135 Comments

1. Minerva:

Whatever the numbers, they don’t matter. What is amazing is that for the first time I can remember, regular folks are showing up, calling up, writing in continually in large numbers.

Sep 12, 2009 - 7:44 pm 2. Maggie:

Great to see American patriots figuratively kickin’ butt.

Sep 12, 2009 - 8:13 pm 3. Alec Martin:

Yes- Obama and his minions PLUS the CONgress and the Senate ALL need to be very, very AFRAID.

They work for US and they are ALL going to be SO fired in 2010 and 2012 if they vote for these odious bills. Probably- even if they DON’T because of what they have already done! (We have good memories).

Health Care, Crap and Tax and anything that is Unconstitutional: Freedom of Speech, Right To Bear Arms, Property Rights, State’s Rights.
Czars are Unconstitutional and need to be vetted and/or thrown out.
ACORN funding must STOP immediately and HUD, The Inspector General and Congress should investigate- NOT the Department of Justice.
Eric Holder cannot be trusted.

Then there’s that pesky little matter of the birth certificate, the passportsand the college records.
Oh what a joyous day for patriots it was in Washington and across these great United States this day!

God bless America!
We have just begun to fight!
Operation Clean Sweep is off to a great start!

Start packing, Washington!

Attn: RINOs and Blue Dogs- Question: Who are you more afraid of?
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer, Barack Obama – or US?
Think about it.

Sep 12, 2009 - 8:23 pm 4. Random:

“The person carrying the Obama/Hitler poster should have his/her wrist slapped.”

Absolutely – Stalin is the more appropriate comparison, particularly given Obama’s Stalinist iconography.

Sep 12, 2009 - 8:25 pm 5. Steve:

The rapid growth of the tea party movement is stunning. One explanation is that people are getting their news from the internet. But then why did Obama get elected?

I prefer the Joker image.

Sep 12, 2009 - 8:41 pm 6. Roy Lofquist:

The Obama/Hitler poster are labeled lyndonlarouche.com

Sep 12, 2009 - 9:18 pm 7. Douglas Fletcher:

I used to live in Montgomery County, outside DC. For a time I worked on Saturdays and would ride the Metro in to Bethesda. Whenever there was some sort of demonstration going on in DC the Metro stations would be crowded with the demonstrators taking the train in to the downtown area. The biggest crowd I ever saw in those stations were anti-abortion demonstrators, though I don’t know how many actually gathered at the demonstration itself. Everybody seems to think it would be anti-war demonstrations that brought in the biggest number, but that doesn’t jibe with my admittedly limited exposure to this kind of stuff.

Sep 12, 2009 - 9:34 pm 8. Linguist:

To #3 Random: Actually, the best comparison is Il Duce. Mussolini.

And what with the way Benito’s story ended, the administration should be very, very afraid.

Sep 12, 2009 - 10:10 pm 9. bob:

Barely more than a half-year later, they’re putting two million people on the Washington Mall.

Actually, it’s more like 70,000.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/protest-crowd-size-estimate-falsely-attributed-abc-news/story?id=8558055

Not so impressive.

Sep 12, 2009 - 10:18 pm 10. John Moore:

Rog, I suspect your leftist demo experience mislead you. Those were never mass grass roots, except for the anti-Vietnam War ones. The latter were mostly populated by people afraid of getting drafted, their girl friends, and others of us along for the party. These tea parties are much less focused (although the last anti-war rally in SF in 1970 wandered off the track) because people are mad or worried about a whole host of issues.

Obama wasn’t content to stir up a hornets nest. In his vainglorious ambition, he had to stir up a whole bunch of them. This is the result.

Sep 12, 2009 - 11:15 pm 11. Yehudit:

I was there. Humungous amount of people but not 2 million. I would say half a million. Maybe when enough aerial photos get processed we’ll know.

I cannot imagine any face-off in which Emanuel is not the last one standing. But Axelrod is way too useful to go. Many other scapegoats will be sacrificed first.

Sep 12, 2009 - 11:27 pm 12. Steve Skubinna:

The Hitler poster is probably a LaRouche production. LaRouche is not a conservative, nor a libertarian, yet the left and the media desperately try to portray him as one.

But I agree, no Hitler pictures. Otherwise, the rally ends up looking like just another 2000-2008 lefty gathering.

Sep 12, 2009 - 11:56 pm 13. Jonathan Nolan:

Hitler/Obama is a false flag and very offensive. Obama is a Nero, the black caesar as I called him pre-election- a complete, utter narcissist. Not just another arrogant and contemptuous -ocrat (take your pick of what goes before the – : pluto, aristo, narco, whatever).

This narcissist betrays allies and loyal friends of the USA, panders to salivating nutballs and enemies, and will Marie Antoinette / Nero himself and the country into a true epic conflagration if not stopped.

And suddenly calling Bush W everything under the sun whilst the country quietly ticked along happily for years on end in a time of war doesn’t seem so smart, hein?

Sep 13, 2009 - 2:12 am 14. ForNow:

My initial feeling months ago, similar to Roger’s initial feeling, was that the tea parties were too little, too late. But then I started noticing tea party planning all over the place, on Wikipedia talk pages and so forth. Deep currents were flowing, that no mere rhetoric could cause or prevent.

Sep 13, 2009 - 2:57 am 15. UsaBruce:

I too was there. My estimate was 300,000. As for the MSM, they no longer exist in my world. I don’t listen to them, watch them, or need them. They are irrelevant. They are lumped in my mind with the Admin that wishes to limit our freedoms and “remake” America. The MSM have shown themselves to be the enemy and despiser of everything that I hold dear, they are the partners of ACORN and the “Rev” Wright. I expect nothing but scorn, insults and outright lies from them. They never disappoint in that. In a perfect world they would end up penniless, and scorned as traitors till their dying breath. God bless America.

Sep 13, 2009 - 3:26 am 16. Francis W. Porretto:

“The person carrying the Obama/Hitler poster should have his/her wrist slapped. Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad) are odious, stupid and insulting to the people murdered by Hitler. Enough.” — Roger L. Simon

“Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!” — Adolf Hitler

“We are one people, one nation, and the time for change has come!” — Barack Hussein Obama

Are you quite, quite sure of that, Mr. Simon?

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:00 am 17. Pops in Vienna:

I don’t think it will matter very much even if 3 million people actually showed up. The mainstream media gave this event very little coverage, therefore it did not happen.

