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Celebrating the 9/12 rallies-TURNOUT EST RANGE FROM 350K (liberal) TO 2 MILLION (conservative)
ABC News ^ | September 12, 2009 | Michelle Malkin

Posted on 09/12/2009 2:21:15 PM PDT by Zakeet

Edited on 09/12/2009 4:03:43 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

6:15 PM EDT Mod Update (per NRO's reporting): estimates of crowd size range from 350,000 to 2 million. Prolly somewhere in between.

Huge crowd, yes. But not two million. Even DeMint has now changed his first boast on this. Malkin is wrong because the police do not give estimates.

We were there and have seen a lot of crowds on the mall for inaugurations, July 4th festivities, marches, etc. Two million would not fit on the Mall in its two mile stretch.

Best estimate from experience? - 200,000 plus. For those familiar with the Capital and the Mall, the crowd filled the Capital west lawn, the area around the Grant reflecting pool, and west to Fourth street. It started encroaching on another group’s permit west of the Grant statue. It could be another 100,000 to 200,000 because they were forced to spread out along the sides of the rally because of the permit limits and the loudspeakers’ range.

It was a very large crowd, far beyond expectations, but too many groups inflate the numbers (mostly libs). It was NOT “tens of thousands” as the CNN NBC crowd are trying to say, but more like hundreds of thousands. BTW, the DC or Park Police do NOT make estimates, so anyone saying so is wrong.

Not bad for a rally organized by amateurs with no coordinating megalith like unions or the NAACP. Just real people. Almost ALL of the thousands of signs were handmade, not the fancy pre-printed ones handed out by liberal groups like MoveOn and SEIU.

I posted this on earlier threads. Now reports coming out are backing up my estimate. 200,000 (up to 400,000 because many were off to the side in the nether reaches of the Capitol lawn) is a HUGE number - four full Yankee Stadiums. Let’s not get carried away with the 2 million claim and give the left an opportunity to refute everything else.

And it was true grass roots. Almost ALL the signs were handmade, not the product of SEIU and DNC printing presses that characterize liberal rallies.

99 posted on 09/12/2009 3:06:55 PM PDT by oldbill


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 111th; 912project; aar; bho44; teaparty
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To: HarleyD

BTW-There were hundreds of thousands at the very least.


61 posted on 09/12/2009 2:50:58 PM PDT by HarleyD
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To: Maceman

NOTE: The first image in the series s NOT a picture of today’s rally.
++++++++++++++

Really? Michelle Malkin also has that image up...?


62 posted on 09/12/2009 2:51:38 PM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country & the Tea Party! Take America Back! (Objective media? Try TRAITORS.))
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To: Zakeet

This is all just a big conspiracy orchestrated by the right-wingers in the national media, a small group of racists clinging to their guns and religion, and Karl Rove.

What you think are images of over a million people are actually reused clips from Obama’s truly historic and well-attended inauguration, and the closeups are actors, arranged and financed by Dick Cheney.

Look closely: you can see Joe Wilson appearing thousands of times. I can’t see it myself, but that’s what the experts at DU say, and they’ve never been wrong before.

MoveOn, nothing to see here.


63 posted on 09/12/2009 2:51:47 PM PDT by Lonely Bull
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To: tuckrdout

Not his time yet.


64 posted on 09/12/2009 2:51:52 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: divine_moment_of_facts

double ditto to that!

We had a great tea party here in Effingham, IL. Filled up the town square around our historic court house. Lots of enthusiasm for everything conservatives stand for.

And what we’re not going to take anymore.

Whooo Hooo!


65 posted on 09/12/2009 2:52:04 PM PDT by quintr
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To: Zakeet

Love that graphic!


66 posted on 09/12/2009 2:52:09 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 (Obama, the cow patty version of Midas. Everything he says is bull, everything he touches is crap.)
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To: divine_moment_of_facts

Turnout estimated by ABC News: 60,000 to 70,000.

Not 2 million.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tea-party-protesters-march-washington/story?id=8557120

Right now, only Malkin is still going with the 2 million figure. The NPS didn’t even have to break out extra porta-potties. It was big, but, sorry guys, it just doesn’t seem to have been 2 million big.

