Jon Stewart's Sanity Rally a Success --

To those that are buying media reports that the only people who attended the Rally to Restore Sanity were college kids on pot picnics and people under 35, Jeff Jarvis was not the only exception to the rule. I know several couples over 50 who went, and my husband and I, age 65 and 58, would have been there if we could. You can take the rebels out of the 60s but.... Jarvis said Stewart presented himself with equal proportions of optimism, perspective, honesty and, yes, humor. Most of Stewart's barbs were at the media, mostly cable news, but not even NPR escaped unscathed. A popular sign at the rally was "Sanity, Not Hannity." This link has a slideshow of pictures from the rally.

The rally coverage so far has downplayed it or been dismissive. The Washington Post says, "Nonpartisan bits, musical entertainment and gentle ribbing of the purported enemies of incivility." The times saw it as "shtick" and "weak." "Part circus, part satire, part holiday parade." But Jarvis, who was there, said the entertainment made a point. When I saw Cat Stevens (sorry, he'll always be Cat to us) sing Peace Train, I got chills, and the days of war protests flooded back. Jarvis saw many people his own age (56), and just as many college aged.

With a margin for error plus or minus 10 percent, AirPhotosLive.com, commissioned by CBS news, estimated attendance at the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" at 215,000. Shots of Sanity Rally here. Shots of Beck Rally here. I know people are going to disagree, your prerogative. It's really hard to tell, but I see more bare spots at the Beck rally. . I recommend everyone read Jeff Jarvis' first person review of the rally here, and the following pertinent parts of Stewart's closing.

This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear--they are, and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

There are terrorists, and racists, and Stalinists, and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned! ....Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult--not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. ....the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false.

So why would we work together? ....why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution, and homophobes who see no one's humanity but their own? We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done.....The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done every damned day! The only place we don't is here (in Washington) or on cable TV! But Americans don't live here, or on cable TV....

Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done--not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don't live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do! But they do it. Impossible things, every day, that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make....

Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness, and sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land. Sometimes, it's just New Jersey.

Sources: Personal opinion; BusinessInsider; CBSNews