Folks are stirred up but I think it’s too late. The Dems have enough votes to pass a government health care bill and they will. By the 2010 election most of us will have either given up or gone back to sleep.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:21 am 18. Instapundit » Blog Archive » ROGER SIMON: America Goes to Washington: I Was Wrong About The Tea Party Movement. “Boy, was I wr…:

[...] SIMON: America Goes to Washington: I Was Wrong About The Tea Party Movement. “Boy, was I wrong. I can remember telling Glenn Reynolds during CPAC that these Tea Party [...]

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:24 am 19. ern:

I’ll agree with Doug above: even during the height of the antiwar protests, they were still dwarfed by the annual pro-life marches in DC. I made a point of driving in to DC that day, as I simply couldn’t stand being on the Metro on the day the pro-life march took place. Just waaay too full.

Numbers, in the end, won’t matter. The media will spin it to fit the narrative, even if the images from DC contradict it. I will admit that I don’t know Obama’s take on this: is he looking out and actually seeing what is going on, or are his handlers keeping it from him? I can’t imagine the later could be true, but given his non-starter of a health care speech last week, I can’t imagine he’s actually engaged at all in the national debate. Which makes me wonder if he’s isolated.

Of course, he could just be deluding himself. I’m finding a lot of my liberal friends are doing a lot of that these days. They’re still behaving as if Obama has 60%+ approval ratings and can do no wrong. It’s going to be difficult for them when reality hits.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:41 am 20. Kate Rafferty:

I guess we’re pretty lucky George and Ben and Tommy Boy didn’t roll over and go back to sleep when finding Geo. III had too much to lose to let the colonies go with a philosophical shrug. This new wannabe dictator isn’t going to give in easily and neither are the American patriots. Take your naysaying to a people with no history of fighting back, Pops, they’ll commend you for giving up.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:46 am 21. Fu Teki Setsu:

This is part of a very long term change (decades) as a result of two large processes. The first is the increasing power of a ruling elite in both parties plus most of the media, academia, public unions, etc. The second is the increasing populist power resulting from alternative forms of communication, by now almost all Internet related.

We’ve reached a critical point now at the peak of a giant liquidity bubble that has steadily flowed from stocks/real estate into the fast growing government. It’s still flowing (directly) into government, but now that everyone else is out of the bubble, they can see it clearly. The elites don’t because they’re mostly still in the bubble or only recently being thrown from it. You can’t see a bubble from the inside.

The Tea Party movement will likely form into a true political party that will gain control of government for a while, probably after 2012. But the steady growth beforehand will scare the hell out of the elites. After that, one of the two other political parties will likely fall apart. The remaining one will transform into a far more grass-roots organization like the Tea Party.

I expect a lot of chaos.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:54 am 22. MariettaJim:

I’ve read on other sites that the grounds were left clean, too. Not something that happens at leftist protests.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:55 am 23. jeff:

Roger, the minute criticism should actually be a big one. No one will take a movement seriously if there are Hitler posters, John Birchers, Birthers, and other assorted crazies. In order for the conservative movement to be successful, we need to separate from these nutjobs. It gives people like John Kerry lots of credibility when he is critical of “right wing nutjobs”.

Stay classy and above hyperbole and the fray conservatives. You win the battle because you have better ideas. America is listening-don’t blow it like the Republican Congress did from 2000-2006.

I also think that the number of 2 Milliion is vastly higher than actual attendance. But I am excited that people are motivated.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:12 am 24. George S.:

Roger you comment on thoise with obama-hitler signs.

…if you look at history their methods seem very similar. hitler was elected (sort of)but never spoke for the majority. 3. Random is correct he is more like stalin, given that is the playbook of saul alinsky.

I will agree that at that at this point it does give the MSM fodder to attack, but like Joe Wilson it looks like our society has trouble with truth.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:17 am 25. Mark L:

Anyone notice all the trash on the mall after the demonstrators left?

Me neither. It is one of the hallmarks of these protests. The scene is cleaner afterward than it was before.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:26 am 26. interested:

What is the Tea Party Platform?

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:29 am 27. Janetoo:

I hope there will be another Washington March!! If he rams (rahms) through health care like Mark Steyn thinks they will, another rally should be held and I bet this one will produce even more people. People like myself who could not attend because they are caring for an aging parent, but wanted to. Next time – I will be willing to employ Elder Care and spend the $18.95 per hour. What happened yesterday brought tears to my eyes!

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:35 am 28. Carl F.:

My problem with invoking Hitler in these discussions is that Socialism doesn’t need Hitler to be evil. Hitler didn’t make Socialism anti-human, Socialism destroys life and erodes humanity wherever it exists.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:36 am 29. Spartan79:

I was not there, so I have no direct knowledge of this, but several participants and bloggers have commented that, after the tea-party crowd dissipated, the mall was clean, and pointed out the sharp contrast to the aftermath of Obama’s inauguration, when the mall was filthy with trash and debris.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:40 am 30. Phenomenal Success for 9-12 Tax Protests « POWIP:

[...] [...]

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:40 am 31. Vincent walker:

I really don’t think either Emanuel or Obama care now or ever did. If they were concerned about the electorate, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Emanuel is particularly dangerous as he is seeking absolute power. He needs to be marginalized ASAP. Unfortunately, leaving out the names, the parallels with the behavior of this administration with megalomaniac-based totalitarian regimes of the past and present are very very disturbing.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:45 am 32. Chris Hay:

Apology accepted. And yes, there was almost no litter at the site in the wake of dispersal, but more important, ever public trash can along the route was packed full of trash from the rally with overflow stacked neatly. I watched a couple in front of me walk past about six can to find one they could load their empty drink bottles into.

We also shouted down a patient care advocate who dared to recommend we sign a petition to ask Obama for a 20 page bill giving medicare more money. My section started up a chant of “Get Government Out” but I think “No No No” probably had more people participating.

But seriously folks, the tea parties are getting the folks who vote and donate directly and leave it at that to start strategizing and teaching. One of the big messages was to stay connected and keep reaching out, and another was to start looking at the weak spots in the armor, local and off elections, the kind that have low turnout and lower publicity.

I think Freedom Works (one of the main organizers for the Washington March) is putting together the beginnings of a Contract From America to contrast with the failed Republican Contract With America. The next step is to start coalescing on some specific policy goals, but to do so too early means the media has all the time in the world to turn the arguments into “old issues that we have already discussed”.

Thank you Simon for keeping an open mind, and being willing to admit you error. Now, if only some of the representation would be willing to step back from preconception and talking points, but that would be too much like thinking.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:00 am 33. Wacky Hermit:

I posted about how the 9/12 attendance estimates compare to other large protests in DC on my blog.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:02 am 34. LeighB:

Not to overly prolong the Hitler sign discussion but I think what some people are trying to convey is the similarity they see between their massive egos and need for absolute control. Stalin is perhaps a better comparison but many Americans are less familiar with him, perhaps some Obama as Kim Jong Il signs will appear soon.

