memeorandum: Rally to Restore Sanity: ‘If we amplify everything, we hear nothing’ (Washington Post)

10:40 PM ET, October 30, 2010

Top Items:

Rally to Restore Sanity: ‘If we amplify everything, we hear nothing’ — Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the first names in fake-news anchormen, drew throngs of exuberant supporters to Washington on Saturday for a televised and live-streamed joint rally that shut down streets, overloaded the transit system and flooded the Mall.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Examiner, The Daily Caller, Moraes on TV, PostPartisan, The Daily Beast, The Caucus, Connecting.the.Dots, Pajamas Media, Achenblog, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, skippy the bush kangaroo and Corrente

Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:

Counting the Crowd: Hard to Do for Jon Stewart's Rally — How many people are on the National Mall for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert? The final answer? We don't know. — Mr. Stewart opened the rally with an allusion to the difficulties of figuring this out, proposing to the assembled crowd, “We're going to count them all.”

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Patterico's Pontifications

New York Times:

At Rally, Thousands — Billions? — Respond — WASHINGTON —Part circus, part satire, part holiday parade, the crowds that flooded the National Mall for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” on Saturday made it a political event like no other.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Caucus, Mediaite, The Nation and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Vicki Needham / The Hill:

Crowd estimates for Stewart-Colbert rally uncertain, but Mall was packed — Jon Stewart estimated a crowd of 10 million. Stephen Colbert, Stewart's partner in Saturday's political-comedy rally tweeted his early guess of 6 billion. — Later in the afternoon, Colbert pondered on Twitter: “What a fantastic turnout at my rally!

Discussion: TPMDC, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Moderate Voice and NPR

J.P. Freire / Beltway Confidential:

“Rally to Restore Sanity” pledges to “strictly prohibit filming” at National Mall — Irony reaches new heights as Comedy Central is going to “strictly prohibit filming” of the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive. PJTV's Washington Bureau chief Richard Pollock inquired …

Discussion: Associated Press, theblogprof, Moonbattery, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, protein wisdom, The Other McCain, Big Journalism, Riehl World View and Confederate Yankee, more at Mediagazer »

Hope Yen / Associated Press:

Stewart-Colbert rally draws tens of thousands — In election's shadow, comedians entertain throngs at D.C. ‘sanity’ event — WASHINGTON — In the shadow of the Capitol and the election, comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert entertained a huge throng Saturday at a “sanity” …

Discussion: TBD All News, msnbc.com, Doug Ross, Big Hollywood and Weasel Zippers

Dave Itzkoff / The Caucus:

Live Blog: At the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear — Thousands gathered on the National Mall with the comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Saturday for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Below is the live blog of the event. [Related Article]

Discussion: The Nation, The BRAD BLOG, Joe. My. God. and The Daily Beast

The Politico:
Jon Stewart points finger at media

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Guardian and JammieWearingFool

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Democrats Recruit Volunteers Outside Stewart-Colbert Rally

Discussion: Beltway Confidential, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC and Prairie Weather

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Cat Stevens Appearance At Sanity Rally Rankles Right Winger — Conservative bete noir Yusuf Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens) made a guest appearance at the Comedy Central rally today, inspiring an instant backlash from at least one right winger, a group fond of accusing the musician of sympathizing with terrorists.

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Fatwa-endorsing singer featured at “Restoring Sanity” rally? — I tuned in to the “Restoring Sanity” rally on the National Mall today during the prep time before the NARN broadcast this afternoon, just in time to see “Peace Train” performed live — and I said to my radio partner Mitch Berg …

Discussion: Power Line, Weekly Standard, Althouse and AmSpecBlog

Aaron Worthing / Patterico's Pontifications:

WTF?! Islamofascist at the Rally to Restore Sanity?! (Update: A trip Down Memory Lane with Stewart and South Park; Salman Rushdie on Yusuf Islam; Video: Yusuf Islam on Wishing He Could Burn Rushdie Alive) — [Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.

