Now that the establishment’s favorite comedian, Jon Stewart, has the state-sanctioned approval of no less than the President of the United States for his upcoming “Mock-The-People” rally on October 30th, it only makes sense that Comedy Central’s state-enamored sister company, Barack-The-Vote MTV (both MTV and Comedy Central are owned by Sumner Redstone’s Viacom) would team up to do everything possible to help President Obama’s party in these dire final campaign days when the only question about the coming Republican wave is just how large it will be.
An internal email reveals that MTV is investing heavily in making a success of Jon Stewart’s counter-rally to Glenn Beck’s incredibly successful August event. But the music network’s tactics give the whole affair a taint similar to October 2nd’s “One Nation” rally, where all that Big Labor-SEIU astro-turfing still wasn’t able to reproduce Beck’s grassroots success. Below is a portion of an email that I’m told just went out to some, and maybe all, MTV employees. The wording is chipper and upbeat enough, but the subtext is worthy of an SEIU thug: [emphasis mine — and I’ve removed any links for fear they go to private internal servers]:
Whether you lean left or right, hail from a blue state or red, prefer keeping sanity, fear, or a healthy dose of both alive and well, the one thing we all have in common is that we’ve pledged allegiance to the MTV Networks flag. And when an opportunity arises to support one (or two) of our own. we’ll take it pretty much every time.
You may have heard that Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are hosting a little get together on the National Mall in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 30th. … This will be a day when — no matter what transpires from Jon, Stephen, and their special guests — our brothers and sisters at Comedy Central will own the cultural conversation, without question. Who would want to miss that one?
On the morning of October 30th, we’re loading up a fleet of buses here at 1515 Broadway and sending as many of you as we can down to DC for a free one-day, round-trip journey to join in the Rally to Restore Sanity and March to Keep Fear Alive. It’s about a 5 hour trip down 95 to our nation’s capital[.]
In an economy plagued with chronically high unemployment, how would you react to a memo like that? The opening paragraph makes clear that MTV expects you to put your political beliefs aside and take one for the team — in the form of a grueling 11 hour bus ride. The line MTV draws is also clear. Those who choose to attend Stewart’s left-wing event are loyal to the company, and those who choose not to attend … are not. After all, you did pledge allegiance to the “MTV Networks flag,” right?
What’s a conservative to do in a situation like this? You either conform or…
We’ve all worked for companies where a little above and beyond was expected from time to time. But this is something else. No matter how Jon Stewart tries to spin it, his October 30th “Restore Sanity” rally is not only a political event, it’s a political event meant to help the party currently holding power. And we know this because the leader of that party told us so. To pressure an employee to take part in a political rally anathema to his or her personal beliefs crosses a line.
This should come as no surprise, however. MTV is, after all, the same network that just held a “casting call” for the 250 young people needed for a townhall meeting the network was kind enough to arrange for the President just a few weeks before the midterm elections.
Also adding to the whole Stewart astro-turf vibe is Arianna Huffington, who just announced that she’s donating a cool $250k to bus in those who apparently wouldn’t go otherwise:
Arianna Huffington’s surprise gift to Jon Stewart — a convoy of shuttle buses to his “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington — was an even bigger surprise to the folks at the Huffington Post.
And the cost of the grand gesture — an estimated $250,000 for 100 buses for thousands of New Yorkers — is making some of Huffington Post’s finance executives wince, according to insiders.
The stink of desperation is pretty overwhelming. Why do these people care so much? Could it be that they’re all suffering from a little Beck-Envy?
Regardless, what we have here is a big, powerful corporation muscling its employees to attend a left-wing political event and yet another example of how difficult it is for right-of-center types to navigate the highly partisan waters of the entertainment business.
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