The Great Conservative Tea Party – Update: 2 million? Update 2: Correction on people count

Welcome Free Republic readers and thank you. Please also take a moment to read this post on Chris Dodd.

Update 2: Please note … Charles Martin writes to remind me that the 2 million noted below is an upward bound and  given that upper bound, 2 million was plausible … not definitive. This was my error in not reporting the entire post but it was my intent to drive you to pajamasmedia. Please make sure you go to the link to read the entire post.

Update: Michelle reports the official number is now 1.2 million but points to this extrapolation at Pajamasmedia by a computer scientist …

I did a back-of-envelope based on the photos and reports. A pretty dense crowd is about 1.8 people per square meter, and the National Mall alone is about 125 hectares, 1.25 million square meters. So that would be 2.3 million people.

First things first. Michelle has pictures and video which I link to below. It is inspiring. Now to the business at hand.

No to big government … no to big spending … no to the direction this administration and this Congress are taking us. And by the way … no to the MSM. From Powerline:

CNN had a reporter live at the rally to do an interview about Joe Wilson. Why that made sense I’m not sure, apart from the liberal media’s determination to deflect attention toward Wilson and away from Americans’ widespread dissatisfaction with the Obama administration. What followed is pretty entertaining:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Ntu7Aapys&feature=player_embedded

Pretty entertaining? As usual John understates.Ha! John also has Mike Pence’s speech to the crowd.

I’ve got to be honest with you … you look like the cavalry to me.

Chat room Kim has been scanning the wires for me today and here’s what she reports:

I was reading some sites that said ABC News reporting 2 million, while police estimate 1.2 million. The Washington Post reported 30,000. The numbers are all over the place. You don’t know what to believe.

Just before I left this morning Fox was reporting 60,000. I will update this through tomorrow. But here’s what Michelle is reporting:

Activists were derided as amateurs who couldn’t turn out a crowd. Then they were smeared as corporate shills. They were criticized for not having a coherent message. Then they were mocked for ideological single-mindedness. They are resented by professional strategists who accuse them of organizing empty protests that won’t translate into electoral gains. But the movement has given birth to a new generation of movers and shakers who have rejected establishment partisan politics for nimble, Internet-facilitated, issues-based advocacy.

and here’s more video from her site:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMXz6xGeqc&feature=player_embedded

Astroturf doesn’t grow. This will not be stopped my little mobsters. This will not be stopped.

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

7 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on September 13, 2009 at 3:45 am

    I guess Obama is just used to only addressing minority groups!

     

    This has the so called "million man march"  or any Axelrod created crowd beat, hands down!



  2. Darlene on September 13, 2009 at 7:34 am

    Just think what the crowd would have been if all of us, who support this movement, could have been there.  The tally would, no doubt, then be deep into the millions.  But, in defense of my argument against Obama/Biden trying to count the so-called number of jobs "saved" by the stimulus, I guess we can't count those not in attendence because we just couldn't go. 



  3. tip on September 13, 2009 at 8:28 am

    I was there. Drove from Spfld. Ma. Not good at estimating crowd size, but there were a lot of people. Notable spekers were Richard Mourdock, treasurer of Indiana, and a former Chrysler dealer. The signs were great. We really need to vote out some high profile guys like Dodd, my rep, Richard neal, Barney Frank etc.

     

     

    Tip



  4. tip on September 13, 2009 at 8:31 am

    I also wanted to say the crowd was extremely well behaved. Everyone I talked with was pleasant and nice, although they were very angry with our pols.

     

     

    Tip



  5. SoundOffSister on September 15, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    We will probably never know the number of people at the rally, but, I can assure you that the President and members of Congress know (+ or- 1000).  Why do you think the President fled Washington today (Tuesday) to give a pep rally on Obamacare to the UAW.  The unions are the only ones who will listen to the President.  Meanwhile the President chooses to ignore the rest of America.



  6. Gimmea6 on September 16, 2009 at 6:41 am

    I am encouraged by the show of enthusiasm among usually complacent conservatives (think Silent Majority). However, I remind everyone that the real Tea Party will take place in the Voting Booth and we MUST avoid the urge to vote for our local representatives who will undoubtedly promise us something for nothing.



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