24 Hours of Le Mans

From Kurt Muehmel:

Orlando Tea Party: Friends and Patriots Stand for Liberty

This is Carolyn Tackett overjoyed to meet Robert Stacy McCain for the first time. They are joined by Andrea Shea King:

Robert has a report at the American Spectator, "Tea Party Nation":

Nine months ago, commodities analyst Rick Santelli was interviewed from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade about the stimulus-and-bailout policies of the new administration. At 8:11 am. Eastern time on Feb. 19, Santelli launched into a rant that instantly became a YouTube classic.

Turning to the commodities traders in Chicago, Santelli asked: "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage who has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" He was answered with a chorus of jeers.

"President Obama, are you listening?" Santelli then asked. "We're thinking about having a Chicago tea party in July. All of you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm going to start organizing it."

Santelli didn't have to organize. His rant on CNBC inspired other Americans to emulate the spirit of the original Boston Tea Party in 1773. They spontaneously staged rallies in their communities, far from Chicago. The Tea Party movement begun that February morning has been supported by major conservative institutions -- including FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity -- but the movement itself is organic, generated by the passions of the people who turn out for the events.

More at the link.

And don't miss lots more awesome comments and pictures at Carolyn's Robert's and Andrea's.

Tea Party Victory! ObamaCare Dead in Senate: No Health Care Legislation This Year; Harry Reid, 'We're Not Going to Be Bound by Any Timelines'

The writing is on the wall spells MASSIVE DEMOCRATIC FAIL!

From the Wall Street Journal, "Cost-Estimate Delay Stalls US Senate Health Bill":

Senate Democrats, hampered by a delayed cost estimate for Senate health-care legislation and a shortening window of time, indicated that Congress may not be able to pass a health-care bill this year.

Aides say that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office will not finish a cost estimate for Democratic health-care legislation by the end of the week. Senate Democrats are waiting for the estimate before unveiling the bill and bringing it to the Senate floor for debate.

Asked whether Congress may not be able to pass health-care legislation this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Democrats would "do this the right way, not the fast way."

"We're not going to be bound by any timelines," Reid said. "We want quality legislation, and we're going to do that."

Reid said he is having regular discussions with CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf and that he has "great admiration for the work that they do."

"I wish I could blame it on CBO," Reid said. "They're doing their very best."

It's clear that the tea parties, which have culminated in the triumph of grassroots conservatism in New York and Virginia (and perhaps New Jersey as well), is disorienting and destabilizing the Democratic big government coaltion.

The right's on track for major gains in 2010, and it's no doubt that healthcare "reform" going to be scaled back dramatically when it comes back to Congress in the new year.

RELATED: ABC News, "'09 Exit Polls: Vast Economic Discontent Spells Trouble for Dems in 2010" via Memeorandum.

TEA PARTY: The Documentary Film

Via Skye at Midnight Blue, check out the trailer for TEA PARTY: The Documentary Film:

The Tea Party movement of 2009 shocked the political establishment, the nation at large and left a big media machine dizzy in its wake. How did it happen? Where did it come from? Now, experience the story of the movement that's driving our national dialogue against big government spending and a Constitution under assault. "Tea Party: The Documentary Film" follows the struggles of five grassroots individuals and their transformation from home town rally goers and rally organizers to national activists in the 912 March on Washington. In the process, the film reveals what is at the heart of this nationwide surge of civic engagement - a return to and respect for a Constitutionally limited government, personal responsibility and fiscal restraint at the Federal level.

The film's website is here.

Unlike Collapse, I'm really interested in this one.

NBC News to Americans for Limited Government: 'Bite Me, Jew Boy'

Just in from Americans for Limited Government, "ALG Statement in Response to NBC “Bite me, Jew Boy” Email":

Americans for Limited Government is appalled that an employee of the NBC news network apparently felt it was appropriate to send an email to an ALG employee, in response to a standard news release, saying, “Bite me, Jew Boy.”

According to ALG records, the email came from the Blackberry and email address of Jane Stone, a producer for NBC’s Dateline. The email was sent to Alex Rosenwald, the ALG Director of Media Outreach. The news release to which Ms Stone apparently responded was one in which ALG called upon Congress to defund ACORN.

Americans for Limited Government does not contend that NBC or its parent company GE, are anti-Semitic. What is highly disturbing, however, is that there clearly is a culture at NBC that has allowed this person who clearly has issues to go unchecked.

