Beyond Rally To Restore Sanity: Other Defining Jon Stewart Moments

Jon Stewart closed Saturday's Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear with remarks that took the media -- particularly cable news media -- to task for its role in American political life.

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing," Stewart told the crowd.

It's the same sort of criticism that Stewart has leveled against pundits for years, but on Saturday, before an estimated 215,000 people and just days before midterm elections, Stewart's on-stage remarks may have resonated more deeply than ever before.

"The country's 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems," Stewart said. "But its existence makes solving them that much harder."

Stewart could have used the phrase "perpetual panic conflictinator" during another of his defining career moments: his 2004 appearance on the late CNN show "Crossfire."

WATCH:

HuffPost Political Reporter Jason Linkins revisited Stewart's infamous "Crossfire" performance in the lead-up to Saturday's rally. Linkins highlighted an email from HuffPost reader Larry Alessandrini.

Alessandrini saw Stewart's "Crossfire" appearance as "the seed" for Saturday's rally:

"Stewart basically laid the seed for his upcoming Rally, the premise of which is that the most extreme, insane voices get all the media attention. His biting critique of Crossfire illustrated that without a sane, rational, objective press in this country, sanity and civil discourse has no chance."

Another defining moment? Stewart's introduction of the first "Daily Show" after 9/11.

WATCH

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
September 11, 2001
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Stewart's other defining moments:
• Rally To Restore Sanity's Roots: A 'Relatively Closer Look' At Hitler References

• Rally To Restore Sanity's Roots: Colbert's Fear Of Bears, 'Godless Killing Machines'

• Rally To Restore Sanity's Roots: 'Is That How You Talk To Your Grandchildren?'

• Rally To Restore Sanity's Roots: 'Real America'

• Rally To Restore Sanity's Roots: A Search For Calm From Day One

Comments

[Heidi L]

01:36 PM on 11/01/2010

Anyone hear MSNBC Morning Joe congratulating themselves on Jon's rally. Apparently it was their idea and THEY have been urging people to listen to each others views for years. It's in the first 5 mins of Monday's show. Watch it, worth the laugh.

[Shawn Fraine]

05:19 PM on 10/31/2010

I love how ridiculous news networks look when they say that about The Daily Show. Jon, of course, was spot on.

[TommyMcCarthy]

04:24 PM on 10/31/2010

Devastating Clip.....So glad I caught it

Many thanx to Huffpo as always.

Fascinating to see such an early example of Stewart's now famous style........
As one who approaches television as the potentially poisonous insturment it is...I was utterly unaware of Stewart and his show during the'04 campaign.

Seen in this context, one can discern a logical continium in Stewart's work leading to the events of this weekend.

If nothing else, it's gratifying to witness someone who's disdain for the insufferable Tucker Carlson exceeded even my own (something I thought not possible).

Speaking of "insufferable"...
People who seem to think that they know tell me that I simply don't "get" Steven Colbert.
I get that alot.....
In fact, I do (and did) "get" Andy Kaufmann, Andrew Dice Clay, Lisa Lampinelli, as well as Msr. Colbert....I just didn't like it.

In the case of Colbert,...I can't think why so many otherwise intelligent people seem to place Colbert's "work" on a level with Stewart's.
THAT I certainly don't get.

The clip highlights the now-much-advanced state of discourse in which the political commentary of a professional comedian is seen as on point and trustworthy...while "serious" journalists are often simply ...clowns.

As we know, (some of us)
during the decline of the Roman Empire...leaders took great pains to distract the populace with "bread and circuses".

With the "bread" of OUR empire largely gone. we are left with circuses only.

Stewart is no clown.
TM

[Bob Reed]

05:01 PM on 11/02/2010

Colbert is completely different than the daily show, yet just as powerful.

[dizmo4]

03:11 PM on 10/31/2010

Didn't CNN cancel crossfire within weeks of Stewarts appearance?

[hexenpants]

03:36 PM on 10/31/2010

Three months after his appearance on the show, CNN announced that it was canceling Crossfire.

[Southrnbelle]

03:02 PM on 10/31/2010

It is going to be fascinating to see how the "Right" will dissect Jon and the Rally in the next two days.

STEWART/COLBERT 2016!!!!

[Deezul]

03:30 PM on 10/31/2010

They are already saying how their soon to be blind savior Beck's rally was larger because Beck (remember, he is going blind) estimated 500,000 people even though official estimates said 87,000.

If it wasn't so sad it would be funny

[guitarguy22]

10:13 PM on 10/31/2010

I see Fox is already posting stories saying the rally attendees were "insane," that no one could see or hear anything, and that the only people who gave comments were ones for legalizing marijuana.

[joemartin1296]

01:00 PM on 10/31/2010

there's just something weird about getting lectured on reason, sanity and morality by a guy too dishonest and ashamed to use his real last name.

i think you're funny, jon stewart/leibowitz, but lose the God complex.

[dbl48]

01:11 PM on 10/31/2010

Thank God you are not God...

[gloriab]

02:54 PM on 10/31/2010

I can agree, but first tell me if you attend the Church of Glenn.

