,
It is a "back at you" reaction to the current Democratic Party's claim that the Republican Party is no more than a desperate attempt to revive the Jefferson-Madison wing of the old Republican Democrat Party.
Do you all, secretly - or not so secretly - hate yourselves?
I can't believe you haven't figured this out yet. White guilt is the straw that stirs the liberal drink.
"Because it's comedy?"
Because they are unemployed and had the time to get there.
Yusuf Islam ... by the way ... is not a Muslim.
Just because you choose "Hussein" to be your middle name doesn't mean you're a Muslim.
Or something.
"I think you're missing what was supposed to be the theme for the rally.'
Yeah the theme is juveniles of all ages participating in a circle jerk of self-congratulation for their imagined "sanity", peppered with lame attempts at humor.
If I was a lefty I'd be embarrassed.
On the other hand if I was stupid enough to be a lefty I'd be too stupid to realize the magnitude of assclownery displayed at "Rally to Reassure Ourselves That We’re Not the Ones Who F***ed Everything Up", as Jim treacher aptly describes it.
David: Because they are unemployed and had the time to get there.
Ding ding ding! Might as well have called it "The Rally for Unemployed Hipster Liberal-Arts Majors."
Checked in on this sporadically between football. Mostly incoherent and not funny, but I did think Stewart's closing speech had some good spots. Particularly the notion that most people in the country are working together every day on things that have nothing to do with politics. When we follow the rule of "no political or religious discussion in polite company" it's conducive to productive engagement.
Stephen Colbert has become extremely tiresome. How is his brand of humor contributing to "restoring sanity"?
wv hemaggra: a drug that helps the vein in the middle of your forehead pop out.
Racial harmony. LOL
of course stevens has converted to islam. its a well known fact. he did it in 1977.
And its not the islam that bothers me, but the islamofascism.
Not too long ago, jon stewart denounced revolution islam for threatening the creators of south park. WTF is he doing sharing the stage with this ___hole?
http://patterico.com/2010/10/30/wtf-islamofascist-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity/
Yeah, i like peace train, too, but that man is evil.
Not only do most whites not hate themselves, over and over they flee an area which has become wondrously marvelously diverse in order to be with other whites and only other whites. But guess what? The blacks and hispanics who can barely contain their legitimate rage around whitey? They always follow, because mysteriously those all white areas are so much more livable.
"Do you all, secretly - or not so secretly - hate yourselves?"
I'll answer that question, Crack, with an observation.
MSNBC likes to point out how racist the Tea Party is. And yet, the management of General Electric is almost wholly white. There are no black MSNBC hosts.
GE is a racist company and illegally so, I might add. Why it's almost like the KKK incorporated.
General Electric denies black people equal employment opportunities within its senior executive ranks.
Republicans - once they control the country - should investigate General Electric and haul that company's senior executives before a US Federal Grand Jury to answerfor their hiring practices. That company should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and their illegal profits taken from their shareholders.
Not just because General Electric is wholly in the fucking bag for the Socialists ... but because they're violating our hiring and anti-discrimination laws.
Not only would destroying General Electric be good politics for the Republican Party (or the Tea Party) it would also be the right thing to do - since they're the real racists.
Personally, I'd like to see corporations which receive government funding to be forced to exit politics (not fund campaigns, or air broadcasts such as MSNBC). Failing that, we should take their fucking companies once we're in charge.
Obama took over GM and Chrysler. Why can't Republicans take over GE and fire Chris Matthews?
It's time to hold the real racists accountable. And so we're going to count the number of black people at their rallies, on their boards of directors and in their executive ranks.
And we're going to fucking prosecute them.
Cat Stevens reprising his former "peace" days before becoming a card-carrying member of the Religion of Peace (if by Peace, you mean, agreeing with Fatwa's calling for the death of apostates, and willing to participate in said fatwa, if given the opportunity).
Restore Rage!
Victoria, I attended the Beck Rally and it definitely wasn't all white bread. I particularly liked seeing the number of youngish families with children since Tea Party types are often characterized as middle aged angry white people.
