Restoring Honor Rally 8/28

[Ladewig]

Maybe if it was from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument. I think you're looking at the wrong part of the map you cited.

Yes. The map is not as symmetrical as it first appears because the large rectangle between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is the reflecting pool.

 

[DC]

So I'm starting to get the feeling the Tea Party is really a kind of stealth Christian Supremacist movement, with all the racism, shallow jingoist mentality, and choking overdose of Everything in the Name of Jesus you'd expect.

In a way, it's almost the inverse of the Republican Party. Instead of a fundamentally political movement that relies on a small number of religious issues to shanghai a large number of grass roots activists, the Tea Party seems fundamentally religious, relying on a small number of political issues to shanghai its activists.

I'm not all the way convinced yet, but I'm certainly getting there.

what was racist about the event yesterday?

 

[bynmdsue]

what was racist about the event yesterday?

The way they concealed their racism.

 

[Ryan O'Dine]

what was racist about the event yesterday?

My post was referring to the party as a whole. The rally was just a data point. (I've heard people concoct racist underpinnings for the rally's timing, but my concerns don't rest on that.)

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Maybe if it was from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument. I think you're looking at the wrong part of the map you cited.

Instead it looks like Beck's Restore 1950 Rally ran from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial, with a sparser crowd leading to the Washington Monument. CBS has pictures and is reporting that about 87,000 attended.

I saw that this morning that I was assuming the wrong direction for the event.

There was still a lot of people there. Unless someone offered them free airfare and hotels, it's still incredible that many people find a lunatic like Beck the least bit credible or worth listening to. Maybe adding Palin drew some of the crowd. Either way it's scary.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...
So the rally could have been about anything and they could say anything and you would read between the lines. Your mind about the rally was made up long ago. You give creedence to the statement that the media wrote their stories about the rally days before the rally.

This is a straw man. The right wingers that Beck and Fox attract are not just saying "anything". Their sentiments are clearly evident and I'm not going to argue with you about it. If you don't see it, nothing I can show you will change your opinion either.

I know a lot of people who like Glen Beck not a one of them I know believes "no foreigners, no atheists, no non-Christian values". Most do believe that historically a lot of people on unemployment and welfare are lazy.

Right, Beck "Obama is a racist", "Our country is in serious trouble" yadda yadda yadda... The guy is a nut and anyone who finds the insane stuff he spouts to be the truth are likely just as nuts.

 

[Skeptic]

The way they concealed their racism.

I met I Black guy on the bus today and didn't call him a ******. That just shows you how awful a concealed racist I am, I guess.

 

[Foster Zygote]

I see a lot of Father Coughlin in Glenn Beck these days.

I had the same thought.

 

[Skeptic]

As usual the charges of "bigoted racism" fall flat when one looks at what Beck or Palin actually said.

Sounds more like standard boiler-plate love of country 'n' God 'n' mom 'n' apple pie -- with the even-more-standard "this country is going to hell in a hand-basket unless you support me" stuff.

Pretty annoying, yes, but standard populist politician fare. Racist? Not really.

So the accusations must turn to things like "they hold bigoted opinions but didn't express them" or "there were no signs allowed because they were afraid people would display bigoted messages" -- which, like the accusations of an "undercurrent of racism" in the right's previous rallies, amount to "not racist but I'm going to call them that anyway" or "They're racists because they disagree with me". Pretty thin gruel.

As for the accusation that Beck is a wannabe dictator, well, he's a populist blowhard, but dictator? Come on. More a matter of the usual progressive snobism: help! help! He's stirring up the ignorant masses! (When "ignorant masses" = "people of the opposite political view than I have".)

Then again, on second thought, I fail to see why either's record as "political activist" and "community organizer" would make him a worse candidate for the presidency than some other politicians.

 

[dudalb]

As usual the charges of "bigoted racism" fall flat when one looks at what Beck or Palin actually said.

Sounds more like standard boiler-plate love of country 'n' God 'n' mom 'n' apple pie -- with the even-more-standard "this country is going to hell in a hand-basket unless you support me" stuff.

