This is what is happening in DC today.
Robert Gibbs, the bestest White House spokesperson in the whole history of the world said yesterday that he was “unaware” of any protests being held today….hmmmm….1.2 million plus people show up just down the street from the WH…and the WH is “unaware”?
Yeah, right.
Feel free to post pics that you find in the comments.
I will add regular updates in the main body of the post.
If you wish to follow it live, CSPAN is covering it. You can view crowds, etc. on DC traffic cams here.
UPDATE: Here is a time lapse of traffic camera video.
Roll the tape:
More below the fold.
View at EasyCaptures.com
(applause)
God Bless all of you who are there! Wish I was there with you, know that there are many more with you in spirit, especially here on the West Coast.
Wow! That crowd is almost as big as the Usurper’s Inauguration which only managed to get a big turnout by unions paying to bring their thugs and henchmen in by the busload.
Every one of these folks paid their own way to get here. They are the REAL Americans, not the phony rent-a-mob of union brownshirts that Obama depends on to keep him in power!
That is a good turn out, and glad to see so many who would come and be present to represent their cause. Louis Farrakhan got 850,00 to show up for him in ’95, and that was only because it was mostly for men. So you guys did somewhat better, probably because both men and women were welcome. Sometimes you fringe guys can really get it going on, and my hat is off to you….well done!
Michelle Malkin is estimating that 2 million appeared
I think that beat O’s inauguration or rigged townhall in MN of about 15k
Still can’t draw people O…
Your welcome and words are wearing thin….
Where are your media reports of 100s of thousands and millions???
Outstanding job to all who attended.
Thank you for doing so – does my heart good to see common sense on such display! 😀
ABC News
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.
Sept. 12, 2009—
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. ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department. In its reports, ABC News Radio described the crowd as “tens of thousands.”
Brendan Steinhauser, spokesman for FreedomWorks, said he did not know why Kibbe cited ABC News as a source.
As a result of Kibbe’s erroneous attribution, several bloggers and commenters repeated the misinformation.
Yes, outstanding. But what is even more outstanding and should be very scary to democrats and republican leaders alike…
It that this rally shows only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, of the millions of Americans that are fed up with the federal government.
And intend on doing something about it.
Marena
ABC just reported only a handful of drunk astroturf wild hooligan nazis showed up, the rest must have been innocent bystanders = actually they are now pretending they didn’t say 1.5 to 2 million in attendance. I don’t watch ABC news anyway if I want reliable news, and this just proves that point.
The crowd went all the way to the Washington monument, and extended a-ways down both tangent streets from the Capitol Building. This means at least 1 million, could be as much as 1.5.
Ooo-aah!!
“You look like the cavalry to me”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/09/024505.php?format=print
September 12, 2009 Posted by Paul at 2:45 PM
Congressman Mike Pence delivered these remarks to the crowd at the National Tea Party here in Washington, DC.
I am Mike Pence. I am from Indiana, and it is an honor to welcome the largest gathering of conservatives in American history to your nation’s capitol.
There are some politicians who think of you people as astroturf. Un-American. I’ve got to be honest with you, after nine years of fighting runaway spending here on this hill, you people look like the cavalry to me.
We stand together at a historic moment in the life of the conservative movement and in the life of this great country. The coming weeks and months may well set the course for this nation for a generation. How we as conservatives respond to these challenges, could determine whether America retains her place in the world as a beacon of freedom or whether we slip into the abyss that has swallowed much of Europe in an avalanche of socialism.
While some are prepared to write the obituary on capitalism and the conservative movement, I believe we are on the verge of a great American awakening. And it will begin here and begin now and begin with you.
This Administration and this Congress are getting a badly needed history lesson, starting with just what our founders meant by ‘consent of the governed.’ If silence is consent, it is now revoked.
We the people, do not consent to runaway federal spending. We the people, do not consent to the notion that we can borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing America. And we the people, do not consent to government-run insurance that will cause millions of Americans to lose the insurance they have, and that will lead us to a government takeover of health care in this nation.