Then the Yardbirds chimed in with The Train Kept A Rollin, followed by the Greatful Dead (minus Garcia) singing Casey Jones (Driving my train, high on cocaine)
which was followed by Sheenah Easton singing My Baby Takes the morning Train.
It was then rounded out with a jam version of Night Train sung by all the singers and finally they did an encore of the Clash's Train In Vain.
Ann Althouse: As noted, the conservative rallies are criticized on this ground, so it's worth observing that the same thing is true of this liberal rally.
So, we all have to think like racists now because that's how Liberals think?
""Peace Train" ... "Crazy Train" ... "Love Train.""
...High-Speed Rail.
"Restore Rage!"
Garage, don't fret sweetheart. We're not getting mad.
We're getting even.
"Restore Rage!"
Restore?
Was it ever missing?
What is with you guys and how "white" a crowd is?
Do you all, secretly - or not so secretly - hate yourselves?
It's just Althouse's way of reminding us that she has nothing to say other than "Democrats lack diversity! Tee-hee!!!"
I love her second rejoinder:
2. It is Washington, DC — 60% black.
With people arriving there from all over a country that isn't.
Numbers really aren't her party's forte. Ask her how her Republican Tea Party plans to cut the deficit, number by number.
David: Because they are unemployed and had the time to get there.
Everyone in America knows that a good job means no weekends off.
Tee hee!
Democrats certainly are the party that knows numbers! They like numbers so much they just keep adding zeroes to the end of all the numbers they encounter, in red ink, just to make them extra-special!
Isn't it funny that The Left copies those Conservative mechanizations that it supposedly hates? "Coffee Party" from Tea Party, "Restore Sanity" from Resore Honor. Is that the best they can do, trot out a few supposedly non scary Muslims, to prove that they really don't hate us? It's the Left that hates America. The American Flag getups were so forced and unnatural, like the whole "rally".
Am I missing something? What is the point of mocking a meme if you are no better than that meme?
Owning the parody doesn't mean you are immune from being made into one. If you think it's not a problem that Republicans can only appeal to increasingly limited or shrinking demographics why not just come right out and say that?
As I pointed out on an earlier thread, this rally was even whiter than the Obama rally in Madison.
Maybe, just maybe, this big lesson in civility is going to be undercut by the fact that one of the people putting it on bases his entire schtick on a straw-man conservative.
Well, that and the fact that one of the performers rather famously stated that a man with whom he disagreed deserved death.
Democrats certainly are the party that knows numbers! They like numbers so much they just keep adding zeroes to the end of all the numbers they encounter, in red ink, just to make them extra-special!
What was the negative return on investment in the banks and in GM? Was it as red as the negative return on investment that Party Redstate pours into defense contracts?
Now let's see if CBS will come up with another "aerial estimate" of the crowd size.
The U.S. government’s bailout of financial firms through the Troubled Asset Relief Program provided taxpayers with higher returns than yields paid on 30- year Treasury bonds -- enough money to fund the Securities and Exchange Commission for the next two decades.
The government has earned $25.2 billion on its investment of $309 billion in banks and insurance companies, an 8.2 percent return over two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That beat U.S. Treasuries, high-yield savings accounts, money- market funds and certificates of deposit.
There's your sanity/reality restored, right there.
BTW, do I have to pay royalties to John Stewart now for using that line?
So, is Yusof Islam/Cat Stevens one of those moderate Muslims that everyone's always talking about?
And whose idea was TARP? Oh yeah, that Obama bogeyman George W. Bush.
The important part of the story that Ritmo did not link to explains all the other taxpayer costs that have not been paid back and that are not included in Mayor Bloomberg's rah-rah "news analysis."
"“But there are other costs as the government made it possible for the banks to pay back TARP. Those costs can turn out to be larger, and their legacy could last longer.”
Low Interest Rates
Banks benefited from dozens of other programs instituted by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from the purchase of mortgage-backed securities to the bailout of home- lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The suppression of interest rates at close to zero for most of the last two years has also boosted banks’ income, enabling them to borrow money at almost no cost and lend at higher rates."
Ritmo - it's really not that you're such a fucking tool.
It's that you're so unbelievably bad at it.
If you're going to link to propaganda, it should at least be propaganda that is helpful to your argument instead of a story that exposes your argument to be merit-less.
