Rally in U.S. capital pokes fun at politics ahead of mid-term elections
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Tens of thousands of people converged Saturday in Washington, D.C. for funnymen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, enjoying an afternoon of antidote to the nation's polarizing politics in a campaigning season filled with partisan bickering.
The rally drew a partying crowd stretching from the foot of the Capitol Hill to the far end of the National Mall, with many participants dressed in Halloween costumes, carrying deadpan signs decrying the insanity of this political season such as "Jon Stewart wants you to take it down a notch."
The rally stage was a mix of humor and music. Musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow kept the crowd entertained, while Stewart and fellow comedian Colbert, whose wildly popular comedy shows have made them superstars among young people, made sure they had a good laugh. Stunts were also involved. Colbert arrived on stage in a capsule to parody the Chilean miner rescue.
"It's a blast," Francy Ryl, a self-described independent of Dover Delaware said at the rally, noting it is "all about fun."
"This campaign season has been really nasty," she said, and people needed some fun.
Mindy Rosengarden, a mom from New Hope, Pennsylvania, said she traveled all the way to Washington for the rally because she thinks "the two extremes are crazy," and the rally is a good place to show what most of the people are like.
"We get up and go to work and do the best we can."
The rally is seen as a liberal response to the conservative Tea Party movement, which was humorously panned at the rally. With three days to go before the Mid-term elections, the rally is also a get out and vote call for independents.
At least it is for Ryl. Come Nov. 2, she said, she will get all serious and go and vote for Chris Coons, the Democratic Senate Candidate for Delaware, not Christine O'Donnell, the controversial Republican candidate of the state who had been relentlessly parodied by participants of the rally.
