Media shocked by D.C. Tea Party turnout

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Media Shocked by D.C. Tea Party Turnout
Written by Ed Hiserodt
Monday, 14 September 2009

The mainstream media were predicting that a few thousand people would attend the 9/12 tea party in Washington, D.C., protesting runaway government spending, deficits, and taxation. Organizers would have been extremely pleased with 30,000. How many showed up? According to the London Daily Mail, a million people attended the tea-party rally. But other media sources such as the Associated Press put the number at tens of thousands.

Your correspondent’s napkin math would suggest more like 300,000 based on YouTube time lapse photos showing throngs of 20 to 25 abreast streaming from Freedom Square to the Capitol from 8 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

Actually most didn't get close to the Capitol as only the early birds made it east of the General Grant memorial with others surrounding the reflecting pool a dozen deep, and stretching west past 3rd Street NW toward the Washington monument.

Whatever the numbers, they only tell a fraction of the story. The spirit of America on display was overwhelming. When getting on a metro train that had turned back to Washington only one stop earlier, there was standing room only. We, as newcomers, were greeted by cheers and applause when we squeezed in. We sang America the Beautiful, the National Anthem, did the “USA” thing, and cheered whenever anyone shouted “Freedom!” To those of us that had traveled many miles to be on the metro early that morning, it was astounding to find the Washingtonians — who were just riding to do Saturday morning errands — had never even heard that there was going to be a rally at the Capitol. One might imagine the publicity that would have blanketed the mainstream media had this been an event in favor of (say) a "public option" for socialized health care.

Marchers were supposed to be organized by states and were to carry their state flags, but the crowds at Freedom Square were so large that the march commenced an hour or so early precluding any kind of organization. There just wasn't any room to stand still; it was as if we were toothpaste and the tube was being squeezed pushing the tea party protesters down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Different than any such demonstration within living memory was the spontaneity of the gathering. There were no famous politicians or movie or rock stars to draw a crowd, nor a crowd manufactured by organizers who supplied transportation, food, lodging, and/or stipends for the marchers. Participants were there at their own expense without even having registered or otherwise given any notice to the tiny, dedicated cadre of volunteer rally organizers that they were coming. Except for a few "Life and Liberty" signs, there were few machine printed posters with the originality of the verbiage being one of the main sources of marchers' good humor. Everyone was taking pictures of everyone else's signs. Except for one case where an alert demonstrator scooted a picture of Obama under the product of a police horse, the signs (so far as I was able to see) were in remarkable good taste with the "Take Our Country Back" theme overwhelming anti-Obama rhetoric by a large margin.

It is likely that never in the last 150 years has there ever been such a mass demonstration at the capitol where the participants were not asking for a federal handout, a law favorable to special interests, or some other sort of favoritism. Instead, the marchers were demanding that the government obey the Constitution and "just leave us alone." Many people would come up to a stranger and say such things as "I am so very glad you are here" and "Isn't it wonderful thing to be an American today?" While not sure about the reaction of others to these heartfelt comments, your correspondent had a very difficult time holding back the tears. In fact, recalling that feeling, I'm having the same difficulty right now.
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Media Shocked by D.C. Tea Party Turnout
 
"The spirit of America on display was overwhelming"

Yep,

Like fabricating the turnout number to over two million. Or displaying hitler, stalin, communist, marxist, and tyrant signs.
 
I was shocked to see how clean everything looked after the march and gathering when compared to the day when people showed up for obama's swearing in. Difference is literally night and day.
 
Maybe they were carrying Swiffer brooms instead of signs. :D
 
Beowulf said:
Maybe they were carrying Swiffer brooms instead of signs. :D
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Perfect recycling.

Carry signs up as they march thru the streets, and then flip them over and use them like brooms/shovels, on the way back to the buses.

See, conservatives do think green. :lol:
 
Reba said:
Perfect recycling.

Carry signs up as they march thru the streets, and then flip them over and use them like brooms/shovels, on the way back to the buses.

See, conservatives do think green. :lol:
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But what does that make liberals if they refuse to pick up their own trash? Expect the govt do it for them?

But, of course... *smacks head with hand on forehead*... they're the de facto "green" party. How silly of me to forget.
 
Of course the media was shocked. As is the rest of the country. Who would have ever believed that this many ill informed, uneducated people could gather in one spot?:giggle:
 
kokonut said:
I was shocked to see how clean everything looked after the march and gathering when compared to the day when people showed up for obama's swearing in. Difference is literally night and day.
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um..... 30,000 Teabaggers vs. 2+ million supporters @ Obama's Inauguration Day

:laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:

obamainaug-blog.jpg
 
maybe they were just on their way to football games :lol:
 
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I am very amazed by the ignorance of this country....and/or selfishness.
So....should we have let the country fall into depression?
How many of these tea baggers have any idea what that entails?
yeah I'm not so happy with the future cost of taxation. But we got into a mess letting investors run amock unregulated. There is no magic pill. We have to pay the piper.
Many people want zero taxation....but they drive on public roads all day to make thier protest....many foods are subsidized...etc etc.....go figure. People want a magic pill.




jillio said:
Of course the media was shocked. As is the rest of the country. Who would have ever believed that this many ill informed, uneducated people could gather in one spot?:giggle:
Click to expand...
 
Cowpuppy said:
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I am very amazed by the ignorance of this country....and/or selfishness.
So....should we have let the country fall into depression?
How many of these tea baggers have any idea what that entails?
yeah I'm not so happy with the future cost of taxation. But we got into a mess letting investors run amock unregulated. There is no magic pill. We have to pay the piper.
Many people want zero taxation....but they drive on public roads all day to make thier protest....many foods are subsidized...etc etc.....go figure. People want a magic pill.
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don't worry - like always, it only takes a few ignorant screamers to create a stereotype for all.
 
And did you know that Congress secretly allowed to lift a 13 year ban on Park service to estimate crowd size. How convenient. I *sniff* smell a veddy, veddy big ego.


WASHINGTON — Reversing a 13-year-old policy, the National Park Service said Monday that it will offer an official crowd estimate for today's presidential inauguration to determine whether the event will set a record.

The largest inauguration crowd is believed by the National Park Service to be 1.2 million people for the swearing-in of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. President Clinton's 1993 ceremony drew 800,000 people, according to the park service.

Barna said the National Park Police will take aerial photos at the moment of President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in that the park service will use for a crowd estimate. He said the agency should have a crowd estimate later this week.

"None of us here want to go through the next 20 years saying LBJ was the biggest we've ever had if that's not true," Barna said.

The park service stopped releasing crowd estimates in 1996, when Congress stripped its budget of money to do so following a controversy over the estimate for the 1994 Million Man March. Barna said there is debate within the park service over whether that prohibition was permanent or just for that year.
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Park service changes course, plans to offer crowd estimate - USATODAY.com
 
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