“We The People” – Updated#2
Are determined to take back our country. The government works for us, not the other way around. According to American Spectator and Michelle Malkin, capital police estimate the size of the crowed at 1.2 million, ABC says 2 million. Inspiring.
Update: How many were there? Enough to rattle some nerves.
Update #2:
Take a look at this:
Also, grab a tissue or two, and watch this video of the protesters singing the National Anthem. Click here.
This is so inspiring! I can hardly wait for the MSM spin on this turnout. =D
Marta,
AOL only reporting “thousands” at the rally, so that’s part of the spin.
The crow’s pictures tell of a much bigger gathering.
Marta,
AOL only reporting “thousands” at the rally, so that’s part of the spin.
The crowd’s pictures tell a much bigger gathering.
I'm as curious as anyone to know what the real attendance numbers are, but I am leery of Malkin's reporting. I can find nothing like what she is reporting on the ABC site. Maybe it has still to be posted?
And will the D.C. capital police actually accurately estimate the size of the crowd at this even? Sometime prior to 2004 they stopped doing so because of a lawsuit; has the practice changed since then?
http://overlawyered.com/2004/04/dc-police-wont-estimate-crowds/
The police DID do a crowd estimate at O's inauguration, but as far as I know that was a one-time exemption to their standard policy:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
Anyone know more about this?
[...] of the best early on from Michelle Malkin Share and Enjoy: Original article: Forum: News/Activism “We The People” – babalublog.com 09/12/2009 Are determined to take back our country. The government works for [...]
AP says "tens of thousands" therefore it must be millions.
That is inspiring! The media can't spin the fact the people are tired of big government.
Thanks for this post Ziva!
YES! The silent majority is silent no more ... there's way too much at stake to be silenced by the progressives ... Enough of letting the half-truths and negative labeling go unchallenged!!! We must call them on their lies and doubletalk ... NOW!!! As one of the signs read: THIS CHANGE SUCKS!!!
I wish you well
Melek
"For those of us whose main concern is the well-being of ordinary people, it is a no-brainer to abandon the left as soon as we acquire enough knowledge about what actually happens, as distinguished from what leftist theories say will happen. It is a very different story for those on the left whose goal is either a self-righteous sense of superiority or the political power with which to express their self-infatuation by imposing their vision on others. Here the poor are a means to an end. These kinds of leftists show remarkably little interest in the creation of wealth, which has raised living standards for the poor, as compared to their obsession with redistribution, which has not." ~ Thomas Sowell
The Gathering Storm.
Imagine If They Would’ve Had Torches and Pitchforks
Just found this must see time lapsed vid of the DC crowds gathering ... awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPud1TeubM&feature=player_embedded
Are we sure that time lapse video is what it claims to be?
Check today / this evening's Westwood One cam link:
http://www.trafficland.com/city/WAS/camera/9087/index.html
to the video. There seems to be a possible discrepancy as the flag is at half mast in the video, but is at full mast this evening. To me, that doesn't make sense (the flag is RAISED at night?). Could the video be from some other memorial event?
Thosands showed up next door @ Ft. Worth under pouring rain -- no cancellations -- to march downtown and hear Judge Napolitano and firebrand pastor Broder, who tells it like it is and then some. I'm soaked, feel like jumping into the dryer with my wet clothes. Among the best signs I saw: "He's not a MESSIAH, just a MESS" and a little girl walking next to me with a sign "Twinke Twinkle Litttle Czar, how I wonder WHO You Are." Priceless.
Our signs re Cuban change and "free" healthcare made a local station news video, but haven't been posted online yet. I noticed a great deal of anger at the media for being such a shameless fifth column. Proud of you all who took to the street in Miami too.
Gigi,
You guys rock! Saw some of it on FOX. A little rain water on a Texan only makes `em grow BIGGER!
It's so strange not to have sunshine, but yes, it only gets bigger: some ladies behind me had traveled at least 65 miles to be there; another one in her 70's went by train from downtown Dallas and told me they held a rally enroute inside the train (yesssss!!) --- several asked about our signs and about Cuba; we plastered pictures of real hospitals on a foam board. My deep thanks to The Real Cuba site for the photographs; they have no idea what great response they produced.
That was a GREAT idea! Not everyone is aware of how bad the gov. run healthcare is in places such as Cuba.
I went to Washington today.
Cnn and Msnbc had their cameras pointed to empty streets where stragglers were wandering. Tea partiers were admonishing Cnn at their truck to turn their camera around and point it on the crowd. They refused. The msm is now officially Pravda for Obama.
