• Not our next president Beck was asked by Chris Wallace this morning if he would possibly consider a Beck/Palin presidential ticket after the huge success of yesterday’s event. He called himself “unelectable.” Understandably.
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  most over-the-top chatterOn “Reliable Sources” today, Howard Kurtz took his boy Bill Press to task for comparing the Beck rally to “granting al-Qaeda permission to hold a rally at Ground Zero.” Really?! Oh boy.
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  View from the MetroOne enterprising DC blogger, Carlos in DC, did a lot of his own coverage of the rally, and most of it is worth reading. The highlight for us is this clip which shows the glut of people from another angle.

• If it’s not the essence, then we’ve been sold a pack of lies. The essence is that everyone deserves a shot — the content of character not the color of skin.
• Glenn Beck • Explaining that his goal for yesterday’s march was to take the civil rights movement “from politics” and back to the “people of faith who believe you have an equal right to justice.” Beck made the comments today on “Fox News Sunday.” And he doesn’t agree with even that part of the civil rights movement, either. He claims that King’s speech, on top of voting rights, dealt with economic issues. He says “full and fair employment” and “decent housing” were part of what King was trying to sell, “but that’s a part of it that I don’t agree with.” Does Beck even know what he’s saying anymore? Seriously? There’s so much loopy logic in his treatment of civil rights that we can’t believe anyone takes it seriously. It’s like he accidentally backed into the civil rights debate because of his awful timing and is trying to back himself out of it. And failing. source

• 87,000 showed up, give or take a few source

• People are clear in what Dr. King’s dream was about, and we will not react to those who try to distort that dream.
• The Rev. Al Sharpton • Speaking at an event in honor of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech today. The event, which was held at a D.C. high school instead of the National Mall (Glenn Beck’s peeps got that spot) worked as a giant reaction to the Beck event, rather than an event of its own merit. Which is to say that they kept bringing up the Beck event in various ways. “When I look at my television, I don’t see the King crowd of blacks and whites together,” said D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. NAACP leader Ben Jealous brought it up explicitly: “We are not sure what the message of the Beck rally is, since he told them to leave their signs at home.” Honestly, Sharpton’s event shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be a celebration. source

• Something beyond imagination is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.
• Glenn Beck • During a speech he made at the Restoring Honor thang, which has drawn a small handful of people. Beyond our personal issues with the quote, mainly because we personally prefer nonreligious Humanism, the scope of what Beck has put together is pretty impressive. “We are humbled that you are here,” he said. “The reflecting pool holds about 200,000 people. This field back here holds about 250- to 300,000 people. They are not only full here, they’re full in that field, they’re full behind me, and they are now across the street approaching the Washington Monument.” So yeah, this thing was kind of a hit. source

• Local Bloggers don’t really care about the rally. They see so many of them that they’re pretty much old hat at this point. In fact, sites like DCist or We Love DC didn’t even give tomorrow’s Glenn Beck rally a second notice until this hilarious guide hit the popular consciousness, starting on those blogs and eventually making its way onto Rachel Maddow’s show. They neutered it and turned it into a PR opportunity. (Smart move.) As a DC-based blog, we would like to point out a couple of things: One, we just saw a couple using the Metro tonight who blocked the aisle on the train with a couple of hunting-camo lawn chairs. Two, the nice thing about DC is that it’s a diverse city, so you might want to consider hitting U Street and checking out a show at The Black Cat. Trust us. source

• I made it clear when we were approached: I said, ‘If it’s political, I wouldn’t even approach Albert with it.’ I don’t want to be there if it’s political.
• St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa • Totally misjudging the nature of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” event on Saturday. He’ll be bringing his biggest star, Albert Pujols, with him. The baseball luminaries will be in D.C. on Saturday to play the Washington Nationals (who perhaps have the worst luck in the world right now), but will also be honored at the event. The event will also have a speech from Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Alveda King, which should be interesting to see. (Hint: She works at a conservative think-tank.) source

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• To our friends visiting Washington on August 28th to take part in Glenn Beck’s no-longer-9/12 protests: Here’s your map. (And some guy also made a dead-serious guide, too.) Visit the monuments, but don’t you dare leave the blue zone, or you’ll be in the red zones that signify D.C. You don’t want to be caught dead in Dupont Circle. It’s the ‘hood. source

• Not-so Kool Keith vents Keith Olbermann was very much in Edward R. Murrow mode for his “Ground Zero Mosque” special statement on Monday night, and while it was largely over-the-top, he made some good points, and an entertaining “This is America, dammit!” pitch for religious freedom.
• Glenn guffaws, and then some Apparently, the only part of the entire twelve-minute statement Beck heard was the “This is America, Dammit!” part, because he kept replaying it over and over, and didn’t tackle the argument at all. He chose, instead, to ridicule Olbermann, saying nobody watches his show.