Ms Stone claims she did not send the offensive email. If that is not the case, we at ALG call upon her to help ascertain who did send it using her Blackberry and her email address. If Ms Stone did, in fact, send it, we at ALG call upon Ms Stone to apologize to Mr. Rosenwald, and we call upon the NBC hierarchy above Ms Stone to join her in issuing that apology.

Attachments: Anti-Semitic email from NBC to ALG, September 24th, 2009.

See also, Matthew Vadum, "NBC Producer to Anti-ACORN Group: ‘Bite Me, Jew Boy!’":

Apparently NBC “Dateline” producer Jane Stone or someone else who has access to her Blackberry has a problem with groups that oppose ACORN and with an ethnocultural minority.

Naturally, NBC circles the wagons: "NBC News Prez Blasts ALG: 'Reckless' and 'Defamatory'." (Via Memeorandum.)

Michael Lind Smears Conservative Activists as 'Teabaggers'

I was looking to give Michael Lind's a fair shake in his essay today, "Intellectual Conservatism, RIP."

Interestingly, Lind offers decent background discussion to neoconservatism (most appropriate, following the death of Irving Kristol), but he loses me when he joins Janeane Garofalo in smearing conservative activists as "teabaggers":

In its origins, neoconservatism was a defense of New Deal/Great Society liberalism at home and abroad, both from the radical, countercultural left of the era and from its own design defects. The early neocons were Kennedy-Johnson liberals who believed that liberal reform should avoid naive utopianism and should be guided by pragmatism and empirical social science. The '70s neoconservatives were so focused on the utopianism of the '60s campus left, however, that most paid too little attention to a far greater threat to their beloved New Deal tradition, the utopianism of the libertarian right. Ultimately Milton Friedman and other free-market ideologues did far more damage to America than the carnival freaks of the counterculture.

But the early neoconservatives were right to defend mainstream liberalism against countercultural radicalism. Like today's right, the '60s and '70s left was emotional, expressivist and anti-intellectual. (One of its bibles was Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book!") Like today's right, the '70s left favored theatrical protest over discussion and debate. The prophets of the Age of Aquarius and the "population explosion" were every bit as apocalyptic as Glenn Beck. And just as today's right-wing radicals play at Boston Tea Parties, so Abbie Hoffman dressed up as Uncle Sam. The teabaggers are the Yippies of the right.

Read the whole thing, if you want.

In addition the Janeane Garofalo, I'm reminded of the post over at Voting Female, "Maxine Waters Calls All Tea Party Protesters Homosexuals in her Latest Attack on Free Speech: For Those Who Haven't Figured It Out Yet ...'Tea Bagger' is a 'Male Homosexual'." (That's the best discussion you'll find of what a "teabagger" really is.)

Michael Lind's not too far from Maxine Water's if he's going to attack concerned citizens as teabaggers. So much for conservative intellectualis, or at least Lind's version of it.

Sean Hannity: 'The Valley Hope Forgot'

From Sean Hannity on Fox on Friday, "The Valley Hope Forgot: Schwarzenegger Responds to Crop Crisis":

We are live tonight from the San Joaquin Valley. We're in California, where the government has turned off the water, now forcing countless farmers into unemployment and food lines.

And joining me now from Sacramento is the governor of the great state of California. Governor Schwarzenegger is with us.

Governor, thank you for being here. Thank you.

That segment is the bottom clip of four:

Network Wars! Fox News Statement on Full-Page 9-12 Ad

From Michael Tammero, Vice-President of Marketing at Fox News (link):

“Generally speaking, it’s fair to say that from the tea party movement … to Acorn ... to the march on 9/12, the networks either ignored the story, marginalized it or misrepresented the significance of it altogether.”

CNN's now going after Fox (link).

Via Memeorandum.

The Glenn Beck Supremacy

You know, ever since last spring, when Glenn Beck aired his comments about "preparing for anarchy in America," there's been something extraordinarily accurate about his commentaries on the Obama administration. The Van Jones resignation certainly cemented Beck's status as the premier commentator on the contemporary right. Indeed, just last week I argued that "Beck has emerged as cable TV's Rush Limbaugh."