I was there. What a historic experience. People who weren't there will lament that they missed it. Around the Capitol at least several hundred deep in the huge circumference. If you look at the picture here, what you can't see is that all around the Capitol were at least fifty thousand alone, maybe many more. Then on the streets for at least eight city blocks wall to wall people. Anyone who suggests that there were less than a million has to be a liar. I heard NBC estimated two million. I don't know if the rumor or the number is true. But it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be two million.
Everyone was pleasant and happy and friendly. We were packed in like sardines everywhere. If you wanted to go to the other side of the Capitol, you moved inches in a half hour and finally gave up. I heard that there was a tall black couple carrying a sign, "Obama in 2012." No one molested them. Everyone was polite and let them be. There were maybe two protesters from the other side. I saw none. What could they do with all of us? I am so unhappy that I didn't have a camera. The signs were spectacular, funny and creative. Many mentioned Wilson favorably. One said Palin/Wilson 2012. A woman was getting signatures on a huge poster board with LIAR printed on it to boost Wilson. She was going to mail it to him. Everyone crowded around to sign it including me. There was no room on it to find a place for me to sign. When a speaker shouted "Wilson is right", the crowd erupted in laughter and applause. I hope there are pictures of the signs. They were spectacular. It was glorious to be there. No one dropped one piece of litter in this gigantic crowd. This is America!
On a personal note, I had a hard time finding out how to go. Who was in charge, who do I call? I finally figured out who to call and got some info about the buses. Not one word on the tv or in the newspapers from the moment it was announced on blogs or on talk radio until the day we were to leave. The only way people heard how to go was through digging like I did or word of mouth.
We started out with six buses from our area, Northeast Philadelphia, Montgomery County and a bit of Quaker County and N. J. Within one week we had fourteen buses - all word of mouth. They could have filled two more but the time was too close and it was all volunteers and they didn't have the organization.
We met people from Colorado, California, Georgia, Pittsburgh. I heard there were people from Alaska.
This is only the beginning. We must stop this left wing crowd in Washington. One thing is certain, WE are not going to stop. We are going to grow.
An amazing experience. I am so glad I was there.
One thing of special interest to Babaluers: There were many many signs that I saw that had pictures of Hitler, then Stalin, then Chavez, then Castro, then Obama. Castro and Cuba were included as baddies on many signs. I would like anyone to show me a rally of liberals where Castro would be listed as a baddy.
Does anyone know if during the Bush administration there were a rally as large as this to protest him? I don't remember such a huge turnout against Bush in Washington ever. Am I wrong?
Janet Cantor
Another thing. We were so packed in together, you couldn't help banging into people or stepping on toes or scraping someone. We said we were sorry and invariably got the response of a smile and that's okay. We all loved each other. We were each grateful that the other was there. We all understood each others' jokes. I did not have one bad experience with anyone there. Again, I say THIS IS AMERICA!
Honey thank you so much for your eye witness account! I knew you would share with us, and what a great recounting it is! I wish I could have been there with you. We are spending the weekend at our get away place out here in a very small desert town. I was heartened to see a group of locals out doing their part for today. One poster I really enjoyed as a victim of California politics said, "Go Green, Recycle Congress!" You're right, this is historic day for proud patriotic Americans.
Hot damn!...just HOT DAMN!!
There's definitely "something happening here.....what it is, is VERY clear!"
And here I thought I was amongst "huge" crowds at the LSU (opening game) Tailgate party on the Baton Rouge campus today!
Unreal
Michelle Malkin and FreedomWorks retracted their statements about there being 2 million people there ... see her blog page:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/12/celebrating-the-912-rallies/
"ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department."
Thanks for the on the scenes reporting, Honey.
There are already 288,000 entries on google for the rally. I only looked at a the first set. There is a photo essay and you can see one of the posters with Castro on it.
Someone called a local radio station last night to tell that she asked a policeman, "You see rallies all the time here. Are you able to estimate the size of crowds" Without a moment's hesitation he answered. "There's over two million here today."
On google the msm say the crowd numbers in the tens of thousands. Estimates are all over the place from that to two million.
But you can see on one picture, the people lining up to the port o potties look like they are in the tens of thousands.
Oh geez, this is such a photoshopped photo. It's obviously the 10 same homeless people walking around DC, cloned over and over again. I didn't see much coverage on the MSM so IT MUST NOT HAVE HAPPENED!!!!!
arghhhhhh I hate people.
And none of this takes into account the hundreds of tea parties going on all over America at the same time. THEY may number in the ten of thousands. But from all I am hearing about attendances, their numbers alone might end up having been in the hundreds of thousands.