Discussion: American Power, Outside the Beltway, TPMDC and Theo Spark

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Yusuf Islam (AKA Cat Stevens) And Ozzy Osbourne Battle At ‘Sanity Rally’ — Wow. The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear just had a Battle of the Bands between Yusuf Islam (also known as Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne. The 'pro-sanity" part of the rally (lead by Jon Stewart) …

Ed Driscoll / Pajamas Media:
Video: Riding the Peace Train

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk and American Power

Coordinator / ABC News' Press Room:

Breitbart's Participation in ABC News Digital Town Hall Event Draws Fire — The following is attributable to Andrew Morse, Executive Producer, ABC News Digital: — Since conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart announced on his website that he was going to be a participant …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Liberty Pundits Blog, TPMDC and Media Matters for America

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Source: ABC's newsroom upset with decision to tap Andrew Breitbart

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Reid Report, Weasel Zippers, Media Matters for America, Crooks and Liars, SpeakEasy, Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

P.J. Salvatore / Big Journalism:
ABC Election Night Coverage to Feature Loesch, Breitbart

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Plum Line, iOwnTheWorld.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, The Reid Report, The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media and TPMDC

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

Tea Party Kingmaker Becomes Power Unto Himself — On election night last year, South Carolina's freshman senator, Jim DeMint, convened a conference call with 4,000 supporters to declare the next battle: conservatives had to rally behind Marco Rubio, a relative unknown who was trailing …

Discussion: The Page

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Clinton rallies base, slams ‘fact-free’ Republican midterm campaigning

Discussion: The Politico and CNN

Damien Cave / New York Times:
Bill Clinton's Role in Florida Senate Race Seems to Cost Democrat Some Black Votes

Discussion: protein wisdom, msnbc.com and Hot Air

Vicki Needham / The Hill:

Obama fires back at AIDS protesters, tells them to hassle GOP — President Obama deflected heckling by AIDS protesters during a Saturday rally, suggesting they take up their cause with “the other side” that's opposed to funding. — A group of people interrupted Obama's speech before 9,000 in Connecticut chanting “Fund Global AIDS.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers and Gateway Pundit

msnbc.com:

Yemen: Woman detained in terror bomb plot — More packages examined for explosives; U.S. suspects al-Qaida affiliate — Yemeni authorities on Saturday arrested a woman thought to be involved in sending explosive packages headed to the United States and were searching for more suspects …

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Daily Beast

New York Times:
U.S. Sees Complexity of Bombs as Link to Qaeda Group

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Gawker, The Moderate Voice, The Greenroom, Runnin' Scared, Althouse, Don Surber, New York Magazine, Telegraph and The Daily Beast

Josh Kegley / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Former Rand Paul volunteer scheduled to appear in court Nov. 18 — The Paris man accused of stepping on a liberal activist at a U.S. Senate candidate debate in Lexington on Monday will go before a district court judge next month. — Timothy Mark Profitt, 53, is charged with fourth-degree assault …

Discussion: The Reid Report, Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay and TPMDC

CQ-Roll Call / The Eye:

Rich Iott Won't Commit to Backing Boehner for Speaker — TOLEDO, Ohio — Republican Rich Iott, the controversial Congressional candidate who has drawn fire for donning a German Waffen SS uniform, refused on Saturday to say whether he would support Minority Leader John Boehner for Speaker …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and TPMDC

Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Obama urges cooperation after election, calls GOP remarks ‘troubling’

Discussion: theblogprof, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, CNN and JammieWearingFool

The White House:

Weekly Address: President Obama Calls on GOP Leadership to Put Aside Partisan Politics and Focus on Strengthening the Economy — WASHINGTON - In his weekly address, President Obama called the recent comments by the GOP leadership, which put scoring political points over solving the problems facing …

Discussion: The Plum Line