'Rally to Restore Sanity' to meet 'March to Keep Fear Alive;' Reddit users talk about starting the online campaign



(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Updated: Saturday, 11 a.m.

The Post's Lisa de Moraes has more on the rally over in her TV column. "We actually anticipate upwards of 400 million people will attend," said a somewhat optimistic source at Comedy Central. Read more here.

Updated: Friday, 12:15 p.m.

Joseph Laughlin, a.k.a. MrSamMercer on Reddit, just called from Pittsburgh to talk about the online campaign to get Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to march on Washington.

"We've all been basking for the past 12 hours or so," Laughlin said. He and thousands of other members of the online message board spearheaded a drive to get the two comedians to Washington. Last night, Colbert and Stewart announced they would march on October 30.

Laughlin, 28, made one of the first posts on Reddit saying he wished Colbert would march on the National Mall in response to Glenn Beck's August 28 "Restoring Honor" rally.

"I'm just a regular Redditor," Laughlin said. "I'm on there all the time. I made that post and I checked that night and it was the number one post on Reddit."

He thinks the conservative conversation is driven by a "genuine fear" and that spurs the activism. Supporters of President Obama took a "wait and see attitude" after Obama was elected, Laughlin said, but they need to realize the tide is turning against him and they need to be active again.

"There is all the Glenn Beck madness out there; he's taking control of the conversation," Laughlin said. "We're really all not that crazy."

He and seven other Redditors started sending emails and messages across the country to keep the online momentum growing. They created websites, Facebook pages, and finally on Monday, they launched a charity drive to raise money for one of Colbert's foundations.

Laughlin said he is blown away by the fact that the charity has raised $240,000 in five days. They plan to keep the drive going, even though Colbert has already announced his plans to march.

"I feel like this is probably lucky, once-in-a-lifetime stuff."

Laughlin will be in D.C. on October 30. "My hotel was booked about thirty minutes after the announcement."

Friday, 6:15 a.m.

The Mall has seen many a storied march in its time. The women's suffrage march. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a Dream" speech.

But two new marches like none before may descend on the Mall this October 30, and it's partly thanks to an online campaign started on Reddit.com.

On Aug. 30, commentators on the online message board started suggesting Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert should host rallies as a satirical answer to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally on Aug. 28.

"John Stewart, please hold an event at the Lincoln Memorial. We'll show up and show Glen Beck what half a million people looks like," wrote Mvelez999.

"I've had a vision and I can't shake it: Colbert needs to hold a satirical rally in DC," MrSamMercer posted a day later.

The campaign quickly spread online on Facebook and Twitter. Users started to raise money for DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit that helps deliver supplies to schools around the country. At last count, $239,075 was raised on Colbert's behalf.

What started off as a joke quickly became a real possibility. "A lot people are very serious about this, and are praying desperately for an outlet for their frustration and unhappiness with the current state of America," Vinhboy wrote. "Crazy as it sounds, this "rally" gives a lot of people hope. Besides, if anything this would be an epic win for Reddit."

On Wednesday Colbert responded to the online campaign with a letter to Reddit users. "You have inspired me by helping untold thousands of students; with the momentum you've created, we could stage a hundred rallies," Colbert wrote. "I might just call on you."

Two nights later, Stewart and Colbert announced on their shows that they will march on the Mall.

Stewart named his march the "Rally to Restore Sanity" and called for everybody to come to Washington to show the 15 percent of America that drives the conversation that the rest of the country can get along. "A Million Moderate March ... a clarion call for rationality," Stewart called it.

Colbert, who often takes the role of bombastic conservative host to Stewart's exasperated liberal, announced that he will sponsor a "March to Keep Fear Alive."

Stewart said the date of the show has no significance -- a reference to Glenn Beck's rally falling on the anniversary of King's speech.

If Stewart and Colbert need help organizing their rally, The Post's Federal Eye came up with a good primer on how to do so. First rule: you need a budget of at least $50.

Will you come to the rally? Vote here.

Watch the Colbert and Stewart's announcements here.