RSSThe 9/12 Washington, DC Tea Party Rally … What was the Attendance & Why the MSM is Downplaying the Numbers
It was Tea Party Shock and Awe at the 9/12 DC Tea Party. A picture is worth a million Tea Party go’ers. GRID LOCK courtesy of democracy in action and the DC Tea Party.
One thing is for certain … “We the People” made our voice and presence known to Congress and to President Obama as to how we feel about the economy, taxes, deficit and Obamacare. You can no longer avoid the fact that there is a great deal of dissent against your policies … DO YOU HERE US NOW!!! If you don’t Democrats, Republicans, Blue Dogs, Rino’s and Obama … you will receive a pink slip soon.
Does this look like tens of thousands?
In typical fashion the liberal MSM as down played the numbers of actual protesters that descended upon Washington, DC for the 9/12 Washington, DC Tea Party. ABC News is claiming that they never said that there were million, they are stating that there were 60 to 70 thousand. CBS News is reporting a vague tens of thousands. As pointed out by Stop the ACLU, CNN’s report has no number of protesters what so ever. The Washington Post reports tens of thousands as well. Folks, they shut DC down. What does that tell you as to how many people showed?
Sadly the liberal MSM would have you believe that the 9/12 Tax Payer protesters that showed in DC was some how comparable to an Obama rally in MN where The One ran off to instead of facing the music. Would it really kill the MSM to accurately report the dissent against the President that they carry the water for … Yes it obviously would.
H/T: Michelle Malkin: Does this look like tens of thousands?
Once again, just tens of thousands
However the Daily Mail is quoting 2 million.
Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” as they protested the president’s health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.
The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
Michelle Malkin has numerous pics and time saved photos to counteract the nutroot moonbats that claim the pics were doctored. What’s the matter LEFT, afraid of the truth? You should be!
Hot Air asks how big was the crowd with time lapse video. One thing is for certain, the crowd took DC authorities by surprise as the “freedom fighters” descending upon DC caused complete gridlock.
However big it was, it was bigger than expected. From the NYT: “Many came on their own and were not part of an organization or group. But 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.”
Posted September 13, 2009 by Scared Monkeys Barack Obama, Bloggers, Civil Rights, Government, Obamacare, Obamanation, Obamanomics, Politics, Socialism, Tea Party, We the People, You Tube - VIDEO | 58 comments |
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58 Responses to “The 9/12 Washington, DC Tea Party Rally … What was the Attendance & Why the MSM is Downplaying the Numbers”
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[...] IV: Does this look like Tens of Thousands as reported by MSM? Share [...]
Were there a million? Who knows. Hell, if there were 500K that is damn impressive.
Make no mistake about it DC did not plan on there being as many as showed. They all but shut down DC in complete grid lock.
What that tells me is that many people just drove in and did not book hotel rooms. Day trippers or protesters if you will.
People came to the 9-12 DC Tea Party from all over the country. Some flew in and some drove 10-12-16 hours for the event.
Sadly, when the going got tough … Obama left town. What does that tell us about our President. Barack Obama refuses to listen to the will of the people.
Make no mistake, Congress & Mr President.
This is still a country where government is of, by and for the People.
The people who showed in Dc are just a small amount of the people who have anger against this Presidents policies.
R
I think this is just the beginning.
Change, like President Obama never could have dreamed of, is in the air.
The silent majority is silent no more.
I attended the Tea party. I was in one of eight bus loads from Hagerstown Md about an hour away from DC, the “District of Corruption”. Did you see my sign?lol Without disclosing any numbers, the police said the crowd was way over anything they anticipated.
What a sight to see and be a part of. We the people are a very friendly “mob”. I don’tbelieve I saw one “Brooks Brothers” suit.
Instead of us calling and writing congress, they should call us. Americahas spoken.
Respect the office of the presidency, instead of snubbing these patriots and possibly finding common ground, The One “ran” like the
Ferret he is…think ferrets are a step up from weasels…
I was there, please continue the message to friends and neighbors, our elected officials need to respond to the constituents whom they serve. They are not doing so. Write, call, walk, march, Americans deserve more from their elected servants. No matter if you are Democrat, Republican, Independent; Our children’s future is at stake.
You should probably get a screen grab of this chart:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
The crowd went back to the Lincoln Memorial. The street was full. See how it is counted?
This proves there were at least 1.5M
I was there. We were told by the park police there were OVER 1.6 million people coming on 450 buses from 45 states. It was awesome. Why oh why is the media downplaying this ??? That really scares me even more. It was a touching experience, marching down Pennsylvania Ave. singing God Bless America. I hope we here more about it this week.
I was there. We were told by the park police there were OVER 1.6 million people coming on 450 buses from 45 states. It was awesome. Why oh why is the media downplaying this ??? That really scares me even more. It was a touching experience, marching down Pennsylvania Ave. singing God Bless America. I hope we hear more about it this week.
No doubt when he left DC he had his tail between his legs !!!
WE THE PEOPLE has SPOKEN! NOW LISTEN!! No OBAMA HEALTH CARE, no more TAXES, no more BIG GOVEREMENT and STOP the CORRUPTION! TURN THIS SHIP AROUND or YOU WILL BE VOTED OUT!
HOMEY BE SCARED ! i was wondering when the violence would start. and the person calling in the bomb threat is the signal. look for more of this from the violent democrats.
no telling what obama will have his people to do next.
For every one Patriot who made the effort to attend the September 12 Tea Party in DC this weekend, there are at least 25 (back home) who could not make it to Washington. That said, if the number of attendees is anywhere between 1-2 million, the number of TRUE PATRIOTS is somewhere between 25-50 million!
It’s time “the People” understand that THEY are not standing alone against these “elected” criminals.
The Declaration of Independence states VERY CLEARLY that “the People” are THE AUTHORITY in America. Who are “the People?” I am “the people” and YOU are ‘the People.” Nowhere in ANY founding document do we, “the People,” relinquish OUR AUTHORITY to a government that we have created, instituted, and ordained. That said, one should never fear that which he can abolish at ANY moment. In regards to our form of government, “the People” are GOD (little g). That which is created can NEVER rise above its Creator.
I was there on Saturday and having experienced Big Ten football games (UofM Memorial Stadium) I can tell you there were 100,000 as far as the eyes of a tall-man could see, staning on a lamp-post buttress.
Problem is, the eyes could not see it all from that vantage point and that means 100K x many. The chartered bus numbers ALONE known to the organizers counted 200K. There were people from all over the country.
Kurt I appaude your post. However, I think your number of patriots backing the people who made it to the march is too low. I would double the upper number to 100 million. There were large crowds at many other cities across the country. These were people that could not make it to DC.
If I were a politician in either political party, I would be looking for another job. The people have had it with the mess in the governments of the the towns, cities, states and the nation.
Most of the politicians are lawyers and they have created a real mess. Lets get rid of them and let the everyday citizens run the governments. Term limits and repeal of all the commerce decisions of the Warren court of the 1940′s through the middle 1960′s would be a good beginning.
Get rid of the Federal Reserve banks and abolish the creation of derivitive instruments based on home mortagages. Fannie Mae and Fredi Mac need to be shut down and all their loans sold off to quality banks and savings and loans groups.
I’m proud so many showed up to speak up against this corrupt government. It’s time they started listening to “the people”.
Yes, Obama couldn’t handle it so he skips town. Not surprised, he’s a coward. When is he going to start listening to those he works for?
Thanks to everyone who showed up, it was great to see that many Patriots on the streets of Washington D.C.
God Bless the U.S.A.
What has happened to Journalistic integrity? Our Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had ONE picture on page 3 of their Sunday, Sept. 13 paper plus an article from the AP and Los Angeles Times. The picture was, mainly, of five people in orange shirts (with a few citizens around them), seemingly showing this was a “well-organized” rally. NOT ONE STORY WAS IN THE FOLOWING DAY, MONDAY, SEPT. 14. If they want to wear blinders pretending that’s going to change things, they’re in big trouble. Shameful, shameful.
And Maureen Dowd calls Joe Wilson “racist.” Aren’t you tired that any words said against Mr. obama mean you’re a racist. Is he or isn’t he a president of all? Gail T, Milwaukee, WI
“do you HEAR us now”, not HERE. What kind of patriot doesn’t know the basics of his or her own language. Patriotism is judged differently by all so be careful putting yourself up on a hill too high. People from all around care about this country, not just people who disagree with President Obama.
right now in this country if you are white you are a racist. once again,obama’s gang breaks out the 200 year old excuse of racism. just more black propaganda from his paid media.
racism is used as a defense for bomb threats maybe by the democrats ? the violence from our government (democrats) is very near, bomb threats. next will it be democratic suicide bombers.
I was there.
As a lifelong local to the D.C. area, I can tell you that at least 500,000 people showed up to protest. At least! This rally was huge and of deep significance! WE THE PEOPLE are fed up with this administration and its end runs around the Constitution.
We must overturn Congress in 2010. The only thing that matters to politicians is getting votes.
With an overturned Congress, BHO will become a lame duck.
Anyone who believes that a million or more people showed up at this tea party is a complete idiot. In fact, the tea party did not even get 100,000 people. According to Washington DC police, no more than 60 to 70 thousand showed up, and even that sounds high to me. The conservative morons will believe anything they are told. If I told a conservative the sky will be purple tomorrow, they would believe me, because anyone who is stupid enough to believe that over a million people attended the tea party would also be stupid enough to believe the sky will turn purple. Keep dreaming, you conservative idiots, the tea parties are not as big as you think in your fantasy world.
South Carolina has a long list of dignitaries that includes Lauren Caitlin Upton (Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant contestant), Board of Education Chair, Kristin Maguire, Governor (and avid Appalachian hiker), Mark Sanford and now Joe “the hater not a debater” Wilson or the “screamer not the dreamer” as others have dubbed him. I did enjoy him cut and running through his apology, which only goes to show that he stands for nothing. He is just another good old boy where in the morning these married men preach to you that there should be prayer in our schools and in the evening they are on their cell phones setting up a date with their other women on the side, hypocrisy has been bred in. I am not surprised that he felt compel to yell like he was at some Friday night game. So long Joey, you too will be seeing the unemployment lines.
Seven of us drove 45 hrs straight to get from Washington State to Washington DC. It was well worth it. And it does not stop there. We will be involved with removing those who continue to ignore the people.
#22: that bomb threat came from you didn’t it ? you white democrat peckerwoods.
hey paul: joe wilson showed that he does not bow down to a foriegner like you peckerwood racists liberals.
get a job and pay your taxes. your boy needs them to pay for more bomb threats.
also, wilson stopped a government controlled death plan you should be thanking him on your knees.
Hey SUPER DAVE – the sky will turn purple tomorrow. Idiot peckerwood. You morons to believe everything you read. But seriously…..who actually uses the name peckerwood. Are you 8.
We drove in from Central NY-hit crazy road work traffic in Wilkes Barre PA. However:
It was worth the horrible trip to get there.? I wasn’t sure it was “me”, but will never regret being a part of that most excellent and awesome day. The good fellowship was something one cannot describe, the conviction of those attending, something one cannot ignore.
This day we came together with common interest and intent, we will continue and gain momentum. Giants tend to ignore being told to go back to bed.
With the constant ebb and flow of the crowd you best believe it was close to a million. The size of the crowd at any given time was 100s of thousands.
60-70 thousand. The other numbers were a mistake propagated by Malkin. Everyone knows this now (even Malkin has admitted it.)
And as for closing down D.C.–nope. That’s just the way it always is.