As the mid-term elections get closer, it will be interesting to see if the tone of the TEA parties and 9.12 events changes. There is plenty to dislike about both major parties.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:13 am 35. Pelaut:

Hitler’s gang and Obama’s can certainly be compared.
The Bolsheviks in the W.H. carry on in the same hilarious manner as did Goebbels, Goering and Co.

We’re only at 1933 now Roger. Just pray the comparison breaks down by 1939.

And be aware, please, these guys are in the W.H. today because of what YOU did 40 years ago. That’s hardly the bona fide you try to make it.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:17 am 36. Virginia Patriot:

Steve,

Obama got elected because he promised to be ‘post-racial’ and ‘post partisan.’ He was also running his rhetoric to the RIGHT of John McCain.

America took Obama up on his offer to be ‘post-racial’ and now we are – henceforth no conservative can be called a ‘racist’ for disagreeing with the liberal press, liberal teachers, liberal academics, or liberal politicians.

Amazing what happens when A. you don’t care what people say about you & B. you are free of political correctness gone insane

So now that America is not racist, we can start looking at our real issue – seems to me we have a reading problem in Washington DC. – 1st lesson – Read the 10th amendment. 2nd lesson, deficit spending – if you’re out of money – stop spending, – you get the idea.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:19 am 37. Bilgeman:

#12 Pops:
“I don’t think it will matter very much even if 3 million people actually showed up. The mainstream media gave this event very little coverage, therefore it did not happen.”

I too am very skeptical of media estimates that arrive at the two million figure. This is mighty convenient, since that figure was forecast Friday by a Democratic congressional aide. Methinks there are lazy journalists about who “hung” a great deal of stories on one very slender attribution “hook”.

The point, however, is that starting from nothing and in less than 8 months, the TEA Party folks were able to draw people from all over the country to the Mall.
And while the MSM can try to downplay it, Congressmen will have had their own folks there to see the people with their own eyes.

Congressmen are probably the LAST people in the world to believe what is printed or broadcast in the MSM, donchaknow. When you spend as much time kissing someone’s butt as a politician does to media outlets,you get to know their flaws and faults intimately.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:19 am 38. serr8d:

Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad) are odious, stupid and insulting to the people murdered by Hitler. Enough.

Sometimes a well-nuanced comparison is called for.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:26 am 39. apodoca:

Not Hitler. Mao. Recently, on my travels, I saw a poster of Mao Tse Deng and was struck by how very much it was like the Obama posters. Obama is attempting to replicate the Chinese educational system: all rote learning and no independent, creative thought; lockstep thought; outcomes based. Americans would be less upset if he would replicate the Chinese medical care system, which is a capitalist pay-as-you-go one.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:31 am 40. lonetown:

The Obama with hitler stache are LaRouchians, i.e. Dem nuts.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:38 am 41. Robert Knaws:

I was worried this movement wouldn’t last. From my first tea party in April to the July 4th gathering here in Jacksonville, I was starting to believe.

After yesterday, its a lock. We are moving. We are going to make a big difference. I’ll let others worry about the long-term demographics, we are doing what we can today and that will be enough.

But my goodness the bus ride back has been a pain in the rear…literally. I guess that’s what you get by putting 40 year old butt on a bus for that long.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:43 am 42. Talnik:

I don’t think he’ll get rid of Rahm. There is a hybrid being here, with a (to remain un-named) billionaire as its brain, Rahm as its heart (driving force) and Obama as its face. Axelrod resembles more of a disposable appendage.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:46 am 43. Georg Felis:

All the discussion about just how many people were actually at the Mall can be resolved by one small experiment. Take the Official Count for the Obama Inauguration. Multiply by the percentage change in the DC Subway ridership numbers(*), which should be public. And that should give you an “Accurate” number.

(*) For the math challenged, that would be last Saturdays ridership numbers divided by the Inauguration numbers. If they match exactly, you get a number like 1.00. If last Saturdays numbers are larger, you get a number like 1.25, and so on.

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:49 am 44. Burt:

The Employees (congress et al) have been sluffing off and embezzling company funds for the last 50 years (that I have personal knowledge of). The boss (the electorate) has finally noticed. Heads will roll!

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:00 am 45. mndasher:

23. interested: “What is the Tea Party Platform?” – Sep 13, 2009 – 5:29 am

STOP SPENDING OTHER PEOPLES MONEY (OPM)

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:12 am 46. Chuck J.:

Nice flounce there, Roger. You are totally banned.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:15 am 47. Huey:

Roger.

Hitler wasn’t “Hitler” when he was elected. He became “Hitler” after he assumed total power.

If you think “it can’t happen here,” you’re wrong.

It can, and, if we aren’t ever vigilant, it will.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:16 am 48. Pastorius:

LARGEST POLITICAL RALLY IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA? ABC NEWS REPORTS 1.5 MILLION ATTEND RALLY IN WASHINGTON

http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2009/09/abc-news-reports-15-million-attend.html

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:19 am 49. Rima:

If anyone is in doubt as to historical comparisons re: this administration, then Leonard Peikoff’s book, “Ominous Parallels” should clear that right up.

http://www.amazon.com/Ominous-Parallels-Brilliant-parallels-pre-Hitler/dp/0452011175

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:21 am 50. Terrye:

More and more people are figuring out that they have been had…and they don’t like it.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:22 am 51. bill-tb:

We had 3000 supporting protesters on our street comer in Collier county Florida. It stretched for a long way down the road.

It’s now a movement and growing. Corruption is the problem, it is the cancer which infects our government and we need to get rid of it.

How about we start with destroying ACORN, then Rangel and Murtha.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:22 am 52. Neal Scroggs:

Writing as a participant in the Tea Party March. I would say that 500,000 would have to to be the lower bounds of any estimate, with 1.2 – 1.5 million being a reasonable mean. The marchers assembled at the intersection of Constitution and Pennsylvania. By about 11 AM our human sea inundated Pennsylvania Avenue for at least nine blocks. Then we stepped off for our mile march to the Capitol.

Our members did not enter the Mall area, as this was previously reserved by the Black Families Reunion. We were loud, but peaceful and orderly. The DC Police presence was minimal; evidently they anticipated no trouble.

One indication of the scale of our protest was provision made for our biological need. The Parks Service is responsible for privies (port-a-johns) at public assemblies at the Capitol. There was a line of at least fifty chemical privies erected on the north side of the Capitol Lawn. The queues for these “Tardis Toilets” were enormous, people waited forty minutes on average for relief.