I notice that Ritmo left off a tiny part of the article near the end:
"‘Wealth Transfer’
One of those subsidies is the $350 billion that savers forgo each year because the Fed keeps interest rates near zero, according to Petzel’s calculations. While banks can borrow at close to zero from the Fed, they lend to consumers and corporations at almost 5 percent, or to the Treasury at 2.5 percent, and they get to keep the difference.
“The huge wealth transfer from fixed-income pensioners to the banks has helped the banks repay TARP,” Petzel said.
The government and the Fed took on more risk than just TARP during the crisis, which isn’t reflected in the program’s cost, said Nomi Prins, a former Goldman Sachs managing director and author of the 2009 book, “It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.”
According to Prins’s tally, the money plowed into the financial system to prop it up peaked at $19.4 trillion. Banks have benefited from that cash, which helped keep prices of mortgage securities, house prices and other assets overvalued, Prins said in an interview. Even though some of the support has been withdrawn, part of it will likely be lost, such as the hundreds of billions of dollars put into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, she said.
“These are all indirect subsidies the banks got,” Prins said. “So the TARP gains touted by the Treasury are only true if you ignore all the other costs.”"
And whose idea was TARP?
Moby NewHam and Jayne Cobb have let you know how they feel about that, Howard. (See their ensuing editorials for their thoughts on keeping economies from acutely crashing).
Apparently they think risking a depression would have been worth their opposition.
But they only let you know now, of course. Blame the new guy and all.
"The suppression of interest rates at close to zero for most of the last two years has also boosted banks’ income, enabling them to borrow money at almost no cost and lend at higher rates."
What this means is that the government allowed the banks to steal money from prudent savers by allowing the banks to cut interest payments to those savers. That money instead went to line the pockets of the banks owners.
Hard workers - those who save money - get fucked in Barack Obama's America.
Gee thanks Ritmo!
I'm sure your little effort to spin will do Barack The Thief a lot of political good.
You'd be a better asset to the Administration if you'd just shut off your fucking computer, you moron.
There goes New "Bank Run" Hussein. Look at him go.
vicki trolled: "Many minorities there, actually saw hispanics and asians. Bet you didn't see them at Beck's Rally."
Looks like someone didn't watch either rally.
Jon Stewart's core audience don't care about boring shit like money and banks. Money in their world comes from mom & dad!
But I agree about the "restoring sanity" part. Our government has been completely fucking insane for about 20 years now. But I don't look to a couple of comedians, Oprah and Yusuf Islam to do the restoration.
Howard said...
...but I did think Stewart's closing speech had some good spots. Particularly the notion that most people in the country are working together every day on things that have nothing to do with politics.
Yep, that's a great message. I thought it was great the first time I heard it.
Two years ago.
From Glenn Beck.
Jon Stewart's best material is a direct steal from Glenn Beck.
Just illustrating, Ritmo, how you folks like to excoriate Bush on one hand and take credit for his successes on the other. Revel in teh irony of "restoring sanity".
If Christopher Walken touched New Ham in the movie Dead Zone, he would immediately see large amounts of fertilizer, and a rental truck.
Ssshhhhhhhh!! That's just "Yusuf." No mention of his last name is permitted!
@ A.W.
They were counting on Americans having short memories so nobody would remember the Rusdie fatwa. You remember, I remember. The Smugapalooza crowd: Not so much.
If Christopher Walken touched New Ham in the movie Dead Zone, he would immediately see large amounts of fertilizer, and a rental truck.
Nah, just large amounts of fertilizer. The natural kind.
Personally, Martin, if Stewart wants to pick up intelligent thoughts from Beck, I say more power to him. Then if the cross-pollination goes the other way, maybe we can throw out the whole lot of the career politicians that have come close to ruining this country.
And really, what better way for a bunch of left-of-center hipsters to spend their day on the weekend before the election? It's not like the Dems need them manning phone banks or anything like that, right?
Paul Snively said...
David: Because they are unemployed and had the time to get there.
Ding ding ding! Might as well have called it "The Rally for Unemployed Hipster Liberal-Arts Majors."
10/30/10 2:36 PM
_______________________________
It's the weekend.