Well, since we white folk just can’t seem to be anything but racists, let’s live up to the reputation. Must not be anything wrong with it, just ask the Black Caucus or the Israeli’s. We tried treating others with respect and all we get back is a bunch of crap. I say enough trying to please the unpleasable and get back to putting non-people back into their place.
Like I heard on Mark Levin’s show yestersday. THere were only three people who attended the rally LOL. Come on 2010 elections!!!
Listen, it matters not if there were 1/2 million or 2 million, fact is there were enough of us there to scare the living daylights outta Congress and the potus-(he left the county). The only thing that sacres these dems/libs more is when Sarah shows up. I’m ready for another march, money and sleeping bag in hand !
WHAT EVER THE NUMBER,IT;S THE BEST NEWS I;VE SEEN,HEARD IN A VERY LONG TIME.MY HEART WAS THERE EVEN THO I COULD NOT BE.TO ALL THAT MADE IT.GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
@ Kurt (#14): If you are correct with your assessment and there are 50 million “true patriots” who couldn’t make it, then we’ll win in 2012, too. You see, McCain got 58,343,671 votes or roughly 8 million more than the 50 million you think your candidate will receive. Obama had 66,882,230 votes and will probably pick up that additional 8 million. Too bad for you – sukka!
There were no more than 60-80 thousand (LOL @ the poor guy upthread that thinks 100 million participated). 60-80 thousand is being VERY generous. With any rally, the rule of thumb is usually to pick the number that comes between the police/media estimate, and the activist estimate. This won’t work because the “activists” in this case have gone so far off the reservation they don’t know which way is up. Putting up clearly false pictures only proves that. That anyone in the world of any politics would put stock in the self-loathing idiot Michelle Malkin really makes me wonder if these people even know how to feed themselves.
Still, 70,000 (the estimate accepted by people in the reality-based community) is not a bad turnout in a city that sees various protests of various sizes almost daily.
Honest people who were actually THERE said the crowd went up to 3rd street. Not a bad turnout, but hardly 1963 (look it up).
Face it. It’s a micro-movement. It isn’t an anti-government movement. It isn’t an anti-tax movement. It is an anti-Obama movement. Glenn Beck is no Martin Luther King, and he just won’t draw the crowds except for the most rabid, irrational sympathizers. And judging from the appalling teabagger signs I’ve seen from the rally, complete with assassination threats and blatant racist crap, we should all be happy that it was relatively small. These people make our country look really, really bad. I am thankful they are not a huge movement. That means sanity will ultimately prevail.
But you gotta give Fox News credit for getting nearly all their viewers in one spot at one time. That’s an achievement, if a dubious one.
Some call Joe Wilson a great statesman, and are even proud of his “Shout Out”, so lets see, he says, he was told by the Republican leadership to apologize (he did not realize the magnitude of his mistake), he then gives his weak “not for reals” apology, but then goes on to those “Commentator Talk Shows” and basically says he real was not wrong and plays the victim card and calls for people to send in for money to support him for re-election. Had he kept quiet after his apology, that might have been the end of it but now that people know he lied about the apology the story will continue, until he is out of a job and the funny thing is, he does not see it coming. This summer has been rough for his beleaguered political party. At least he did not end up on the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC). In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away the rights of those they just hate) and that’s who they need to extract from their party if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”. The bithers, the teabaggers, the screamers, and the deathers continued extreme minority presence will become tiresome to mainstream America, if it has not already done so.
…for those knuckleheads that think ‘racism’ is the main motivation behind the protests, think again. Miss T, you are a prime example of those like you who seem to think that only you guys know anything about organiization and true grass-roots communication. Fortunately, with the 2010 elections coming upon us, this nightmare of an administration in which we have been suffering may soon be dispatched to all the local trash dumps where it belongs. And if it’s racism to protest against rediculous deficits, economy-killing taxes, crazy lunatic enviounmentalists, and one slick, arrogant, narcisstic President and his cronies, then, so be it.
