BWW tally: Who all is going to the Rally? — Page 2

Mr. Stewart invokes the metaphor of a traffic merger at the Lincoln Tunnel, "You go, then I'll go." "Sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute. But that individual is rare and he is scorned, and he is not hired as an analyst."

Loved that!

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I loved that also NY.

I am watching on C-Span. They just put up 3 numbers, one each, for Repubs., Dems and Indies to call and give their opinion as to whether this was political or entertainment.

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Interesting comments so far on C-Span. Pretty positive so far from all sides. I am just waiting for that one nasty call though!

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This wasn't ever about what was presented, it was about people being together and feeling unified. That looked pretty exciting to me.

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."

I loved that. As soon as he said it I grabbed a pen and wrote it down to remind myself.

Phyllis, it depends. More than 50%, yes, but not to the point that it was awkward. Spotting a minority was a Where's Waldo game during the Glenn Beck rally. I was standing next to two Muslim women in hijabs- those two alone made it more diverse than the Glenn Beck rally. Just the few videos available already show diversity in the crowd.

I was most surprised at the age demographics. Critics tend to write off the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert watchers as pot smoking 20-somethings, but I saw everyone from baby boomers down to babies. There were retirees, families with teenagers, families with elementary school aged children, families with babies, and yes, a lot of 20-somethings.

They definitely underestimated for the crowd. Definitely not a bad problem to have at an event that's all about representing "the rest of us", but a little unfortunate. I was on 7th street and was too far back to see the stage, but I could hear and barely see the jumbotrons. I would have been more annoyed were I not sure videos of the event would be online within hours.

I have to say, I hope the signs from today are as well-documented as the insane racist ones at the tea party rallies. My personal favorite was a picture of Glenn Beck's face on a grilled cheese sandwich that said "The New Messiah" because it made me laugh, but there were many poignant and intelligent signs, in addition to all the silly ones, and (other than the zombie trend), none that openly called for violence, death and destruction. All of them had proper spelling and grammar too!

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There was also an open-joke going around with Jon employing Samantha Bee and Aasif Mandvi to ask people about their diversity.

YWIW - was thinking about you all day! Can't wait to hear your full report.

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We just got home. We were there early - by 10 - and were maybe 75-100 yards back from the stage. We could barely see it, but the jumbotrons were just fine. There was a HUGE diversity there in terms of age. I admit I didn't see many black people, but my favorite sign was "Even I'm suspicious of myself because I look like an illegal immigrant" that a Moslem man was holding - who was walking with his brother holding a sign that said "God loves fags."

There was a guy there who looked JUST like Cheney who, after the rally, had got up on a fence and was flipping people off. It was pretty funny.

The rally itself went up and down. For two hours before the show itself started they played clips from The Daily Show and Colbert Report leading up to the rally. The Roots/John Legend went on too long, and frankly, I didn't get the point of a religious song in this setting.

The Mythbusters stuff was VERY entertaining for those of us there. It's hard to get a grasp on how many people are there when you're in the midst of it, but the wave experiments that went from the capitol to the Washington Monument was impressive.

Most of the the comedy bits landed. If anything, the video clips were, for me, the least enjoyable, perhaps because it felt like we might as well have not been there for that.

I loved the Kid Rock song and was very entertained by the "train" medley.

The traffic there was INSANE -- took us five hours to get down from NJ -- only three to come home. Still, it was worth it to have been there.

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Got home about an hour ago. My thoughts:

It was a VERY diverse crowd. Different ages, different ethnicities.

The vibe was electric. I had never been to anything event like this before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it exceeded my expectations.

Father Guido Sarducci feel flat, but the Cat Stevens/Ozzie/O'Jays number was inspired.

Stewart's speech at the end was surprisingly moving.

Mavis!

Sam Waterson reading Stephen's poem was hysterical.

Could have done without Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.

They needed to be edgier; it came across as very safe.

Getting there and back was insane. 3.75 hours to drive from northern NJ to Greenbelt Metro station. AN HOUR in line to buy a ticket. 40 minute train ride. TWENTY MINUTES to get out of the Metro station. Another twenty to get to a decent spot, probably about 150 yards from stage, but with a good view of a screen. The trip home was slightly better.

Crowd was incredibly polite.

CBS has estimated the crowd at 215k.

I am exhausted.

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Updated On: 10/31/10 at 11:03 PM

And HuffPo shows that, despite their support for the rally, they just don't get that they're a part of the problem, with this headline:

"Rally Attendance OBLITERATES Turnout To Glenn Beck Rally"

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HA. I saw far more signs bashing Fox News for their fear mongering than I did of those promoting legalization of marijuana.

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Just got home and I am so happy to have been part of the event. For me, it was about showing up and being counted as part of the spectrum of sanity (relatively) in the middle of all the far left and far right craziness. (And yes, it's challenging my self image to admit that I am a moderate... but it's true.)

I read where a lot of news sources reported a "young" audience, but that was not my experience. I suspect that the front of the crowd may have tended to be younger and willing to have camped out all night to have a killer spot. We were three jumbotrons back (ie near the halfway mark of the wave) and there were lots of very ordinary looking middle aged and older people, many of whom had traveled from the midwest. There was also a pretty fair mix of cultures and races...at least as far as one can tell by a superficial impression.

I tend to get a little angry and self-righteous politically from time to time, and the message of being realistic but assertively holding our leaders accountable really had an impact on me.

Again, had a fabulous time at a remarkable safe-feeling and inspiring event. I've been nearing the edge of no return lately when it comes to my disgust at the political environment, and I had my energy restored to hold out hope for change for the better.

At least until Tuesday. Get back to me about it if the unthinkable happens in Delaware or Nevada. THEN, all bets are off.

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