Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" - Reports and pictures from the ground - UPDATE: The "musical battle" with Yusuf/Cat Stevens etc. (VIDEO)

Today is the big day! More then a dozen of our faithful Gaters are supposed to meet up in Washington D.C. today, in about half an hour, actually. The organization so far went very smoothly.

We hope to receive some reports and pictures in real time, and we will constantly add new information to this post.

Kathleen just spoke to Mrs. TBB on the phone, and she said that the atmosphere there is simply wonderful.

We also received a message from from NYCgirl two hours ago, who wrote:

"Arianna greeted the bus crowd at 5:30AM.
She is stunning in person. She let me give her a kiss on the cheek.

We are finally on the bus. I hardly slept but I don't care.
Love you guys. Please post.

Live, Laugh, Love"

NYCgirl with Arianna Huffington:

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So far, I found the following live streams to the rally:

The "official" live stream from Comedy Central is HERE.

Live stream from Politico.

Washington Post has another live stream.

Comedy Central publishes pictures from the event in "real-time" here.

The live stream of C-SPAN is HERE.

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I just spoke to Comeonpeople and VirginiaVoter on the phone, and everybody is in great spirits. It's a huge crowd there, and they are all very excited. We hope to receive pictures from our Gaters soon.

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We received a picture of some of our Gaters at the rally - look at the great Palingates scarves! :-)

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SCREENSHOTS OF THE HUGE CROWD:

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VirginaVoter sent us more photos from the rally:

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Great sign, seen on twitter:

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UPDATE:

The epic "battle" between Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Ozzy Osbourne and the O'Jays is already on youtube:

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I would like to include the famous "home version" of "Peace Train" - what a beautiful song, what a great idea by Jon Stewart to invite him:

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UPDATE 2:

Kathleen and I just spoke on the phone to several of our Gaters, and they had interesting stories to tell. First I talked to Joe Christmas who just drove back with his children. He lives close to Washington D.C. and said that he has never ever seen a crowd like that. It was impossible for them to reach the Mall, because the Metro was completely flooded with people, and there was the longest line to the ticket counter he has ever seen (see also the picture below!).

Then Kathleen and I managed to talk to CaliGirl22, Vera City and PCG. Kathleen also earlier talked to Mrs TBB and VirginiaVoter. They all had a great day, but they said that the crowd apparently hugely exceeded the expectations. In the back of the crowd, people could neither hear nor see, because the speakers weren't loud enough. It's apparent that the organizers wildly underestimated the number of visitors while they planned the event.

Some of the Gaters will return tonight, and especially Very City has a long way, she will drive back with the bus tonight, which will take about 12 hours to Canada. Others are staying in D.C. over the night, we are trying to hook up CaliGirl22 together with Comeonpeople for the evening, not sure if we were successful so far. ;-)

They all think that there were far more than 250.000 people, probably around 400.000. And don't forget that there was probably a significant number of people who didn't even make it to the Mall, like Joe Christmas!

It was a memorable and exciting day for everyone!

A very strong statement by modern America was made today, against hate, fear and bigotry.

Here are some pictures I found earlier on twitter:

The line to the Metro station:

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UPDATE 3:

Pearlygirl sent more pictures. These are particularly interesting, because they show very well how tightly the crowd was "packed." Pearlygirl wrote: "A very tall man offered to put me on his shoulders so I took some overhead shots of the crowd."

I had some fun with one of the signs which were photographed at the rally - Pearlygirl also sent me a picture of a woman who moved away from Alaska about a year ago and who was wearing a t-shirt with exactly the same slogan. I guess she knew why...

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UPDATE 4:

I tried to get a better comparison between the "Beck rally" and the "Stewart rally" from an "overhead" perspective. Therefore I diligently reconstructed the areas in which the crowds were present.

Here is a picture from the Beck rally, as seen from the Washington Monument:

And here is a picture of the rally today, also seen from the Washington Monument, with another picture next to it in order to get a better feel for the area:

If you mark these areas on the map, accurately and without distortions, from the stage to the end of the crowds, you get this picture (download the map as PDF):

There is of course the long "Reflecting Pool" within the "Beck rectangle." Also, my impression is that the audience at Jon Stewart's rally today was much tighter packed. So hopefully this is an interesting comparison.

