ABC News Was Misquoted on Crowd Size

ABC news ^ | 9/12/2009

[GVnana]

ABC News Was Misquoted on Crowd Size

ABC News Reported D.C. Rally Size in Tens of Thousands, Not 1M to 1.5M as Activist Said.

Conservative activists, who organized a march on the U.S. Capitol today in protest of the Obama administration's health care agenda and government spending, erroneously attributed reports on the size of the crowds to ABC News.

Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the group that organized the event, said on stage at the rally that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.

At no time did ABC News, or its affiliates, report a number anywhere near as large.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Neuter them in 2010
Vote the Rest Out in 2012

All politicians at every level better pay attention and start packing. Everywhere I go and everyone I talk to agree that the US Congress must be voted out; we must clean these corrupt professional politicians out and start over. Arrogant, in-your-face politicians bye bye. We The People Are Coming; we must protect our children and grandchildren’s futures. It is abundantly clear, the current US Congress doesn’t give a damn about the USA. They’re corrupt and power-hungry. The tsunami is rolling.

[mikey_hates_everything]

THIS is what ABC expends effort to clarify. A crowd count.

Hey ABC, how it’s going on the Obamacare bill research that you will soon be explaining thoroughly to the American people? Or any exposés on the truthfulness of this administration’s statements? Crickets chirping...

[certrtwngnut]

I love it. They can never get it right. Many of us paid our own way? Darn right we paid our own way. I did not see any one there that did not look like they paid their own way. I guess I am an evil right wing profiler.

[Heart of Georgia]

The elitists are in big-time denial about
what’s happening in everyday America :-)

[wny]

we need a satalite shot, directly overhead. blow it up, count heads in a one inch square, cover the crowd with 1 inch squares..........

[cc2k]

Estimating sizes of crowds this size in spaces this open, where people can come and go from the edges of the crowd, is an in-exact science at best.

We will probably never see a complete overhead view of yesterday’s rally in Washington. If we had a picture, a better estimate could be made.

Here are some previous crowds on the mall:

The image above is from the Promise Keepers march back in the 1990’s. The estimate of that crowd was 700,000 to 800,000.

The 3 pictures above (sorry for the small size, I haven’t found full size versions) are from the “Million Mom March” back on Mothers’ day 2000. That crowd was estimated at 250,000 to 350,000 by some people who were there who have some knowledge of estimating crowd size. It was reported in the media as 500,000 to 600,000. That crowd thinned out significantly between 9th street and 12th street (two streets that cross the mall). Past 12th street that day, the mall was pretty empty toward the Washington monument. There was also a crowd of 10,000 or more “Second Amendment Sisters” on the corner of 17th and Constitution. By the way, I was there, and another Freeper and I took our pro-second amendment signs and walked over into the “Million Moms,” down past 7th street before we were basically assaulted and decided to retreat.

From what I've seen so far, the crowd yesterday extended from the capitol to the Washington monument, similar to the Promise keepers march. However, the density of the crowd wasn’t as high as during the Promise Keepers march. The pictures I saw everyone had a bit of space around them.

From the photos I've seen, 800,000 to 1,200,000 is a reasonable estimate. I am assuming that the photos I’m seeing from the Propaganda Ministry are not showing the whole crowd. The pictures I've seen show crowds all along the Mall from the capitol to the Washington monument. And I don't see many pics from around the Washington monument, the elipse, or along the reflecting pool at the west end of the mall. Now, if there are photos of the same crowd at the same time covering all the way along the reflecting pool down to the Lincoln memorial, I would revise that upward. But a crowd that packs the mall from 14th street to the capitol is around 500,000 to 750,000 depending on how tightly packed. Over that will fan out into the wider area around the Washington monument.

Has anyone seen overhead views of the entire mall from yesterday? I would really like an aerial view like the first pic here of the Promise Keepers Million Man March.I think the “powers that be” will keep those photos hidden to prevent more accurate estimates from being made.

[kenmcg]

The NY Post, hardly a lib rap sheet, reported the rally had 30K attendees. On TV it didn’t look like a million. Anybody got a valid count?

[WHBates]

"The elitists are in big-time denial about what’s happening in everyday America :-)"

Let hope your right that way, when it happens, they won't respond quick enough and they won't know what hit them.