May I boast we were scrupulously clean and tidy? When we dispersed there was hardly any evidence we’d ever been there. The Left, for all their shouted slogans and green pretense, have never staged a cleaner event. In contrast Obama’s inauguration looked like the aftermath of a barbarian raid.

There were unfortunately too many toothbrush mustaches on likeness of the President, Madam Speaker Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Biden and other Obama myrmidons, and not all were products of the LaRouche organization. But these are the consequences of the despicable anti-Bush iconography so beloved of the Left. Just think of it as karma and let it go at that.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:25 am 53. jeff:

As conservatives we also need to get rid of the birthers in the movement. The election is over, move on. We need to tell the creationists that there is no room to teach creationism in public schools-that needs to be taught at churches and in private schools, and home.

Let’s focus on smaller government, less intrusive and a tax policy that is flat-giving oppprtunity to everyone equally.

Credibility will be key for us.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:57 am 54. Pastorius:

I think it is clear the Rally yesterday was the largest political rally in the history of the US:

http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2009/09/abc-news-reports-15-million-attend.html

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:57 am 55. Jaded:

The persons holding the ObamaHitler signs were LaRouche IDIOT and of course the media was interviewing them and I walked by and said into the mike that that LaRouche was a criminal and they don’t speak for Conservative’s.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:59 am 56. doctorj2u:

I disagree Roger. The tea party gatherings are an embarrassment. I have been a Republican for over 30 years. More and more, the party has become the party of angry white men and religious zealots. It lost me after Katrina and so far I see nothing to put me back in the fold.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:03 am 57. Washington DC 9/12 Protest: Revolution Brewing From Sea To Shining Sea «:

[...] [...]

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:12 am 58. RabbitDawg:

To quote John Moore (post #10): “Obama wasn’t content to stir up a hornets nest. In his vainglorious ambition, he had to stir up a whole bunch of them. This is the result.”

Absolutely! Opposition to the Powers That Be can ebb and flow with intensity, but this movement is solidifying as it grows. Two steps forward, no steps back. There is a growing element of the population that is starting to size up our representatives by what they do, not just whatever feel-good quip that they say. Charisma is a warning flag.
You know it’s getting serious when people with jobs to hold, and businesses to run in the midst of a recession start to take to the streets in protest.
For each and every one in D.C., there are several thousand back at home champing at the bit, eager to vote.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:14 am 59. PunditKix:

Roger L. Simon » America Goes to Washington: I was wrong about the Tea Party Movement…

Thank you for submitting this cool story – Trackback from PunditKix…

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:18 am 60. George S.:

53. Jeff

with you on smaller government.

as for birthers

…hey if some one isn’t satisfied that obama is eligible to be president ..(I haven’t seen a birth certificate …and really don’t care if he was or wasn’t born in the USA) then they have every right to have their doubts confirmed.

where is the transparency …RIGHT …IT WAS JUST ANOTHER OBAMA LIE.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:20 am 61. Mkelley:

Here is a great slapdown of the New York Times’ non-coverage of the Van Jones debacle: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/van_jones_unfit_for_print_4fliXu4hcB1lqAqQmWV8NO

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:23 am 62. Chuck Thompson:

Yesterday while hundreds of thousands of protesters stormed the capital, President Obama ran away to Minnesota.

Obviously he ran to Minnesota because he is well-supported there by the obambots.

But what is there to gain in that? He won’t get as much coverage as the protesters in DC will. He won’t win any new converts in a hall full of people who already blindly support him and his vague, blown-to-pieces-by-facts “plan”.

The clear outcome is even more division than there already is. He continues his screed about “lies” and “scare tactics” and brings no new or persuasive information. I guess he thinks if he continues to pound the same tired crap enough someone will begin to believe it.

The irony is that as the changer-in-chief he completely misses the NLP adage “If what you’re doing isn’t working, try something else!” because he just keeps repeating it over and over – like a robot. To his obambots. What he needs is a playbook different than Alinsky’s. Try something new Mr. President. Try winning over your detractors with honesty and clarity. If that doesn’t work, maybe you should rethink the plan. Now there’s a novel idea – re-think something with a view towards finding something palatable to the majority of Americans instead of a minority of mooches who want something for nothing.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:41 am 63. Calvin Ball:

I do have one minute criticism. The person carrying the Obama/Hitler poster should have his/her wrist slapped. Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad) are odious, stupid and insulting to the people murdered by Hitler. Enough.

According to mister Johnson, that one doing that was just the tip of the iceberg, and everyone there was really like that, and you’re a white supremacist, and…I think you get the idea.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:43 am 64. Calvin Ball:

55., good point. Obama invited the birther movement and granted it legitimacy the minute he promised us the most transparent government in history.

No one, on either side, has the moral authority to criticize the birthers, because the moral authority was rather strongly granted by Obama himself.

Which Alinsky rule was that, about making the other side live according to their own talk?

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:47 am 65. Calvin Ball:

But I can’t remember anything this size that was entirely non-violent. That’s rather miraculous for a two-million person demonstration and deserves the highest praise, though I doubt the mainstream media will say much.

On a related sidenote, one other very ostensible difference between left and right demonstrations is that the side of the environmentalists are notorious for leaving an ungodly mess for someone else to clean up. The other side usually deposits their trash into receptacles. I wasn’t at this, but several people commented that the place was left in unusually clean condition.

Sep 13, 2009 - 8:53 am 66. Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian:

Roger, I was there at the D.C. Tea Party yesterday and the Obama-as-Hitler signs were all from the LaRouchies and they mainly stayed near the LaRouche table, which was across from the PortaPotties, far from the main stage.

While comparing Obama to Stalin and other Communists is more apt, I think the comparison of Obama to Hitler is acceptable because my perception is that all his spending bills are like the kindling for the fire in the Reichstag and that as they consume the U.S. economy and start to bring it down he will use that emergency as the grounds for his own Enabling Act to allow him to suspend the Constitution and take sole power over the U.S. government. So there are rational grounds for comparing Obama to Hitler.

Conservatives also had no problem comparing Obama to Hitler when the YouTube video of the Obama youth song was released, and when Obama proposed and shoved through his bill for the mandatory “voluntary” service corps.

In addition, when the Obama-with-Hitler-mustache posters saying “You’ve changed” first came up, bloggers quickly learned that they originated from the LaRouche movment, which shows up everywhere there’s a crowd. The Left beats up people that don’t toe their party line and runs them off, but the Right truly believes in diversity and free speech and lets people be, so the LaRouchies know they are safe coming to our demonstrations. I think this is to our credit that people with whom we disagree and who are holding signs that offend some of us are safe to do so at our demonstrations.