I would like to thank Nancy Pelosi and the idiot Democrats who made asses out of them self and played partisan politics with Joe Wilson.
Like these nutroot Dems have never done the same. BTW, Wilson broke no House rule. House rules only pertain when the HOR is in session. It was not during the Presidents speech.
However, the Dems actions only show their hypocrisy. There only problem is that their Holy Obamamessiah was called out to be the LIAR that he really is. Awe, poor baby.
Seems to me that is it were not for Wilson, the MSM would never have even covered the fact that there were no provisions in House bill to enforce checking illegals. Why, because the Dems in the House voted against the amendment.
This has only made people send money to Wilson because they have yearned for a politician with balls.
This will come back to bite Dems in 2010, trust me.
R
WHAT REALLY BOTHERS ME IS BILL OREILLY CLAIMING 75000 PEOPLE ATTENDED THIS EVENT. IS FOX TOO LAZY AS THEY SOMETIMES ACCUSE THEIR COMPETITION, OF GETTING REALISTIC NUMBERS TO FURTHER THE CAUSE OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVENENT? I WAS THERE AND 75000 PEOPLE IS A JOKE. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS WERE THERE AND NO ONE BUT A DELUSIONAL KOOL AID DRINKER WOULD DENY IT!
I am one of the Tea Partyers and I know there was better than one million in attendance in Washington. Obama done what he does best and his 32 sneaky czars. But for Democrats that are interested, Nancy Pelosi supports Acorn putting whore houses in business; what else does she support. This type of mind set is typical of this Democrat Congress.
Yes, I was there and there were billions of us all marching but at the same time not being racist.
I go with FoxNew’s estimate – 75,000. What reason would Fox have for misrepresenting the numbers? Why would they under report? They’ve always been honest in the past, why earthly reason would they have for not reporting the facts?
Why is Foxnews only reporting 75,000?
Wow, if there were 1.5 million people that is only one half of one percent of the country, or one percent of the 2008 voters. So the flip side is that 99% of the country DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE PROTEST.
You spelled hear wrong. Maybe you are wrong about how many people showed up at the “Health care” protest.
Maybe FoxNews is only reporting 75,000 people because there were only 75,000 people there.
Guess what people, just because you were there doesn’t mean you can accurately gauge how many people were there. As weird as it seems, being in attendance at something does not automatically make you a skilled demographer. Shocking, I know.
Bill O’Reily was the only one on Fox to report 75,000 as a definitive number and he said he took the DC Fire Dept. “unofficial estimate” as his source. He obviously didn’t look at any pictures or do any additional homework. O’Reily is locked in a ratings battle with Glenn Beck. He’s tried on several occasions to make Beck look bad. His extremely low estimate of 75K was directed at putting Beck down because Beck was getting much of the credit for inspiring people to attend the protest…and they did by the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS. I WAS THERE!!! I had 10s of thousands stepping on my heals at any one time. I live in the area and attend fire works displays all the time on the Mall with estimates of 300k to 500K. This Tea Party Protest had about the same number of people. O’Reily is “spinning” in the “no spin zone” and he owes us all an appology for minimizing this protest to further his ego and ratings war against Beck.
__________
SM: However, if I remember right the unofficial # was given early on in the day before the throngs on people showed. The DC Fire Dept is probably low balling the # in an attempt to “CYA”. There were probably more than ever expected or anticipated and were not staffed if something had gone wrong.
R
Here’s the best scientific analysis of the crowd size I’ve seen yet. It was done by Henry Vanderbilt, Founder of the Space Access Society. He used population density analysis, length, width, etc. of Penn. Ave and Freedom square, marching speed of a crowd, area around the Capitol etc. His bottom line is a conservative estimate of 240K to 320K in the March down Penn. Ave. At the Capitol it was 330,000 to 500,000 at it’s peak. This matches up to what I said in my earlier post. You can read his methodology and analysis at this link: http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=21884
O’Reily should quit spinning in the no spin zone.
