Rally To Restore Obamanism

Writes Tom Bivens:

The big story is Jon Stewart’s/Steven Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” The event is being billed as a reaction to the Tea Party. But we all know what it really is: the liberal version of the Tea Party. Instead of criticizing the government, the purpose is to distract the people. Neither Colbert or Stewart has mentioned any issues other than the liberal concerns about “healthcare” (which they mean managed care) and “regulating the economy” (by which they mean controlling). I can’t help but think about the “bread and circuses” of the Roman Empire.

All purchases of rally merchandise go the National Mall Trust, so that our National Temples may remain pristine, and the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which heralds the Empire and all those who have died in its name.

However, I suspect the next real Tea Party rally will feature Muslims being thrown into pits to be feasted on by tigers.

UPDATE from Bill Jones:

It’s funny that no one seems to have noticed that the Jon Stewart rally was the whitest thing to have hit Washington since the 1925 Klan march.

UPDATE from Bonnie Kristian:

I am a faithful reader of your site, but couldn’t disagree more with today’s “Rally To Restore Obamanism.”

Do Stewart and Colbert lean left? Yes, certainly. And do they fail to criticize many of the things we’d like them to bash? Again, yes. But I watched much of the presentation live (which the author of the previous post did not seem to do), and it was anything but “the liberal version of the Tea Party.” On the contrary, Stewart heavily criticized the government, media, and politicians. He made clear the problems with allowing these groups to scare us into irrationality and apathy (Sound familiar? Porno-scanners, for instance?). He argued that America — the nation, not the state — is very good at getting things done, but that it is government and the media which fails to accomplish good things; and that the media should be blamed for its reactionary attitude which only furthers politicians’ unwarranted fearmongering. Stewart was careful to balance criticism of fearmongering on the right with examples from the left, specifically calling for people to stop wrongly fearing the Tea Party or calling it racist without real cause.

Most of it would have fit right in at LRC.

So with no disrespect to Mr. Bivens, I am very much forced to cry foul. True, it was not a perfect event — the donations to the National Mall Trust are indeed unfortunate. But it was a far more truthful and rational event than about 99.9% of what happens on that lawn. And the other .1% is only better because it has Ron Paul.

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1:50 pm on October 30, 2010