Sunday, September 13, 2009

When 1.8 Million Looks An Awful Lot Like 60K

After a 13-year hiatus, the National Park Service resumed estimating crowd sizes for the inauguration of Barack Obama. Until then, the largest crowd for the swearing in of a president was thought to be that of Lyndon Johnson in 1965, when 1.2 million people packed the National Mall. If you move your mouse over interactive graphic appearing on USA Today, crowd sizes for various presidential inaugurations will appear.

After the January 2009 inauguration the Washington Post published the "official" estimate of the size of the crowd as 1.8 million people, making it the largest gathering ever on the Mall.

Yesterday's "Taxpayer's Protest" has been variously described as drawing "thousands" or "tens of thousands", all the way up to 2 million people. There are, of course, political reasons for the mainstream media to downplay the size of the crowd. It is illuminating to compare the aerial views of both events:

You decide.

[Little Old Lady, Pink Freud, and Running Bare contributed to this report.]

UPDATE: It has come to our attention that there are issues with the photo on the left; word is circulating that it isn't from the 9/12 rally at all, but rather from a Promise Keepers rally in the late nineties. The person attempting to pass this off - whoever they are - as a photo from Saturday's rally ought to be ashamed.

Posted by Corre∫pondence Committee at 4:33 PM

58 comments:

  1. I wonder if the MFM will show these two photos side by side? Some how I think NOT.

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  2. First btw. LOL. We can do that here right?

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  3. Why, there may even be *more* for the tea party than the inauguration. I see blank spots!

    I'm wondering how attendance was nationwide.

    /I think so, Erik ...and you're our first first!

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  4. Well, they're not packed around the Capitol like in the inauguration pic, but the Mall is jammed up at the 9/12 rally moreso that O-day.

    An impressive turnout, no matter what we're told.
    That 60,000-70,000 number is laughable.

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  5. If you enlarge, you can see that large section close to the White House was jam packed with folks at the inauguration and apparently "off limits" to the 9/12 crowd. The rest of the area is much more densely packed on 9/12. It has to be WAY more than 60,000, however.

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  6. It is sos. But as usual that is what the MFM is feeding the masses and that is what will be believed.
    What was the source of the pictures? I want to post these on another site.

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  7. Look at the USAToday link up above (you can right click on it to get it open in new tab or browser). There's a neat interactive graphic to estimate crowd size for the mall.

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  8. As per the USA Today link, the Capitol area plus the first block of the Mall = 240,000 people. We need Pi Guy to do the math!

    ;-)

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  9. First btw. LOL. We can do that here right?

    Sure. ; )

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  10. Think about this.

    The average NFL stadium holds about the number of people on the low end of this thing (50K, 60K).

    Do you think you could get each person in the 9/12 photo a seat in your city's NFL venue?

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  11. "But as usual that is what the MFM is feeding the masses and that is what will be believed. "

    Makes one wonder how different this country would look if the MSM was on the side of conservatism. Or at least neutral.

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  12. LoL -

    My estimate is a lot of pissed off people.

    Close enuff for gov't work.

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  13. The 9/12 picture came to us via another blogger, who may have gotten it from a Twitter feed (the name of the blog is published where the photo appears in a thread downstairs - if you can't find it let me know and I'll go get it); the Inauguration Day photo came from MSNBC, according to Running Bare, who made the composite.

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  14. Seems like it's about 100k or so.

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  15. I remember when the first Tea Parties happened and "some people" were saying it was a joke and that it would fade ... guess they just didn't understand the amount of people in flyover country who are pissed off ...

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  16. sasquatch! :-)

    You're right! One pissed off attendee = 7 doped up hippies to the fourth power.

    Man, how DID they feed all those people?! ;-)

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  17. Makes one wonder how different this country would look if the MSM was on the side of conservatism. Or at least neutral.

    Neutral would be my preference. I would be satisfied with the truth. Just...the truth. They don't even try to hide their ideological leanings anymore.

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  18. tark,

    Minimum 1 million. MINIMUM.

    Check out the USA Today link in the copy above.

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  19. CC ... hide their feelings? ... hahahhaa ... did you see Stephonoppjerk on Chris Wallace show .. I think ... not sure of guys name ... anyway ... it was like he was on the Obama payroll talking about the healthcare bill and Obama's speech ... it was pathetic ....

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  20. BTW, I think I asked this before....but when the actual site launches, there will be a normal-style message board/comments section right? The comment system on this site is a pain in the ass :-/

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  21. But....but....on another blog they swear that there were only 50-60k at the rally. And they really, really want to believe it.