Well, my remarks might have been clairvoyant (or someone's reading my blog!). The Beck-Rush comparison's picking up steam. For example, there's a good buzz today over Time's new piece: "Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?" And here's a key passage:

Beck is 45, tireless, funny, self-deprecating, a recovering alcoholic, a convert to Mormonism, a libertarian and living with ADHD. He is a gifted storyteller with a knack for stitching seemingly unrelated data points into possible conspiracies — if he believed in conspiracies, which he doesn’t, necessarily; he’s just asking questions. He’s just sayin’. In cheerful days of yore, he was a terrific host of a morning-zoo show on an FM Top 40 station. But these aren’t cheerful times. For conservatives, these are times of economic uncertainty and political weakness, and Beck has emerged as a virtuoso on the strings of their discontent. Rush Limbaugh, with his supreme self-confidence, holding forth with “half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair,” found his place as the triumphant champion of the Age of Reagan. Macho Sean Hannity captured the cocky vibe of the early Bush years, dunking the feckless liberal Alan Colmes for nightly swirlies on the Fox News Channel. Both men remain media dynamos, but it is Beck — nervous, beset, desperate — who now channels the mood of many on the right. “I’m afraid,” he has said more than once in recent months. “You should be afraid too.”

The piece describes Becks' schtick as a combination of "entertainment and enlightenment." And the article is surprisingly sympathetic, if not fawning. Mostly, though, it's condescending toward conservative-libertarianism. Beck taps into real anxieties. And as these anxieties are dovetailing with truly monumental policy impacts, advocates of Beck's scenarios are excoriated as "fringe elements" and "racists."

What's amazing, and this is why the Time story is significant, is how quickly Beck and others on the right - like Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit (who is cited in the article) - have had a dramatic effect on politics at the highest levels. This stuff is almost like All the President's Men without Deep Throat. If President Obama were in turn to be impeached - not a far-fetched scenario, given the Bill Clinton presidency - commentators will no doubt "pin the blame" on "fear-mongerers" like Beck. Natually, Beck and others will be demonized for their "hatred," while the legacy media gives a pass to the administration's corrupt communist ties. This creates a classic feedback loop. When the press white-washes real scandals and Democratic malfeasance, the Beck-heads become even more feverishly delirious.

Anyway, Beck's only going up right now, and note how Politico's Michael Calderone's picking up on my theme of Beck's new supremacy. See, "Glenn Beck vs. Rush Limbaugh."

More at Memeorandum.

Panoramic Image of 9/12 March Makes Leftists Look Like Idiots

I first saw this over at The Rhetorican, "Panoramic View of the 9/12 March."

The full image is here, care of iOwnTheWorld.com and Memeorandum.

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.

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.

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.

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 size of the crowd - by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January - shocked the White House.

The key phrase there is "as many as one million people" flooded the mall. The available images and sophtisticated analytical reports confirm those estimates.

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."

Michelle Malkin on ACORN's Prostitution Scandal (VIDEO)

Via Hot Air, "Video: Michelle on the Media’s ACORN “Protection Racket" (from tonight's Sean Hannity show):

Jim Treacher Investigates the Czars!

The "boob czars," that is:

As successful as the 9/12 Washington Tea Party was, it still left us with some questions: Who were those wonderful czars? Where did they come from? And most importantly, do they mind if we take some more pictures?

Thanks to the Green Czar (AKA Floridajayhawk on Twitter), we now know a little more about these cheerful, good-natured lovers of liberty and what they're trying to get off their chests. He was nice enough to answer a few questions via e-mail:

Greetings, Green Czar! So, who are you fine folks?

We live in South Florida. Boob Czar lives in a state close to Florida. We got involved with southfloridateaparty.org. We have done many protests in South Florida.

More at the link. And more pictures of ... well, protest signs!

Marsha Blackburn, Mike Pence Interviews on 9-12 March on Washington

Here are intervews with Representatives Marsha Blackburn and Mike Pence, speaking on the 9-12 March on Washington:

More at the Washington News Observer.

Maxine Waters Wants Probe of 'Birthers' and 'Teabaggers' (AUDIO)

Maxine Waters is reallly too much some times. See, "Waters: Probe 'Birthers and the Teabaggers' at Rallies for Racist Views." Listen to her at the video:

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that it's not enough for African-Americans to levy allegations of racism against the right-leaning protesters, and that the media must look into their views.

"I want those people talked to; I want them interviewed," Waters told the liberal Bill Press Radio show in a podcast. "I want journalists to be all over those rallies and the marches with the birthers and the teabaggers."

"What I'm looking for is the very people who carry the signs who are referring to the policies in very, very strange ways like 'Obamacare' and 'Bury Obamacare with Kennedy,'" she said. "What I've been interested in is hearing from those people that everybody's referring to -- everybody on the Mall, in the rally."

See also, Gateway Pundit, "Maxine Waters: Media Should Probe the "Birthers & Teabaggers" at Rallies."