As I looked at the overhead picture of the crowd, I kept thinking about the Iranians who bravely took to the streets to protest their government. The uncaring and disgraceful Obama virtually ignored them all so he could woo their tyrannical government instead. All of our numbers and enthusiasm against Obama shown in this crowd and in crowds all over this country not shown but talked about will be ignored as easily by our president as he already arrogantly smiles and announces he will push his health care program.
He must not win in any of his projects. Any one will bankrupt this nation and he knows it. That is his purpose and everyone at those rallies knew that.
Honey,
That's an awsome eyewitness account! Thank You. I wish I'd been there experiencing this historic moment.
I don't know if it's just me, but no matter what news channel (AKA Obama's stenographers) I tunned to yesterday I didn't see ANY news report about the March to Washington. I guess we'll have to wait for Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly to report it.
What a sorry bunch this MSM has turned out to be.
It was a great rally.
However last night both Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin stated that the official crowd size was really 60,000 and not in the millions (Malkin claims someone lied to her and corrected her figures).
What sucks is that the left and MSM will now try and discredit the 60,000 as well.
Mr. Mojito and firefly,
You are so right. I was just watching the Glenn Beck show which I taped because he promised to be our eyes there. Both he and Fox News Sunday reported that the crowd were about 60,000. And they misrepresented what we were there for.
If a tree falls in the forest and it is not reported correctly, does it have an impact?
Glenn Beck is to be congratulated for sure for stirring America up and being a part of the reason we are engaged and helping to keep us informed. And many signs were there thanking him, deservedly.
But Glenn Beck has disappointed me in this show because he gave a rant about how he is becoming a libertarian and we should not be telling other countries how to live.
Excuuuuse me, but this man who has the 9/12 movement should remember that these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are an attempt to bring the war to the terrorists and wipe them out not to run away in shame at our bad behavior and abandon the fight. I am deeply disappointed in him.
You see, unlike Obama worshippers, I don't deal in hero worship or the cult of personality. I deal in ideas. If Beck does good things, I thank him. If he doesn't, I am unhappy with him.
My newly conservative cousin is now seeming more fanatic than I am. Trafficant, whom I always used to love because he was so funny, apparently was on Greta VS and said disgusting anti semitic things and she wants me to join her in complaining about that. I told her no. Trafficant is a LONE baddie. I must keep my eyes on the singular war we are engaged in for the freedom of this country. She is angry with me that I don't share her zeal. But First things first and we must not be distracted from stopping this crowd.
zit is not going to be easy. Obama is using Olinsky's rules of overwhelming us with so much we can't keep track and will tire of fighting. People like Hatch voted for Sunstein because they didn't know about his past. They don't have time to research. Obama is overwhelming our congressmen and us. This crowd must be stopped. I hope we will be able to do it. This is a frightening time.
"And they misrepresented what we were there for."
How so, Honey? What did they say?
Honey -
Agree with your assessment of Beck's broadcast of yesterday, which I watched in realtime.
Also, late last night two things popped into my head.
1)these images of massive protests in Iran just a few months back http://tinyurl.com/msfzbp and http://tinyurl.com/ogknoc
2) what was the estimated crowd for last January's inaug. of Obamao ... I did a cursory 'google' of such late last night and Twittered this: Flashback: Obama Inauguration Crowd Est Reduced by1/2 http://tinyurl.com/6vx5zs Est. 800K-3M http://tinyurl.com/r24s4m
I have yet to actually compare and contrast pictures from yesterday's gathering to 1/20/09's.
A Brit paper actually had the stones to put the numbers for yesterday at the 2 million mark.
I am very disappointed in Fox's continued use of "tens of thousands", when clearly the pictures show at the very least a number closer to 100s of thousands and atleast a million. Hell, Central Park has boasted of a million gathered for a concert.
Here's the thing. Recall the pictures last summer of Obamao addressing the huge crowd in Germany. The media does not want that image erased by the image of a crowd as large, if not larger (obviously it was) by a crowd that "fundamentally" and completely disagrees with him and his minions and want an immediate "change" in the way things are spinning out of control ... OUR control.
Honey,
Thanks so much for the eye-witness report. I would have loved to have been there. Way to represent!
We're on vacation and there was NO MENTION of anything on the local news channels as we drove down. I was quite stunned. No mention of a MARCH ON WASHINGTON???
This morning's local news rag posted a small photo and buried the story on the 3rd page. No mention of Glen Beck or of 9/12.
Fascinating in a sick and twisted sort of way...
Thanks again for the details.
