Nice Deb has the discussion, "70,000 Tops, Right Nutroots?":
iOWNTHEWORLD’s Mr Pinko obtained this photo from Freedomworks photographer, Michael A. Beck, who was offered a rare opportunity to photograph the massive gathering of patriots on 9/12.The main netroots freaks are at Media Matters. See, "Beck, Limbaugh Run Wild With Estimates on Size of 9/12 Protests." And while 2 million sounds higly inflated, pictures such as that above, the time-elapsed photos, as well as the traffic-camera photo and the one massive crowd shot by Mary Katherine Ham, all make the claim that just "70,000" attended look patently stupid.This is a RARE photo of the 9/12 Rally taken in extreme High Resolution from atop the Capitol Building. Mr. Beck was personally escorted to this rare vantage point by a congressman who will remain anonymous. This panoramic view offers the viewer documentation of the epic scale of this peaceful demonstration of democracy in action.
London's Daily Mail strikes a reasonable line here, "A Million March to US Capitol to Protest Against 'Obama the Socialist'":
As many as one million people flooded into for a massive rally organised by conservatives claiming that President Obama is driving towards socialism.The key phrase there is "as many as one million people" flooded the mall. The available images and sophtisticated analytical reports confirm those estimates.
The size of the crowd - by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January - shocked the White House.
For a full analysis, see Charlie Martin, "More 9/12 Crowd Data: Yeah, It Was Big: The Latest Sourced Information on the 9/12 Crowd Points to a Lower Bound of at Least Half a Million."
You do know that the Black Family Reunion was also that day, right? Or, in other words, do you see those tents in the background? Those aren't Tea Partiers. Just thought you'd like to know more facts before you keep digging this hole.
ReplyDeleteThe "Black Family Reunion"?
ReplyDeleteAnd that accounts for the last estimates of more the half a million people in attendance, BenJB?
The hole that's been dug is the left's. Have you even read the Charlie Martin piece?
After his exhaustive evidentiary analsysis, he notes:
"I don’t think there is a plausible argument for any total attendance figure much less that 500,000 to 600,000. That is, nearly ten times the reported attendance."
But you are not a "plausible" kind of guy. You are a nihilist troll, and an especially bothersome one at that.
Dr. Douglas,
ReplyDeleteI don't know about you, but I am beginning to detect some serious fear on the part of the lefties in this country.
Apparently, they actually believed that we who love freedom and liberty were going to just go off and sulk in a corner somewhere while Barack Hussein Obama destroys everything we hold dear.
Damn, were they ever wrong.
-Dave
Hi Donald,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. Here's the line I was thinking of:
"24th-annual Black Family Reunion, which ran from 7th Street all the way to the Washington Monument."
(Source: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/09/the_other_912_rally.php )
So, regarding that picture you gave, I was merely pointing out one fact which you and Charles Martin did not take into account: the fact that the picture shows people who are not there for the 9/12 Tea Party.
That said, I'm impressed by some of Martin's other methodology, e.g., the increased ridership on the Metro. Of course, that leaves us with the same unknown factor--how many of those new riders were there for this rally, as opposed to the Black Family Reunion?
Now, you've already had to revise down your breathless "2 million, wow!" estimate. This just stands as the latest mistake in the conservative movement/blogosphere.
Or, to put it in the most sarcastic form, I'm sure every one of those 2 million people there were Republican auto-dealers targeted for their politics and because each of them had the infamous "Whitey Tape."
Or, to paraphrase "The Princess Bride," I don't think this picture means what you think it means.
Here's some video I shot on 9-12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQ8kmxrujs
ReplyDeleteAlso, Metrorail ridership shows an increase of about 40,000 riders that day. There was a Heritage Foundation analysis of Metro that's frequently cited that made some critical errors. See the discussion thread there if you want to know more.