Plus, from Voting Female, "Maxine Waters Calls All Tea Party Protesters Homosexuals in her Latest Attack on Free Speech: For Those Who Haven't Figured It Out Yet ...'Tea Bagger' is a 'Male Homosexual'":

Way to Go, Maxine Waters, you Socialist Racist Anti-Constitution Anti-Homosexual Anti-White ASSHAT! Show the World just how much of a BIGOT YOU REALLY ARE!

Leave it to a MOONBAT TROLL Like Rep. Maxine Waters to denigrate freedom loving rightfully dissenting Americans by calling them all Homosexuals and attacking them as Homosexuals.

While we have all witnessed the likes of Janeane Garofalo and Keith Olbermann using such personal attacks on constitutionally protected Political Dissent, these two idiots are not members of Congress and loss of respect for you, Maxine Waters, by the Greater American Public, for a Congress Man or Woman to use these tactics and these Minority Pejoratives is a WHOLE OTHER KETTLE OF FISH.

Keith Olberman has been dismissed as a Wall Eyed Manic by Mainstream America and Janeane Garofalo’s career as a professional comedian has been destroyed by her own behavior.

For the Socialist DEM Political Party Office Holders in Congress, who pretends to defends the Homosexual Community, to use Extremely Offensive Slang Terms like Tea Bagger as an insult to Tea Party Protesters is equal to calling Tea Party Protesters, Red Neck NI*GERS.

The Only Difference between calling people Tea Baggers and calling people Nig*ers is which Minority Group’s Perjorative is used for personal attacking purposes on people.

More at Memeorandum. And Weasel Zippers, "Maxine Waters (D-Gestapo) Wants "Teabaggers" Interviewed to see if They're Racists ..."

Tea Party Update! More Fabulous Pictures from 9-12 D.C. Rally - And More!!

My good friend Matt at St. Blogustine attended the 9-12 March on Washington, and I mistakenly omitted his post from my roundup yesterday. What a beautiful picture!

I need to throw a link back over to Lynn Mitchell, who is still posting photos from her big day in the Capitol!

Also, from Charlie Martin at Pajamas Media, "March on Washington: How Big Was the Crowd?" And at the Wall Street Journal, James Freeman, "Angry, Polite 'Mob' Descends on D.C."

Plus, from Mike's America, "Largest Political Protest in History was More "Green" Than Obama Inaugural!"

Don't miss Glenn Reynolds as well, "TEA PARTY UPDATE: Okay, I was busy this weekend in Quincy and didn’t have time to cover all the tea parties going on outside of Washington, DC and, of course, Quincy. But there were a lot. Here’s a picture from El Cajon, California, sent by reader Josh Swanson ..."

And back home, from Richard McEnroe, "More Pictures from the LA 9/12 Tea Party!."

9/12 Tea Parties Galvanized by Health Care Reform

From my report on the Wilshire tea party at Pajamas Media, "9/12 Tea Parties Galvanized by Health Care Reform":

Bill Whittle of Pajamas Media.

In Los Angeles, during what I thought was the keynote address on Saturday, Bill Whittle rallied the crowd to keep the momentum going. Grassroots citizens “need to run for office themselves,” was Whittle’s exhortation. He said that the only way Americans will preserve liberty is by taking it back themselves. Go to Washington and do your “tour of duty as a citizen legislator,” Whittle exclaimed! Then “come back home to your families and communities” to let other patriots steer the ship of state for a time.

It was a dramatic and powerful message. My sense is that Whittle captured the real nature of what we’ve seen in the protests this year. Whittle noted that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are brief documents, but members of Congress apparently hadn’t read them. And if they had, they failed to understand the simple call to freedom found therein — manifestos of liberty, painstakingly outlined by our nation’s Founders. In contrast, legislators can parrot by rote the nationalizing principles embodied in House Bill 3200, with its 1,018 pages of proposed bureaucratic tyranny.

So, yes, while only a few thousand were on hand in Los Angeles on Saturday, it’s clear that by now activists are heartened by a triumph of democratic significance. That is, people are making a real difference. After months of being smeared as “racist teabaggers” and “right-wing political terrorists,” the movement is now an unmistakable force with which to be reckoned.

