Million Moderate March

Yesterday, the Daily Show announced that they will be holding a "Rally to Restore Sanity" in D.C. next month.

This is John Stewart's response to the hyper-vocal extremist that predominates the political and social scene. The idea is to show that the middle 80% care too and we don't need to act like children to express ourselves.

It is also a not-too-subtle rebuttal to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally that was held last month and featured a restrained Sarah Palin. Beck created a good deal of controversy by "accidentally" holding his rally on the same day, at the same location (only 2 flights of stairs lower, he would later say in his defense) as the anniversary of MLK Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech. 

Glenn Beck's rally

Just to mock that point, John Stewart spent a good deal of time during his announcement to explain how the show's staff came to choose this date, the 36th anniversary of the Muhammad Ali's and George Foreman's “Rumble in the Jungle.” (the show was already going to be in D.C., that Friday would be too tiring for the crew, and that Sunday is Halloween) 

The Daily Show will provide Sane Signs to any rally-goers such as “I disagree with you, but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler” and “I am not afraid of Muslims/Tea Partiers/Socialists/immigrants/gun owners/gays — But I am afraid of spiders.”

It would make me so happy if this rally turned into a big deal. Now no one is expecting a Million Moderate March, but the Daily Show has nearly 1.5 million fans on Facebook. One or two hundred thousand people could get together and show our leaders and the world that this is not a country filled with crazy people; the crazies are just the vocal minority.

Also, it should be mentioned that Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report will be holding a satirical "March to Keep Fear Alive" on the Mall at the same day. Ought to be amusing.