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Glenn Beck continues to hype the 9/12 Tea Party. AP Photo Evan Agostini
Glenn Beck promised that the 9-12 protests would be "huge" partly because he was one of the primary promoters of the event. Trying to make his statement a self-fulfilling prophecy today Beck exaggerated crowd size estimates on his radio show.
In the first clip Beck estimates the crowd size to be about 500,000 based on aerial photos he saw of the crowd on "Constitution Avenue." First as Media Matters points out the march the protests were held on Pennsylvania Avenue not Constitution Avenue. One has to wonder how accurate Beck's analysis is when he can not even identify the right location of the protesters. Secondly Beck provides no justification or support for his claim. Is Beck trained in making crowd estimates? Did Beck, like his other Fox News analysts, just eye-ball the estimate without use of any mathematical formulas?
The unbiased source in this debate (the Washington D.C. Fire Department) gave a much more conservative estimate of about 60,000-70,000 people attending the event. As I wrote earlier I am going to go with this figure over Beck's self-promoting number of 500,000 since the D.C. Fire Department regularly takes part in estimating crowd sizes.
In the next clip Beck claims that the march was the "largest march on Washington ever." Beck's source is overseas reports which erroneously used the initial figures hyped by conservative organizations like FreedomWorks. Marches protesting the Vietnam War and Iraq War regularly drew well over 100,000 people. No reputable organization is reporting any number over 100,000 for the 9-12 event.
Comments
Wait a minute. Many reputable sources are reporting that at least one million people attended the 9/12 rally. Here is one account from the Daily Mail UK:
"As many as one million people flooded into Washington for a massive rally organised by conservatives claiming that President Obama is driving America towards socialism." -
And Homeland Security itself said that approximately two million people attended the rally.
Thank you for pointing out the Daily Mail report Ray, just wondering, where did you find the Homeland Security Report? As for the article, your proof for Beck's crowd estimate as being false is saying that the immense crowd marching down Constitutional Avenue doesn't matter because the protest took place on Pennsylvania Avenue. WOW!!! I guess that means that a crowd so big it was overflowing onto other streets(unless normal DC traffic organizes into a big group and then marches until no crowd is remaining) is calculated by ignoring overflow, and then refusing to estimate the crowd at the site of the protest because the numbers are too frighteningly large. It's amazing what twisted logic liberals will use to try to sweep one of the largest peaceful protests of all time into obscurity and failure.
The tea party march was a success no matter if 10000 protest or 10 million ,the point of the protest was to open eyes and close wallets,i think we can agree that with all the media coverage it succeeded .
Wow Becks hold on the " truth" is slipping
the daily mail is a right wing tabloid in the UK
Brits think it is a joke
I guess firemen are patriots and Herod until the become liars for the MSM
oh wait Beck is MSM
dumbasses
LMAO @ the Daily Mail as a "reputable source."
Homeland Security said no such thing Ray B. And "reputable sources" will give you 70,000 to 100,000 - which is a good, but apparently not enough for the wingnutz.
It was reported that 4500 Bus Permits were issued for 9/12 in Wash. DC. Extimate 50 per bus that comes to approx. 250,000.
Correction make it 225,000
Anyone else noticed the 3 red fists in GB's 9/12 logo
very communist is Glenn a secret commie?
so I guess the fire department who need to estimate these thing in case of emergancy are part of the MSM conspiracy.
Dumbasses
“Why do we have these weapons? Why have we developed these weapons if we're afraid to use them? And I got news for you: I'm afraid to use them because I know exactly what would happen. Everybody would come out of the woodwork saying how horrible we are and we're despicable human beings and now we're using nuclear weapons. I think we need to change the name of the weapon. I think we just need to come up with some sort of politically correct name. Something, I don't know -- this isn't it, but like a butterfly bomb. Aw, look, it's like a little butterfly. We could paint it all psychedelic colors; everybody in San Francisco would be like, "Aw, ain't that like a little butterfly?" Vaporization. I think we'd have a better chance of dropping it. ”
~ Glenn Beck on on how liberal fascists are keeping America from its God given mission to destroy all life on Earth
[Dem] Witt;
Did you and Nancy Pelosi see any protesters "carrying swastikas?
Do you think all 225,000 were all astroturf, and how much would that cost?
Who do I call to get my check?
And... how much money should we get for one day of protesting with friends and (2) or more days of travel?
We all gave up a lot to be there, but it was worth it.
Fox( which is MSM) have pushed the tea baggers for months
there was plenty of corporate sponsorship
and at best you got 250 000
lol looney anti war protests pulled way more and they were " unamerican"
grow up and realized you should have voted Ron Paul years ago
I marched. There were so many people it was unreal. Watch a video and you tell me how many people were there.
www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=LoPud1TeubM
www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=fWNox2t64YY
@Phil:
The "DC Fire Dept" estimate was from ONE GUY, not and official estimate, the fireman himself isn't a "trained crowd estimator" and gave his estimate early in the day. (like at 1pm)
Dozens and DOZENS of photographs show the lawn in front of the White House ~packed~ all the way to at LEAST 4th st. Aerial photographs that I've looked at, put the bulk of the crowd to just past 7th st with stragglers going all the way to 12th where the National Black Family Reunion was located (Between 9th and 12th). Giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and ONLY putting the crowd to just past 4th street... that's still 250,000 to 300,000!