P.S.

I marched in a number of gay rights and pro-choice marches in D.C. in the Eighties and Nineties and I have never been in such a densely-packed crowd as the 9/12 Tea Party March on Washington. I think the Park Police estimate of 1.2 million is credible, or low, especially since people kept streaming in all day.

The spontaneity of this march, the brief time in which it was brought together and the fact that almost half a percent of the U.S. population dropped everything to attend in order to shout their opposition in person should be giving Obama and the Democrats extreme pause.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:05 am 67. Calvin Ball:

As conservatives we also need to get rid of the birthers in the movement. The election is over, move on. We need to tell the creationists that there is no room to teach creationism in public schools-that needs to be taught at churches and in private schools, and home.

Uhh…Chucky? I can see you through the keyhole!

Ban me.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:07 am 68. David Hecht:

Look, this business of crowd-counting–while not an exact science–isn’t just guesswork either.

I watched the rally on the Mall on Glen Beck’s show last night. Someone said that it’s a mile from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, and that the intervening space was “filled with people”.

OK, let’s suppose that’s true. Let’s also assume that the frontage involved is about 100 feet (obviously you can insert your own, more accurate figure: I was doing this off-the-cuff). So that’s ( 1 mi = ~5000 ft x 100 ft = ) about 500,000 square feet, “filled with people.”

How much space does one person occupy in a crowd? They didn’t look all that packed in to me, nothing like what you see at (say) parades. So say each person was taking up about a 2×2 or maybe 3×3 space. That would be about 4-9 sqft each. At 9 sqft/person, we’re talking roughly 50-60,000 people (500,000 / 9). At 4 sqft/person, it would be about 125,000 people.

The obvious conclusion is that we are talking about roughly a hundred thousand people, but nowhere near a million, let alone two million.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:21 am 69. Billy Beck:

“The person carrying the Obama/Hitler poster should have his/her wrist slapped. Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad) are odious, stupid and insulting to the people murdered by Hitler. Enough.”

That is simply not true, Roger, and you do yourself serious discredit with such nonsense. To begin with, you have no idea what the people murdered by Hitler might have to say as a warning, so you should keep your presumptions to yourself. Beyond that, many of the principles of the 20th century dictatorships are also common to the collectivism of this regime, and the question becomes: how serious does it have to get before people are allowed to point out just how serious it can get, without you sneering at them?

Do yourself a favor and shut up about this. There really are people in this country who can still see over the horizon in the light of principles, even if you can’t.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:28 am 70. Tennwriter:

RINOS (aka those who put the ‘Luzer’ in Republican) should remember that 9 of 10 Americans are some form of Creationist. Two, Birthers are not crazy to be curious. Maybe the cert lists ‘Barack’ as Barry and the college admin records list him as ‘Indonesian’. It’d be embarrassing enough to hide even w/o citizenship issues.

Congratulations to all the Tea Partiers. Remember that your typical RINO has more in common with Colin “I’ll vote for the Dem even tho’ I’m supposed to be a Rep” Powell than Stonewall Jackson.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:37 am 71. tc:

The battle has been joined and the march to the inevitable clash has begun. Forces have been marshalled and we are about to embark upon a political bloodsport unlike any other in America. Freedom and Liberty will be defended. New Guards will be established to preserve them for posterity’s sake. Obama and company have no wind in their sails and the armada is soon to be pulling through the fog, cannons at the ready.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:38 am 72. exdem13:

It takes a big-hearted man to admit he was in error Mr. Simon, and I salute you for it. Still, you ought to have remembered your American History better. All the big political movements started out as small local affairs, and became larger as the like-minded groups sought out each other to better get their views heard. That aside, good show, and won’t it be interesting to see what comes next?

As regards your caveat about OBAMA = HITLER, well, if the jackboot fits…. Seriously, it’s hard to take your reservation at face value after eight long years of the Left shrieking BUSH = HITLER every time he did something they didn’t like. So, “sauce for the gander”, and all that, if you wanted to leave it there. And if you didn’t want to leave it there, Dubya, bless him deficit spending & all, never proposed national control of our individual liberties of action to the extent Obama has done. Bush’s administration did not try to grow a cult of personality about him, aided and abetted by the NEA and the national news media, as has been the case with Obama. Dubya never bullied elected governments to take actions against their own national interest, as Obama has done with Honduras.
Someone fits the National Socialist label in D.C. these days, and it looks like the newest President, and his stable of Leftist cronies.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:51 am 73. tom swift:

I don’t get this animus toward the “birthers.” They seem to be people who believe that the President is not above the law. The Constitution – the basic Law of the Land – sets a very tiny list of legal requirements for the President. It’s tiny, but it’s important.

The American public’s nearly religious faith in, and affection for, an ancient piece of parchment is one of the great factors which distinguishes this country from others.

Pat Buchanan recently wondered what is the binding force in the country; what makes us Americans? Maybe that document is part of it.

No President – including The Won – has the right to flout the Constitution, and no one has the right to tell the “birthers” to bugger off. They’re entirely correct – they’ve asked a question, and they are owed, as a matter of Constitutional principle, an answer.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:53 am 74. LarryH:

If there was in fact only ONE Hitler sign, then we should consider it better to have had only ONE… rather than to have had NONE. That ONE sign keeps the President-is-Hitler issue on the minds of the “media” and the citizenry: how does ONE sign for this President stack up against the DOZENS of portrayals of the previous President? We should all watch once again Bill Whittle’s video “The Cost of Media Bias” for the contrasting Hitler portrayals, as well as the contrasting “media” response to this practice. What contrast!!

So, in summary, we need to have a token Hitler sign(please, only ONE) in order to witness whether the “MEDIA” as well as various citizenry handle the practice differently, depending upon which Chief Executive is getting lambasted.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:53 am 75. RW:

Roger, kudos to you for being the first (and perhaps last) to admit error on the rising of the American people. Back in the dark cold winter I knew the American people would awake and rise up by September. For whatever reason, it was my sense and hoped I was right.

Today we all can acknowledge that Americans across the land have awoken. The lies sold in the last election have now become undone. Barack Obama was a bill of goods and most have now seen the light.

Some are in fact happy to see the truth of what Obama is all about and embrace it, as for the Left this is the crowning achievement of their underhanded efforts to foist one of their own on America. Along with George Soros, they can scarcely believe how easily it turned out to be.

But they didn’t expect the American people to sift through the lies and discover the truth so soon.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:55 am 76. Eric:

So, now that it’s clear that the 2 million number was a wild distortion cooked up by FreedomWorks, and now that we know the actual number (as was actually reported by ABC, based on DC Fire Dept estimates) was around 60,000, will you be updating this post to reflect the reality of the situation?

