Stewart and Colbert's Rally a Terrible Idea

In a recent interview, Jon Stewart said that his Rally to Restore Sanity/Keep Fear Alive is “not meant to ridicule activism, or the Tea Party movement or religious people.” Maybe he’s being honest about activism and religion, “but if Stewart doesn’t mean to ridicule the Tea Party movement, then I am the High Lama of Shangri-La,” writes Timothy Noah of Slate. And that’s why, even though he likes watching Stewart and Stephen Colbert on TV, Noah thinks they should cancel their rally immediately.

The trouble is that Colbert and Stewart’s style “carries a screw-those-uneducated-yokels message.” And while the duo may be aiming for satire, their audience has discernible political convictions, and the event will inevitably look political to conservatives. And if we know anything about the Tea Party, it’s “that they hate, hate, hate anything that smacks of elitism. The spectacle of affluent 18- to 34-year-olds blanketing the Mall to snicker about wingnut ignoramuses and Bible thumpers will, I fear, have the effect of a red cape waved before a bull.” (More Jon Stewart stories.)