**Written by Doug Powers

Comedy Central’s coverage is underway.

Oprah and Arianna paid for hundreds of buses to ship people in, because if there’s one thing that makes a rally really hit home, it’s extra astroturf.

The AP has perhaps the most hilarious repetition of the organizers’ talking points:

WASHINGTON – People assembled by the tens of thousands Saturday on the National Mall for a “sanity” rally blending laughs, activism and a call to civility from two improbable maestros of moderation, comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Hook, line and sinker.

So far the crowd looks really diverse, and I’m sure the MSM will be pointing that out. There are also plenty of disenfranchised dems on HuffPo buses who are stuck in traffic and missing the rally — with any luck they’ll also miss the election. Some examples:

You get what you pay for. Consider your bus experience to be a preview of Obamacare.

This event is being billed as a nonpartisan gathering attended by hands-on Americans, and that’s already apparent:

I just saw President “Dude” in Philadelphia, so it’s unlikely The Big O-bowski will make it, but Obama did endorse the purely apolitical gathering.

The rally is of course to promote freedom, so naturally that means camera usage is being tightly regulated at the National Mall. Because, like all rallies that are organized in part as a show of opposition to an America controlled by large corporations, Viacom owns the copyrights.

The “Rally to Restore Irony” would have been a better title, though Treacher prefers the “Rally to Reassure Ourselves That We’re Not the Ones Who F***ed Everything Up.”

Okay, I have a garage to clean and an MSU/Iowa game to watch soon, so feel free to post your thoughts on the rally here. Or better yet, share a recipe — my wife will be at a movie and I have no idea what to make the kids for dinner.

Update: You don’t usually see “sanity” and “NAMBLA” in the same mention:

More photos here and here.

Update II: Wanting to avoid a garbage-strewn Mall like we saw after Ed Schultz-stock, Stewart reminded the crowd not to litter.

Update III: Politico features some of the “best signs from the rally,” like this one that’s a play on the Westboro Baptist Church kooks signs, except this one says “God Hates Figs”:

But if you mouse over the photo, a caption writer at Politico was still in WBC mode:

Politico’s “Best Rally Signs” video left out this kind of thing though:

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe