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Actual number at D.C. Tea Party

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Like Allahpundt, I’ve been trying to get an actual number of people who rallied in Washington yesterday against big government.  It seems the two million figure in one British paper was off the mark.  It seems the turnout was easily in the “healthy six figures.”

No matter what the final total turns out to be, you can bet that the MSM and left-wing blogs will do many a story and many a post on how the right-wing blogs overestimated the crowd size and therefore the movement isn’t as big as they claim it is.  And therefore should not be taken seriously.

Just a thought.

UPDATE from Bruce (GayPatriot): Astonishingly, the NY Times shoots down two liberal myths & strawmen about the Tea Parties in their coverage of the 9/12 protests!

The demonstrators numbered well into the tens of thousands, though the police declined to estimate the size of the crowd. [1] Many came on their own and were not part of an organization or group. But [2] the magnitude of the rally took the authorities by surprise, with throngs of people streaming from the White House to Capitol Hill for more than three hours.

Comments

  1. Again. The right blogs have no idea how to do PR. If a paper headlined 2 million for a lefty march, every left blog would be not only blaring the number in their headlines, they will be fighting actively, spinning using questionable math equations etc to “prove” the numbers and reason why the 2 million is correct.

    What do we do when given the PR of a lifetime by a major MSM outlet. We say seems a bit high? Are we that clueless?

    Not to the right do not do your enemies work for them. They say 2 million you say 2 million. If the left call you on it you link the UK mail article. You cite every source that agrees with the highest numbers. The police est 1.2 million you say some reports put the number between 1.2million and 2 million. You DO NOT SAY: seems a bit high.

    Some times I think conservative WANT to LOSE the PR war.

    i

  4. While I believe we should not trump inaccurate numbers, it is safe to say that the tea party was in the seven figure range and not the five figure range given by MSLSD Schuster and other hard lefties. Indeed it was risible that some lefties were even claiming that a live video feed photo of the march was actually a prior photo of a lefty march because flags were shown at half mast at the march. You know because there wasn’t any recent event that might have caused flags to fly at half mast on 9/12. Oh right, 3,000 people were murdered on 9/11/01, and there was a memorial on 9/11/09 the eighth anniversary of that act of war. Anyway, kudos to my fellow teapartiers, a job well done, but a job just beginning.

  5. Unseen – the accurate number is important – Credibility is hard to get, easy to lose, and impossible to recover within a generation for a party and a movement.

    The PR war was won once the Dems posted THEIR estimate – because no matter the number they have an issue with their own credibility.

    The PR war was won yesterday and will be throughout the week because the MSM is not covering the rally and if they do *mention* it they have to acknowledge that The One is not liked

    The PR war is won whenever the libs are spending time talking about how big our movement is. Afterall, we don’t exist we’re just ‘astroturf’ – we just keep growing and growing and surprise – it’s election day 2010!!

    The PR war is won in today’s world by getting the message to go viral – believe me, I was at the DC rally and am on the net – it’s viral!!

    Last regarding the ‘number’ – the event was day long. We arrived after noon. The actual march took place before noon. As we were walking in on PA ave, others were walking back and commented after seeing us, the late arrivals, this must be the second wave and they were surprised. So a REALLY REALLY big crowd in DC, surprising all people’s expectations for crowd size, spent the day in DC telling all who would listen that we want the truth (CNN), we want our money back (bureacrats), and we want congress to read the Constitution – paying strict attention to amendment 10 and if you don’t we will return en-mass at the voting booth.

    We won the PR war this weekend – conservatives are not alone and as Glenn Beck comments – we surround them.

    And if any enterprising socialist starts thinking along the lines of messing with the vote, lets just say the crowd at DC yesterday is fully prepared and willing to ‘crack some nuts’

  6. As Roger Simon said, Obama and Co. should be afraid, very afraid. 8 months in and 2 million rally against him? (ABC and CNN both estimated the crowd at 2 million). Axelrod or Rahm will have to pay for this. And the President looked like a coward, running off to avoid this crowd. They can ignore this uprising at their own risk, or they can realize they are way off base. Welcome to the start of the second American Revolution!

  7. I always get a chuckle when there is a large protest, rally, march, or whatever, when the numbers game begins. I don’t get the overemphasis on them. If a movement has legs, it won’t be dependent on the actual numbers at the event. Sounds like there were a lot of people at the DC Tea Party.

    Patrick J. Sime

  8. ” It seems the turnout was easily in the “healthy six figures.“

    Why, because Matt Welch said so?
    The only official turnout figures I have seen is the 60-70,000 from the DC Fire Dept.
    Do you have any good reason to think it higher?

    And yeah, the NYT says officials were surpised at the turnout. Maybe surprised how small it was, given Malkin et al priming the 2 million number for the last few days.

    There were more people who showed up at certain football stadiums yesterday than at this demo.
    .

  9. “Official police estimate 1.2 million”

    Absoutely false. Another wingnut false rumor. The police did not make an estimate.

    “ABC and CNN both estimated the crowd at 2 million”

    Absolutely false. ABC reported the DCFD number – 60-70,000. March organizers lied when they claimed from the stage that the nets were reporting 1.2 million. LINK

  11. Anyone have an overhead shot, or even a good objective narrative account of how the crowd filled space around the Capitol?

    Here LINK is a schematic used by the Park Service to estimate crowd size, based on Inauguration Days past.

  15. LOL. any reputable news source is saying “tens of thousands.” Comparing pics from Obama’s inauguration (about 1.5million) to Saturday’s event puts it in complete perspective. pictures do tell the story, and the story here is how the repugnant right is lying, again. No surprise there.

    http://crooksandliars.com/

  17. So as millions gathered to rail against this administration, our young President fled the city in a helicopter reminding me of the end of Saigon.
    8 months, how the mighty have fallen.

  18. Obama only talks when he has a captive audience clapping at all his baloney I have never heard him actually debate anyone on any policy that has any substance. Protrayal of an egotistical personality.

  20. What do you think that proves, Steve?

    It proves that liberals are slobs, filty vermin and elites who love to tell everybody else what to do with their trash, but leave theirs for the “boy” to clean up.

  22. I was there. Had the marchers been allowed to fill in the mall area first instead of being funneled into the side areas to the left and right of the capitol, the enormity of this event would have been more apparent. The photograph of the west front only shows a fraction of the people. Before the side areas were full I witnessed a police officer tell a small group of marchers to leave the mall area immediately as it was off limits.

  23. Tano,

    Let us stipulate for the sake of liberal v conservative understanding and accord that liberals can find an easy million if it is a Million Man March or a liberal demonstration. On the other hand, liberals insist on an accurate census discounted by 50% for good measure when conservatives gather.

    I’m cool with that. It pretty much follows all liberal thinking. 110% of all doctors and nurses are just insanely wild about adopting Obamacare. One cranky octogenarian podiatrist in a mental institution opposes Obamacare.

  24. If you weren’t there, you have no idea how big this was. The organizers were off by a factor of ten. How do I know? You had to be on the front lawn to even see the big screen of the speaker, let alone the speaker. We could barely hear them and we got way past the reflecting pond. The porta potties were completely inadequate to the task. People were waiting 30 minutes to go.