Comments on: Right Wing Exaggerations of 9/12 Crowd Size Too Extreme Even for Fox News

By: Madison

Madison — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:13:39 +0000

Mari, it’s just awful how right wingers are trashing the DC Fire Dept. who were first responders on 9/11. As Bush said, you’re either with us or against us, and if you are against the DCFD, then you must be with al Qaeda and the terrorists. Shame on you.

By: Mari

Mari — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:01:53 +0000

I was there and I can tell you that there is no way the crowd was only in the 10’s of thousands. Typical of left-leaning MSM. (even Obama has admitted that the majority of the media voted for him). One thing I would like to know is whether the DCFD is associated with SEIU. It was very strange that they kept sending fire trucks into the crowd near the capitol building with siirens blaring for no apparent reason, they’d leave, then do it again. We thought ut was very strange because there were no unruly people and no emergencies – we were walking along the area where they were and they were driving right at us as if to intimidate. It was interesting that their estimate is the one quoted. The DC police, on the other hand, were very respectful and seemed to be enjoying mingling with the protestors. I’m sure they were not used to the peaceful people of all ages, races, and income levels who were there to speak up for the values this country was founded on, and to protest the congress and administration that is ruining this country that we love. There were no arrests and no littering – contrast that with leftists and even the crowd from Obama’s inauguration, who left DC looking like a trash heap. The people at the rally were responsible people who don’t expect others to take care of them – even when it comes to picking up after them. A BIG difference from the Obama worshipers who think everything should be given to them and have an entitlement mentality. I am so ready to return to DC with those who were there and those who couldn’t make it the first time. To those who doubt the magnitude of the DC event, I would just suggest they watch the next few elections. That should get their attention & when the voters speak, the doubters will become believers.

By: deathbymedia

deathbymedia — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:32:20 +0000

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.

By: Prof

Prof — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:24:03 +0000

Chris Tate: When you said “Your afraid of the stupid people…”, did you mean You’re, as in You are? Obvioulsy, stupid people aren’t only “coming to town.” Some are on this blog.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:03:48 +0000

There is zero – 0 – evidence that the DC Fire Dept was incorrect in its estimate of 60,000, and, Chris, while you sneer at their role in fighting the flames at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, you fail to say why these first responders would lie for political reasons about this.

The underlying point is that, unlike anti-war marches or pro-civil rights marches, or anti-abortion marches or pro-cancer research marches, Glenn Beck’s march last Saturday had no single, central organizing theme. Instead, what normal Americans saw was a cacophonous horde of overweight half-wits with dozens of grievances and outrages, most of which had nothing to do with each other, and all of which were generated by Republican corporatist propaganda, via Fox and hate radio, that had absolutely no grounding in fact or reality.

In this way, it was a true reflection of its organizer, Glenn Beck — and it speaks volumes, btw, that Beck himself wouldn’t show his face at the rally, but rather chose to stay at home and watch it from the comfort of his luxurious digs in Manhattan. What this says is that he and Dick Armey and the rest knew ahead of time the event was going to fail.

If he had known 1 million people were coming — or 500,000 or even 150,000 — Beck would have been there. (You can lie to the rest of us, but you know in your hearts this is true.)

Taken together, all the rage and hatred did project a sub rosa focus, however: Unbridled hatred of a black man who had the audacity to get himself elected president. That message was heard loud and clear.

By: thomas ryscavage

thomas ryscavage — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:00:42 +0000

I was at all of the anti-war marches in the 1970’s. I was at the original woodstock. I happened to be in D.C. on 9/12. Pull the wool off that is covering your eyes. I have always been an independant voter and I recommend that it is best that the members of the Democratic Party become very worried. Unless you were in D.C. on 9/12, the estimates of the number of people who were at that march are simply estimates made by people who were not there. Open your eyes, words can not argue with reality. The number was, without question, larger than the anti-war marches and, in actuality, very close to the woodstock number.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:27:25 +0000

There are scientific methods for crowd counting, and we use the same type of programs and analytical tools in the military in satellite and aerial photo recon troop counts and crowd estimates…and they are close enough to get a good idea of just the numbers…..
I wonder when some of you will stop wrapping yourselves in the flag, or the blood of fallen firemen and just get the point that people are pissed off at each other and there really is NO dialog taking place here. The shrill voices from either extreme are silly in their accusations against the other. Deal with this fact…there HAD to have been well over 500,000 people involved in this demonstration just to fill the streets to the discernable edges of the crowd…even if the demonstrators used known tactics of spacing people and spreading the crowd for impact there would have to have been at least that many. I don’t have to believe either side…my experience shows me that the 60K number is politically influenced. The 2M number is stretching as well…but the body count is (assuming no tactical crowd management was employed) was probably north of 1M people…FACTS are stubborn things. Get all bent out of shape on either side of the issue, but facts are facts. What they mean is a different argument, but the current administration felt this demonstration enought to perry in defense with the race card yesterday….watch the play on the field, it is so much more interesting that the spin on this blog. The Right Wing acted and the Left Wing countered…I am interested to see what’s next. It got the President’s attention regardless.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:58:27 +0000

Wrong, Van. It is important that there was such a tiny crowd at the the rally on Saturday — it’s a sign that the right wing’s bloodthirsty push for violence in the streets is dissipating. More importantly, however, the visuals from Saturday have revealed the Tea Baggers for what they are: rage-filled racist fringe-dwellers.

Normal Americans are repelled by what they saw throughout August and especially last weekend and they are fleeing your party in droves, as they did last year and will continue to do from now on. And despite your constant lies, regular people know that Pres. Obama is a regulatory capitalist, just like every president in the past century.

By: Van

Van — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:36:19 +0000

It really doesn’t matter how many people showed up at this point. The real facts are known and this time next year around election time the Democrats will be worried and rightfully so. A good house cleaning is in order and they know it! In the meantime, Obama will appoint a dozen more socialist czars to his left wing circle of loons to “reshape America from a capitalist country to a Socialist, entitlement country. Not good!

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:00:31 +0000

Smart people didn’t ruin this country, Chris — Republicans did. It was George Bush and his enablers in the Republican Congress and the Republican appointees to the federal judiciary who took this once-great country down.

And now it’s Republicans and their half-witted Tea Bagging Birther/Deathers who are standing in the way of fixing what they broke.