No? How surprising.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:59 am 77. Taximom:

I wish I could have attended this protest in D.C. I know many others that weren’t able to go as well.

The numbers that truly matter will be those of the next election. They (MSM, politicians, etc) can deny the “Tea Party Movement” all they want today, but come November…there won’t be any doubt.

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:15 am 78. scott:

Be sure and vote in the primaries. Vote against ALL incumbents. This will send the necessary message. If the half dozen or so actual conservatives in all of Congress get booted, tough. They perhaps can get back in later. We need to clean house.

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:27 am 79. Mike Messina:

I too thought the Tea Party demonstrations were, as Neil Young once said, going to “start out real slow and then fizzle out altogether”. Although I’m delighted with the turnout, this afternoon I will be serving myself an amuse bouche of braised crow and finish it off with some pie (humble).

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:33 am 80. jaymaster:

Well, to Roger’s point about the Hitler stuff, it is already obvious today that the MSM spin on the event is that it was “Anti-Obama”. Not anti-government waste or corruption, or pro-low taxes, or small government.

So that’s the way it’s going to be played, and the Obama=Hitler signs will no doubt dominate the coverage.

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:44 am 81. Nobody:

I think the Democrats spun themselves into a ditch here. They were claiming on Friday that 2 million people would show up as an attempt to hype up expectations to have them let down by actual events. Lazy Media organizations that just believe everything they say saw a large crowd and reported it at 2 million. The jury is still out on how many were actually there.

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:47 am 82. carol:

I’m not sure if anyone’s mentioned this but there was one poster, professionally printed, held high by a young-ish guy comparing Obama to Hitler. I saw it on Pennsylvania Ave about 9 am as I was rushing to the metro to get to work. I stopped to talk to him and to the guy who was standing with him, thinking it was a dem plant. I think he was because he was ‘learning disabled’ very severely so.

Bottom line – I think someone went to the local looney bin with posters and said “want a day out?”.

I wish I’d documented this on camera but I can describe the poster and his friend in great detail, if anybody’s interested.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:16 am 83. Mambo Bananapatch:

> As regards your caveat about OBAMA = HITLER, well, if the jackboot fits…. Seriously, it’s hard to take your reservation at face value after eight long years of the Left shrieking BUSH = HITLER every time he did something they didn’t like. So, “sauce for the gander”, and all that…

Crap. The left, utterly and wilfully ignorant of history, behaved stupidly. I expect that from them, but I hold conservatives to a higher standard. “Obama = Hitler” is no less intellectually lazy and wrong than “Bush = Hitler”.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:17 am 84. Tori D.:

Not only was their a huge amount of people in D.C. but, in addition, there were 912 Rallies all over the country, I coordinated one in Topeka, Kansas that had excellent turnout,and there was a huge rally in Texas, and many,many more! We are on a roll…

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:27 am 85. Natasha:

You presume that it is President Obama demanding that heads roll. But it is really Emanuel and Axelrod who will be choosing heads. Obama keeps his as long as he is a useful obedient orator and provides racism distractions for the machinations of Emanuel, Axelrod and Mr. X.

There is always a murky, behind-the-scenes, not-so-silent character orchestrating events. I know the academics will point to Saul Alinsky’s work as play book for recent events. But my son is “into” Star Wars right now and the Mr. X character is more descriptively and entertainingly depicted in the character Darth Sidious. He was the last Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire. A brief description of his machinations follows:

From starwars.wikia.com: Darth Sidious was able to establish his Empire by concocting a complex master plan, which involved starting the Clone Wars, a galaxy-wide conflict that cost billions of sentient lives. Palpatine himself headed both the Galactic Republic and, secretly, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which allowed him to prolong the conflict in order to gain more executive powers from the Senate.

When his power as Chancellor had reached its dictatorial peak, Palpatine abolished the Republic and replaced it with the first Galactic Empire with himself as leader. With the Imperialization of the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine effectively had total control over its people, and was able to create one of the most powerful military forces the galaxy had ever seen. For nineteen years, Palpatine’s rule would go relatively unopposed, until disgruntled former Imperial senators founded the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:42 am 86. Moneyrunner:

Roger,

Regarding your comment “Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad) are odious, stupid and insulting to the people murdered by Hitler. Enough.” I am reminded that I planned to write an essay on my blog with the title “Why is my sister so afraid?” I just finished a visit with her. She’s 82 years old.

The answer, Roger, is that for her Hitler and his minions is not a figure in the history books. She was a teen ager in the Netherlands when the Nazis invaded and Dutch collaborators – members of the NSB (National Socialist Bund) – shot their opponents. She sees some amazing similarities and is afraid that she is re-living a horrifying experience.

I can understand Americans belief that it can’t happen here. Why did it happen in the land of Schiller, Goethe, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Kant? Why is my sister so afraid? I tell her that America is different, but I don’t have her experience. I was born in 1943 in occupied Holland, long years after a persuasive egomaniac got lots of good Germans to follow him to resolve their economic problems. My memories of that time are non-existant.

Perhaps you can explain to her – based on your wisdom and experience – why my sister’s fears of Obama are odious, stupid and insulting.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:48 am 87. Bohemond:

“based on DC Fire Dept estimates) was around 60,000″

…because the DC Fire Department is a completely apolitical organization which would never, ever spin…..

Yeah. Right. While most engine-company firemen are the most straight-up guys you could ever meet (and trend conservative or Reagan Democrat), the chiefs and HQ bureaucrats are typically political hacks, and of course in Dem cities like DC, partisan Dems.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:56 am 88. Warren Bonesteel:

You haven’t seen anything, yet, folks. This ‘movement’ is just getting started.

Sep 13, 2009 - 12:11 pm 89. John Moore:

A couple of comments…

Since the demonstrators are not organized (unlike with many modern leftist demonstrations), they will display all sorts of disparate views. I agree with Roger that the Hitler comparisons are wrong, although for different reasons. My biggest problem with them is that they are counter-productive. 86 Moneyrunner, I think, adequately demonstrates a viewpoint where comparing Obama to Hitler is not odious, but rather with informative intent (although I think they are very much incorrect in their fears).

Demonstrators need to keep in mind that the purpose of a demonstration is to change opinion.

Sep 13, 2009 - 12:17 pm 90. John Moore:

As to the numbers, it is clear that we have seen some over-the-top estimates.

ABC news claims, in very biased “reporting,” to have gotten the number 60-60 thousand for DC Fire Department (although one has to wonder at their neutrality in this).

Bloomberg claims “thousands.”

