Yesterday, numerous organizations, including the NAACP, SEIU, and UAW, gathered in Washington D.C. for the One Nation rally about progressive causes. One of the organizers, radio and MSNBC talk show host Ed Schulz, told the crowd, "We are together. This march is about the power to the people. It is about the people standing up to the corporations. Are you ready to fight back?" He also faulted the Republicans to sending jobs overseas, vowing to "take back America, "and adding, "This is a defining moment in America. Are you American? This is no time to back down. This is time to fight for America."
While numerous people spoke, including the Reverend Al Sharpton (he implored people to keep working, "We've got to go home and we've got to hit the pavement. We've got to knock on doors. We've got to ring those church bells," video below), the Washington Post compared it, inevitably, to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally from August: "The rally lacked central charismatic speakers like Beck and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, or the two men who will headline an Oct. 30 event on the Mall - Comedy Central television personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Also unlike the Beck event, the progressive groups were explicit about their desire to reenergize their political base. Beck said his goal was to honor soldiers."
It's unclear how many people attended; the Wall Street Journal reports, "The U.S. park police didn't release crowd numbers, in keeping with the agency's policy. The event permit called for 100,000 people, and rally sponsors paid for Washington's public transportation system to open early Saturday morning. As of 1 p.m. the crowd had filled, but not packed, much of the National Mall," while the AP said, "Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck's rally. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck's rally." (An aerial photography service says that the Beck rally attracted around 87,000.)
