Anyone going?

Roommate and I are greyhounding up and back for the day

10/26/2010 1:11:43 AM

no

there is no one going

10/26/2010 1:57:02 AM

I realize this thread is about restoring sanity and/or fear... Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight...

10/26/2010 3:11:41 AM

i found out on sunday that my parents are going

also, my wife and i will be there

but that's as much because we're visiting friends who live in DC as because we want to go...without a free place to stay and friends to hang out with, we wouldn't be going

10/26/2010 7:43:45 AM

^^^riiiiiiight

10/26/2010 10:08:41 AM

i'm counting on it being empty...except for the folks oprah gave tickets to...and the folks that colbert gave tickets to

but that's only like 500 people...and half them will probably just stay home and watch it on television or something

10/26/2010 10:25:15 AM

My parents are going. I wish I could go because I want to visit some friends I have in DC but I have to work

10/26/2010 11:03:40 AM

wtf is this?

10/26/2010 11:10:43 AM

^ really?

http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/
http://www.keepfearalive.com/

10/26/2010 11:17:12 AM

Yes really. I don't keep up with you hipsters.

10/26/2010 11:19:42 AM

I probably won't go to the rally but I'll be out on the town that night to see what kind of liberal trim I can smush.

10/26/2010 11:27:32 AM

One of the guys in my lab group is going with a bunch of his friends.

10/26/2010 1:08:19 PM

I know about 7 people who are going (a few who are driving up from Raleigh, & a few who are already going to be nearby for a conference). I am not one of them.

I might if I had more time, unfortunately grad school doesn't offer that luxury.

I'd say maybe next time, but I don't expect there to be another event quite like this.

10/26/2010 1:41:47 PM

I know a ton of people that are going.

I'd go if I had the time, money, and a place to stay.

...i.e. if I cared enough.

10/26/2010 2:00:53 PM

still not sure if i am going or not. would mostly go to visit friends in DC

10/26/2010 3:33:02 PM

Quote :

"I might if I had more time, unfortunately grad school doesn't offer that luxury."

hahahahahaha

10/26/2010 4:25:48 PM

"perhaps the philosophical imperative of the event was best summed up by the Muslim-American Sanity Bus rider who said, "I don't believe I am required every day to prove day and night that I am as good as anybody." Because whether you're Muslim or you're gay or you're red state or blue, it's time to stop being held accountable by the idiots. And that's the ongoing message of Comedy Central's powerhouse duo."

10/26/2010 6:20:16 PM

I'll be there.

10/26/2010 6:22:14 PM

i'll be the guy in a costume

10/26/2010 6:39:29 PM

i'll be there in spirit

10/26/2010 6:54:09 PM

while i applaud the effort, but what exactly are they trying to prove at this thing? the voice of reason has no place will never be heard in politics.

10/26/2010 7:13:39 PM

sometimes it breaks through

that's why we'll have a health-insurance mandate, even though at first glance it sounds like a terrible idea

10/26/2010 9:18:54 PM

^^ To prove that Glenn Beck isn't the only mouthpiece that can gather a crowd in Washington?

10/27/2010 2:06:59 PM

^ that was my assumption

i'm using it as an excuse to visit friends (or vice-versa, i'm not sure ), but i'm looking forward to it nonetheless

10/27/2010 2:09:15 PM

I'll be there

10/27/2010 2:39:46 PM

The President will be on the Daily Show soon, might be interesting. I'll prob watch since it comes on after Ugly Americans.

[Edited on October 27, 2010 at 10:36 PM. Reason : .]

10/27/2010 10:24:56 PM

Wanted to go but all my people backed out, and I'm not driving 10+ hours round trip by myself just to hang out alone in a mob. I will, however, watch it live and kick myself for not going, because at that point I will have forgotten how miserable driving the breadth of Virginia is.

10/28/2010 2:44:28 AM

Husband and I are going on Saturday.

Planning on driving to Falls Church and then taking the metro into DC. Gonna try and be in Falls Church pretty early as I'm sure the metro will be B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

10/28/2010 9:35:36 AM

these guys make a laughing stock of our country if you ask me.