THe Washington Post reports:

Authorities in the District do not give official crowd estimates, but Saturday’s throng appeared to number in the many tens of thousands.

This contradicts AP who claims to have gotten information from authorities in the district.

The Washington Times reports:

Rally leaders estimated the crowd at about 75,000, but others said it was larger than that. Organizers had expected between 25,000 and 50,000.

Sep 13, 2009 - 12:28 pm 91. Warren Bonesteel:

The astro-turfers are out in force, today, aren’t they.

Sep 13, 2009 - 12:30 pm 92. ricpic:

My guess, if I read Obama correctly, is that this massive demonstration of opposition will only spur on his determination to get “the agenda” passed by hook or by crook. The blue dogs who are wavering will be brought into line by extreme threats, possibly threats of violence. And reconciliation will be used in the senate regardless of its unconstitutionality.
I don’t think that the 2010 elections can be stolen but huge further damage can and will be done to the structure of our society before they take place

Sep 13, 2009 - 12:38 pm 93. Billy Beck:

“‘Obama = Hitler’ is no less intellectually lazy and wrong than ‘Bush = Hitler’.”

I would like to know your reasons for writing the phrase “intellectually lazy” in this context.

Sep 13, 2009 - 1:15 pm 94. Steve:

It’s just amazing to see the obsessive, non-stop dissections of Obama’s supposed personality defects in these comments. He seeks to be all-controlling, but is psychotically “detached.” He’s a narcissist- apparently unlike the “Decider,” who believed he was chosen by God to lead us. He’s a “socialist,” no, a “fascist,” no, a (fill in the blank with whatever insulting political label you can come up with). It’s all too reminiscent of the non-stop hysteria coming from the Right during the entire Clinton Administration. Anyone who’s not a conservative is simply unacceptable and illegitimate, no matter that the man was clearly the choice of a majority AND STILL HAS MAJORITY SUPPORT, unlike Reagan or Clinton at comparable times in their presidencies. As Obama himself has commented, people read in all sorts of things in him based on their own needs.

Sep 13, 2009 - 1:37 pm 95. gordo:

This war is for America’s soul. The skirmishing has been underway since Bill Ayers planted his first bomb. Now the battle lines are truly drawn because the stakes are so high and people know it. My money is on the average American, not the elites.

Sep 13, 2009 - 1:39 pm 96. joshlbetts:

I was there. We were 40 minutes from dc and our hotel was booked. Metro full.

I’ve said this at other places, but I know what 100,000 people look like from OSU games.

This crowd was of an order of magnitude greater. Easily 2 million. People weren’t just in the square, they were outside the square, surrounded the platform. Only saw one unaffiliated cameraman and reporter in the crowd during the march. A helicopter flew over, but couldn’t tell if it was from a news organization.

Sep 13, 2009 - 1:50 pm 97. Neobuzz:

Here’s the script:

The Republican Leadership:

“The war is over, man, the nation elected Obama..”

The Republican grassroots:

“Over? Did you say over?

Nothing is over until we decide it is.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Hell no! And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the going gets tough . . . the tough get going.

Who’s with me? Let’s go! Come on!”

(Roll Faber College Theme).

Sep 13, 2009 - 2:47 pm 98. Grace O'Malley:

Perhaps signs with Nietzsche as Obama would be more acceptable?

Sep 13, 2009 - 2:49 pm 99. “America Goes to Washington” | Be John Galt:

[...] is our country. __________ H/T: Headline: Partial Headline of Roger L. Simon Patriot Post – Founders Quote Database Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bospopp/ / CC [...]

Sep 13, 2009 - 2:53 pm 100. D Right One:

The Mall was clean when the Tea Party left and the Mall was dirty after Obama left. You folks really shouldn’t whine so much. I’m still trying to figure out the facts by listening to you guys and reading the platform and it’s just not happening. You’re all a bunch of crybabies! OBH is not the first Prez to spend to much money. The old saying is true “People hate change”. No matter if it’s good or bad.

Sep 13, 2009 - 3:20 pm 101. JohnMc:

Sorry Bob but your 70k number is MSM dreaming. The estimate made by the capital police was 1.2m.

Sep 13, 2009 - 3:31 pm 102. not surprised:

It’s crazy how many people “care” about what is going on in Washington when for years nobody said anything about Bush running stuff into the ground. Making other countries despise us because we are bullies as a country and selfish, greedy people. Yes, we have done good but we stand behind this glass door like we have never done people wrong and throw stones.
We need health care reform, maybe not the kind that the government is offering but I don’t here ANY major health insurance companies saying they will lower cost and provide better care. Why do we need the government to tell us what is morally right? Because we have have become so money hungry that it clouds our judgment. A government option is better than nothing, like now. If people want to stop this reform stop attacking Congress and tell the insurance companies. It amazes me that all this hot air is being thrown at the President, we are the people, if we don’t like something we should fix it ourselves. I understand about not having a big government but what have we done to keep big business in check? Nothing. We let them get out of control and now we say boo to the President for trying to fix it. Shame on us! Let’s fix it the right way, if the insurance companies reformed themselves we would NOT need a big government reform. Common sense people.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:22 pm 103. Rich:

My wife was there and the place was packed for Blocks. I have seen Times Square at new Years eve and DC made it look fairly empty. Half a million at minimum and most likely over a million. When my wife left people were still coming in. I would not aregue with two million.

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:26 pm 104. Dred Scott:

Thanks, Obama — for uniting us against your policies!

Sep 13, 2009 - 4:29 pm 105. gordo:

not surprised – here’s a formula for reform that might work

- eliminate state insurance regs – creates a national pool of risk – lowers cost
- purchase insurance thru individuals/families – increaes size of purchasing pool – lowers cost
- put caps on economic “pain” from tort cases – lowers cost in terms of malpractice insurance for docs, reduces defensive medicine which lowers cost, and motivates more people to go into medicine
- increase use of nurse practicioners and clinics – lowers cost
- these lower costs and a larger risk pool allows for portability and coverage of pre-existing conditions even if gov’t has to subsidize the latter
- no coverage for illegal aliens

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:32 pm 106. Columnist: “I was wrong about the Tea Parties” « Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog:

[...] Full post: http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2009/09/12/america-goes-to-washington-i-was-wrong-about-the-tea-... [...]

