by Kimberly Ripley
Member since:
November 17, 2006

Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" Drew Larger Audience Than Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor"

October 31, 2010 08:26 PM UTC (Updated: October 31, 2010 08:27 PM UTC)
views: 0 | 5 people recommend this | comments: 15

Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity," held on Saturday in Washington, D.C. drew a crowd of about 200,000 people, which was a considerably larger audience than Glenn Beck drew to his "Rally to Restore Honor" in August.

According to the New York Daily News, an estimate from AirPhotosLive.com claims there were approximately 215,000 people at Jon Stewart's rally on the National Mall in Washington on Saturday. The same company claimed there were between 78,000 and 96,000 people on the mall in August for Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor."

So what do these numbers tell Americans? That people are more apt to respond to something run by Comedy Central than an attempt by Glenn Beck to help restore honor to a badly bruised country? Is this a sign that people much prefer Jon Stewart to Glenn Beck? Or does it even mean anything at all?

Different companies have, of course, come up with different estimates of attendees for both of these rallies. Comedy Central feels it's imperative to announce that in addition to beating out Glenn Beck's rally tally (Don't you love how that sounds? Say it five times fast....rally tally, rally tally, rally tally........) they also had 4 million viewers streaming the event live on their home computers. Glenn Beck hasn't come back with a number for that one.

 

Jon Stewart: 1, Glenn Beck: 0

 

Of course Stewart had to have the last word, announcing that he was going to have his correspondents in the crowd, counting the attendees as the "Rally to Restore Sanity" one by one by one. Instead he simply estimated the crowd on Saturday morning at a measly 10 million, and by the time he tweeted to his followers (doesn't everyone tweet their Twitter people when something big is going on?) he tallied up at 6 billion rally attendees.

Okay, guys. Something's got to give. Jon Stewart and Glenn Beck, count up your official rally tallies and tweet your Twitter people by 9AM Monday, or both rallies will be considered to have been completely pointless. (Oh, that's right, weren't they anyway?)

 

Photo Sources: Jon Stewart, Glenn Beck

Comments: 15

Kathryn Flynn Oct 31, 2010, 8:31pm UTC
I think it means that even though Glenn Beck has a big mouth that a lot of people find what he says as offensive. I think it also means that even though Stewart and Colbert are on Comedy central, they are actually the most astute political commentators on TV.
Kathryn Flynn Oct 31, 2010, 8:32pm UTC
and that tons of people recognize this most obvious fact. Don't you think so, Kimberly?
Michael Brown Oct 31, 2010, 8:36pm UTC
Looking at it in this perspective - Jon Stewart's larger than Glen Becks, Glen Becks larger than the Democratic rally. My view, it means that the Democrats have lost support, Beck is saying something (right or wrong) that is attracting more people and Stewart hitting it on the head by not taking a party side and saying, we all need to get our act together regardless of what party you're in. It's not about one party being right, it's about doing the right thing.

Just a thought -
Paul M. Oct 31, 2010, 9:07pm UTC
It's cool, but it won't mean jack at the ballot boxes.
Paul M. Oct 31, 2010, 9:50pm UTC
Nah, it's all over but the crying. I still plan to vote Democrat on Tuesday.
John S. Oct 31, 2010, 10:25pm UTC
It tells us that most Americans believe in fairness and are unbigoted. That Mr Beck and his message of fear and hate only works back at fox where it is celebrated and divined.
Visionaerie B. Oct 31, 2010, 10:35pm UTC
I don't watch or listen to either one, although sometimes they do have some interesting guests. I'd like to see an event like this used for some positive charitable purpose, like to combat hunger. There are too many people dividing us when we should be uniting for freedom and a better tomorrow. Thanks for posting this!
Lynne Snyder Oct 31, 2010, 11:14pm UTC
I think it means that Glenn Beck is an idiot and John Stewart and Steve Colbert are the most influential media personalities in politics today!! Love them both and laughed and laughed.
Kimberly Ripley Oct 31, 2010, 11:58pm UTC
= )
Thomas Paine Nov 1, 2010, 1:18am UTC
I got news ... the crowd estimates don't need to come from CBS. Use these pages, and your eyes:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-250_162-10005388.html?tag=page

http://glenbeck.tweeteden.com/let%E2%80%99s-compare-aerial-pictures-of-the-102-828-rallies/

Now ... look where the people are. It's not that hard. I took an aerial of the Mall, drew the outlines and calculated the area. They're about the same. Congratulations to Stewart!

One other thing: I'd be interested to see the breakdown (of course, there is none) of point-of-origin for the attendees to the two events. It's not like Beck drew a lot of locals.... Just sayin....
what cracks me up is that this article IMMEDIATELY is taken up by the sufficiently 'processed' to become a platform for ';we are better than you!'

of course Comedy Central gets more people, it's more FUN!
John S. Nov 1, 2010, 8:51pm UTC
That is the problem with hate speech it starts a tit-for-tat that usually ends in a fight, example the head stomping at a Rand Paul rally in Kentucky.

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