Timelapse Aerial photogaphs:
rhetorican.com/2009/09/12/time-lapse-aerial-video-of-912-protestors/
Crowd Estimation Map (Same as the one used for the Obama Inauguration):
www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
Now who's the "Dumb@$$"?
Doc
Ok - I have had enough - I was at 912 and marched and there were over 2 million. - AND that's no lie. You idiotic jerks. You are so stupid. Once and for all shut your mouth, do some objective research on both sides, and them try to say something intelligent. Every direction from the Capitol was full, there were people who could not see or hear the stage, just wanted to be there. Not one word of bad language did I hear, everyone was friendly, helpful, and thoughtful of all the different reasons they were there AND when we left there was NOT one piece of trash left on the ground. You people who think you have it all figured out and that "we the people" are all making a big mistake, you are a fool. You try to get as many people out for a good cause and see what you can do - They only thing you can do is criticize and bully and call people by names and intimidate. In the end you will be claimed the idiots and fools that you are.
Meg, I'll bet you believe him when he says that's 12 inches, too, don't you?
I have more than a little expertise at photo-analysis and, from all the photos, I'll give you 100,000 +/- 20 percent, based on both space covered (high angle photos) and density of people (low angle photos).
Now, 100,000 is a damn good turnout - the "Million Man March" covered significantly more area at a higher density, and any honest analyst will tell you that was about 400,000.
Hey Jim,
You are wrong!! I was there and if you know what is best for our country you will be there next time. If you are honest and look at all the pictures you know the truth. The truth is the sleeping giant is awake and we should have never gone to sleep. So, wake up!!! Stop drinking the cool aid. The pictures don't lie and I have a stack of them from my own camera.
Thank you Meg for speaking the truth and being a patriot! Anyone can sit in their house and comment on politics, but we care about our country that's why we went to D.C. It they have another Tea Party I'll be back and I'll be bringing my whole family.
Memphis
Don't they realize, for every 1 person who went 500 stayed home. Since this march was not funded by unions or big lobbies groups, but individually. Some people spent over $1000 to get there and back. A lot of us could not afford the trip. So the media better wake-up and start covering the real news and realize that was only the Snakes head. the rest of the body is stretches from coast to coast.
I was at a local rally of about 500. 15 miles north was another rally of about 1,000 protesters. TV News reported 3,000 in Cleveland plus tens or hundreds of thousands all over ther rest of the USA and I have spoken to many that would have gone. I don't know but these numbers should concern B.O. and his crew.
Bob
Wow more fake photos and more bs
Even fox said 10's of thousands and the didn't dare let thier cameras get to much of a high angled shot
what a bunch of propaganda
fox is MSM, part of one of the worlds largest media groups lol
the pushed bush's agenda for 8 years and you think they don't have their hand up his butt
how dumb are you?
lol and Beck fans bang on about the truth
In a reprise of last April’s Tea Party propaganda campaign, Fox News is once again heavily promoting the latest Astroturf movement by rightist opponents of the administration. This episode of tea baggery is focusing specifically on health care reform.
From newscorpse website
Recall last April, when Fox News not only aired millions of dollars worth of free publicity for the Tea Baggers, they also assigned their anchors to host the events. Neil Cavuto in Sacramento. Greta Van Susteran in DC. Sean Hannity in Atlanta. Glenn Beck in San Antonio.
2) This one will pi$$ off Ron Paul supporters. A survey conducted by US News and World Report asked a dozen GOP and conservative leaders to come up with a top 10 list of people who would be the leaders of the “town hallers” (or should that be howlers?). The image posted by the Fox Nationalists shows those who came in second through fifth. Ron Paul came in first, but somehow his photo got lost.
On acorn
Lewis’ appearances have raised important questions about the attacks on ACORN. For instance, the raw, unedited tapes are still being withheld from independent reviewers. This brings into question whether they were altered to intentionally create a false impression. Also, O’Keefe has steadfastly refused to turn over the tapes from dozens of their stings where they were thrown out of the ACORN office. This is deliberate deception intended to disguise the fact that, by far, the majority of ACORN employees are honest and moral.
These questions remain unanswered despite Lewis’ having raised them during interviews with journalists across the dial. She has submitted to multiple inquiries from the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Ed Schultz, Rick Sanchez, and others, on all of the cable news networks without regard to ideology. By contrast, O’Keefe and Giles have refused all interviews except for those on Fox News. They have already appeared on Hannity, Beck, Fox & Friends, and America’s
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