10/28/2010 9:41:49 AM

^ but folks like glenn beck provide a point of pride? perhaps the tea party should be considered a prime example of what a political party should be?

when it comes down to it, yeah, it's all fun and games (except that the people coming to THIS rally very likely understand what they support, while the rally that this one mocks was filled with a bunch of people with little understanding of ANYTHING, especially government)

10/28/2010 10:07:10 AM

if nothing else, go because the Roots will be out there, per Questlove on twitter

10/28/2010 11:06:39 AM

Preliminary schedule

Quote :

"DC Metromix has published what they claim is a preliminary schedule of this weekend’s Rally To Restore Sanity, and at first glance it still looks very preliminary: Pre-Pre Show – 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Video montages and music will play on Jumbotrons to entertain the audience Pre Show – 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. 12:00-12:40 – The Roots will play for the crowd 12:40-12:57 – A comedian (TBA) will warm up the crowd 12:57-1:00 – Video countdown and intros Main Show 1 p.m.-3 p.m. 1:00-1:05 – Singing of the National Anthem by special musical guest (TBA) 1:05-1:20 – Jon Stewart welcomes the crowd 1:20-1:30 – Stephen Colbert enters 1:30-1:35 – Benediction by actor Don Novello (“Father Guido Sarducci”) 1:35-1:40 – Poem reading by actor Sam Waterson (“Law and Order”) 1:40-1:50 – Performance by Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and Mavis Staples 1:50-2:15 – Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert perform together 2:15-2:20 – Performance by Sheryl Crow 2:20-2:30 – Brief statements from special guests (TBA), both live and taped 2:30-2:40 – Performance by special musical guest (TBA) 2:40-2:50 – Sanity and Fear Awards 2:50-3:00 – Final statements by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert"

Other useful info here: http://www.welovedc.com/2010/10/28/rally-to-restore-sanity-schedule/

10/28/2010 1:23:33 PM

I'm going. Flying to Raleigh tonight, and riding up with some friends

10/28/2010 2:11:29 PM

The weather looks like it will be really nice for it. A little cool, which you want when you have a big crowd wedged together (even the State Fair was crowded enough to be warmer than otherwise), and very clear and sunny. WRAL says Cloud Cover 6%, Probability of Precipitation 0%.

[Edited on October 29, 2010 at 1:00 PM. Reason : .]

10/29/2010 12:59:56 PM

starting right now. live on comedycentral.com

10/30/2010 12:00:46 PM

God I love The Roots

10/30/2010 12:08:15 PM

i think adam and jaime are bombing

10/30/2010 12:54:18 PM

so how was it?

10/30/2010 11:44:13 PM

i didn't go or watch it on live tv, but stewart's closing remarks are worth watching. sorry for the poor quality, this was surprisingly hard to find.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avZkM5JDP20

10/30/2010 11:54:46 PM

That is brilliant. I love it.

10/31/2010 7:57:24 AM

I was there and it was incredible.

There were SO many people there. The permit was for 60,000. Attendance overflowed the permitted area by 8am (4 hours before it started), and by the time noon rolled around, it extended 4 blocks behind the permit zone, and in a 3 block radius around the mall itself. This is one of the best arial photos I've seen:

But the crowd extended 2 more city blocks left and right of the stage, and another 2-3 blocks behind where the picture was taken (though obviously more sparse).

CBS Estimated the crowd at 215,000 based on the photos taken. I think anywhere from 250-350,000 is probably a bit more accurate given how far out people had to spread.


The entire DC metro system was effectively shut down for about 6 hours. If you didn't get on a train at the first stop, you got screwed.

The rally itself was awesome. With so many people, I was amazed how polite and relaxed everyone was. People made room to let each other through the crowds, the port-a-potties never got overwhelmed (people waiting for a #2 were actually letting #1's go in front of them).

The signs were great, it was an incredibly diverse group of people (although moreso in political positions than in ethnicity), the music was mostly awesome (could have done without Kid Rock or Crow), and it was just the right mixture of satire and serious.

I was incredibly impressed that both Stewart and Colbert remained completely unpartisan, completely unpolicitcal throughout. It was really a testament that several hundred thousand people showed up to a rally with a cause that no one ever talks about.