Besos,
Marta
FREEDOM LOVING AMERICAN ARE STANDING UP ONCE AGAIN!
Just a BTW aside, anyone who watches college football knows what a sell out crowd in their stadium looks like. Last night's (THE) Ohio State University vs USC game at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio was SOLD OUT. According to Wiki stats the stadium holds "a capacity of 102,329, it is the third largest stadium in the NCAA and the sixth largest non-racing stadium in the world".
NOBODY is going to tell me what we saw flooding Washington DC yesterday was less than what I saw on my TV last night in that football stadium in the seats.
Not to forget that there were many of us in front of the Broward Federal Court House yesterday supporting those in DC. I have pics in my facebook and sent Babalublog some videos. There were rallys ALL OVER the USA yesterday so if you count all those in their cities with DC we had over 3 million easy!
One more thing, and a 1000 pardons for being so chatty today here on this topic but I am growing more and more pissed by the hour at what I am reading/seeing/hearing on this.
I knew in the course of the next day(s) the MSM would try hard to downplay and ignore the numbers from DC and other gathering locations throughout the nation on 9/12 … They ignore the numbers, as they do their floundering ratings numbers, at their own foolish peril. One writer @ American Thinker (and I agree) wants the an explanation demanded on the floor(s) of Congress about the media manipulation and malpractice in this area.
http://tinyurl.com/qg6w7x
Personally, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg that needs formally addressed. The MSM has consistently abused their power and the American peoples' trust. Barely a word on Van Jones and ACORN, just to name a few.
drillanwr, so far as I observed yesterday and today, even the FoxNews website has had relatively little D.C. Tea Party coverage. I was surprised by this.
[Not sure why I am posting as all my comments seem to be in limbo awaiting moderation ... lol ... mods must be outside enjoying nice weather or something].
drillanwr, cubabuzz et al,
We were there for so many reasons. Obama is weakening our defenses, our CIA and FBI and putting on trial our interrogators instead of the terrorists. Obama is emptying out Guantanamo and giving Miranda and civil rights to these evildoers. This is universally irritating to the tea partiers. We didn't like Obama's asociations with Communists in and out of our country and government, we hated the destructive massive spending, we hated the many programs thrown at us at once in Olinsky fashion that were being rammed down our throats instantly and tyrannically without letting our congressmen have time to analyze them nor the American people. If we were given the chance to know what they are we would vote them all down or force our legislators to do so. That's why Obama must be quick if he is going to be our dictator and have total power over our economy and choices. And we hated that he is giving more courtesy and consideration to Castro and Chavez than the people yearning to be free in Iran or Honduras or to the country of Colombia, our friend. We hated the corrupt and election stealing Acorn. Those signs were created before we saw the videos where the pimp and his girl got such useful advice from the ladies at Acorn. We hate the expense and tyranny of the Czars. All of this behavior is the behavior of a person who wants to destroy this country, is an enemy of the American people, who wants to throw out the tenth amendment, and the constitution in general.
If you stopped to talk to anyone, anyone, we all agreed on everything and finshed each other's sentences. We were all so happy. That was my main impression. The sheer joy of the crowd. Each picture only shows one part of the crowd. You cannot get the full impact of the size from any of these pictures.
We hated that Pelosi and company demand that Wilson apologize umpteen times and want to censure him and embarrass him endlessly, but they ennoble Kennedy, ignore the thievery and corruption of so many in congress and in the cabinet, the liars, cheats, and communists. We all loved Wilson and urged him not to apologize any more. (I enjoyed seeing Wilson say this morning that he already apologized, he doesn't like incivility, but enough is enough, that his constituents were overwhelmingly in support of him and his donations have already reached a million dollars and counting. Of course the report is that his opponent is also getting a ton of money. Soros has lots and there are a lot of anti capitalist rich people out there.
Fox made us seem like little people of no consequence who want our taxes lower and want to be obstructionists to Obama as if that is a bad thing. At least that's the way it seemed to me.
I was tired from yesterday. It was a long day.
But I don't think my impression is very off base. From Fox I expected more.
Even Beck was more about himself and how great he is. Perhaps I am being too harsh.
But something great is happening across this country and we need all the help we can get. And fox and the rest of the msm are belittling it as far as I'm concerned. This was historic and more impressive than their little panels of self importance.
Sorry I rambled.
I just googled out of curiosity. They estimate ML King's audience at 400,000 and more. They say Obama's inaugural had 1.2 million.
They were in chairs, yes? Were they standing?
