Promise Keepers' Stand in the Gap rally, close to 1 million.
Posted on 07/25/2008 9:56:22 AM PDT by Daffynition
"Obama Addresses 200,000 in Berlin" -- thus ran the AP headline the day after Barack Obama's much-hyped speech in front of Berlin's Siegessäule or "Victory Column." This 200,000 figure has quickly become the standard estimate of the crowd for Obama's speech in both the American and the German media: so standard indeed that it is for the most part not even treated as an estimate.
The estimates given by German public television ZDF actually during the event, however, were as many as 10 times lower. ZDF began its special "Obama in Berlin" coverage [German video] at 6:45 p.m. Central European Time: only 15 minutes before the candidate's speech was scheduled to start. At the time, ZDF reporter Susanne Gelhard was out and about on the so-called "Fan Mile" between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate. "The expectations were highly varied," she said in her live report, "from a few thousand up to a million. Those were the estimates. But, now, several tens of thousands have turned out." Barely five minutes before the speech was supposed to start, ZDF Berlin studio chief Peter Frey added, "We do estimate that 20,000 [literally, "a couple of ten thousand"] people have turned out." Frey's tone, like that of Gelhard, reflected the gap between the relatively modest number cited and the lofty predications that had preceded the event. Moreover, while the ZDF live images showed that the "Fan Mile" was indeed populated from one end to the other, they also appeared to reveal patches of thinness and pedestrian traffic flowing easily on the half of the boulevard closer to the Brandenburg Gate (i.e. furthest from the "Victory Column").
And then: the candidate did not appear at the appointed time. Could his handlers have been disappointed by the turnout? Did they hope to buy time for more spectators to arrive? At this point, ZDF interrupted its special coverage and broke for the nightly news. When the coverage resumed some fifteen minutes later, ZDF host Claus Kleber promptly declared that there were "one hundred thousand" people on the Fan Mile. He then repeated the claim twice more in rapid succession -- now, more precisely, "over one hundred thousand people" -- as if repetition could somehow cover up the glaring discrepancy between this number and the number cited by his colleague Frey only 20 minutes earlier.
I saw an article somewhere that said a lot of the people were sitting under the trees on the sidelines drinking beer, talking and waiting for him to finish speaking.
I don’t know anything about the applause/sound because I don’t have a TV ... but the photo in the article source above shows how sparse the attendance really was.
Promise Keepers' Stand in the Gap rally, close to 1 million.
Second Law of Propaganda: The first lie out there is the truth.
I think we need to face the reality. It’s clear it was closer to 200,000 than to 20,000, and trying to make it seem like 20,000 just sounds silly. I heard the larger estimate on TV as coming from the security/police there. Since they were in charge of controlling the crowd, they probably had a good handle on the number.
It’s just a hard reality that he attracts scads of people, while McCain doesn’t. Obama’s presumptive nomination is historical in our country. Just because of that, he attracts people who want to see and hear him. Add to that his charisma and oratory skills, and well, you get huge events.
I try to watch McCain, and am interested in the subject of whatever he’s talking about, but I can’t help but get sleepy. He’s just so boring. And he’s getting things confused a lot. Maybe he’ll pick a VP who has some pizzaz, to spice up the interest.
The LA Times picture of the crowd and front page story put the estimated number at 215,000.
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-07/41214322.jpg
I watched the video of Nobama’s speech this morning ... what is this “World Citizen” jive? Isn’t he running for POTUS or did I miss something? Next the UN will run our Nation? Nobama president of the world?
Arguable numbers aside, do we want an empty suit orator or someone with “some kind” of experience to sit in the WH?
I think his speech was an insult to the memories of Reagan and Kennedy, sitting Presidents BTW, and a total rip-off.
I predict a backlash to his photo-op trip.
Perfect! LOL
Over the years, I’ve observed that quantities quoted by left wing pathological liars are usually off by a factor of 10.
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