10/31/2010 1:01:16 PM

what was the point?

i haven't been following

10/31/2010 1:28:05 PM

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity

10/31/2010 1:45:53 PM

I was in DC Friday interviewing and decided to stay the whole day and walk around (didnt have anything better to do). I saw them setting that up, didn't go though. The wind was bad but overall a descent day.

10/31/2010 3:10:26 PM

Quote :

""

lol

[Edited on October 31, 2010 at 4:01 PM. Reason : .]

10/31/2010 4:00:16 PM

lol

10/31/2010 10:18:54 PM

well, at least this provided some low hanging fruit in terms of material for stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

10/31/2010 11:11:04 PM

Quote :

"The entire DC metro system was effectively shut down for about 6 hours. If you didn't get on a train at the first stop, you got screwed."

We stayed at a hotel in Fairax and then took the Vienna/GMU Metro. The Vienna metro is the last stop so the train was empty before we boarded.

By the time we left the station, the Metro was packed to capacity. People had signs they put up in the windows that said "Sorry, Metro is Full" to let the people know in other Metro stations that there was no way we could fit any more people on.

Well, of course people tried to get on. Then those people got pushed off by the people "guarding" the door. There was one woman who came up between the legs of one of the "door guards" and knocked his mother over. The guy went off on the lady screaming "THIS IS WHY I TOLD YOU TO NOT GET ON THE GOD DAMN TRAIN".

I sat next to this guy who was from Maryland and they had driven to the Courthouse Metro to try and get on the train. The trains were packed of course so they actually took the Metro to Vienna and stayed on the train after it emptied.

We got off the Metro at L'Enfant Plaza. At the Smithsonian station, there was a mass exodus so it was nice to actually get some breathing room on the Metro even if just for one more stop.

Trying to get the to the Rally once off the Metro was also interesting. People were running in every direction trying to get out of the Station. Trying to run up the down escalator. Pushing, shoving etc.



We were about 4 blocks back from the actual stage. Right in front of the food vendors. I think they thought that where the food vendors were would be the back-end of the event. But it extended far beyond that point.

At first the crowd was very hostile and rude. Pushing and shoving to try and get closer to the Jumbotron. When we first got there, I was pushed up against one of the Food Vendor tables. After a while, we were able to make our way away from the Food Vendors. Away from the noisy generator and ice machine. The crowd calmed down a bit when they realized that pushing and shoving wasn't going to get them anywhere. Where they were standing was probably was good as it was going to get.

There were some really dumb people (mostly young teenagers) that left their "prime spot" to come and get food and then had trouble/no luck getting back.

Cell phone service was completly shut down. Nobody had cell phone reception. Which I didn't think would be a problem until a guy near us fainted. Everybody whipped out their cell phone to call 911 but nobody had reception. So we had to yell "MAN DOWN" until somebody from the First Aid tent came over. They called the Paramedics and they responded pretty quickly. They had a little trouble making it through the crowd but for the most part, people moved out of the way when they saw them. And everybody in our crowd moved as far as we could away from the guy so the paramedics could work on him. Also yelling "MAN DOWN" brought like 5 doctors that were at the Rally. Still not sure what happened to the guy. We think it was dehydration. He didn't fall hard on the ground. He kind of slowly fell backwards and pulled a lady's pantleg on the way down.
Everybody around offered him water. One of the doctors started giving him Powerade.

The Metro was pretty much packed solid for the rest of the day following the Rally. My husband and I stayed around D.C. for much of the day, just sightseeing. We were trying to stay in D.C. long enough to avoid the Metro craziness. But even going back to Vienna at 8pm was crazy.

I had a friend that was there but apparently she left like 1/2 way through b/c she got frustrated that she couldn't see the screen. I couldn't see the screen for the most part of the Rally but I never had a problem hearing it. If I had a choice, I'm much happier to hear the Rally then see the screen. I still got some shots of the Jumbotron thanks to the Iphone's zoom feature

11/1/2010 10:00:34 AM

so funny

11/1/2010 2:14:40 PM

Quote :

"^^ To prove that Glenn Beck isn't the only mouthpiece that can gather a crowd in Washington?"

You mean to prove they can gather a crowd 1/4 as big as Beck?

11/1/2010 2:23:42 PM