Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Moderates Who Want a to be Heard

Attendees of the "Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear" on the National Mall on October 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

/ Scott Gries/PictureGroup via AP Images

WASHINGTON -- At the corner of Seventh St. and Constitution St. in Northwest Washington on Saturday, countless individuals stood shoulder to shoulder, gridlocked in a solid mob of people trying to cram onto the National Mall for Comedy Central's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear." People were getting anxious and confused -- but they remained courteous and cooperative.

"Move north!" one man shouted. "It's the only way out, and we need to let everyone know."

Before long, several others around him were shouting, "Move North!" Quickly, the crowd was moving again in lines streaming north and south.

"You have to put in work," one young man observed. "It's like the government!"

The scene could have been disastrous, but the acknowledgment of common goals and a cooperative spirit kept things moving. It was exactly the message the hundreds of thousands of rallygoers wanted to send to Washington.

"The truth is... we work together to get things done every damn day," Comedy Central's Jon Stewart told the crowd. People work together to do "impossible things only made possible through the little reasonable, compromises we all make."

Kathleen Gordon-Ross, 35, traveled all the way from Lawrence, Kansas with her husband and five children, ages two to 10, to help get that message across.

"There were a lot of things that needed to be fixed -- they're two years in," she said of President Obama. "It's being able to recognize the progress that has been made and that progress will continue. Has everything been fixed? No. Will [Obama] fix everything? No. There still needs to be cooperation, looking at the interests of the country as a whole rather than what the interest groups or politicians think is a good idea."

Gordon-Ross isn't affiliated with any political party, and her husband is a registered Republican. They kept a picture of George W. Bush on their refrigerator during his presidency so their children would know who the president was. She said she and her husband tend to vote for politicians based on their positions and ideas, rather than their ideology. She couldn't name a single politician, however, who she thinks does a good job creating a spirit of bipartisanship or cooperation in Washington.

A number of people remarked that there are no politicians who are willing to listen to the voices in the middle. So while they came out to the Mall to enjoy some comedy and musical performances, they also wanted to remind Washington that they are there -- and they vote.

"If the rally is all joking, they're not going to take us seriously, and the point of gathering is to make our voices heard," Gordon-Ross said. "If the politicians don't see that people actually care... I don't want to be made a joke."

Judging by the signs, some folks at the rally did simply want to make a joke ("Bacon IS good for you!"), while others were clearly serious ("Nurses for health care reform"). Others, meanwhile, seemed to miss the point of the rally entirely (such as a sign with conservative leaders like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin with Hitler mustaches).

"I think we're making a statement, but maybe not a political statement," said Emily Wallace of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She and her friends were dressed as "Where's Waldo" and carrying a "Have a nice day" sign. "We're just saying, have fun, it's not all serious, we're not all going to die. I think it's a good chance for people on the radical right and the radical left to see that people are just people."

Claudia Salinas, 26, and Lorena Salinas, 22, from Ontario, California were also dressed up -- but their costumes had a more serious message. Following Comedy Central host Steven Colbert's suggestion, the two dressed up as what they fear the most.

"What we fear is our country being torn down the middle," Claudia Salinas said, explaining their Civil War costumes. Lorena was wearing a Confederate hat, while Claudia was wearing a hat from the North, as well as a Mexican sombrero on her back to represent her Mexican heritage. "Whether it be from the North to the South, or from the left and right, when there is a line drawn down the middle it leads to unmeasurable repercussions."

Claudia Salinas said she and her sister were particularly motivated to attend the rally because they are moderate conservatives.

"I think being a registered Republican, I've more often than not seen moderate Republicans shunned," she said. "Those that are running for a moderate position don't seem to be getting support, either from the media or their party."

