Beck was in his usual garb – open-collar shirt, reading glasses that are repeatedly taken on and off – but his rhetoric was void of the usual bombast and provocation. Instead, the man often accused of fear-mongering took a notably inclusionary tone. “There’s a lot we can disagree on, but our values and our principles can unite us,” he told the crowd. Most of the rally was filled with talk of Beck’s latest triumvirate of principles: faith, hope and charity. And these rather amorphous ideas were each accompanied by a video montage, with Beck’s voice-over narration set to images of the American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln and King’s speech, made almost five decades ago. The rest of the commentator’s almost hour-long sermon was packed with lofty, if seemingly rote, buzz words like “justice,” “liberty” and “honor.” With the host and his devotees avoiding saying or doing anything controversial, the entire program was likely agreeable to virtually anyone watching at home.

The purpose of the day, Beck said, was to bring America “back to God” in a sort of national revival. It may also have been a way for the TV host to position himself as the unofficial leader of an unofficial movement. Notwithstanding the political views of those who showed up, it was an opportunity for Beck to portray himself, perhaps to the Jon Stewarts of the world, as a humble and tolerant man. And importantly, eminently reasonable.