This week, the president came to this hill and he gave one more speech about the same bad plan. Mr. President, America doesn’t want another speech, we want another health care plan that is built on freedom.
And we the people, do not consent to Members of Congress passing thousand-page bills without anybody ever reading them. Members of Congress should be required to read ever major bill that Congress adopts. I’ve got to be honest with you, I think Members of Congress should read major bills, but I’d be just as happy if some of them read this just a little more often – the Constitution of the United States.
You know, there is a lot of good stuff in there and it reminds us that we are a nation led by the people, and not the elites and the bureaucrats and the politicians. It reminds us that the powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or to the people.
And nowhere in our Constitution can you find the word ‘czar.’ It is time Washington, D.C. became a No Czar Zone.
The American people are not happy. But it is not just about dollars and cents. It is about who we are as a nation.
As Ronald Reagan said in 1964, it’s about whether ‘we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.’ My money is on the American people. My money is on freedom. My money is on the future.
This great national Capitol is filled with memorials to freedom’s heroes. Americans whose faces are carved in bronze, whose names adorn monuments, and just across that river, lie the remains of Americans who paid freedom’s price so we could gather here today. In their time, they did freedom’s work as citizens and patriots. Now it’s our turn.
Let us do as those great Americans we remember in this city have done before: let us stand and fight for freedom. And if we hold the banner of freedom high, I believe with all my heart that the good and great people of this country will rally to our cause, we will take this Congress back in 2010 and we will take this Country back in 2012, so help us God.
***********************************************************************
What a bunch of frightened, angry nitwits.
BILLYBOBBY HIK: “Hot Damn, 2 MILLION!!! …marched on Washington DC today, a solid majority of all Americans, each of them patriotically devoted and dedicated to the deeply American ideal, that just because a guy gets more votes than the other guy, that doesn’t mean there can’t be a revolution to run him under — and to prove it, just check out how Glenn Beck uses his blackboard to lay out the FACTS!”
Don. Columbia: “Well wouldn’t “all” those people “all” converging on DC be generating stories about transportation delays, snarls in the hubs, and so forth? …and i can’t find any. Remember when Obama’s inauguration had about 1.8 million, and that was a total logistical nightmare! So, how on earth could they have gotten more than that without massive disruptions that would, obviously, have been news events in and of themselves?”
BILLYBOBBY HIK: “Well, hell, I don’t know about that, but all right, maybe there weren’t exactly 2 million, as my goddess Michelle Malkin reports, there were at least TWO MILLION because we, unlike DIMS, are orderly and organized and obey the law! …and so THAT’S why there were no transportation jams and so on. And anyway… that huge number, not reported by the MAINSTREAM MEDIA, they all hate that number –2 MILLION– and since they must have totally hated to report such an awesome figure, we took it upon ourselves to fashion and report the truth for them”:
12:34pm Eastern Time: Police estimate 1.2 million in attendance. ABC News reporting crowd at 2 million — tweets Tabitha Hale from D.C.
Don Columbia: “Uh, okay. Interesting. But then how come, ABC news later stated?:
BILLYBOBBY HIK: “What you seem unable to comprehend is that the two million figure came from the Twitter feed of a someone who advertises themselves as a ‘Smart Person.’ SO, THIS IS DEFINITIVE, since they know themselves to be smart! . And furthermore, another awesome number of 1.2 million came from Metro police, and 1.5 mil from Parks & Rec.”
DON COLUMBIA: It appears you don’t know that those who follow DC protests know that after the Million Man March controversy, neither the Park Service nor the DC police, nor any other agency, DO CROWD NUMBER ESTIMATES. Everyone knows that.
HIK: Well, 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. Since he wouldn’t lie! …it’s true.
D. C olumbia: Well, you got me there. He’d have no business, nor Michelle M., being disposed in creating anything other than a reality that is what it is. Obviously, they have no invested interest in the estimates of attendees. …and certainly they are authoritative on such a science.