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Jon Stewart Rally: The Signs
Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity:" A "Non-Political" Rally That Is Actually Politically Charged
Jon Stewart "Sanity" Rally Prompts Cross-Country Journey

41 Photos

Rally for "Sanity and/or Fear"

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[askagain]

The only defense against the majority of the people of the wealthy is their ability to use their money to hire lawyers, lobbyists, and to influence legislators. Otherwise, envy and the "so what" attitude of many people would eagerly strip the wealthy of anything and everything they have accumulated. It is so easy for people to give away other people's money.

[NJBChicago]

Whatever, CBS. You don't even know the meaning of the word moderate. That's why your rating suck. We, the American people, do!

[ohyes1234]

...and we should stand up to Fox News and Tea Part bullies...

[Amusedbyitall]

More people show up at a rally for moderates than to a rally for conservatives.So why do the Republicans, Limball, and the Tea Party claim that there are more conservatives? Slanted polls, maybe.

[ONTIE1]

MODERATES???...............Are you kidding.

This was more like the clown squad for a mismanged jihad.

[Bill_USAF]

How so?

[ambivalin]

"Others, meanwhile, seemed to miss the point of the rally entirely (such as a sign with conservative leaders like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin with Hitler mustaches)." No Ms. Condon, you missed the point... It was a satirical remark about the Tea Party's signs of Obama with a Hitler mustache. Humor and sanity are so much better...

[larrryshrine]

Yes, compromise isn't a dirty word, nor is moderate, or thoughtful. But there is too much polarization in the political dialogue. You see it here, on these boards, where so many call names - "liberals are ill," conservatives suck." - references to "o'bammy" and "limp balls." There is so much hate. But the truth is, not all liberals are Marxists, not all conservatives are racists - far from it. There is, and can be, a vast middle ground who actually embrace our Founding Fathers' idea of civil discourse. I would encourage those who post here to take the time to be quiet for a moment, to be thoughtful, to not just spew hateful rhetoric, to actually listen to one another, to not call names and curse. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be different?

[arthanyel]

Beautifully said, and the 65 people that were in my "talking circle" at the Rally couldn't agree more.

[redvelvet12]

I watched the rally and what I saw was a diversity of people, it made me happy to see everyone getting along, not mad and angry, but uniting as one to help heal this country of evilness and bigotry, there are a lot of negative comments, but everyone is entitled to their opinions, however it makes them stupid and ill-informed, some just can't get over the fact that not everyone hates another human being, regardless of their ethnicity, or religion, what is this world coming to when we can't accept each other because their of differences? I guess it's true what they say you can't teach a uneducated fool, the enthusiasm gap is a bunch of bull, I saw a lot of enthusiasm today, and not a lot of gloom and doom, you proved the pundits wrong on a day of sanity, now go VOTE Nov. 2 God Bless America. peace

[sjc_1]

I think this attracted a lot of Boomers that did not go to rallies in the '60s and figured why not?

[finserra]

I showed up at this rally. It was a lot of fun. I live in the DC area, so it was easy to attend. Since I moved here is 1982, I've been to a lot of these things (left, right, and center; apolitical; very political; non-political). This was a reasonably large crowd by my reckoning based on prior events (150,000 easy). I asked a couple of DC cops for their guesses at around 1:00 PM (they felt the same way). It was not very political in any partisan sense. Sure, the feel was left of center, but not by much. They just looked like the same people I see on the National Mall every day, but in much large numbers with sign s and a few get-ups. The signage was mostly tame and ironic. The typical sign would be something like sanity and fear defining the high and low point of a Y axis on a coordinate plane, and liberal and conservative defining the left and right points on the X axis, with a bell curve depicted; or "just because I disagree with you doesn't make you Hitler." The mood was low key and friendly. Lots of families and Gen We. For anybody who watched the news clip montages from the event, you saw a reasonable amount of poking fun at extreme statements on the left as well as on the right (but most of the lampooning of the right was predictably drawn from Fox). I was there from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM and smelled somebody smoking pot once at the very end (everybody around me viewed it as out of place and unwelcome). Basically, it was a nice show with a decent message. You could take from it what you wished. For my friends on thr right -- get over it, this was a big, civil crowd).