[Fresh Wind]

I spoke with someone this morning who claimed to have contacts in the DC police department, and he was adamant that the 2,000,000 figure agrees with their estimates based on aerial photographs.

That means that approximately 0.67% of the US population was on the streets in DC yesterday.

[GVnana]

Bump!

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

“...we have the capacity to shut down the federal government. And we have the will. Should it come to that.”

perhaps, but it would be difficult, esp with Geithner/Bernanke so willing to print dollars and debt........a General Strike might be in order.....and more immediately effective...JMO

[skimbell]

You bet they are.

Revising an estimate of 2000,000 down to 50,000, is essentially the same as at first stating that you saw 40 people standing on a street corner and the next day saying that what you'd really seen was one person standing there.

Somebody told ABC to try and fix that first estimate.

I think that it's probably too late for that.

[Habibi]

The numbers for the DC rally will get a bit firmer over the next few days. What I’m wondering about is the cumulative count for all 912 events. Were there a lot of other rallies and, if so, what is the estimated attendane for the whole country. The number in DC is only part of the story. Gimme a total number. The US is a big place.

Don’t be DC-centric. This is a NATIONAL movement.

[joe fonebone]

here is you estimate....there are 302 acres in the mall at washington dc.....one acre equals 43,560 square feet....times 302 equals 13,155,120 square feet...from the pictures i have seen, the place was packed...figure each person took up 4 square feet ( 2 feet across by 2 feet deep ) then the crowd numbered 3,288,780 people.....just for comparison, for Fubo’s inauguration, the estimate was 1 person per square foot.....

[new cruelty]

Figure each person took up 6 square feet, which is a comfortable distance for moving around and the total is 2,192,520.

[cc2k]

Fresh Wind wrote:

I spoke with someone this morning who claimed to have contacts in the DC police department, and he was adamant that the 2,000,000 figure agrees with their estimates based on aerial photographs.

That means that approximately 0.67% of the US population was on the streets in DC yesterday.

We really need to get those aerial picture published. That’s the key to getting a better, believable estimate.

See my post #26 for some pictures of previous big events on the mall.

The other thing is, yesterday, due to airspace restrictions that have been in place since September of 2001, it’s (nearly) impossible for a private plane to fly over the mall and take pictures. Therefore, the only aerial photos (if there are any) will be from government sources. Perhaps the DC Police have aerial photos. Perhaps we need to draw up a Freedom of Information Act request to get those photos from the DC police.

I do wish someone had thought ahead and had someone take a collage of photos from the top of the Washington monument and/or from the top of the capitol dome (by whatever means necessary). Even photos from a kite or balloon mounted camera would have been very helpful. We can’t rely on the media to accurately report on anything today, or to provide accurate, meaningful photos.

[SterlingSilver]

Thanks for running out that pesky math for all to see...

The “Real Numbers” continue to be a continued problem accross all issues in all debates for everything that the Dims, socialists, statists, leftests, etc., etc., are attempting to influence. Their problem contiues to be that the REAL numbers never seem to support their arguments or their advocacy.

Look, the fact that the state media and the left is trying so deperatly to minimize what is really going on in the electorate at this time... the fact that they are functioning in such a deep denial will eventually serve to be their well deserved undoing.

The biggest mistake you can make in any battle is to underestimate the size and strength of your enemy. Underestimating your enemy adversly affects every aspect of your tactical engagegments and strategic planning.

Remaining in denial of the truth and the facts, or worse, attempting to influence people who know better with distortions of the truth and the facts will simply result in their defeat in the various public debates and eventually their ultimate losses at the polls in 2010 and 2012.

[BufordP]

DC Chapter ping

A lot of good pics of the Tea Party Protest yesterday here

and here...

http://www.lucianne.com/article/?pageid=912g

[concentric circles]

Thanks for the link. There must have been a good crowd of patriots supporting our troops at Walter Reed Friday night?

[PA-RIVER]

“The tsunami is rolling.”

If they are not voted out in 2010 they may well wish they were. The next march on DC will be 20 million with a list of politicians they want to “talk” to.

You are right. They have made is clear that they have no respect for the citizens of this country and the feeling is now more than mutual.

Our Government is bankrupt, and failing to live by the constitution. The contract has been broken.