Herman
NEWSFLASH
NBC people on the ground say hundred of thousands !!!
http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/09/nbc-report-says-their-people-estimate.html
The NBC reporter, Tom Costello, led into the piece by saying Park Police estimated the crowd in the “tens of thousands,” but he said “Our own people (NBC’s) say in the hundreds of thousands.”
These ignorant sheep will believe anything you tell them if the reality isn’t extremely obvious. It seems many of them are terrible at estimating, so even though you can count individual people in the images, they will agree “2 MILLION? WOW!!!”
Since when is Malkin credible?
I would be all for this stuff if it wasn’t just a fuckton of Fox News followers and disgruntled older white people thinking Obama is a double secret socialist communist fascist muslim nazi terrorist dictator that will kill grandma and retarded babies with death panels.
continued…
Billybobby: “Tom Costello, a reporter for MSNBC, reported “park police estimated the crowd at 10s of thousands– however, he additionally said, “our own people think hundreds of thousands.” ”
Don: “Well, hell, that sure enough proves it! The printed and spoken lead-in to Tom’s reports both say ‘thousands’ and 10’s of thousands, then Tom says his “people think” 100’s of thousands.” Not to mention, Tom also says park police, people that are more experienced at this kind of work, think the number to be at 10’s of thousands. Tom’s “people” whoever they are, just have to be smarter, more experienced, more knowledgeable than those that do this for a living. Tom never identifies these “people”, never even states it’s an NBC estimate, or if it’s an official estimate–no doubt then, it’s simply him, his camera man, truck driver and sound man putting their heads together.”
Billybobby: “Yeah, that does seem strange that NBC video first posts on their ticker-tape ‘thousands’, then Amy, the broadcaster, says 10’s of thousands, and then Tom’s crew thinks 100s of thousands.”
But hell, official counts aren’t important here! …and even if ONE reporter says it’s in the 100s of 1000s, then there’s some more out there that are seeing the same and will be bold and courageous enough to speak the truth to start a word of mouth of 100s of 1000s— we DON’T need ‘official’ counts, or even “experienced” park police butting in on this business.
Tom never identifies “these people”.
Why don’t you ask him??? Call him out.
Gee Herman, sounds like should be ranting against the MSM more often. Whenever there is a hit piece on Palin or any conservative it’s always “unnamed sources”.
I’ve seen the pics….sure don’t look like 10’s of thousands.
Something just got started today. Ignored by some, trashed by others, but it’s started. dismissing it as a bunch of rag-tag conservatives is a big mistake.
Seems rather easy to crank you up 🙂 How’s it feeling?
…or more accurately it seems rather easy to wind your argument down.
You haven’t justified that the crowd is in the 100’s of 1000s.
Furthermore, even Drudge Report’s two posts on the subject, at the top of his page, links to posts that put the numbers at 10s of thousands. Don’t you think he’d link to those numbers you desire so much if they were out there?
To quote Wilt Chamberlain….
Reporter: “How’s the weather up there?
Chamberlian: (spits on the reporter’s head) “It’s raining”.
You still didn’t answer my question. Call the NBC man out. Send him an email and tell him to prove it.
I don’t think you’re really getting the point (well, yes you do….you stike me as the type who goes to conservative sites to cause trouble and disinformation to demoralize people). This is a big story….get over it.
They’ll be back next year…get used to it.
I salute all of my fellow Americans! United we stand, divided we fall…..keep standing up America!!
Wow. Just wow. So wish I could’ve been there.
@John:
[What a bunch of frightened, angry nitwits.]
Yes, John, I’m sure there were some Obama supporters there, too. 😉
Looks like Drudge says it’s up to 2 million in attendance:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/Up-million-march-US-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html
I was there, and here’s how the “fire dept estimates” came about:
I was speaking to EMS guys near the Capitol and they said that in their briefing,
prior to the start of the event, they were given a ballpark figure of what to expect, which was 60K.
His eyes were wide as he looked around and said, “It’s a LOT more than that…a LOT more.”
Around 1 PM, we were given the estimate of 1.5 million.