Can anyone get pictures of the crowd for Obama? Our pictures only show a small part of the crowd because each picture shows a view of the crowd on the Mall and shows none of the crowds all around the Capitol which were unbelievably huge. And even pictures of the crowds in the streets only show a partial view. The people stretched back and back.
I still can't understand how I was so lucky to be part of the crowd around the Capitol.
Okay, I'll stop.
It is so frustrating the coverage and how it bears no relation to the reality.
Why don't Americans care?
I'm back. Sorry. Someone somewhere said Michelle Malkin recanted on the 2 million number. I went to her website and didn't see that. Does anyone know anything about that?
She has a couple of pictures of people around the Capitol. It is only a partial view, but add these to other pictures and you begin to get the idea. Can you look at all of this and still say there are fewer than I00,000 there" I find it very hard to believe.
Honey, see my earlier post which I will repeat here for your benefit:
Michelle Malkin and FreedomWorks retracted their statements about there being 2 million people there ... see her blog page:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/12/celebrating-the-912-rallies/
Malkin writes (and here she is quoting Freedomworks ... see her page for the full thing):
"ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department."
Here is my ad hoc, off the cuff, estimate of the crowd size.
As you can see from the pictures on Malkin's site, the crowd stretches along Pennsylvania Ave from 14th and E St NW down to the U.S. Capital.
Now, that is about the same distance (you can check this using Google Earth) as the distance from the U.S. Capital to the Washington Monument.
Such a crowd, line up along The National Mall, would contain about 1.2 million people, according to this graphic (which is also posted on Malkin's site):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
Okay, now Pennsylvania Ave (again, check this for yourself using Google Earth) is only about 1/5th the width of The National Mall.
So divide 1.2 million by 5 and you get 240,000 people.
Of course, this does not take into account crowd density. The USAtoday graphic assumes 1 person per 2.5 sq. feet.
How crowded do you really think the party was, Honey? More or less crowded than one person per 2.5 sq. feet. Modify the 250,000 number accordingly.
I am no expert at these things. We were packed in all around the Capitol hundreds deep it looked like to me. If I stood in the same spot from the back and tried to make my way to the center, it took a very long time to get to the front. Multiply that by the area surrounding the Capitol and add people on the streets and across the water also very deep. then add the people in the picture packing the way left to right. I can't see how it is just tens of thousands. But what do I know?
I went to Malkin, cubabuzz, with your link and it was more ambiguous to me than it was to you. Where did a British paper get their estimate? If Obama got 1.2 million, how much more crowded was it for his audience than this looked? Did they go hundreds deep all the way around the Capitol? Where I was, I tried to break through to the opposite side because I wanted to be able to see the speakers. I am pretty pushy and stayed in my path. It took me about a half hour to get just a little way. I fought my way back and found a place to sit where there were people packed behind me as far as the eye could see and in front as well and all around and through every hole I looked through. It was a sea of people. And I couldn't see what is in the photo that begins this article. Because I was at the Capitol.
I'm back.
Okay, so I googled Obama's inaugural and asked how many were there and looked at an image.
There were definitely a lot of people there. They claimed 1.2 million. But they only show one audience in front of them. To me from the photo above it looks like we had at least that many just in the photo that is at the beginning of this post. And that doesn't take into account all of the people in other places like the Capitol.
Can anyone look at the photo above, the photos around the Capitol on Michelle Malkin's site and compare that to the photo of the inauguration and take a stab. Does our turnout look like less than one twelfth of the Obama turnout? I don't think so. I think ours may even be larger.
Someone do this for me, please.
Honey,
It has probably already been done in the last 24 hrs (by the MSM) and found to be comparable ... or we would have heard it wasn't. Get what I'm saying?
Honey, here is a satellite photo of the crowd at O's inauguration:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20090120/inauguration_3_crop.jpg
Of course, that doesn't really say anything one way or the other unless you have a similar overhead photo from yesterday to compare side by side. And I don't know what time of day that photo was taken, if it was at the start or end or middle of the inauguration events.
But I really have to doubt that the size of the crowd yesterday was comparable to that of the inauguration day crowd. I mean surely SOME conservative news source would be saying as much, if that was the case. I see that the Washington Times is still only saying "tens of thousands":
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/13/capitol-tea-party-rally-assails-big-government/
"Rally leaders estimated the crowd at about 75,000, but others said it was larger than that. Organizers had expected between 25,000 and 50,000."
I increasingly suspect that my ad hoc estimate of 250,000 that I gave before is probably an upper limit on the crowd size, and that it was probably somewhat less than that. Maybe 200,000?