Rosslyn Smith, commenting on the Washington protest at the American Thinker, suggested that “we are witnessing a very rare phenomenon, the genuine, broad based spontaneous political movement with no visible charismatic leaders.” But Ms. Smith’s only partially right. The “visible charismatic leaders” are the real people, drawn from all walks of life, who have rallied to the cause of freedom this year in record numbers. Many have told me personally that they’d never attended a protest or a town hall event in their lives. It’s hard to find a better testament to the enduring Americans values of freedom and individualism than that.

Congratulations to marchers nationwide who are revitalizing the American democracy.

Something Going On in America! 9/12 March on Washington Roundup

I think I speak for a lot of conservatives when I confess I'm overwhelmed with information and blog links for the 9/12 March on Washington. So, I'm going to do a little roundup of friends, some of whom graciously linked to my 9/12 report yesterday.

First, here's the e-mail I received from my friend Lynn Mitchell in Virginia:

Donald,

We did it!! The 9/12 March on Washington yesterday was absolutely breath-taking, an emotional experience for many who thought they would never see that many conservatives in one place at one time. It was a sea of faces, flags, signs ... young, old, short, tall, all shapes and sizes, some on walkers or canes ... it was the face of America.

To march down Pennsylvania Avenue -- which is a wide street -- shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded patriots took your breath away. As far ahead of us as we could see was a sea of people carrying flags and signs ... behind us as far as we could see was a sea of people carrying flags and signs. Chants would go down the street like a vocal wave ... approaching as a low roar in the distance, catching up with us as we joined in, and washing over us to continue down the street to the thousands behind us.

I am telling you ... there is something going on in America. You have seen it in California ... I have seen it in Virginia ... and we have both seen it in every state between us.

Yesterday we made history. Will conservatives continue on this quest to take back our country ... or will they quietly slip back into their complacency of the past 30 years?

Time will tell.

I am busy posting photos today -- I took 600 photos yesterday -- of the faces, the signs, the flags and banners. I'm 56 years old ... I never thought I would see this day.

Keep up the good work and the good fight on the Left Coast. We will do the same here. And thank you for being a conservative educator who is not indoctrinating our children into the culture of the Left.

Best regards,

Lynn Mitchell
SWAC Girl

Lynn's been spending the day uploading pictures and blogging the protest, so check out her blog for the fabulous photos and commentary!

Also, Darleen over at Protein Wisdom linked to my Wilshire report yesterday, "Hundreds of Thousands." Darleen makes the definitive case on the numbers in attendance in D.C. yesterday. Plus, my friend Skye at Midnight Blue attended the rally. She argued in the comments here that the crowd was over a million, for sure.

Mike at Cold Fury linked with his post, "More Tea Party Coverage." Stogie at Saber Point did so as well, "America Flips Obama the Bird: Mass Tea Party Convincingly Rejects Obamunism."

Okay, my friend The Rhetorican is like a whirlwind of blogging! He linked with, "9/12 Tea Party West." And my new friend Andrew Berman also linked with, "How Many People Attended The 9/12 March?"

And don't miss the towering figure of the blogosphere, The Blog Prof, who links with, "Thousands Turn Out At Tea Party West In LA." In addition a new towering (thundering?) figure, Thunder Pig: "9-12 March on DC and Tea Parties Across the USA."

My longtime blogging buddy Blazing Cat Fur picked up on the "Real Hope" t'-shirts, which feature the caption on the back from Matthew 12:21, "In his name the Nations will put their hope."

I think that's most who've linked, but check Dan Riehl as well, "9/12 Attendance Issues Addressed." Related: My good friend Doug's post at the Daley Gator, "9/12 Tea Party – Only Thousands? Or At Least A Million? You Decide." And the Red Hunter, "Tea Party 9-12-09 March on Washington DC," and the Astute Bloggers, "DEDUCTIVELY WE CAN PROVE THAT THE "TENS OF THOUSANDS" FIGURE THE MSM HAS BEEN USING TO DESCRIBE THE 912 NATIONAL TEA PARTY IS FALSE."

Plus, Kenneth Davenport's been doing some hot blogging of late. See, "Media Ignores D.C. Anti-Obama Protest - No Surprise." More good stuff at Carolyn's Closet, "United We Stand."

I apologize if I've missed anyone who linked to my 9/12 post. Feel free to send me an e-mail (at my Blogger profile), and I'll work on getting some more roundups posted this week.

Bonus Post: Don't miss Pat Austin's powerful essay, "Editor of HuffPo's Health Unit Mocks Death of Cornell Student."