Having been there and seeing it grow from 7 am when we arrived to 6 pm, when we left, I would conservatively say 850,000- 950,000. It was difficult to get a scope on the crowd as they were stretched all around and in front of the Capitol building, stretched down Pennsylvania Ave, in front of the Washington Monument and everywhere in between. There were no incidents of violence, and the streets were remarkably clean, all things considered.
I see the LiBTARDS are getting antsy….buhhaHAH! I love it, they can the train coming down the track and they can’t get out of the way.
heh, 2010 baby, 2010.
FYI:
Interesting article on how to estimate the crowds in DC
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
@Timothy:
Thanks Timothy!
Here is a handy graphic to go with that news story:
I was there! I don’t care whtat the final number is, what is important is that WE came together. WE were orderly and respectful. WE sang the National Anthem. WE shouted “UNDER GOD” whenever the pledge was recited. WE care! WE were there. Nobody paid us to go, No body bussed us in. Nobody told us what to say.
It was a positive, uplifting experience and showed the world (althought, probably not our “leaders”) that we are MAD, we are FEDUP and we want our government to LISTEN to us and remember that they serve US – not the other way around.
Listen closely Washington – you are on borrowed time! Start doing your job, support and defend our CONSTITUTION or YOU will be looking for a new job!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Good article on Pajamas Media
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/debate-over-tea-party-protest-numbers-masks-the-real-history-made/
(SNIP)
What makes Saturday’s massive turnout around the country so significant is that it is the first truly conservative mass movement in American history. The amorphousness of conservatism until the 1950s probably had something to do with that. Conservatism prior to then was rather clubby and its “leaders” had very little interest in developing a mass movement like labor, socialists, or communists were attempting to do. Even the candidacies of Goldwater and Reagan were more party-oriented than ideological in nature, although there is little doubt that conservative activists learned how to organize an effective movement by being involved in both those races.
(SNIP)…..Herman, are you listening???? Here’s the punchline.
Getting caught up trying to guess the number of attendees at Saturday’s protests (as I and many others are doing today and will continue to do) is irrelevant. This is history in the making, something the United States has never seen: a genuine grass-roots conservative mass movement, activated by the new technologies, communicating effectively using the new software and hardware — and it is growing.
Old Trooper, you are right, Mike Pence did a GREAT job yesterday delivering a punch, so did Senator Jim DeMint.
————-
I added this to another FA conversation thread as it is also appropriate here and I am weary of the MSM hack coverage this event received.
————-
I am so taken aback by the lack of or hack reporting on the 9-12 DC Rally, I took the time to try encapsulate what I witnessed at yesterday’s Washington DC event — to get the word out as much as possible…Enough is Enough!
While marching with an aggregation of Americans down DC’s Pennslyvania Avenue toward the capitol building, I got a lump in my throat upon realizing the enormity of the turnout. Representing all walks of life, age, diversity, experiences, fellow rally-goers were intent on sending an out of touch, elitist President and elected leaders a message – ENOUGH!!!!! As we marched, a helicopter carrying President Obama flew over on the first leg of his trip to a Rally in Minnesota — almost too cliche, if not real life, to the purpose of our being there. [The fact of the presidential helicopter fly over was reported by the news media]
Everyone was asking, “How many people do you think are here? Along with overhearing remarks such as “I never expected this many people to be here” to “This is unbelievable!”
However, nothing prepared us for what we found when reaching the capitol building — people had already filled up the entire rally area, Capitol Police were already restricting access and redirecting foot traffic. I saw others emotionally choking up as they were first realizing the enormity of what they were witnessing. Further, thousands of people could be seen streaming into the area from all directions – not just the Pennslyvania Ave procession! and people streamed in throughout the rest of the day! Just when you might think the place was as full as it could get, if you turned around — there were even more present.