"It's the weekend."
Yeah, nobody works on the weekend!
Maybe some at the rally sell small amounts of art, online. Or on discussion blogs.
If judged as a comedy show it was absolutely terrible. As a political rally it was deliberately inchoate. As a free concert in the park, not so bad.
Whatever, it was mainly boring.
(Dang. Drudge has a "red" link to Obama being heckled and I can't get it to play.)
Of course, snarkily commenting "nobody works on the weekend" is logically exactly the same as "They don't have jobs! they are out rallying on a saturday! OMG! Hipsters!!!11!"
Pretty large crowd from the pictures I've seen.
I haven't been able to figure out the theme of the rally, though I admit I haven't tried that hard. What does Stewart think has been going on that is insane and what does he wish to restore? I don't watch Stewart.
One thing I noticed is that for this rally, the stage is directly in front of the Capitol, as if to say, "You shall not pass!" I don't think that stage is tsunami-proof, though.
(bumped from earlier post)
BTW, I seem to remember GE's credit unit all of a sudden becoming a "bank", without the usual long wait, in order to get TARP funds. Yes, the same GE that owns NBC, PMSNBC, etc. that seem to have become cheerleaders for this Administration.
Funny how that all works.
Ritmo links Bloomie which loves TARP (surprise), but the CBO thinks otherwise; returns haven't been that hot. More to the point, the big banks that were The Zero's cash cows in the Senate get bailed out while smaller banks fail each week by the hundred. Ritmo needs to go back to his gated community and tell all the Vanilla Ices how racist they are.
PS Noting it was Dubya's idea (actually Geithner buddy Paulson's) doesn't make it any less a bad idea. Let the bad ones fail and the well-managed ones pick up their assets (as Barclays did with Lehman, I believe) and keep the taxpayers out of it.
edutcher, totally agree it was a bad idea. Just like pointing out to those who are differently-abled mentally that their inconsistencies are humorous.
Physically 60,000 people were considered to be at the diverse rally. Virtually over 60 million followed.
This is big. Very big. Democrats will keep the House (224+) and Senate (54+).
"Stewart walks fine line with rally". I love how the big media boyz [in this case, Drudgico] don't like the idea behind this rally. That they don't want to lose control over their message, which is all manufactured bullshit.
"Pay no attention to the toner cartridge with the explosives in it. If you do, it's ISLAMAPHOBIA!"
(Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you!)
morning has broken
garage, when it comes to "manufactured bullshit", you're a state of the art robotics-controlled exemplar.
What was the idea, Garage?
I watched all but 30 minutes of the thing. I saw a lot of flop sweat and a little music. What did I miss?
As long as the darlings picked up after themselves and left the place as they found it then everything's alright by me.
I'm rather puzzled by the inability of some to understand just why the whole Yusuf Islam thing bugs people.
Howard said...
edutcher, totally agree it was a bad idea. Just like pointing out to those who are differently-abled mentally that their inconsistencies are humorous.
No problem. I agree it's fun.
Gravy Train... what the left will give you at someone else's expense.
They call it Jumping Someone Else's Train.
What was the idea, Garage?
Why does Politico hate this rally? Stewart is a comedian. He did some dopey skits and had bands on stage. Why does it stick in their craw ?
Maybe some folks don't like the cheerleading on cnn.com:
Assisted by a colorful cast of characters, including singers Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne, comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert presided over a rally Saturday on the National Mall before a cheering throng.
NPR now summarizes the two rally:
Beck was okay, SMALLER, etc.
Stewart was LARGER, funny, active, etc.
Enough said: Democrats (224, 54) have won.
As long as the darlings picked up after themselves and left the place as they found it then everything's alright by me.
With a crowd of teenage boys, not likely. But everything will be all white, if not alright.
Keep whistling past that graveyard, AP.
NPR summarizing the two rallies. Hell, that just settles it. The gold standard of objectivity.
I thought NPR wasn't supposed to give us their opinion? Or do they only apply that to black men?
"Maybe some at the rally sell small amounts of art, online. Or on discussion blogs."
Or maybe they're printer salesmen.
garage - so tell us what the theme is for this lily-white rally? White power?