9-12 Tea Party West: Wilshire Federal Building

Saturday, September 12th, was a special day for democratic participation in America. The nation witnessed a phenomenal display of grassroots action in defense of liberty. London's Daily Mail reports that upwards of 2 million people marched on Capitol Hill. I was unable to travel to Washington, like so many others. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend a great rally at the U.S. Federal Building in Los Angeles. I'd say roughly 2,000 people attended, although another estimate places turnout at 3,500.

Here's a shot of the crowd when I arrived about 2:30pm - with hundreds of people already on hand. Below, we see the Wilshire Federal Building sign, to the West side of the property, near the Eastbound offramp at Interstate 405:

Here's my first shot of demonstrators, an enthusiastic couple:

Here's the crowd shot at about the same time:

Here's a video of the event, from Richard McEnroe:

What a cool sign - can you imagine our first president saying, WTF?

I walked back over to the sidewalk at Wilshire to get some photos of demonstrators. This guy's sign sports a damning condemnation of the president:

Vendors were selling loads of t-shirts (you can see the tables set up at about 3:35 minutes at the video). I actually first noticed the "Real Hope" shirts on these two brothers. They let me take their picture:

The caption on the back of the shirt is from the Matthew 12:21, "In His Name the Nations Will Put Their Hope." This young lady, hanging out with her mom, models the shirt:

This mom below was really sweet, and eager for me to get shots of her "tea party toddlers":

I told this guy straight out that he had the best sign of the day. I've said the same thing many times at the blog, and boy does that drive the lefties batty:

The crowd was filling out pretty good by now:

Back out on Wilshire, I said hello to this fellow below. Regular readers might remember him (and his sign) from the Adam Schiff town hall:

I didn't know this gentleman, but I liked his sign:

Joe Wilson's influence reaches to the West Coast:

Back over to the podium, I thought Bill Whittle - the great host of Pajamas Media - gave the best speech of the day (or at least of the speeches that I really listened to):

An old friend of mine, Michael, from 30 years ago, gave an impassioned address. I didn't recognize him until he started speaking. We spoke afterwords for a few minutes. Love the shirt:

As I was saying my goodbyes, I noticed this pretty woman with the great Photoshopped mini-poster, "Comrade Obama Leading Us to the Glorious Future!:

Well, maybe not so glorious after all:

More photos at my good friend Mark Goluskin's," Scenes From The Los Angeles 9/12 Rally."

Whoa Nelly! Crowd Estimate Now 2 Million for 9/12 D.C. Protest!

I'm heading out in a few minutes for the 9/12 West protest. A few thousand are expected, but if it's a tiny fraction of what's happening in Washington today, I'll be in tea party heaven!

Pamela Geller has some great coverage of events, "A Failed Presidency .... And Its Only Six Months, Hundreds of Thousands On the Mall." Pics at Instapundit! And Michelle Malkin, "Update: Turnout Estimated at 2 Million."

Check also Nice Deb. And Vodkapundit has lots of pictures, with updates throughout the day (via Memeorandum). And at Newsbusters, "WaPo Presents 9-12 Event as GOP Danger, Full of 'Right-Wing Nutballs' and 'Freaks'."

The White House is trying to blow off the event. But as Jennifer Rubin notes:

The long-term consequences of this and the preceding populist gatherings are hard to predict. We may see a more libertarian Republican party. A huge turnout for 2010 may result. New, real outsiders may enter politics. And, of course, these protests may scare the dickens out of lawmakers. But while everyone is decrying the collapse of civility and the resulting harm to the country, it is worth noting that we are witnessing a grassroots outpouring of support for limited government, the rule of law, fiscal sobriety, and generational responsibility. That must be heartening to conservatives, but more than that, it is a tribute to the vitality of our democracy and the energy of its citizenry. And that is a very good thing indeed.

I'll update from L.A. with photos later tonight!

DC Police: 9/12 Protest Crowd Estimated at 1.2 Million and Growing

The New York Times reports on today's 9-12 events in Washington, with the title, "Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government." But check Doug Powers, "9/12 March on Washington Live Video Link. As he notes at the post, "Unconfirmed reports are that the DC Police are estimating the crowd at 1.2 million and growing." It turns out, naturally, that crowd size is a political football. See, "Managing Expectations: Crowd Size for D.C. Rally Sparks Fight."

No matter. Check Michelle Malkin's post here, "Celebrating the 9/12 Rallies" (with live-streaming video). Plus, the Wall Street Journal, "Conservatives Gather in Capital." (Via Memeorandum.)

Here's an interesting background clip:

Plus, Pat in Shreveport on White House cluelessness, "What Demonstrations?"