A variety of Rally speakers, from various backgrounds, politcal affiliations, diversities, offered messages that resonated with the multitudes and were validated by cheers, constant-thunderous applause, and unified chants such as, “ENOUGH,” “USA,” “Take our Country Back,” “No More Taxes (or Czars, or Lies)” “2010, 2012,” “You Work For Us.” and led spontaneous renditions of “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful,” “Star and Stripes,” and more. I spotted Forty-three state flags mixed in with a sea of Stars-and-Stripes, declaratory banners, and Don’t Tread On Me flags. Signs made by rally goers representated a slice of this movement’s frustrations with our elected leaders…rally-goers were even taking pictures of others signs!
For those fortunate to attend this historical effort, we knew something huge was happening not only in DC, but also, in the country. For everyone of us at the event, quite a few more would have liked to have joined in DC, but were simply not able or attended a number of same-day-rallies being held throughout the country.
In the final hour of the event, we asked a several of the capitol uniformed police if they had an estimate of the event attendees and were told, by all of them, there were more people attending this DC rally than at the 2009 inauguration event. Additionally, there were over 4000 parked buses — that transported rally goers — AND some buses having been turned away and not allowed to unload their passengers – maximum capacity had been reached!
In the aftermath of the event, the multitudes dispersed and returned home by planes, trains, automobiles, buses, or by foot. On our way home, my fellow travelers and I anxiously awaited the coverage by the Media — SURELY even they could not ignore what had just happened!! Oh, how wrong we were! The mainstream media, more than did a hack job on the event — you could almost see the assigned junior reporters holding their nose because THEY had to cover the event! We know the truth and no wonder the mainstream media practicing hack journalism is losing marketshare/advertisers/credibility by the day — in the long run, the truth of the event and the movement will prevail. ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!!!!
PS…Thanks to all of you on Pennslyvania avenue throwing things at us from sidewalks or balconies — you just make us more determined.
Can anyone embedd this for me. Take a look at the end…..NOT 70K….MUCH MUCH MORE
I was here for this event. And I remember the guy with the camera standing in the middle of the street. this will blow your socks off!! The MSM and the WH are liars. The people WILL be counted!!! WASHINGTON DC–YOU’RE FIRED!! THIS WAS NOT ONLY BIGGER THAN THE INAUGURATION—the 9/12 Patiriots did not leave DC like a giant garbage can like on Jan 20, 2009
My family and I were at the rally in Washington and were forced to leave early by the sure force of numbers. We didn’t know it then but we were lucky enough to get inside the Capital Court Yard. We spoke with the security police at noon tine and they told me that at that time they estimated about 1.2 Million and that there were more still coming. By 2pm one of the speakers said that they were backed up so far they blocked off the freeway and shutdown that part of DC.
Any news paper, station, etc. where you get your news that plays this down, when it was one of DC largest demonstrations of all times, probably didn’t tell you 2 months ago about Vanjones and all the other radicals the president has placed as czars/advisors. They are the same media that will show the signs that were distasteful, but were way less than 1% of the thousands signs being held that day. Please join me and my family in writing letters to these media outlets telling them why you are canceling their news papers and stop watching their stations.
That’s real power, which is why journalism is dead and the ratings of these biased news organizations are sinking fast!
Note: The healthcare (HC) debate shouldn’t focus just on what we do not like about the democratic views/versions, but have answers for the real problems; high cost of premiums and preexisting conditions. The high cost of premiums has some real easy fixes and should be able to be written in a few pages not 1100; (1) do not allow any taxing of health care. I live in NY and our State Government says there looking for ways to lower HC, but taxes it 20%, that cost just gets handed down to the consumer, it always does. (2) Real tort reform, the money these doctors spend in malpractice insurance is ridicules’, sure they need to be able to be sued for wrong doing, but there needs to be caps and away to stop the frivolous law suits (My understanding is that Doctors win 90% of the time). (3) Create real competition, by allowing us to by a plan that fits our needs as consumers across state line. That’s access to more the 1300 HC insurance companies, that’s real competition. The government option is not competition; they’re not going to pay the taxes, they’re going to be run on taxes. They don’t have to show a profit, and the Presidents idea that you’re going to run a HC system with the savings of corruption from another government HC system-Medicaid is ridiculous.
