Stewart/Colbert Washington Rally and Glenn Beck: The Joke Is On....???

Okay, what's the difference between these two duos who staged huge DC rallies?

The duo in the top picture tell jokes. The duo in the bottom picture are jokes.

Give them credit if for no other reason they sure can spot a great opportunity for self-promotion. Comedy Central comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert staged their “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” in response to Glenn Beck’s ill-timed demonstration on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “Dream” speech last August. Largely seen as left wing shills by conservatives, to attach political significance to this rally is perhaps ill-advised. It was largely an entertainment event. However, if they accomplished to trivial Glenn Beck’s position in the spotlight, that’s a good thing.

The Washington Mall was packed as were all metro arteries feeding into the city. While there is no pretense that Stewart and Colbert are entertainers, why should anyone afford Glenn Beck a status any greater than theirs? Glen Beck truly has no greater credentials than the comedy duo, he just pretends he does. Stewart and Colbert provide some smirks and laughs at the end of a busy day while from Glenn Beck’s opening “Hello America” in a pseudo somber tone of voice conveys a sense of gather round, “Now let me ruin your day.” Both the Comedy Central shows and Beck’s show take aim at the state of affairs of the day. The comedy guys are left wing sympathizers. Beck is a perverted paranoid who comes across as more anti-liberal and anti-government than he is truly the voice of anything other than some apocalyptic choice. Stewart and Colbert are unmistakably jokers. Glenn Beck is unmistakably a joke.

Those who attended this weekend’s rally at least got a good laugh. Those who attended Beck’s rally got a pompous Sunday school lesson from a man of ambiguous faith and convention, a pathetic man hell bent on self promotion, who uses fear and self-righteousness to create a huge audience exploiting a culture of paranoia.

How much either event influences Tuesday’s election is hard to say. Both were big jokes, but the question of who is the joke really on might be easier to determine from today’s presentation than the Beck/Palin charade late last summer.


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