One way to diminish the apparent success of your rival to is to raise the bar of expectations so high that they have no hope of ever meeting. Glenn Beck may have taken that strategy to an extreme today when discussing Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity' at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on October 30th.
First, Beck criticizes Stewart for accepting help from people at the Huffington Post and Oprah for his rally. President Obama is interviewing with Beck, but contrary to Beck's assertion the President is not providing any help to the rally besides a note of encouragement. The Huffington Post and Oprah have provided help, but certainly not to the degree Beck claims. The Huffington Post is providing free bus rides for about 14,000 people to the rally. Numerous Tea Party organizations and helped thousands of Beck attendees attend his own rally. Oprah promised to help one of Stewart's studio audiences get to the rally. The total number of people Oprah is helping is likely less that a few hundred.
Because Stewart is receiving all of this help, Beck goes on to claim that Stewart's rally must produce at least one million people to be considered a success. In comparison, Beck's rally only drew about 87,000 people according to a non-partisan source. Beck himself, using no science whatsoever, only estimated his own crowd to be in the hundreds of thousands. At the end Beck further raises the bar for Stewart by using hyperbole. Beck suggests that nearly every American, some 300,000,000 people, must attend Stewart's rally for it to be success.
Both numbers given out by Beck are likely an unrealistic goal for Stewart (if Stewart even cares). The number of people who have pledged to attend Stewart rally on Facebook is now over 200,000, but many of those individuals will likely not go to Washington D.C. to attend a satellite rally. Most analysts believe the much hyped "Million Man March" even failed to produce one million people in Washington D.C. In reality, if Stewart's rally produces the same numbers as Beck it will be an impressive feat. Stewart has had less than two months to officially plan the rally. The idea behind the rally did not even begin with Stewart, but instead was suggested by people on Reddit as a Stephen Colbert rally. In comparison, Beck spent the better part of one year continually using his radio and television show to promote his "Restoring Honor rally."
Related Artilces:
- President Obama to interview on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" just day before the election.
- When it comes to crowds, size really does matter to Glenn Beck.
Comments
Interesting dribble. Restoring honor was a supreme hit. All the other Johnny come latelies died in a car crash or something. Right?
Come on. Stop this negativity about who done what. Does it really stick in your craw that much that Glenn Beck had a really swell event?
Come on. Stop this negative internal voice. Don't worry about the body count. Go see the Steward rally. Relax. Go with some friends. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Be happy. Spend some money. Enjoy yourself some more and stop thinking about it. Life is too short. Tell me about it after the show. I'm sure there will be some real doosies and lots of laughs.
And don't forget to vote. The encumbant is your enemy.
why is Glenn Beck so worried about the success or failure of a Comedy Central rally? Can you imagine how much Beck would sweat if it was a political rally?
Or a religious revival?
Beck is a carpet bagging liar and a snake oil salesman, but, there are still a coupled hundred thousand people who will watch him every day...
Takes one to know one Anonymous guy.
I hope you like brown and stink cause that's all you got.
While factually true that someone did actually report 87,000..... and... that, um, er.... Aw Shucks. Give it a rest Witt. Just once. You don't have to count heads to see which way the wind blows. Look at the damn pictures then forget about it. Go watch the John Stewart show. It will be great you'll have lots of fun and who cares about what CBS says. We always have you to give us the real story.
It doesn't matter how many clowns show up at the joker rally. The children of the democrat party are finished in Nov. It seems no likes their Marxist ideas.
I think what Beck really hates is the idea that Stewart is trying to "restore Sanity." Even Beck knows that what he spouts daily is nothing close to sane. Look at the ramblings of Sharron Angle and Christine and tell me those women are sane.
I am sick of being denigrated for caring about people, for wanting fairness in this country, and for believing that all people deserve a shot at the American dream, not just the rich white men who inherited a fortune and never had to work for squat. Of course they want even lower taxes. They can buy whatever services they need. The rest of us need police protection, firemen, and public schools. We need snow removal and hood roads and safe bridges. That costs money. I pay taxes as my dues to live in a civilized society. They are NOT too high.
And to the smarmy Anonymous, don;t count your chickens before they fly the coop. You may not be too happy Nov. 3, when the adults retain control of Congress.
Great post.
Jon Leibowitz is a socialist hack assembling the last Kool-Aid Fest for soon to be sobbing poor losers a few days later......boring despite the Twitt Obsession for Jewish / Socialist hack comedians.
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