NPR summarizing the two rallies. Hell, that just settles it. The gold standard of objectivity.
Of course they are. NPR & Media Matters are considered the gold standard of journalism for the left. This is a religious tenet.
Wow! Turnout was pretty massive. Way more than I was expecting.
I have no doubt this rally got as many people as Beck's reichwing rally. Let's face it, not everyone in America is an old Christian white man. Lots of young hotties here!
Obama mixes it up with hecklers in Connecticut and tells them that Democrats are the ones "funding global AIDS" (presumably he meant treatment, not the spread of said AIDS) and that "the other side has not".
Most divisive President ever. George W Bush TRIPLED the funding to fight AIDS in Africa and received praise from many international leftists like Bob Geldof.
Obama is a thin-skinned liar.
Btw, I'm one chapter into Stanley Kurz's new book and it's fabulous.
"Why does it stick in their craw ?"
A bunch of fucking liberals cavorting onstage with a Muslim terrorist in our nation's capital should stick in every American's craw. And it does.
What we have in the United States under Barack Hussein Obama is a country where Muslim terrorists like Yusuf Islam walk around freely at liberal Democrat rallies instead of being put in a military prison, where they belong.
But change is coming. Morning is breaking.
It's going to be Morning in America once again very shortly.
"Wow! Turnout was pretty massive. Way more than I was expecting."
Of course it was! It was an entertainment event hosted by popular celebrities, targeting the demographic that most attends concerts and festivals. The political elements were also in line with the politics of the same demographic. Soft lefty politics is a fashion accessory and lifestyle choice with this demographic. For the majority of people, politics isn't about philosophy, it's about group identification. I don't understand why people think that the size of rallies such as Beck's or Stewart's has any relationship to the results of the upcoming election. The people that attend these rallies are not there to be persuaded, they're there to be affirmed.
Like Chip, as long as these little darlings clean up after themselves and don't destroy any property, then everything's fine. Doesn't mean I won't make fun of it, of course, but to act like this was some important event, either positive or negative, is silly.
Jesus H Freaking Christ Ham, why do you say things like that second paragraph? Your first one was pretty much inarguable, then you follow it up with lame-ass rhetoric. Do you not understand that this is a problem?
What's the charge again on Cat Stevens? Didn't do the oppo research. Any links?
The inclusion of Yusuf Islam was the one really shameful thing. I doubt many of the participants know of his support of the Rushdie fatwa.
My question is, after this election, what will become of "America's Politico's" act? Like most of these fictional characters that seem to pop up on this blog, such as Maxine and Titus, the act, while initially amusing, quickly becomes tiresome and overbearing. A good performer needs to know when to quit.
"Your first one was pretty much inarguable, then you follow it up with lame-ass rhetoric. Do you not understand that this is a problem?"
He/she is just doing what trolls do: flame and fling poo.
garage: Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again.
Dang, that crowd was WHITE.
I don't know how the media can reconcile criticizing the Beck rally in the face of this gathering of the "Stuff White People Like" group.....
Oh, yeah, they're leftists, so they're not white white.
Good chance that a good number of them white boys is students who walked over from nearby Georgetown and George Washington University.
I thought they were going to stay away from the Hitler mustaches and comparisons to Hilter?
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/101030-sanity-hmed-10a.grid-6x2.jpg
I guess some of them didn't get the memo and can't help themselves.
10,000 drones reported to the buses at the snap of Arianna's fingers.
No wonder it's so easy to populate the "camps" that inevitably define Collectivist countries.
I'm confused. I thought Ann's talking point for this weekend was watch out for liberal violence. Now we're on to race. What happened? Didn't the violence thing come through?
Howard, Ham is a troll/ moby. The problem you complain of is precisely the point of his shtick.
I'm confused. I thought Ann's talking point for this weekend was watch out for liberal violence. Now we're on to race. What happened? Didn't the violence thing come through?
Aren't you always confused? What's wrong with Ann pointing out the staggering hypocrisy of the left regarding lily-white crowds?
"What's the charge again on Cat Stevens?"
Cat Stevens is a Muslim terrorist.
Here he is, in his own words:
"In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer (Salman Rusdie) is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again."
Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) is a terrorist. He supports killing people who criticize his Prophet. According to his own statements. He said so himself.
Liberal Democrats want to parade such Muslim jihadists on stage and march with them in support of their goal to destroy America. That's why Cat Stevens was front and center at their protest on the Mall today. Democrats want everyone to see they're not afraid to hang out with terrorists.
It sticks in my craw, and if you're a loyal American, it sticks in your craw too.
If you support people like Yusuf Islam - people who want to kill you if you abuse your free speech rights - then by all means, vote for Democrats like Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer.
But if you're a loyal American who is sick and tired of the fucking terrorists getting a free ride on your tax dollars, then you get a chance to fire these pricks on Tuesday.
Go vote.
"What's the charge again on Cat Stevens?"
Cat Stevens is a Muslim terrorist.
If you want to have some fun as a reporter, try to get Yusuf Islam to tell you what he thinks about Hamas...
The New York Times interviewing Yusuf:
Q: For all your devotion to education and good deeds, government officials in various countries have tried to link you to extremist groups, including Hamas. What do you think of Hamas?
A: That’s an extremely loaded question.
Vickie,
Crack, I think you are on crack.
Because I asked a question?
Ann,
1. As noted, the conservative rallies are criticized on this ground, so it's worth observing that the same thing is true of this liberal rally.
2. It is Washington, DC — 60% black.
Yea, but how many blacks watch The Daily Show? I can count the number of my black friends who do on one hand.
I think, when it comes to race, y'all's confused.
Cat Stevens is hot to see Salman Rushdie's head on a platter.
But he's not anywhere as eveil as Dick Cheney.
Jason (the commenter),
So, we all have to think like racists now because that's how Liberals think?
That's how it looks from here. These folks don't know if they're coming or going.
Fish on!
Sorry, I'm an idiot.
This rally didn't seem very current. But then maybe it was meant to be a riff on Woodstock, the baby boomer's nostalgia for it I mean, when they were all young and cool and revolution was in the air (Stewart's almost 48 so he'd get that). If it was meant that way, Cat Stevens showing up was just part of the joke.
It has to be that, right? Peace Train, that's a song from the Vietnam protest era, hell no we won't go, make love not war, yadeya. And this was the President's base out there today (except for the non-white part of it), the President who's ramped up the war fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, he's certainly not riding any peace train that's for sure.
This, and Beck's rally, is America at her best!
We know how to keep our students, our underemployed, our unemployed, our activists and even our retirees creatively engaged while most Americans are working hard to raise and support their families.
If they had time to pay attention, I feel certain they would cheer you all on.
Plus. Someone needs to thank an untold number of workers out there for disguising those aboard the "Gravy Train" on Halloween eve.
Trick or treat!
jr565 said:
"I thought they were going to stay away from the Hitler mustaches and comparisons to Hilter?
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/101030-sanity-hmed-10a.grid-6x2.jpg
I guess some of them didn't get the memo and can't help themselves."
Easy answer. It was essentially designed as two "separate" rallies. The Stewart side, meant as more of a serious message of moderation and sanity (i.e. not using Hitler as a comparison) and the Colbert side meant as a satire of the angry side of rallies (i.e. the ones where people will compare Obama or Bush to Hitler/Stalin).
So, the signs you see in the pictures of the rally generally fall into two categories. The Stewart side, with signs along the lines of "I disagree with your opinion, but respect your right to express it" or "I don't want to take my country back, I want to take it forward. On the other side, you have the "Keep Fear Alive" joke posters, including those Hitler ones.
Pretty easy to understand, but of course you want to make it look like "SEE, the liberals are comparing us to Hitler!!!!!"
A rally for courage and sanity sponsored by a Comedy Central, a corporation that knuckles under to jihad terrorists, a company that alters programming to placate jihad terrorists...
Yah. Peace Train. Unless you're
- female
- non-muslim
- gay
- American, French, British
- a fan of democracy
Cat Stevens is a pig.
This is how "peaceful" sane libs are:
Poster showing Republican leaders with Hitler moustaches
Not the irony of showing Eric Cantor(a practicing Jew) with Hitler mustache.
