It’s widely assumed that Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” was a counter-point to Glenn Beck’s “Rally to Restore Honor” two months earlier, with its attendant crazed government conspiracy theories and paranoia and delusions regarding all things Obama.

But in his desire to produce a “non-political” rally – perhaps tied in with his guise as a newsman – albeit “fake” – Stewart avoided blaming any one side for the acrimonious atmosphere in Washington, casting aspersions on Fox, MSNBC and CNN alike, for ratcheting up “fear” and doomsday rhetoric, and blaming Congress (but not solely Republicans or Democrats) for creating an atmosphere in which most of the times the parties find themselves at a knives-drawn impasse.

So Stewart was left with a rather heartfelt call for all sides to take it down several notches, to learn to work together and listen to each other. It was eminently reasonable, and who, after all, could disagree with such reasonableness?

Well, it turns out, a large portion of the rally-goers, who, if anything, blame Obama for wasting a year trying to placate Republicans on health care (and watering it down in the process) and who, in the end, gave him zero support, and who also criticize him in the same vein regarding the stimulus package, financial reform, global warming, gay rights, etc.  In all cases, Obama is seen as someone who hasn’t learned that while it takes two to tango, it only takes one to tangle, and the Republicans have been doggedly determined to entwine and obstruct. In fact, if a definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, it can be argued that Obama’s continuing appeals to bi-partisanship are “insane,” and the only SANE response would’ve been to be more confrontational.

Stewart himself, when he interviewed Obama last week, chided the president, saying that his supporters expected more “audacity.”  So even he acknowledges that “reasonableness,” i.e., reaching for compromise, has its short-comings.

As for the Republicans, their “Party of No” strategy seems to be working, if all the predictions for Tuesday’s elections hold up, and they’d be “insane” at this point to change strategies and become more accommodating. Same goes for Fox, who rule the cable news ratings.  

The rally could almost be seen as progressives pleading with conservatives, “Look. WE want to be reasonable and work together. But YOU have to start! So, be reasonable, dammit!”  The other side, needless to say, disagrees with this assessment, and sees no reason to concur, in any case.

Occasionally, Stewart also slipped into disingenuousness, as when he made the point that “Muslims didn’t attack us,” but rather, “Terrorists who happened to be Muslim” attacked us. While this is certainly true, it’s not a complete coincidence that suicide bombers are almost always Muslims, and it at least warrants making a simple distinction that some extreme factions of Islam believe such actions are a noble calling.

The other theme that Stewart avoided is the ill-informed nature of the electorate. Or, as one sign-carrier at the rally put it, ”Why do those who know the least know it the loudest?”  Certainly a call to “sanity” might include a plea to be knowledgeable about what the heck you’re yelling about. Tea-partiers overwhelmingly believe Obama’s raised their taxes, when, in fact, he’s lowered them.  They think health care reform is a “government take-over” and “socialism.” As another sign-carrier said, “I AM a socialist and I’m pretty sure Obama isn’t.”  Obviously America is about everyone being entitled to their own opinions, but is it really asking too much to demand that if, say, you want to disbelieve in evolution, that you READ something about the evidence for it, or even know what a “theory” is, before angrily carrying placards and mouthing off in front of TV cameras?  The same applies to anything one criticizes –whether it’s Islam, Christianity, the war in Afghanistan, and is certainly not limited to any one party.

 Lord knows we need sanity restored to our political landscape: unfortunately, making an appeal to both sides to “come together” is not as reasonable as it sounds.