“Jody on September 17th, 2009 3:56 pm
Wow, if there were 1.5 million people that is only one half of one percent of the country, or one percent of the 2008 voters. So the flip side is that 99% of the country DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE PROTEST.”
Jody, you’re an idiot. This is an expensive trip for most Americans and it’s the middle of a depression that Obama is making worse.
For this many to come to this protest shows how important it is for everyone to return governance to the people. They dropped everything and traveled to DC at great cost inconvenience. I guess you never went to DC, so you have no clue.
The Fire department communications, that someone
posted a link to and I read had an entry at 9:43
AM on the 12th. It stated that there were 60,000
to 70,000 people UNOFFICIALY on the mall. I believe that means the capitol grounds. We didn’t start the
march until 10 AM. I am sure that more marched to
the capitol after that time, and many more arrived for the 1 PM rally. All are right that the FD did have that report, but don’t take it out of context.
How many showed up on the 13th for the “counter-rally” ? It appears that about a thousand or less..
__________
SM: We have referenced on several occasions that the FD estimate was done very early on in the day. Were there 2 million, who knows. What is certain is there was more than 75K. The fact that no one can come up with a definitive answer is quite telling. If we are to compare it to the million man march and the amount who actully showed, then there there a gazillion on 9/12 in DC.
R
Here’s some video I took of the day, on the Mall between noon and 4:00 PM. I think it provides some insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQ8kmxrujs
Also, there have been comparisons to Inauguration Day. I was at both events. My wife took both these pictures from the same spot on both days.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emjem1963/3937478887/
…also, Metrorail ridership numbers are out. They show about 40,000 additional riders that day. I think a lot of those were for the Black Family Reunion. If another 10,000 took buses, walked from hotels, drove, etc, then how did the other 1.66 million people get to the Mall?
http://open.salon.com/blog/the_notorious_dad/2009/09/15/the_real_numbers_about_the_dc_9-12_rally
It’s amazing a celebrity gossip news agency such as UK’s Daily Mail whose sole purpose is to report on some bimbo head’s last night’s dalliance somewhere in London is taken on its face value when it reports on a 3rd tier political rally across the ocean. I have done my own study base on a devised stationary methodology and calculation which you can find here:
http://deathbymedia.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/912-washington-dc-tea-party-rally-crowd-estimation/
It’s backed by visual evidence (pictures and clips) all available in the same entry, plus determining the boundaries of the rally and calculation of the final tally derived from the density of the crowd at each given block. My calculus puts the figures around 130k up to 160k.
Do you people saying it was a smaller crowd even know why they were there?
This post is probably going to be silenced very quickly, but if only one person reads it and actually fact-checks the issue, I’ll be glad.
The “liberal source” that stated between 60 000-70 000 was the D.C. Fire Department.
ABC was misquoted ( http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/protest-crowd-size-estimate-falsely-attributed-abc-news/story?id=8558055 )
Michelle Malkin and others CORRECTED their error.
The photo used was also from 1997 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/sep/14/tea-party-photo-shows-large-crowd-different-event/
I’m just saying. Factcheck these things.
U.S. Senator Harry Reid may have good intentions from a millionaire’s point of view; I certainly am not wealthy and I know there are better ways to reform Healthcare. Democrat’s biggest concern is re-election, and they know Trial Lawyers are their most generous contributors; that is why Democrat Senators will not support Tort Reform. Why have they put their Credibility and Integrity in the back seat? Seniors are against the “PUBLIC OPTION” and other aspects of this ridiculous Health Care Reform Bill. Stand up with courage and high character and do the right thing and vote “NO” on The Harry Reid Version of a very bad Reform Bill.
Looks like things are changing in the U.S.A.
[...] by the way, the attendence numbers are way off. http://scaredmonkeys.com/2009/09/13/…g-the-numbers/ I had to go through downtown Houston the other day and I was shocked at how few were [...]