Response to Restoring Honor rally On August 28, 2010, the
Fox News Channel's
Glenn Beck held a "Restoring Honor" rally at the
Lincoln Memorial. On the same day,
Al Sharpton led a countermarch, called
Reclaim the Dream, to mark the 47th anniversary of the historic
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Stewart has stated that the rally was never intended to be a means to counter Glenn Beck, but was simply another format for his and Colbert's style of humor, saying "We saw [the Restoring Honor rally] and thought, 'What a beautiful outline. What a beautiful structure to fill with what we want to express in live form, festival form.'" Before any public discussion by Stewart, Colbert, or their staffs, members of the
social news website
Reddit independently began to discuss the possibility of a Colbert-led rally, often referred to as a "Restoring
Truthiness Rally". After the rallies were announced, some news articles credited Reddit for the idea.
Announcement Stewart first hinted at the event on the September 7 episode of
The Daily Show by declaring that "[he would] have an announcement sometime in the near to not so near future." Colbert, in that night's episode of
The Report (which aired immediately following
The Daily Show), said that he, too, had an announcement to make. In the following days, Stewart and Colbert used their shows to hype their respective announcements, competing over whose would be more significant. The banter finally culminated with Stewart formally announcing the "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the September 16, 2010 episode of
The Daily Show; Colbert followed by announcing the "March to Keep Fear Alive" on the subsequent episode of
The Colbert Report. Stewart declared that his rally was intended for the majority of Americans, "the 70–80 percenters," who do not hold extreme political views and lack a voice in the media. To illustrate the point, he unveiled a mock motto for the rally: "Take it down a notch for America." A series of protest sign designs were proposed on the
Daily Show featuring messages such as "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not
Hitler." Colbert responded to Stewart's proposal by challenging the theme of Stewart's rally and justifying his own "March to Keep Fear Alive." Noting that this was not the time to be reasonable, Colbert declared, "Now is the time for all good men to freak out for freedom!"
Oprah Winfrey appeared on
The Daily Show via video on October 14, 2010, to award the attending audience free airfare to the rally. The plane tickets were hidden under the audience members' seats in the same fashion as she has given away prizes to her own audience members on
The Oprah Winfrey Show. In the episode of the
Colbert Report airing immediately afterward, Stephen Colbert also offered tickets to his rally.
Arianna Huffington offered to provide free bus rides to the rally. During the show, Colbert also revealed to Stewart that he did not possess a permit to legally organize the "March to Keep Fear Alive," leading Stewart to propose combining the two events into the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" that would feature a new combined logo.
Response to the announcement On the night following the announcement, the pledged number of attendees to the event reached 69,000 on
Facebook. This number far exceeded the 25,000 that the rally organizers had indicated as the estimated number of attendees on the
National Park Service application for a rally permit. The demand for hotels during the period of the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear outpaced that of the "Restoring Honor" rally. The rally spawned several grassroots websites and
Facebook groups for organizing and discussion, some with more than 10,000 followers. Proposals were made for dozens of sister rallies in other major cities, such as
Seattle,
Chicago,
Austin, and
Los Angeles to take place on the same day as the demonstration in Washington, D.C. On September 28,
Arianna Huffington announced on
The Daily Show that
The Huffington Post would provide "as many buses as people to fill them" at a specified meeting place in Manhattan, although her plans were later scaled back and preregistration was imposed. The
Wall Street Journal characterized the Rally as a "send-up" of the Washington Restoring Honor rally led by Glenn Beck and the "Reclaim the Dream" commemorative march led by Al Sharpton on August 28, 2010.
The Canadian Press called the Stewart/Colbert rallies a "not-so-gentle" swipe at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. During a town hall event on September 29,
President Obama cited the forthcoming rally as representing those people who are concerned with more than just the political beliefs of others, in contrast to "provocative" cable news programs. Many news organizations sought media credentials to cover the rally. Anticipating staff interest in attending for non-professional purposes,
NPR barred staffers from attending the rally in a memo that stated: "NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers, nor should they sign petitions or otherwise lend their name to such causes, or contribute money to them. This restriction applies to the upcoming Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies."
NBC and several other media outlets followed suit. Some barred employees from attending the rally outright, while others such as
The Washington Post offered more latitude, telling newsroom managers to differentiate between "participating" and "observing."
Charity drive Prior to the announcement of the joint rally, supporters of the movement for a Colbert-led march had begun a
drive to raise money for educational charities through
DonorsChoose.org, a
charitable organization of which Colbert is a member of the board of directors. In the first 24 hours, supporters raised over $100,000. In the days that followed, that total increased to over $250,000, Jon Stewart promoted the Trust for the National Mall, urging his viewers to make donations on behalf of the rally. As of October 31, 2010, over $188,000 had been donated to the Trust. ==Rally==