How Many People Showed, Glenn?
As usual, I have been following Glenn Beck's inexcusable desecration today of the memory of the greatest religious leader in our nation's history.
I have, as yet, been unable to find any wide shots of the crowd, which was predicted to be around 300,000. Dave Niewert of Crooks and Liars estimates that 50 to 70,000 people showed up. We'll see
Just for your information, Glenn, here is what 300,000 people looks like:
Update: Well, CBS News commissioned a company to take aerial photos of the demonstration, and produce an attendance figure. Here's the article, together with a couple of photos. Their attendance number? 87,000. This would be commensurate with the 70,000 which they turned out last September, which the right wing media reported as up to two million. I think it is important to know things like this, because we need to understand whether the tea party "movement" is much more than a media fiction. Certainly, a turnout of 87,000 to see their two biggest stars, Glenn Beck and the Quitta from Wasilla, after weeks of intense publicity, is a pretty pathetic turnout.
Further Update: Here is a link to a post by one of the people who did the CBS analysis, providing more detail about it, if you are interested. Of course, this scientific analysis is being subjected to the same abuse from the right that all scientific analysis is. If I can stomach it, I'll include a sample in my next wingnut wrapup.
I have, as yet, been unable to find any wide shots of the crowd, which was predicted to be around 300,000. Dave Niewert of Crooks and Liars estimates that 50 to 70,000 people showed up. We'll see
Just for your information, Glenn, here is what 300,000 people looks like:
Update: Well, CBS News commissioned a company to take aerial photos of the demonstration, and produce an attendance figure. Here's the article, together with a couple of photos. Their attendance number? 87,000. This would be commensurate with the 70,000 which they turned out last September, which the right wing media reported as up to two million. I think it is important to know things like this, because we need to understand whether the tea party "movement" is much more than a media fiction. Certainly, a turnout of 87,000 to see their two biggest stars, Glenn Beck and the Quitta from Wasilla, after weeks of intense publicity, is a pretty pathetic turnout.Further Update: Here is a link to a post by one of the people who did the CBS analysis, providing more detail about it, if you are interested. Of course, this scientific analysis is being subjected to the same abuse from the right that all scientific analysis is. If I can stomach it, I'll include a sample in my next wingnut wrapup.
Comments
The truth is, regardless of the massive publicity which the mainstream media give them, the teabaggers really do not represent a widespread phenomenon in this country. Like Saruman, they are capable of a good deal of malicious damage before they disappear in the air, but the days when they really had the power are dwindling rapidly.