I just found this on the Freedomworks site:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/3914299074_28fdec29a2_b.jpg
Note the empty spaces in The National Mall during the rally yesterday, and compare that to the inauguration photo above.
I hope it doesn't come across like I am arguing with you, Honey. It was a very impressive and inspiring rally, but I think the numbers in D.C. fell far short of a million people.
It's too bad you were not 'twittering' or 'tweeting' from it yesterday!
Comparable to what, Obama's estimate? Did you look at all of the pictures of our rally and his inauguration and compare?
So you are saying that there were at least a million?
Honey,
Yes, the Inauguration estimate. Scroll up for a couple links I googled late last night on the subject. Before the Inaug. they were estimating they would have 5-6 million at the event. But just a day or two before 1/20 they scaled back by atleast 1/2. Then the estimates ended up being betweem like 800K and 3Mil for Obama ... which is one hell of a safe cushy s=margine for error, no?
But from the pictures of both then and yesterday I'd say it's very close and comparable. AND I would bet the 'jar-o-jelly beans' counters at the MSM have looked and done the rough eyeball math and concluded as much ... but ain't about to say. As I stated, my favorite college football team's stadium holds over 100K and it was sold out to capacity last night ... you can't tell me there wasn't more than that in DC yesterday.
Check out the UK's Daily Mall coverage:
http://tinyurl.com/rbmqna
drillanwr and Ziva,
Thank you so much. I feel so much better now. Even Fox news says tens of thousands; that's all everyone says. No way.
In the picture shown in the article, Ziva, that is only the people around the Capitol. That does not include the people in the picture you have on the top of this post. It does not show the people on all sides and around a waterway which was at least as much as those around the Capitol and this is only a partial view of those at the Capitol, anyway. I hate to sound obsessive about this, but I am. Do you see what I mean by hundreds of people deep?
No one will convince me it was less than a million. I thought it was more when I looked at the inaugural picture.
Thanks so much. Now we can drop it until there's more news.
HEH!!! Here ya go, Babalu babies:
9/12 demonstration a record DC turnout: National Park Service
http://tinyurl.com/pe37lh
Hooray! Hooray! Biggest ever! Are you noticing Obama? See, if this is right, I am vindicated. You already see that what I said about no one leaving a mess is correct. I am so glad to be vindicated. This is heavenly. I can't tell you how much this means to me. Thank you so much.
I love Babalu. You are my family.
Honey, drillanwr, read the COMMENTS that go along with the article at American Thinker that was linked to.
http://comments.americanthinker.com/read/1/419875.html
Someone is playing a prank. Sorry but it appears that David Barna (not Bana) was talking about the inauguration, and NOT the rally this past weekend. If the conservative blogs keep repeating this, it is going to look rather embarrassing.
{WASHINGTON - The National Park Service says it will rely on a media report that says 1.8 million people attended President Obama's inauguration.
David Barna, a Park Service spokesman, said the agency did not conduct its own count. Instead, it will use a Washington Post account that said 1.8 million people gathered on the US Capitol grounds, National Mall, and parade route.
"It is a record," Barna said. "We believe it is the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever."}
You can see the original story back in January here:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/01/22/inaugural_crowd_size_reportedly_dc_record/
[Mods ... again, seems like my comments are awaiting moderation.]
Honey, drillanwr, I posted an analysis of the crowd size of the rally a few hours ago. Unfortunately, the post is still awaiting moderation. Check it out when it becomes visible (hopefully soon). I figure the crowd size was about 200,000 to 250,000, and I explain why.
cubabuzz -
I Might accept the 1/4 mil figure but a couple caveats:
It reduces the number stated for the Inauguration in January by the same measure
It is MORE than the "thousands" or even "tens of thousands" the lazy MSM is mumbling.
However, as I stated before, I have seen the pictures of Central Park NY concerts boasting of a million gathered and this was bigger just from the few pictures/angles I've seen.
I was just in DC a yr and a half ago for the first time. As someone stated, the crowds went down each street branching off from the main drag, and in between buildings where they were hidden from any particular camera's view.
But the simple fact is the MSM would be all over this if it were in support of the administration. This got more coverage from the UK papers than our own. And I looked through them. Pitiful. The only news media we have is Fox, and the internet.
drillanwr, keep in mind that the rally on the weekend apparently did not have a permit to use the entire National Mall. Certain portions were blocked off, for use by another group.
This picture of Saturday's rally comes from Freedomwork's site:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/3914299074_28fdec29a2_b.jpg
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/bstein80/hundreds-of-thousands-of-patriots-march-on-dc
You can clearly see that the middle of the National Mall was cordoned off.
