I know many here are excited about the Washington, D.C. rally being planned by Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I'm sure many of you will attend the rally. I won't. Well, I can't afford to make the trip, to begin with. But even if I could, I would not attend. Now, my reservations have nothing to do with hindering GOTV efforts on the eve of the midterm election. If you use that rationale to oppose the rally, you'd also have to oppose holding any college football games that weekend, since many young voters will be spending their time watching them. There are other concerns I have, which I will get into over the jump.
As noted by sluggahjells on his blog, Stewart has already fallen victim to a familiar MSM folly: a false equivalency between the opinions of those on the right and left. As the NYT reports:
Jon Stewart announced his much-awaited "big announcement" on Thursday’s edition of his late-night program, "The Daily Show." He plans to stage a rally in Washington to counter what he identified as extremists on either side of the political spectrum.
He later labeled it a "Million Moderate March." The purpose, he said, is to counter what he called a minority of 15 percent or 20 percent of the country that has dominated the national political discussion with extreme rhetoric. He tarred both parties with that charge, mentioning both the attacks on the right against President Obama for being everything from a socialist to un-American and on the left against former President Bush for being a war criminal.
Really Jon? Considering George Bush illegally invaded a sovereign nation and used torture to extract information from prisoners, I think the left is a tad bit justified in calling him a war criminal. In fact, in many other nations, he would have been tried for his crimes. And even if you disagree with that assessment, does it even compare to what the tea partiers have said about President Obama? The outright racism shown by the right is far worse than anything said by the left about George Bush. We have elected GOP officials and those aspiring to be the GOP nominee for President saying Obama hates his country and questioning whether he is actually a citizen. We have GOP candidates saying there are people in Congress who should be investigated, and some have even suggested secession and armed insurrection are a distinct possibility. Can any sane person really say that the left and right are equal in their vitriol?
There is another issue I have. What is the point of this rally? Certainly it will not be to motivate people to vote Republican. And, based on Stewart's false equivalency, he will not suggest people vote Democrat. What is the other option? Staying home. This is a recipe a GOP takeover of Congress. He may not see it that way, but it is the logical conclusion. Then there is the tone of the rally itself. Is this going to be a serious rally? Or will this be a mocking of the entire political process, something that deflates voters we need to succeed in November? Will the attendees of the rally be in on the joke or the butt of it?
I think there are too many questions about the motivations of this rally to support it. Again, I wouldn't go anyway, because I simply can't afford to. But if you can, I suggest you attend another rally in D.C. that month that takes place October 2nd.