memeorandum: Tea Party Kingmaker Becomes Power Unto Himself (Kate Zernike/New York Times)

7:00 PM ET, October 30, 2010

Top Items:

“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, Moonbattery, theblogprof, NY Daily News, Patterico's Pontifications, The Other McCain, Gateway Pundit, protein wisdom, Big Journalism, Riehl World View and Confederate Yankee, more at Mediagazer »

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: New York Times, The Nation, American Power, The Daily Beast, Joe. My. God., Guardian and Theo Spark, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

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: Moraes on TV, Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media, Achenblog, skippy the bush kangaroo, Hot Air and Corrente

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: msnbc.com, Doug Ross, Big Hollywood and Weasel Zippers

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.”

The Politico:

Jon Stewart points finger at media — Jon Stewart has met the enemy, and it's the media. — The Comedy Central comedian and “Daily Show” host walked a fine line between politics and humor Saturday as he gathered tens of thousands on the National Mall for his “Rally to Restore Sanity.”

Discussion: CNN, Guardian and JammieWearingFool

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

Discussion: Beltway Confidential, TPMDC, JammieWearingFool, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

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: Liberty Pundits Blog, Little Green Footballs, The Plum Line and TPMDC

Digby / Hullabaloo:
Why our elections are a joke …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America

Coordinator / ABC News' Press Room: ABC NEWS ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS EVERYWHERE

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

Discussion: The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, SpeakEasy, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Reid Report, Pajamas Media and TPMDC

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: TPMDC and AmSpecBlog

Ed Driscoll / Pajamas Media:

Video: Riding the Peace Train — Earlier today, Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, whom you may remember from such 1970s hits as “Peace Train” and “The First Cut is the Deepest” appeared at Jon Stewart's “Rally to Restore Sanity.” Mediaite has the vide of his appearance there, and notes:

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and NewsBusters.org blogs

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Lisa, are you going to shut down my Facebook page for writing this? — Yesterday, Lisa Murkowski's hired guns threatened radio host Dan Fagan, and more importantly, the station that airs Fagan's show, with legal action for allegedly illegal “electioneering.”

Discussion: Hot Air, sisu, POWIP, Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, GOP 12, The Right Scoop, Right Wing News, Riehl World View, five feet of fury. and National Review

Jon Ralston / Las Vegas Sun Blogs:

Republicans lose ground for second straight day in early voting, maintain turnout percentage edge — Republicans lost ground to the Democrats in the urban counties on the largest and last day of early voting Friday, surely giving Democrats hope that a surge to blunt the GOP momentum could carry over into Election Day.

Discussion: National Review, Daily Kos and POLISING

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:

Clinton rallies base, slams ‘fact-free’ GOP midterm campaign — CANTON, Ohio — A fiery former President Bill Clinton rallied the Democratic faithful in Ohio on Saturday, where several of the party's incumbents face long odds Tuesday. — Clinton rallied with Gov. Ted Strickland and freshman …

Discussion: CNN

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

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, msnbc.com and Hot Air

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
House Dems who pushed health bill to passage face grim Election Day

Discussion: Wake up America

Vicki Needham / The Hill:

Obama urges cooperation after election, calls GOP remarks ‘troubling’ — President Obama urged Republicans and Democrats to work together to solve the nation's economic issues regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's midterm elections. — In his weekly address Saturday …

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

CQ-Roll Call / The Eye:
Rich Iott Won't Commit to Backing Boehner for Speaker

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and TPMDC

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 believed linked …

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

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

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

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

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Private School Civility Gap — Education reform is all the rage these days. — It's no longer just the weighty obsession of parents with few options scrambling to get a child into a better school. It has also become the “it” topic of the cocktail crowd, including many parents with children …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and LewRockwell.com Blog

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