Here is a great "close-up" shot of the crowd, taken from Washington Monument:

Flickr: philliefan99

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UPDATE 5:

Our reader comeonpeople sent more pictures, with more sweet signs:

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Buzzfeed has a great collection of "The 100 Best Signs At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear", although there were certainly hundreds, if not thousands another excellent signs.

Included in the collection is a really funny one about the Alaskan Ice Queen:

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Tea Party Clowns Parrot Sarah Palin on Healthcare - UPDATE

By Kathleen

The circus comes to town....great clips of elephants, just listen to the clowns.

For more excellent videos, please visit "www.newleftmedia.com".

"Control, government control, Government won't listen to us, losing our country, tyranical dictators" - all Sarah's talking points neatly rhymed off. But ask them what their specific problems are with the Health Care Bill and they will say "I don't know" or "Obama care is euthanasia - it's rationing" or "I don't even know what's in the bill, per se".

The clowns are content to listen to “titbits” but they are not interested in facts. They don’t believe that Obama adheres to the constitution or that he was a constitutional lawyer but they do believe that the Bill advocates Sarah's death panels or that Glenn Beck's principles are the “truth”

Glenn Beck's "Nine Principles":

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

(click here watch the clip of this photo session

with Glenn Beck's fake tears)

The interviewer, Chase Whiteside, points out that not every person in America believes in God. I guess that that fact alone will make it difficult for some to follow Glenn's “truth”. What rights will unbelievers have in the Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's America?

The Tea Party wants to “take America back”. From what and from whom? It’s my reading of their ideas that they would prefer a country run along the lines of a theocracy and my view is that they are the ones who want to give America away to the theocrats.

The fact is that the Health Care Bill has not been rushed through – various versions of Health Care reform in America have been debated on for years and it’s time for the US to finally take a stand and vote on the reform, no matter what the outcome.

(h/t to our reader wayofpeace for the video!)

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UPDATE (by Patrick):

I have just discovered that "newleftmedia" put up a "b-roll" of their former interviews with Tea Party demonstrators in October 2009. I have never seen this clip before - it's also great!



In addition, these two clips have been mentioned in the comments and will give you lots of laughs for the weekend:

- Jon Stewart with the ultimate Glenn Beck parody: "Conservative Libertarian" (via "freerangetalk")

- A hilarious satirical encounter between Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.

Have fun!

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UPDATE 2:

Here is an amazing clip of a very, very brave man - protesting the protesting teabaggers: "Public Option Now!"



There you have your right of free speech, teabaggers!

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UPDATE 3:

A reader sent us an eyewitness report from the demonstration by teabaggers protesting the healthcare bill which took place today in Washington D.C.:

One of the first comments I read this afternoon made reference to Rep. Cantor's statement about crowds at the demonstration held today at the Capitol. Well, here's an eyewitness account. I was having one of my usual walks in Our Fair City this afternoon. First, I ambled through LaFayette Park, where, indeed, as your commenter pointed out, groups had gathered on the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq.

But that crowd is not the point of this message.

I then walked down Constitution Avenue, stopping at the corner of First Street, from which location I had an excellent view of the gathering on the Hill. (I would go no closer because I make it a point not to expose myself to the people who attend such events.) At approximately noon, the crowd had filled about one-quarter of the front lawn (only the area directly in front of the building) that runs from the Capitol to First Street.

I have lived in Washington for 58 years, and I have seen massive crowds of people gathered here for a variety of reasons. Just as an example, the people who marked Solidarity Day in 1991 filled the entire lawn in front of the Capitol, both its east and its west side lawns, and the entire National Mall, from the Capitol to the grounds of the Washington Monument at 16th Street. I am sure I need not remind people of the huge numbers who attended better-remembered events, such as the march at which Dr. King delivered his "I have a dream" address.

Today, there were a few thousand people in attendance -- I am being generous in my estimate.

Not exactly impressive. Maybe it's just because I've been here a lot longer than Rep. Cantor.

Keep this in mind when they start circulating the bogus photos of the "massive crowds."
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