Here’s a YouTube video of time-lapse photgraphy of the march itself. Pretty cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sjvc6baor8


67 posted on 09/12/2009 2:52:26 PM PDT by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: quesney

I know what is going to happen. There will be no more incumbants left in the House. I believe we are seeing the birth of a new political party in the USA...we are sick of all these professional politicians. It is time for the party of the people...the People’s party!


68 posted on 09/12/2009 2:53:11 PM PDT by tuckrdout ("Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Zakeet

Whatever the size of the crowds, from the pictures I’ve seen it far surpassed any expectations I had.

It’s so beautiful... my screen just went blurry.


69 posted on 09/12/2009 2:53:15 PM PDT by grateful
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To: Zakeet

Source? You link to Malkin. ABC denies making this statement.

FreedomWorks is saying 30,000.


70 posted on 09/12/2009 2:53:17 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: Zakeet; All
The 2 million claim is a setup by the democrats to overestimate the potential crowd at todays march on Washington. Fox News reports that:

"A House leadership aide warned fellow Democrats in a memo obtained by FOXNews.com that up to 2 million people may attend.

“It looks like Saturday’s event is going to be a huge gathering, estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to 2 million people,” Doug Thornell, an aide to Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., wrote, noting that a demonstration held Thursday turned into an impromptu rally for Rep. Joe Wilson, who has come under fire for his outburst during Obama’s nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress.

Conservatives have seized on this memo as proof emocrats are playing an expectations game. They say the House leadership wrote the memo in hopes it would be leaked and inflate expectations for the turnout anticipating that it will fall short.

“It’s an old political tactic to get out in front and make wild projections and when they’re not met, claim their opponents don’t have the juice,” said Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, one of the organizers of the rally.

Sepp said there’s only one reason to float a number that high.

“You set the bar at 2 million and anything under it becomes a failure,” he said, adding that any event in D.C. that attracts 50,000 is considered a success.

71 posted on 09/12/2009 2:53:20 PM PDT by icwhatudo ("laws requiring compulsory abortion could be sustained under the existing Constitution"Obama Adviser)
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To: SomeCallMeTim

I do expect ABC to downplay the real numbers a bit, but they cannot gloss over 2 million by saying 60-70 thousand. I suspect 100-200 thousand is more accurate.


72 posted on 09/12/2009 2:54:32 PM PDT by Tatze (I reject your reality and substitute my own!)
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To: Maceman
NOTE: The first image in the series s NOT a picture of today’s rally.

It most certainly is. I watched that particular cam off and on all day. The flag you see at half-mast in the foreground is, sadly, not in remembrance of 9/11. It's at half-mast because Obama ordered a thirty day period of official mourning for Ted Kennedy.

73 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:04 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: KansasGirl

“What makes you say that. I was watching that shot on the traffic-cam today and watched the crowd grow.”

Ditto.


74 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:06 PM PDT by fretzer
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To: Maceman

That picture was from Today’s rally.


75 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:25 PM PDT by Revelation Concepts
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To: Maceman

Here is a time laps video of the march: Very Impressive!

http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/09/video-shows-massive-crowd-gathered-for.html


76 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:25 PM PDT by Revelation Concepts
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To: SE Mom

It is from today. Not sure what maceman is talking about.


77 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:25 PM PDT by Revelation Concepts
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To: AnglePark

78 posted on 09/12/2009 2:55:50 PM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Obama, the first ever 3 in a half year, lame duck TOTUS)
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To: Maceman

I cannot vouch for the first picture in this thread that you are referring to.

I can vouch for the two following, because I screencapped them LIVE from the Washington, DC traffic cams, and I added the time at the top of each image for comparison:

Photobucket Photobucket
79 posted on 09/12/2009 2:56:12 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: SomeCallMeTim

I’m sorry, but I’ve been to plenty of places where there were 60,000 - 70,000 people-—many college and professional football games I’ve attended had that many people. Today’s rally had at a minimum several HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE. I very easily could have topped 1 million. I wouldn’t guess much over that simply because once it gets as large as it was and you’re standing in the middle of it, it’s hard to tell. To say there were only 60-70,000 people is a down right lie.


80 posted on 09/12/2009 2:56:18 PM PDT by jennyjenny
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