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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Satirical Political Rallies on Schedule for D.C.

As the nation prepares for November’s congressional elections, D.C. is also preparing for two other events garnering the country’s attention: The Rally to Restore Sanity and the March to Keep Fear Alive, to be led on the National Mall on Oct. 30 by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, respectively.

After news broke of the rallies on Sept. 16, they immediately became the top hit on Google, a headliner on The Washington Post website and a frequent topic of conversation among Georgetown students, eager to see if these satirical rallies will break the boundaries between comedy and politics and provide a broader commentary on the current state of American politics.

Many Georgetown students said they were at least thinking about going to the rally, with the majority of that fraction saying they would definitely attend. But students from the Hilltop will just be a few more faces in that crowd – TBD.com estimates around 60,000 attendees. Approval of the event permits has not yet been finalized, but event organizers are in talks with park officials to solidify their spot by the monuments the Saturday before elections.

The satirical rallies mean to call attention to the political radicalism displayed in the media. Stewart explained in his on-air announcement that his rally would give a voice to the people who have not made their presence known through the efforts of the Tea Party and left-leaning groups. Colbert announced his ultra-conservative rally less than an hour later on his own comedy news show, “The Colbert Report.”

While the rallies are not explicitly political in nature, some pundits say they fear the events could have an impact on midterm elections. Geoffrey Bible (SFS ’12), chair of Georgetown University College Republicans, said that he believes the rallies are not anti-Republican or anti-conservative, but rather they highlight the extremism of the liberal left and the Tea Party and thus will not have a large effect on election outcomes.

Vice President of the DC Federation of College Democrats and Campus Outreach Director of GU College Democrats Jake Sticka (COL ’13) agreed with Bible’s assessment.

“The rallies will further the image of the Tea Party as radical and the rallies they’ve been having as a little ridiculous, but they won’t have electoral effects,” Sticka said. Sticka and Bible agreed that the rallies will be taken as what they are: comedy.

“If the rallies do affect the outcome of the election, I’m sort of ashamed,” Bible said with a laugh. “These people aren’t politicians, but comedians.”

According to Bible, satire is a potent tool for stimulating political discussion. William Vogt (SFS ’12), communications director of GU College Democrats, also said that the satirical focus of the rallies is important.

“Satire sends a powerful message. The rallies will just bring focus to some of the issues present in the election, and help people have more informed decisions, because they will have a lot of fun, but then they will think about why they laughed,” Vogt said.

Not everyone sees such a powerful purpose in the rallies, however. Mark Rom, an associate professor in the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, said he doubted the rallies would hold sway over voters.

“[Satire is] totally ineffective,” Rom said. “It goes beyond a lot of people and they just don’t get the joke. It won’t fire people up for action.”

Students said that they appreciate the purpose of the rallies – to take aim at the current political atmosphere. Kevin Preskenis (COL ’12), chief of staff of College Republicans, said that the biggest positive impact of the Tea Party movement is energy, not results.

“They are obviously antiestablishment and focused on taxation frustration. You won’t get too many college students frustrated with taxes,” Preskenis said. “So seeing a jump to people like Colbert and Stewart provides a relief from that dissatisfaction.”

The energy of the Tea Party movement has emerged on some college campuses, however, especially schools in Texas, according to politicsdaily.com. This trend does not hold true for Georgetown, Rom said.

“Georgetown students have always been pretty moderate,” Rom said. “Most don’t come from bomb throwers but rather mainstream Democrats and Republicans. They realize the most extreme people shouldn’t be driving the debate.”

But Georgetown’s perceived centrism does not mean all students are satisfied with the way the country is being run. Both Sticka and Bible find students to be unhappy with the status quo. Rom believes this dissatisfaction is reflective of the recent trends toward radicalism in politics.

“Usually, you think of the youth as being extreme, not seeing the gray and missing the nuances. Now, it is hard for me to see the college kids as the crazy ones,” Rom said.

Preston Mui (COL ’13), president of Hoyas for Liberty, thinks that these rallies come at the right time for students to vocalize their frustrations with current politics. Satire may reinvigorate politics in a way that policy itself cannot.

“Modern politics is broken. The news itself is the joke. Students are probably becoming disillusioned with the state of politics right now, and I think that’s a good thing,” Mui said. “The current affairs of politics deserve to be satirized.”

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