I will just get right out there and say it: from a spectator’s standpoint, my wife and I were very disappointed by The Rally to Restore Sanity. It was an event we were looking forward to attending, and we expected a big crowd.

But when we arrived and stuffed our way into the crowd near the front, we were highly disappointed that it was not only challenging to see a jumbo screen (easy to understand and forgive), but almost impossible to hear the program (bordering on incompetent for how close we were to the stage).  So we left about half way through the rally (along with tons of other people in our area) when it was clear that things would not improve.

So what was good? It’s always fascinating to see a big crowd and people excited. The jammed-up-tight Metro ride had its own sort of intrigue and excitement as we and countless others had other body parts squished against the train cars’ walls to get to the rally. As the cliche goes, excitement was in the air and people were feeling good. Early tallies suggest that the rally attracted around 150,000 people and the photo below would seem to confirm that number and suggest that there were in fact many more attendees. I must admit that I was surprised by how the racial diversity at the rally was low. It was mostly white people, which for the D.C. area is not very representative of the diversity of people here.

A shot of the crowd at The Rally to Restore Sanity-- big eh?

As for the signs, I took photos of the ones I could, and I thought it was interesting how many related to animals in some way or another. Stephen Colbert often likes to say that bears are ruthless killers, so that’s clearly where the bear signs came from, but others were weird in a nice way.

Without further ado, here are the best photos we took (the other two I placed above were pulled from the internet– they seem to be quasi-official photos of the event). Some are weird and funny signs, and others are challenging to understand. I will provide some commentary where I see fit.

 

 

 

Good sign.

 

 

What does this mean anyway?

 

 

So true.

 

 

What's this guy's costume?

 

 

There's a lesson here.

 

 

Not actually a very good threat in my estimation.

 

 

Funny-- although clearly most people weren't as appreciative of the Stephen Colbert Restore Fear aspect of things

 

 

Like the message but don't understand the witch picture.

 

 

Not my favorite.

 

 

WTF?

 

 

Good sign I thought for any political rally.

 

 

For posterity.

 

 

Weird sign, but interesting.

 

 

Another "what made you think this was funny sign?" Although I like Tom Selleck.

 

 

Another good sign for just about any rally.

 

 

Too many concepts here I think.

 

 

Have heard this before, but still a good sign.

 

 

This actually was breaking in spirit with the Rally's intention, but I thought it was funny. I guess it does fit Stephen Colbert's fear rally.

 

 

Concise and appropriate.

 

Mark Murray, NBC's Deputy Political Director

What the heck is the William Zabka Principle you ask? Here’s how Mark Murray explains it.

Zabka is the actor who played the villain in quite a few ’80s movies — “The Karate Kid,” “Back to School,” and “Just One of the Guys.”

And just what is the Zabka Principle? In those movies, Zabka played such an unlikable character that he forced audiences to root for the protagonist — even if you didn’t like him/her.

For example, how many young boys in the ’80s didn’t want to like Ralph Macchio’s Daniel Larusso (especially since the girls in their classes thought Macchio was cute)? And there was plenty to admire about Zabka’s Johnny: He was the better athlete; Zabka’s dojo, Cobra Kai, was the superior dojo; and they certainly had the cooler uniforms.

But after Zabka and his crew jumped Macchio for the umpteenth time, and certainly after Zabka swept the leg, you had to side with Macchio — no matter what.

William Zabka-- you remember this guy right? He was definitely the emblematic prick of a recent cinematic era.

And what does this have to do with American politics? As Republicans work to oppose the Democratic agenda — and, just to be clear, that’s what minority parties usually do — they don’t want to go TOO far where they become unlikable.

Opposition is one thing; becoming William Zabka is another. And that’s true for the Democratic Party, too…

Finally! Someone who can explain the politics of this situation in terms we can understand!

In all honesty I am torn because I thought this post was hilarious, but at the same time some people probably don’t think it’s exactly the type of analysis that NBC should be paying Mark Murray to do. Without doubt though, Murray needs some way to keep himself from going crazy after having to report on the health care debate for the thousandth time– and it’s also a political blog, rather than a frontpage story. So I say keep doing it, Murray!

One of the advertisement's for Pee-wee's new stage show in L.A. Let's hope it is successful enough to travel elsewhere.

For Pee-wee Herman fans like myself, last night was a big night.

At Los Angeles’ Club Nokia, a new incarnation of the Pee-wee Herman Show opened for a 4 week stage run.  It marked one of the first times that actor Paul Reubens brought back his character in a serious way since the tragic cancellation of Pee-wee’s television show in 1991 following his well-known quasi-private masturbation incident.

I was surprised when I looked this morning that I couldn’t find any early reviews of Pee-wee’s first night out from major press outlets. So I instead turned to Twitter where people mostly had good things to say. Here’s a sample of what Twitter users had to say, and it’s overwhelming positive:

Flamingoshoe: “Pee wee Herman show was amazing.”

Plasticgod: “had the BEST time at Pee Wee Herman show, it’s so fun! You guys have to see it!”

Fortunefunny: “went to see the Pee Wee Herman show tonight. It didn’t blow me away but it was definitely cool to see all of those characters again.”

Swazzleworkshop: “The Pee Wee Herman show went great tonight! Swazzle’s puppets were a huge hit.”

Jackiepanked: “Just left The Pee-wee Herman show. The secret word was fun!!!!”

BeejayGallagher: “Great Pee Wee Herman show in LA tonight. Curtain call had tech problem. First time something wouldn’t raise for him in a theater! Heyo?”

Conorknighton: “Went to the premiere of Pee Wee Herman, Live on Stage. The secret word: fun. Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Darin_M: “Wow. A+ Pee-wee Herman. A+.”

JennerNugen: “I just saw the Pee-Wee Herman show at Nokia live. Not nearly drunk enough to catch up to the cast. The secret word was “FUN”…@yumeninja It was actually pretty fun. Total blast from the past and had some HI-larious moments. Also, the theatre/club served drinks.”

torymell: “pee wee Herman show rocked!!!! http://twitpic.com/xvzvv“

arcelliaHuitt281: “The Pee Wee Herman Show was great. Standing in line for the akward meet and greet. No photos. Autograph only?”

mandelweb: “Celebrity sighting #3 at The Pee-Wee Herman Show: Joey Buttafuoco… Celebrity sighting #2 at The Pee-Wee Herman Show: The Way Brothers of My Chemical Romance!… Celebrity sighting #1 at The Pee-Wee Herman Show: Michael Richards!”

houseofq: “Just finished seeing my childhood hero, Pee-wee Herman at Club Nokia. I know you are, but what am I?”

Pee-wee himself also wrote about the show on his Facebook Fan page saying: “Thought THAT was pretty FUN!”

You can find out more about Pee-wee at his official website. Let’s hope a good stage run leads to a new Pee-wee movie!