Pretty annoying, yes, but standard populist politician fare. Racist? Not really.

So the accusations must turn to things like "they hold bigoted opinions but didn't express them" or "there were no signs allowed because they were afraid people would display bigoted messages" -- which, like the accusations of an "undercurrent of racism" in the right's previous rallies, amount to "not racist but I'm going to call them that anyway" or "They're racists because they disagree with me". Pretty thin gruel.

As for the accusation that Beck is a wannabe dictator, well, he's a populist blowhard, but dictator? Come on. More a matter of the usual progressive snobism: help! help! He's stirring up the ignorant masses! (When "ignorant masses" = "people of the opposite political view than I have".)

Then again, on second thought, I fail to see why either's record as "political activist" and "community organizer" would make him a worse candidate for the presidency than some other politicians.

I agree with a couple of your points, particularly about progressive snobbery, but I don't think you get how extreme Beck really is. He is using the old tactic of putting on a more moderate face in public, but dishing out really extreme views when he is speaking to his hard core followers.
Anybody who calls Teddy Roosevelt a "Socialist" is way, way,out there.
I guess the debate is whether Beck is a Nehemiah Scudder, who really believes the crap he is saying, or a Lonesome Rhodes (The Andy Griffith charecter in A Face IN the Crowd) who is cynically exploiting his followerers for personal gain. Either way, the guy is despicable. And I am fairly conservative on several issues. Frankly, I am uneasy about the way the Becks of the world are being embraced by some mainstream Conservatives. I don't know if the Maminstream people can control the wingnuts as well as they might think.

 

[bynmdsue]

...but the crowd was "overwhelmingly white" !

Who told all the minorities to stay away? Beck or Sharpton?

and why is that man still conking his hair? is he ashamed of something?

 

[dudalb]

...but the crowd was "overwhelmingly white" !

Who told all the minorities to stay away? Beck or Sharpton?

and why is that man still conking his hair? is he ashamed of something?

Will you defend anybody on the Political Right, no matter how crazy they are?

 

[bynmdsue]

I'm not defending anyone,I'm attacking Reverend Al

 

[dudalb]

I'm not defending anyone,I'm attacking Reverend Al

Actually a full scale fistfight between Beck and Sharpton is something I would like to see. At times I wonder if in secret they don't get Together and laugh on how they are putting one over on the suckers.
I get very annoyned when those on the Liberal side make excuses for the Rev.Al, just as much as those on the right when they make excuses for Beck. Both are peddling crazy.

 

[Rodney]

As usual the charges of "bigoted racism" fall flat when one looks at what Beck or Palin actually said.

Not to mention the number of African-Americans who performed or spoke at the rally.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

... That actually doesn't mean anything.

But I won't really comment since after I read that "Americans are turning back to God!"

.. uh.. Beck.. you DO know the proportion of Christians here, right?

 

[Foolmewunz]

No one's covering it over here, at least not the important question:


Did he cry?

 

[Denver]

Depends on how you define 'cry'.

All week, he's been in and out of the tremulous voice.

I don't recall any tears, however.

 

[MattusMaximus]

It was much larger than I thought it would be given how absolutely mentally ill Beck's rantings actually are.

Park service crowd estimate map

CNN claimed the crowd went as far back as the WA Monument and I think that agrees with the pictures I saw. That makes 500,000 a very low estimate. It could be closer to 1,000,000.

Can you post some of those pictures? Or link to them?

 

[MattusMaximus]

Maybe if it was from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument. I think you're looking at the wrong part of the map you cited.

Instead it looks like Beck's Restore 1950 Rally ran from the Lincoln Memorial to the World War II Memorial, with a sparser crowd leading to the Washington Monument. CBS has pictures and is reporting that about 87,000 attended.

Ah, thanks for that. Yeah, that seems to be much more in line with the estimates by the AP. And, I will add, it seems that even given the uncertainty in the estimates, Beck didn't make his minimum of 100,000.

Good