Thank you Jon Stewart for the awesome rally!

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Satellite picture from the rally:



A quater million people showed up, another 2 million watched the rally live. Thank you Jon Stewart for putting on a great show, I enjoyed it and I'm extremely glad I went out there. Got to meet a lot of really cool, perfectly sane people from all sides of the political spectrum. It is a event I will remember for the rest of my life.

Some of my own personal pictures from the rally:

5am:



Sunrise:



Countdown after standing in one spot after over 6 hours:



And the rally:









And to the new born Jon Stewart haters: OMG!!! Jon Stewert said something some of you don't agree with and suddenly he is no longer funny, he makes too much money, and he's a traitor. Booo-fucking-whooo. Get over yourselfs. I've been here a long time, I don't think I've ever seen anyone get thrown under the bus in this fashion before.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Thanks for the photos

[PBass]

2. "The Rally For Nothing"? yawn. Lets all be... something. Nicer? It's unclear. (NT)

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3. The rally against hyperbole.

[emulatorloo]

7. Something about Proper Highway Ettiquette, I think?

Nobody said a damn thing about voting except for Tony Bennett.

To OP: pointing out JS's contradictions is not the same thing as "throwing him under the bus."

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8. What contradictions? And reasonable criticism of the rally is not throwing him under the bus

that's not what I'm refering to. What I'm refering to is the new found hate of Jon Stewart here on DU. He went from someone highly regarded to a guy that is no longer funny and makes too much money to care about regular people.

To me that is throwing him under the bus.

[emulatorloo]

9. He pushed the "Kerry is Boring" meme in 2004 like there was no tomorrow. Before the 06 Midterms

he showed a cartoon that had the message of "Midterm elections are boring and unimportant, so don't bother"

He's constructed a persona of himself as "cynical snarky nothing really matters". He's a comedian, so why not? But he gets trapped in that persona sometimes. That's why I think he did not bother to tell people to Vote at the rally.

He is the best damn interviewer out there, but again he has this persona that keeps him in "cynical snarky nothing matters mode." Do I honestly believe this is how he feels? No.

I love his show, I love his interviewing skills. But this persona he's trapped in is worth examining.

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11. But let's be honest, Kerry was boring & it's no secret that generally midterms dont have a turnout

I don't ever recall him saying don't bother in midterm elections, I could be wrong.

He is by no means always right. He threw acorn under the bus just like everyone else did. But I'm not expecting perfection from him, nobody is perfect.

The reason he didn't bother to tell anyone to go out and vote was because that's not what his rally was about. This wasn't about getting the democrats elected, this was about showing that republican policies are fucking insane. Plenty of rallies for that. His rally was about the media and the national discourse in this country. You may not like that theme, but that was the theme from the begining. And I'm glad about that. Like I said in my OP, I honestly met people from all walks of life at that rally and the night before. Republicans, libertarians, democrats, liberals, and people that just didn't give a flying fuck about politics in general. They all agreed on one thing, that the media blows. And I think we can all agree on that.

And I don't think his persona is that nothing matters. His persona is that the way this country is ran is absolute bullshit. If he honestly didn't think anything mattered he would not have asked people to get out to washington DC for a rally he was throwing.

[politicasista]

12. Bruce Springsteen didn't think so

As do other DUers that belong to the DU Kerry group. Luckily opinions aren't facts, and the Senator is doing a nice job as Charmian of the Foreign Relations Committee, but guess that isn't "liberal" enough for some.

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14. The fact he is boring doesn't mean that he wasn't a good senator or be a good president

it simply means that he is boring. I don't know about you, but I don't vote based on how entertaining someone is.

Jon Stewart is a comedian. He makes fun of people. Bush was an idiot, Stewart made fun of that. Kerry was smart but boring, Stewart made fun of that. It's up to you which you think is more important. But you can't say that Jon Stewart was being unrealistic with his characterizations.

[politicasista]

16. Still, his and your opinion, but doesn't add up to the facts

Pics and crowd reactions don't lie.