(The Crypto Jew)
So James you can show us several photo's of DEMOCRATS with Hitler mustaches, then?
Right this was all about Colbert's schtick"...I'm sure it was.
Our prof Althouse points out that while DC is 60% black, virtually the entire crowd @ this rally was white. Certainly one of the factors is the time. I worked many cases in "the hood" in both KC and Chicago. This rally ended ~3pm. Most black folk don't get going until 1-2pm on weekends. You can call me racist if you wish...but that's the fact, jack!! I submit the planners were racially insensitive by virtue of their scheduling.
Most black folk don't get going until 1-2pm on weekends. You can call me racist if you wish...but that's the fact, jack!!
Crack needs to weigh in on this. Do black people sleep later in general on Saturday?
Oops. Althouse has turned into the Nuthouse.
Let's just put it this way ... imagine Althouse and Meade in Iran or Saudi Arabia. Or, imagine Althouse's son in these (Muslim) places.
Yes, that's right. Beheaded.
Peace Train, my ass.
I still don't understand why we let AL/garage/Ritmo get away with their race-baiting.
If a few more people are reminded to vote because of the rally, and no-one's hurt, it's probably a better than an average Saturday.
Crack needs to weigh in on this. Do black people sleep later in general on Saturday?
I'm not black, but if they're anything like me, it depends on how long the dog sleeps in.
So today we were up at 6:15.
"If a few more people are reminded to vote because of the rally, and no-one's hurt, it's probably a better than an average Saturday."
Sadly, it's people like the rally attendees who get their News from cable variety shows that got us into this mess. We should tell them that showing up today counts as their vote and they can take Tuesday off.
DaveW said...I haven't been able to figure out the theme of the rally, though I admit I haven't tried that hard. What does Stewart think has been going on that is insane and what does he wish to restore? I don't watch Stewart.
As I understand it, to Stewart insanity = Fox News, conservative talk radio.
Sanity = Getting rid of the above.
Also, apparently, Stewart's idea of sanity is that Obama was "too timid" with his massively unpopular healthcare bill. It should have been MORE left-wing, then he would be popular.
Yes, it was very white. But the addition of a declared Islamic radical throws the multiculti balance back in their favor.
How can he say he was joking?
Theme - death to the Jews, death to Israel, death to America. That was easy.
The Crack Emcee: the first part of why tea partiers bring up the "white" part because several news sources all used the much the same phrase when referring to the race of the attendees at Beck's rally. The DailyCaller had a roundup showing several sources all using much the same phrase.
The second part of why they bring it up is because they don't have the mental and emotional abilities to do anything about it. Instead, they just make things worse and help their opponents at the same time as they smear those like me who could help them. The stupidity of the teapartiers is really quite breathtaking.
Speaking of which, back in 1989 liberals allied against Stevens over his remarks. IIRC Norman Mailer was involved as was the Nation. The 10,000 Maniacs took the album version of their Cat Stevens cover off their album over the issue.
Nowadays, the professional left is more than willing to sell out and do what they're told. In this case, they're told to defend Stevens against wingnuts, so that's what they do. And, as with the above, the teaparty types don't have the mental and emotional abilities to do anything about it.
Ann
I really don't get your non-response here. You say it is "great" to see Yusuf Islam, but you say nothing about the controversy.
Why not? You do oppose this sort of thing, I know. But you first said you don't want people drawing mohammed. Okay, i disagree, but i understand. But now you don't at least want to denounce a man who fantasized about burning Rushdie alive? I mean what does freedom of expression mean to you if you don't seem to think that we should drive such men out of polite society--at least until they publicly apologize for what they said?
Or is this all about celebrity worship, where if it is just a bunch of morons in revolution islam, you would be happy to denounce their inclusion in anything, but this is the guy who sang "Peace Train" so that is different.
I mean notice, this is how you refer to him: "Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)." His chosen name these days is Yusuf Islam, but you put that in parenthesis to de-emphasize it. Like you don’t want to even deal with the fact this man has a very dark side.
Yusuf Islam deserves to be condemned and driven out of polite society for what he has done. Jon Stewart deserves to be called out for his hypocrisy in welcoming a man who endorsed the use of death threats to enforce blasphemy rules, after Stewart correctly denounced Revolution Islam for making such threats. And I think you deserve criticism for not summoning the slightest criticism of Yusuf Islam or Stewart, but only noting that there is a "controversy" without taking sides.
