The rally Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial drew hundreds of thousands of Americans calling for a religious rebirth and, contrary to prior concerns, did not result in confrontations between rival groups.

Opponents to the Washington event were provoked by the fact that organizers scheduled the rally at the same site and on the 47th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. The problem for them was that the political aims of those who typically support conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck, many of whom identify with the tea party movement, and the rally's prime speaker, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are at variance with Dr. King's.

The advocacy in the day's speeches dealt more with religion than politics and was free of attacks on President Barack Obama and his policies, in contrast to Mr. Beck's on-air screeds at Fox News and some of Ms. Palin's speeches.

Political observers are still scratching their heads on what drives the tea party movement and its adherents. An astute essay by New York Times syndicated columnist Frank Rich (reprinted on the opposite page) points out that it is financed in no small part by longtime, rich industrialists not known for their sympathy for America's unemployed, low-income, ill or elderly, many of whom nevertheless serve as the tea party's foot soldiers. That curiosity raises the question of whether those gathered at the Lincoln Memorial understood or care that the money behind the movement comes from people who do not have their interests at heart.

The tea party movement also is in no small part a product of America's media, members of which are always ready to pounce on and inflate any new political phenomenon, as they did with Ms. Palin as a vice presidential candidate and even Mr. Obama, when he mounted his meteoric run for president.

Most curious of all is that the core of the Republican Party has let its leadership be stolen to a considerable extent by the tea partiers. It is fair to assume that the GOP has long-term goals and that it is aware that America's population as a whole is becoming less white, less black, more Asian and much more Hispanic.

That would suggest that it needs to be careful of the positions it takes and the image it projects in the 2010 campaign, not to mention further down the road, unless it wants to condemn itself to a slow death by demography.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.