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19. Fair enough, it is our opinion. But look at my post below with Kerry's DNC speech vs Obama's

it's a very stark difference. Once is monotone, the other has energy that can fill a room.

And if your beef with Stewart is that he called Kerry boring I would think that's the least of your worries.

[politicasista]

21. It was a RW talking point and he, GOP and some Dems ran with it

Some DUers that have met him in person say the opposite.

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24. This wasn't about people that met him in person. This was about him in public

he was running for a public office.

Again, I do not think that how entertaining someone is matters. And the fact the right wing made it an issue (I dont remember it being an issue, and I remember that election very well) just shows how batshit crazy their ideas are. But apprently you think as they do, that how entertaining a president is actually matters. To me it doesn't. We'll just have to leave it there.

[politicasista]

26. Ok n/t

[politicasista]

13. delete n/t

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15. You know what makes me facepalm the most? When people post a reply filled with no content

but instead with nothing more than smilies. What are you, in the first grade? This isn't facebook. Grow up.

[politicasista]

17. He and you think that

Kerry was "boring." That's a meme that the media, GOP, and some Dems and Jon used against him in 04 and it worked and apparently still works today.



Not the one that needs to grow up either, but believe what you want.

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18. Show me one exciting speech Kerry gave

Here is his 2008 DNC speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO2PAm4iCtE

Feel the monotone in all that.

Now contrast that with Obama's 2004 DNC speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fMNIofUw2I

Feel the energy, the interesting story. It's a clear contrast.

Again, the fact is Kerry was fairly boring to the majority of the people out there, and I couldn't care any less about that. Yet you seem to be all butt hurt about it. I don't vote based on boring/not boring, and I would assume the majority of this country doesn't either.

[politicasista]

20. His 2008 speech called the best given by a non-pres nominee.

and his 2006 dissent speech was to DUers that were there.


But continue to disrespect one of Obama's best allies, and surrogate during the 08 campaign. Amazing people still feel the need to put down Kerry but praise Obama. And I enjoyed Obama's speeches too.

As said, earlier, he didn't "bore" serious people like Bruce Springsteen, (he wrote a song about his 71 testimony) Afghan pres Karzai, the crowds that saw him past the media spin, and kids.

Weird! adults think he's boring, but the kids and babies in the 04 pics felt comfortable around him.


And again, everyone has an opinion, but it doesn't always add up to the facts.

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23. Ooooh, you're an adult. Congratulations. I guess that means I'm much dumber, since Im only 25

You keep insisting that pointing out Kerry isn't all that entertaining is disrespecting him. He was running for president, his job is not to be entertaining. His job is to be smart. And that he did very well. I'm sorry that I can take a joke about the guy that I support and you can't, I guess it is what it is.

[politicasista]

25. Ok.

And yes, an adult. Early 30s. Fine, it's a joke. Peace.

[PBass]

31. The "Kerry is Boring" meme is the same shallow bullshit

that Jon Stewart claims to be against, when the mainstream media does it. It's completely hypocritical.

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32. It's not shallow bullshit, it's called comedy

Jon Stewart wasn't telling anyone not to vote for Kerry because he was boring, in fact he was saying the exact opposite. Stewart never made it a political issue, he simply cracked a few jokes about it.

I find it amazing how many people are incapable of taking a joke when that joke is directed at their side.

[politicasista]

22. Exactly n/t

[tabatha]

4. Great photos.

Neat FinePix camera - the color of the sky is correct (the other colors are good, too).

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6. Thanks, to be fair I adjusted levels in photoshop to improve colors

the camera isn't all that great :p

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Nice pictures. Beautiful day.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Soral]

27. I was there, and that picture STILL doesn't show all the people

we were spilled down a side road at the top left point of that photograph, and it was packed all the way to the top steps of the museums

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28. Yup, sorry, I didnt meant to try to paint a picture of crowd size. I was upfront

I have some pictures right after the rally outside, it was insane. You could only walk one way because of how packed people were. I regret not taking pictures of the metro, we were packed like sardines in there.

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29. Here are 21 more pictures, sorry dial up users:

[phasma ex machina]

30. Thanks for sharing.