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01 Nov 2010 22:44

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Politics: Keith Olbermann stops “Worst Person in the World” segment (for now)

  • Well, that was unexpected. While criticizing the “Rally To Restore Sanity,” Keith Olbermann actually bent to it a little bit. He’s taking a break from the most well-known segment of “Countdown,” the “Worst Person in the World” segment, which (hilariously enough) was created in an attempt to defend Tucker “mining Journolist for traffic” Carlson. Is this temporary? Is it a pre-election stunt? Does it matter? Who cares! It’s Keith, admitting Jon Stewart’s rally got to him while at the same time saying it didn’t really get to him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2010 19:08

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Politics: After the party: Reddit and Fark feel used by Stewart & Colbert

  • delight After weeks of heavy suggestion from the Internet, specifically Reddit, Comedy Central goes forward with “The Rally To Restore Sanity.” Everyone’s estatic.
  • dissing One of the co-founders of Reddit asks Stewart at a press conference how the Internet helped influence them to do the rally. His response? “It didn’t hurt.” Ouch.
  • drama Drew Curtis of Fark loudly rips Comedy Central for giving the Internet too little credit for sparking the idea. It’s the angriest we’ve ever seen Drew. source
  • » The lesson to take here: DO NOT PISS OFF THE INTERNET. EVEN IF YOU’RE JON FREAKING STEWART. THEY WILL TURN ON YOU.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 5 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2010 22:04

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Politics: Max Headroom: Examples of amplifying everything & hearing nothing

  • We hear nothing Jon Stewart had this killer line during his twelve-minute rant: “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” It’s so relevant to this video that you know that the second this moron starts yelling that you can ignore basically anything he says. He obviously heard nothing in the speech.
  • Missing the point And here’s someone who missed the whole point of the whole driving-through-the-tunnel analogy, which is that we have our differences and such but we’re just normal people. This guy instead suggests that “sanity” will be restored by Tuesday’s election. Not the same thing, buddy.
  • Here’s the point You know what critics of the rally are missing out of all of this? The inherent, almost simplistic euphoria that was around the event. The excitement that was there. There’s no politics in this video. Only a simple exchange between a random dude and a hot girl holding an “America” sign. Fuck yeah!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2010 20:26

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Politics: DC Metro numbers suggest huge “Rally to Restore Sanity” crowds

  • 350,000 number of trips the DC Metro has on an average Saturday
  • 825,437 number of trips the DC Metro had yesterday source
  • » To put it in perspective: The rally had the highest Saturday ridership ever – passing the record set in June 1991, when a rally was held for Operation Desert Storm. That rally gave Metro around 786,358 trips that day. And assuming the riders went round-trip yesterday, that means 237,719 extra riders were on the Metro yesterday. That doesn’t mean 237,719 extra people – the tally doesn’t account for multiple trips by the same rider – but suffice it to say that the crowd was really huge yesterday. And no, the Beck rally (which also took place on a Saturday) didn’t even rate in the top five (which is what we know you were really wondering).
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Oct 2010 19:45

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Politics: How big was the crowd at the Rally To Restore Sanity, anyway?

Comedy Central estimated 250,000, which would be bigger than many estimates (but not the official estimate) of the Glenn Beck rally. Either way, it was freaking massive. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Oct 2010 09:26

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Politics: “Rally To Restore Sanity”: Faceless bureaucrats plan counter-rally

Just before the “Rally To Restore Sanity” happens this morning, a bunch of faceless bureaucrats hope to prove that they, in fact, have a face. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Oct 2010 10:36

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Politics: Obama’s headed to “The Daily Show” for totally calculated reasons

  • The President hasn’t been shy about going to the places where people are getting their information and trying to make his case. And I think that’s what he’ll do on the show.
  • White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs • Admitting that Obama’s reasons for going on “The Daily Show” are a last-ditch effort to build some momentum going into the midterms. Which, let’s face it, there are much worse ways to do that. We just wish it wasn’t so calculated. In other Jon Stewart-related news, TBD has a pretty entertaining takedown of all the media pundits who have been freaking out over “The Rally to Restore Sanity” and “The March to Keep Fear Alive,” many of which are along the lines of “omigodhe’sgonetoofarthistime” screeds. Use your heads, guys. It’s no worse than any other rally. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Sep 2010 02:10

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Politics: The Colbert/Stewart rally: Pseudo-intellectuals call it “high-Broderist”

  • Good God. Have a sense of humor, folks. There seems to be so much second-guessing about the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally online that none of it is worth taking seriously. First, FireDogLake pulled out the phrase “a little too high-Broderist for my taste” to describe the moderate conceit of Stewart’s rally. Uh, what? Now, Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon is concerned that the comics may be “bearing an uncanny resemblance to the things we despise.” Do you pompous progressive types read what you write? Can’t you just let something stand on its own as a source of entertainment? Does anyone even know what the hell “high-Broderist” means? Neither do we. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Sep 2010 11:02

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Politics: Stewart and Colbert’s rallies somehow scaring Democrats

  • A lot of people on campus are going. I’m planning to attend it, too. Right now I don’t think we’re worried about an effect on GOTV. The rally is Saturday; Halloween is Sunday. We’re still going to vote on Tuesday.
  • Georgetown University College Democrats spokesperson William Vogt • Suggesting the Democrats’ worst fears – that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s dueling rallies will affect “get out the vote” efforts on the weekend before the election. Dave Weigel, writing about the phenomenon for Slate, seems skeptical. “The Democratic panic is out of whack,” he writes. “Stewart’s rally will attract two kinds of people: The liberals who weren’t going to GOTV anyway, and the liberals who needed this final jolt to reconnect with their elitism.” We’re with him. It’s going to be tough for the Democrats this year, no matter where their voters are on October 30th. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Sep 2010 10:21

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Culture: Mark your calendar: Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart’s dueling rallies


  • “Rally to Restore Sanity” Great angle for a rally on Stewart’s part. Perhaps this might inspire a bunch of reasonable people to make a pitch for political reasonableness. On October 30th, we expect to see no “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.

  • “March to Keep Fear Alive” “People should book their hotel rooms now or their children might turn gay!” That’s some pretty stellar fearmongering there, Stephen Colbert. OK, who wants to go? Julius has a couch with your name on it! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
 
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