(slightly corrected)
Do you all, secretly - or not so secretly - hate yourselves?
Not me chief. I embrace my whiteness.
Theme - death to the Jews, death to Israel, death to America. That was easy.
Funny, I didn't see any signs or speakers saying such things. If such ideas were the theme of the rally, it should be easy to find examples. Got any links? I didn't think so. Moron.
Of course you don't see it, somefeller. You love Yusuf Islam too much to pay attention to what he stands for. Putting him on stage, along with portraying political opponents as Hitler speaks volumes about this rally and those who organized it. If you really think they embrace freedom or liberty you are delusional. I cannot fix that.
But go along with them - nothing can go wrong with embracing those hate filled morons. You are all birds of a feather.
So, in other words, you don't have any examples of people making "death to the Jews, death to Israel, death to America" statements from the rally. But that still was its theme. Got it. I guess it was a seekrit theme, sort of like how Obama is a seekrit mooslim.
And I don't love Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam. His sort of soft rock never has appealed to me. Ozzy on the other hand, I do like.
That Tobin Harshaw article was unadulterated bullshit. The Times is concerned. Anne Applebee's is concerned. Timmy Noah is also concerned. Howard Kurtz of course concerned. Applebee's "regrets the loss" of the center, Kurtz hoping and praying Stewart didn't "cross the line". What a pile of hot steaming horse manure. The only thing they are concerned about is their dopey dinner parties, between a sad bunch of D+ elites. This rally just pierced a much needed hole in their bag of hot air.
That and The Roots. If nothing else.
Hey garage, take a fuckin Midol and go to bed. The election will be over in a few days and you can go back to whining like a spanked pussy how the nation is going to fucking hell in a handbasket. I mean its going to be just like old times for you.
I'm crackin another Three Floyds pale ale just for you buddy. LOL!
Yea old times. 2004?
Sanity restored. I do feel better.
The theme of thing was to insult to half the nation while complementing yourself. How freaking lame.
So half the country is not sane??
Mmmm. Three Floyds. Pride of Indiana.
A rally that has the message: People are crazy to oppose their political leaders in power.
How far liberalism has fallen. When I was a liberal, I was dumb, but this is ridiculous and just pathetic. Liberals are so uncool now. What the hell happened to the movement. I just feel pity, nothing else. Check out Reason: Hit and Run for some on-seen video questioning of participants. It makes being an Althouse hillbilly seem like it should involve a PhD. Sanity, yea that's the problem.
Well, in fairness, they did manage to counterbalance the freedom-hating shitbird Yusuf Islam by bringing on a man who once got arrested for urinating on the Alamo.
"Reason".com. Haha.
""Reason".com. Haha"
It's just participants in their own words. While they demonstrate complete foolishness, it's not really funny as much as sad. To see that progressives are now anti-change, pro-government, pro-conformity, and pro-authority is disappointing. How did that happen? Progressive-ism was always illogical and impervious to history, but now it has neither soul nor intellect.
And how would you respond in a good faith argument if the other person said: "First you must regain your sanity."? It's stupid.
Late to the game (been outta town).
Did CNN cover Beck's rally? The tea party's?
I saw it briefly this morning on a big screen and walked out as they started to chortle over how nasty the tea party signs were and how clever the ones at this rally were.
Obama is a muslim, hates America and is doing his best to destroy it. Useful idiots such as somefeller don't mind, and think that Yusuf Islam is a "soft rocker". Well alrighty then. You will love living under the soft despotism of sharia.
"when we follow the rule of "no political or religious discussion in polite company" it's conducive to productive engagement."
Hmmm. An odd message from someone who makes a living bringing politics into everything. Does he believe he alone should be immune from the charges of hypocrisy which make up so much of his show?
Still waiting for the pics from this morning's
Rally to Restore Sanitation
to see if the attendees heeded Stewart's admonition not to litter and lived up to Chip's hopes, "As long as the darlings picked up after themselves and left the place as they found it then everything's alright by me."
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