That is the whole problem with Washington it is corrupt and needs term limits to stop the special interest groups from gaining close relationships with our politicians on either side.
Uh, were there ANY non-WASP people there? Except for the black guy selling flags, I sure couldn’t see any.
Chatty kathy, thank you for proving what has been said about your kind-leftists.
Intolerant, full of hate, arrogant, ignorant, and racist.
Uh, I was there, were you? I’m just saying that we’re not representin’ and are therefore alienating a lot of people. Admittedly, I could have said it more tactfully, but sarcasm is my middle name.
No offense meant.
AMERICANS attended 🙂
@Lamer:
What you do not seem to realize is that we sheep were also watching at home. Not all of us have the funds to go to Washington DC. Some of us have to work, yes even on a Sunday. I am Hispanic, not white, I am female, not male, I am not rich, and I have been called many names because of my ethnic background. Therefore, you are probably a white, anglo-saxon liberal and all you have are epithets to call those that do not agree with you. Remember – “sticks and stones might hurt my bones, but words will never hurt them”. We really do not care that you call us sheep, morons, racists, etc., etc. I probably have heard worse things than that coming from people such as you. Whether there were 100,000 or 2,000,000 – there were millions watching at home.
Again, keep calling us names, that only makes us stronger and you weaker.
What is wrong with you people there was 70,000 at the most . Just because you say it does not make it real
@Bob jones:
And, just because you say it doesn’t mean you are right. Check out the UK press: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/Up-million-march-US-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html
I have been to Tea Parties with several thousand people and the rally in Washington had many, many more. This was well into the hundreds of thousands.
The Dems are starting to realize that they have dug themselves a deep, dark hole. Trying to marginalize us isn’t going to make that hole any shallower.
Bob – did you count each and every one of us individually? If you were not there, you cannot begin to imagine how many were there – it was unbelievable, and I have never been more proud of my countrymen as I was that day. The Constitution is still loved and revered, and will make a comeback. Oh, yeah – screw you and the Pig-losi you rode in on, Bob.
Remember Baghdad Bob stating that the US Army was not near the city as a Abrams rolled down the street behind him. Well I think our dear leaders spokesman Robert Gibbs is the new Baghdad Bob. They are so used to lying that they would have no problem telling a CNN lapdog reporter that there was only 10,000 people there when there were at least 1.5 million.
I have seen many libs call this Tea Party a flop, eventhough you can compare the Million Man march photos and see that the Tea Party was much much bigger. They have been believing their own lies for so long that they do not know what the truth is. Let them continue down this path, November 2010 will be a very rude awakening.
“DON COLUMBIA: It appears you don’t know that those who follow DC protests know that after the Million Man March controversy, neither the Park Service nor the DC police, nor any other agency, DO CROWD NUMBER ESTIMATES. Everyone knows that.”
Yeah, except that rule was changed when the Obamessiah had his inauguration. Do some real research before you try to make others look … … stupid.
I noticed that there was no trash on the streets unlike the Lib Marches. They claim to be environmentalists and leave the place looking like the aftermath os Woodstock. Tons of garbage on the streets and the smell!!!!!!!!
@Lamer: Well Lame…..you were named right!! Keep drinking your Koolaid!
This is VERY late, but I was there, am a skeptic by nature, and I feel that there was about 1/2 to 1 1/2 million people. I’ve been amongst many crowds of 70-80k, and this was 10 times that. You cannot gauge crowd size too well with the naked eye- beyond a couple hundred k- when you’re amongst them- on the ground. And the metro supposedly had at some point in the day been ‘clocked’ at 437k ppl. And many went in w/out using it!! It sucks to be an angry liberal, huh?!
i am so impress bye the show of patriotist,..THE GIANT as awayken and nothing can stop his march to freedom.
I am back here so impress again, wednesday 4, in MAY 2011,
lets continiue, you all CONSERVATIVES LOOK SO GOOD,
GOD BLESS AMERICA MARCHING FOR COMMANDING THE GOVERNMENT TO LISTEN