[Robert David Steele]

12:42 PM on 10/31/2010

The rally was a starting point. The key topic for discussion now should be "what next." I have two specific proposals:

1) Comment and contribute to the Virtual Cabinet being blogged here at Huffington Post (a huge honor that I work hard to earn with each post), and suggest to the Huffington Post that we have a January Open Space conference that is a combination of Constitutional Convention and citizen wisdom council setting stage for a nation-wide dialog (ideally with the help of the National Coalition for Dialog and Deliberation (NCDD) and the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP--and its a mob not a party) that actually takes have the budget and INSTRUCTS our corrupt representives on how to vote--END party line voting and END earmarks. URL for the Virtual Cabinet series:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-david-steele

Second, I don't care what party you like or what issues you favor, there is ONE THING we can and should all agree on: Electoral Reform. One page, nine points, pass it on, please!

http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/10/reference-election-reform-one-page-nine-points/

[Olethea]

12:18 PM on 10/31/2010

I honestly love this clip and Jon is spot on.

Tucker is swiftly relieved of his smug. And his career.

[jtLOL]

07:59 PM on 11/01/2010

So much for Stewart's message of civility and togetherness...

[Olethea]

08:04 PM on 11/01/2010

You never actually thought that some one like Tucker would listen to a sane message did you?

[beasteben]

12:15 PM on 10/31/2010

I am still moved by the honest monologue Steward gave after 9/11.

[Robert David Steele]

12:45 PM on 10/31/2010

Agree. I sensed an enormous amount of reflection and rehearsal. This was IMPORTANT and he treated We the People and the challenge with the gravity and the commitment they merited. I actually find it therapeutic that the only two honest commentators on reality right now are professional comedians--now if we can get the ventriloquist guy to join them, we have three honest branches of government and can start self-governing.

[Akiva Sanders]

10:13 AM on 10/31/2010

my favorite moment of the rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U79TBDoRzEY

[Olethea]

12:08 PM on 10/31/2010

That is awesome! Was this kid wasted? Has he never climbed a rope in gym class?

[Akiva Sanders]

10:13 AM on 10/31/2010

My favorite moment of the rally:

[Sandmanj]

09:39 AM on 10/31/2010

Stewart single-handedly managed to get that hideous "Cross-Fire" show canceled.

[Ides]

12:01 PM on 10/31/2010

I watched it happen. Tears of laughter flowed down my cheeks.

[Sandmanj]

01:18 PM on 10/31/2010

Tucker Carlson responded to Stewart like a whining cry-baby in a polka-dot bowtie.

[Instant Karma81]

07:28 AM on 10/31/2010

I was at this rally and ill tell you I've never been around so many great people who had enough sense to realize that anyone in the media who is spitting venom that we can tune these people out with a click of the remote. People there didn't need to be told by Jon to go vote we already A. Will vote or B. have voted. Lastly id say people that showed up wanted to be counted and seen and above all get behind the idea that sanity can be a part of our collective discourse. I support Jon and his measage, but more importantly we laughed and had a good time without incident, thank you Jon and the people of DC.

[writer10027]

09:33 AM on 10/31/2010

Great post! F& F.

[gloriab]

02:55 PM on 10/31/2010

Yes! Use that remote even if it has poop on it. (Colbert warning).

[BobJacobson]

05:13 AM on 10/31/2010

Funny, except that the conflict is continuous and not urged on by the people who were attending or watching the show. I doubt many of them heard or care about Stewart's calming remarks and are instead determined to stomp us into the ground come Tuesday and thereafter. Would another such rally deter them? I think not. Get a grip, Jon. It's one thing to spread "feel good," quite another to promote passive acceptance of truly intolerable aggression and oppression. Hell, the corporations just bought the election. Should we go out and buy more sugar water and gasoline, for the sake of sanity?

[rockyrococoAZ]

05:19 AM on 10/31/2010

I'm not so sure it's lost yet, Bob. And I don't think Stewart was promoting passive acceptance of intolerable aggression or oppression. I think he was promoting a vision that takes strength to deal with the intolerable aggression with a composure that doesn't just reflect that aggression back at them. To win, takes the ability to stand calm in the face of such and then speak and write and advocate with clarity -- and sanity -- that demonstrates vision and leadership.

[rockyrococoAZ]

05:36 AM on 10/31/2010

I don't think Stewart was suggesting passive acceptance of intolerable aggression or oppression. However, rather than answering that aggression with more of the same, strength demonstrated by composure and words of vision and leadership can guide the way to get beyond the aggression.

I'd call your attention to Nelson Mandela. I just finished watching Invictus. It's almost a sappy movie about how rugby brought South Africa together after apartheid. But what it really does is show how Mandela had that very quality of strength of character and vision and shows specific incidents where he did exactly the opposite of reflecting back the aggression that he spent his life fighting against.

It's a poignant movie about a poignant life at an important point in contemporary history and social justice/civil rights.

And last week I started reading "Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself." Rather than a biography or even autobiography, it's a compilation of selected excerpts from extensive journals Mandela kept over the course of decades, before, during and after his imprisonment.

If you want to understand what Jon Stewart was getting at, you can get some insight from Mandela.

[MysticLady]

12:51 PM on 10/31/2010

Thank You Rocky! I think Jon Stewart is on the path of non violent resistance, not 'passive acceptance of intolerable aggression or oppression'. The path of Tolstoy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. I think I will include the Dalai Lama too. Thank you for the book referral. Many years ago I was impressed with the autobiography of Anwar Sadat.

The power of the people can be resistance and in our country voting.

[Whipper Snapper 61]

05:09 AM on 10/31/2010

LOVE JON.....