    BTW, will the comments be numbered on the new site?

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  22. BTW, I think I asked this before....but when the actual site launches, there will be a normal-style message board/comments section right? The comment system on this site is a pain in the ass :-/

    Yes. I'm not thrilled with BlogSpot myself, but for a temporary home until the new site is up aand becomes a fully-operation battlestation, it is merely "ok".

    The new site will have much better commenting features than here, and (if I may say so myself) many other places :)

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  23. LoL-

    I didn't see that USA link for some reason.
    Very interesting.
    Notice the tree shadows, looks like the 912 pic was taken a bit later in the day than the O-day pic.
    Have to figure for the month, but even then, there are a ton of people on the mall. Wish there was a closer pick to see a good density comparison between the two,

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  24. We're gonna be a 'battlestation'!

    I love it!

    :')

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  25. BTW, will the comments be numbered on the new site?

    Yes. And will have both "reply" and "quote" features, as well as some basic html (bold, Italic, hyperlink, etc... buttons to use).

    Anyway, I need to go eat some dinner.

    Thanks, everyone, for dropping in!!

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  29. damn right, DS !

    That's no moon, it's a space station, baby !

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  30. The main thing I want is a "favorites" system.

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  31. ETR, if you're still around, what site are you going to post these at ?
    On your FB ?

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  32. Well, as long as we get smilies so I can moon people....I'll be happy.

    :')

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  33. sos I have decided against posting the photos where I wanted to. Not a good idea at this stage. Had not thought about FB. That is a good idea. Do you have a FB account yet?

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  34. Anyone catch WeeWon on 60 minutes?

    Didn't even know he was going to be on.

    Just hit Roll Call and found this -

    "In an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night, President Barack Obama charged that some Republicans want a “replay” of 1994, when a “young president” entered office and was vanquished on health care, resulting in a shift in the control of Congress."

    Hmm, that president handed it to someone else to write and it failed miserably.

    I'm game.

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  35. ETR,

    Haven't decided to go that far yet.
    I'm probably being a little paranoid....
    I'll make the jump soon.

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  38. sos, I just posted it on my FB page. Make the jump. Just be careful who you friend. You can give as much or as little info about yourself as you want. I am pretty open on mine. But in the grand scheme of things I am a nobody and have nothing to lose it my ID gets out.

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  41. ETR

    You most definitely are not a nobody.

    You're special, just like the rest of us

    :O

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  42. Couldn'ta said it better, Sasquatch.

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  44. Gotta busy day tomorrow.

    Thanks PF and all the rest who put in their time and effort.

    Great to be here and it's gonna be awesome !

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  46. Later sos. I am going to do the same. Good Night C2'ers. And once again Thank you for the effort and passion you are putting into the new site. I can't wait.

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  47. G'nite Erik!

    You're welcome! See you soon.

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  48. Gotta get some sleep ... work tomorrow ... thanks so much ya'll ... it will be good ...

    Come down off your fences ...

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  49. Thank you, Zigzagging. See you soon. :-)

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  50. Hey y'all - one of the most amazing things is that a lot of the protestors were protesting not "just" Obamacare, but also and perhaps mostly GOVERNMENT SPENDING.
    Wait until next year - seriously, when some of the tax bites start, and many folks are still regrettably unemployed and many, many more are UNDERemployed. A family used to living on say $120,000 a year, suddenly see's it's income drop to $75,000 a year and then have to worry about paying the mortgage or rent, kids in college and the likely rise in inflation all hitting them.
    And in 2011 - when Obama is gonna let the Bush Tax cuts fade away and folks seem their paychecks being diminihsed (if they are fortunate enough to have paychecks) these Tea Party's or Protests are just gonna keep growing and growing.

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  52. I know Sage, I know. I'd sure as hell like to know where all that damn "Stimulus" money went to. Course, I think the Congress would also, but they didn't build any real way to track it.
    Hang in there my friend - and I hope you still have my e-mail addy!

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  53. Realwest,

    It is just the sh*ts here in California for a lot of my friends. You wouldn't even believe it. Stimulus, what a joke. Help with loan modifications, another joke. Our local Los Angeles County bus system is buying wheel polishing machines from Australia with their stimulus money.

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  54. Did Bare answer whether you get smileys yet? Yes, you get smileys.

    I will ask him whether we'll have a favorites system; it might be one of those things that isn't there day one, but could come later.

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  55. "Nite, all. Desert Sage will love those smileys! :-)

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  58. Thanks, my teeth are all brushed. See you all tomorrow. Thanks again for all of the hard work!

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