The inauguration on the other hand had pretty much the use of the entire Mall.
Did the inauguration use any place around or near the Capitol? What about the huge clump of people shown in the picture on the streets of Washington? Sorry, I'm not yet convinced.
I am not going to let myself be down. This was a stupendous event where people paid for themselves to travel. No one paid people to attend. Everyone was happy and true Americans. They were not the angry leftists I come across all of the time. We were having a ball.
At least you see I was right about the littering, none for us.
If there is any bad news, don't give it to me. At this point I will not be dampened.
Hey, Honey, what's the saying?
"No news is good news" ... ;^)
Bernard Lewis says that with the news media today, good news is no news.
Wind in our sails.
So now David Axelrod is going all Jedi-mind-trick on us and saying these Tea Party Protesters are "wrong" and do not represent the views of the broader public? Wow.
Now THAT'S what I call DENIAL!
"These are not the droids you're looking for."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/13/axelrod-says-tea-party-protesters-wrong/
I might have to start using colorful metaphors soon! (You've been warned...)
David Axelrod is no Karl Rove.
OMG! Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney.
Michelle is no Laura.
BO is no Barney.
B-HO is no W ...
I'm seeing a pattern here ...
Just got Glenn Beck's daily news letter in email. He addressed the 9/12 protest in DC on his radio broadcast this morning, and imagine he'll do it again in an hour on Fox TV. But here's the news letter w/transcript and additional video and pictures from DC. A couple I am seeing for the first time.
http://tinyurl.com/omchue
Thanks for the Glenn Beck link ... but ...
Wow. I can't believe Glenn references the same prank claim that American Thinker fell for (I'd like to think that American Thinker did not start this false claim intentionally). Where are Glenn's fact checkers?
Incidentally, I found the name of the group that had the permit to use much of the National Park on Saturday. It was the National Council of Negro Women's 24th annual Black Family Reunion Celebration. That annual event is said to attract 500,000 people to the Mall each year. It absolutely puzzles me why Freedomworks would run the rally at the Mall the same weekend that a different longstanding (24th annual!) event was going on at the same time, when that other rally had much of the Mall blocked off and reserved (between 7th and 14th Streets) for its own event.
Obviously, it also complicates estimates of crowd size at each event.
http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/BlackFamilyReun.htm
cubabuzz -
I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but I am not exactly sure what your motivation is for insisting the numbers on 9/12 in DC were somehow not all that much afterall. Might be helpful if you maybe define your position?
I mean, unless I am off base here, I am waiting for the challenge that pictures were photo-shopped or some such. And American Thinker is far from some 'hack' site that has been found to be in error on some consistent basis. Neither is Gateway Pundit.
In regards to the chosen date for the 9/12 protest. Umm, "9/12" ... yeah. Would not have been as meaningful on say 6/14. You know? Events happen daily in DC. Things were happening when I was down there a year and a half ago in addition to and during during the Cherry Blossom Festival. And you quote "500,000" annually that attend the National Council of Negro Women's (24th) Annual Black Family Reunion Celebration, but where do YOU get that figure if there is no apparently legitimate source for last Saturday's numbers?
Forgive me if I am reading you wrong in this lingering conversation, but it seems you may perhaps be onboard with the media in diminishing the attendance in DC for some reason. Like what we are seeing with our eyes isn't what we are seeing? Saturday wasn't important so move on? If that is the case then I will say that the crowd I saw on 1/20/09 in DC and in those Central Park 'a million people attended the such-and-such concert' pictures are not what sources at the time(s) said they were either. So big deal on those counts too.
Are you agreeing with David Axelrod's contention that Saturday's crowds were not representative of mainstream America on the issue of healthcare and on the government control over this country in general?
Because no matter what the 'number' eventually is settled on I will guarantee you that those people were more in the mainstream representation of America's views than the wonks sitting pretty in power in the Capitol building ... and their numbers are far fewer than those on the streets and the Mall and lawns on Saturday. Elected or not, they are not doing the bidding of their constituents at this point.
We walked past the area where the tents were set up for that black family reunion celebration. We were there around 11 A.M. There was no one there. I was among the Capitol crowds so I didn't see what went on with those tents after I passed them. But as we left Washington and everything was emptying out, I saw almost no black people who were not from our group. That is only anecdotal because they may have still been meeting. I wasn't where the tents were at the time we were leaving. But if there was a big crowd for that family reunion, you couldn't tell by any of us.
drillanwr, thanks for expressing your curiosity. I was wondering, too. This "objectivity" is getting on my nerves. No one could ruin this day for me. We were all so happy and laughing. We behaved so well. Just look at those pictures of how we left Washington and how the Obamamaniacs left it. It tells the whole story. Most people didn't make a mess because they love America's city. Some were reminded to bring trash bags and take the trash home and leave no mess. Whether it was 60,000 or millions, we were there, we were respectful. There was no harsh word. Just celebration. We are America! We are the workers, producers, the self reliant, protector's of America's city. We do not tear down our country. All we were against is love of tyrants such as Chavez and Castro, government takeover of our lives, living beyond our means, corruption and crooks and subversives in our government. And to a man, we all loved Wilson!
Wish you were there and then you would know how gorgeous a day it was. It was great to be there. An historic occasion. Those who look down their noses at us or try to denigrate our achievement of getting all those people there with no help from anyone, paying our own way and carrying our own sustenance and water, they only show themselves to be the small minded destroyers that they are. Woe to the country if these pin brains have their way with us.
It was glorious. Trust me.
Hi drillanwr ... as I said before I think the crowd size was in the low hundreds of thousands ... probably 200,000 to 250,000. I can even see 300,000. Nothing to sneeze at; it was an impressive gathering.
But I'm not impressed when people make outlandish claims like "2 million" (as Malkin did, only to later retract it) or "largest ever" (as American Thinker did, only to retract it). Inflated claims followed by retractions do not help the cause; they only open it to ridicule.
The 500,000 figure for the National Council of Negro Women's Annual Black Family Reunion Celebration was taken off of a D.C. tourism site and it was talking about attendance in the past, not this year. I suppose that is a historical figure, based on some of the previous 23 years worth of events. Keep in mind, the D.C. police USED to give rally crowd size estimates, so they would have some data for that rally and obviously people can tell if crowds at that event this year were larger or smaller than, say, 10 years ago.
As I mentioned in an earlier post (at least it was in one of the links I cited, I believe) the D.C. Park police USED to give crowd estimates until they were threatened with being sued for doing this once. They made an exception for the inauguration, and I think that was the first time in nearly 10 years that they did so. See here:
http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/d-c-park-police-crowd-estimates/
I don't know why you are bringing Axelrod into this. If you think I am siding with him etc., you are mistaken. I just want factual reporting.
Hey, I don't mean to upset you guys. I'll try to say no more on the subject unless you ask my opinion.
cubabuzz -
If you're in opposition to our views, then you are being very civil about it and I for one thank you because there are those who cannot debate or have such a civil conversation with opposition.
You said: "I just want factual reporting."
We hear ya. The MSM is not doing their job at all, ao you DO have the , once again, bloggers trying their damnedest to get this event right.
BTW, the MSM did not do their job on Van Jones or any of the other crazy "czars", and have not even touched the current ACORN exposure.
AND on that note a vote was taken today to halt fed funding of said "nuts":
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/14/breaking-senate-votes-to-cut-off-federal-funding-for-acorn/
Yet, were this a repub administration with such strong and direct ties to this or such a group there would be hell to pay in the MSM ...{crickets chirping}, is deafening.
Well, Bill O’Reilly claiming that 75K figure too. For what I seen so far in the pictures and the clip, the number seem much greater.
I don’t understand Bill O’Reilly, on one hands he’s constantly criticizing President Obama’s policies and on the other when he gets a change to nail the President (as it happened during the campaign interview he gave him) he lets him off the hook.
As far as I’m concerned the numbers are huge and indicative of a mainstream America beginning to wake-up to the disastrous consequences that our President’s policies will bring to our nation and beginning to revolt.
The next fourteen months promise to be very interesting in our country.
This is a beginning of a tidal wave of discontent with President Barack Obama and his Marxist/Socialist vision for America. Those around Obama and the Democratic Party can choose to ignore these obvious signs of discontent among the common folks but, make no mistake, next year they’re going to wake-up to a painful reality when they loose control of Congress.
The only way that Barack Obama and the Democrats can avoid this self-destruction act is to move to the center (like Bill Clinton cleverly did during his tenure); unfortunately our current President is too much of a lefty (and unwilling to change his Marxists/Socialist ways). The fact that he’s controlled by George Soros and company and with Pelosi, Reid and the far left loonies in charge of Congress and the Party will spell doom for all of them in the 2010 elections.
Barack Obama and the Democrats claimed that George Bush and the Republicans had lost touch with the American people. Today they should take a look at themselves and see how their arrogant, pompous hypocrisy (totally supported by the MSM) is bouncing right on their faces as they are the ones who have really become out of touch with the American people.