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:34 pm 107. Vanessa:

The MSM has really destroyed itself. Change does not come easy but they forced me to learn to link to other sites to look for news stories I had heard about and now it has become normal for me just to go to sites like this automatically for information. I never think to go to abc, cbs cnn etc now.
They should have remained neutral and stuck with “just the facts” and told all the news without bias instead of hiding or downplaying news they do not like. Who does that? Only ones I can think of are countries with dictatorships. I would have thought that journalists would have been the first to be shouting to the heavens about censorship but as it turns out the free press censored itself. How sad is that? But what an awesome opportunity they opened wide up to others to come and replace them hopefully fufilling what our Founding Fathers intended freedom of the press to inform and enlighten.
In another time and place this “tea party” movement would and should be all the rage headlines, editorials, picures galore interviews but little or nothing is shown.

Sep 13, 2009 - 5:59 pm 108. cc:

I wish I were there and had this sign:

WE GOT OFF OUR ASS BECAUSE THEY’D STICK IT TO OUR ASS
(not that there’s anything literally wrong with that)

Sep 13, 2009 - 6:26 pm 109. myna:

Obamabots are in denial. They will quote anyone that will fit their narrative. There are about 1.2 million came to march against government out of control spending. Dream on stupid liberals because ACORN could not save you now.

Sep 13, 2009 - 7:21 pm 110. JackSpunk:

Reading all of these comments comparing the present administration to Hitler, Stalin and Mao (the largest mass murderers in recent history) proves what Bill Maher has just said: please save the 70% of the country from the 30% of the country – the stupid.

You wouldn’t know what a Nazi or Communist was if one came up and bit you on the backside. But you do practice the Nazi tactic of the “big lie” and little ones too. 2 million people in Washington? Sure! Death panels? Of course? Health insurance for illegals? Joe Wilson says so! WMD’s and an Iraqi link to 9/11? Oh, wait a minute . . . a couple of trillion dollars flushed down the toilet but where were all of you when those lies were being propogated?

Hypocrites!

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:18 pm 111. seanmahair:

While I realize this is so 2nd grade……..”They started it”.

The libs have been using the Hitler title for at least a decade now. Why is it that when they do it it is free speech but when conservatives do it it’s hate speech, bad manners, childish and just plain mean?

Get used to being hoisted with your own petard children…….what goes around comes around, sooner or later.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:20 pm 112. magdamagda:

numbers do matter from a PR standpoint. however, the problem with the right is that they have never understood the power of art, image, or branding. most conservatives are too busy running their businesses to be bothered with such stuff, but it matters. one thing that particularly angers me is people who think that the truth will speak for itself. well, it doesn’t! the truth needs an advocate! it needs someone who will yell it from the roof tops! and scream it from the top of thier lungs! oh yeah, and having a film crew on hand to document events such as this (the MSM won’t), and hiring a top PR firm is always helpful too…

wouldn’t some over head shots of this event look powerful in a tv commercial that lists all the reckless spending of the obama administration along with pointing out that social sec and medicare are getting ready to go bankrupt soon..then end with an invitation to the audience to join the movement to bring common sense back to DC.

Sep 13, 2009 - 9:22 pm 113. Vince:

Someone admitting that they were wrong about the tea parties is a relief to me, but the relief is short-lived. I pray it doesn’t come to violence but at least from my perspective here in Philadelphia there is much more racial tension than is being reported to me from other parts of the country. Certainly these numbers are not entirely accurate, they are from family, friends and online associates, and are prone to exaggeration.

At least the ball is finally rolling. Well it’s sort of been, and seemed to die out a bit, but it’s come back strong. My greatest hope is that we just completely rid ourselves of our current upper-government officials, and remove entirely the electoral college, as from what I can tell only takes the majority vote into consideration, but isn’t ruled by it, have a huge number of elections over a 4-year period to replace them with real people whom are not affiliated with party-politics. No more politicians! How about we begin (again) treating Government like job interviews/applications? I don’t know I’m just angry and glad someone’s posting stuff up that isn’t in mainstream media…although at this point maybe you could be like medium-stream media?

Sep 13, 2009 - 10:11 pm 114. sodium:

Boy, you guys are totaly insane. Nowhere near 2 million people turned up. And the majority were sub-literate goons who had no idea what they were supposed to be “protesting”.

The fact is they hate that black man, and a liberal no less, is now the POTUS.

It is racism pure and simple.

Enjoy the enxt 7 years, its gonna be a very LONNNNNNNNNNG time for you guys!

Sep 14, 2009 - 2:56 am 115. syn:

“Hitler comparisons (except perhaps in the case of Ahmadinejad)”

If Ahmadinejad is Hitler, why then did a majority of American Jews vote into power the political party and a president who supports and defends Ahmadinejad?

When Israel is wiped off the face of the planet never forget it was the Democrat Party led by a Democrat president who voted for the annihilation.

Sep 14, 2009 - 5:18 am 116. syn:

“As conservatives we also need to get rid of the birthers in the movement. The election is over, move on. We need to tell the creationists that there is no room to teach creationism in public schools-that needs to be taught at churches and in private schools, and home.’

Oh goody, Little Green Drama Queens are here to split their lizard spleens.

The President and the Democrat Party are looting, pillaging, violating and betraying everyone and everything BUT it’s the creationist whom I should fear most.

Stop the madness lizard-freaks, your paranoia it’s tiresome

Sep 14, 2009 - 5:24 am 117. Mike:

Look folks, its really simple. There were A LOT of people at the march. It was pretty big and it was peaceful and rather clean. 2 million or 75,000, who cares? The point is that it happened and so did a bunch of other rallies around the US and they drew large crowds. People are speaking out who are not getting bused in and “organized professionally” by expert protestors who get hired to put these things on. I mean, 6 months ago this was all a “flash in the pan” and now some of you are reduced to bickering over how many “thousands” showed up to a rally in DC.

You want Astro-turf? Go to an ACORN rally or Union Rally.

Sep 14, 2009 - 5:28 am 118. Michael Smith:

JackSpunk asserted:

You wouldn’t know what a Nazi or Communist was if one came up and bit you on the backside.

A Nazi is an official in the National Socialist German Worker’s Party. A Communist is any member of the various Communist Parties in the old U.S.S.R., Red China, etc.

The animating, core belief that unites them is the belief that the individual must be subservient to the state, that the individual’s life and property belong to society, who may dispose of it as it sees fit, to fulfill any of its alleged needs or goals.

This is precisely the fundamental principle upon which the entire Obama agenda rests.

“Economic stimulus program” means that the government, not YOU, will decide how much of your money will be spent versus saved — and that the government may seize whatever portion of your wealth is necessary to finance the program.

“Bailouts” means that the government, not YOU, will decide whether or not your money will be used to save those who made foolish investments — and that the government may seize whatever portion of your wealth is necessary to finance the program.

“Health care reform” means that the government, not YOU, will dictate what healthcare you receive — and that the government may seize whatever portion of your wealth is necessary to finance the program.

“Cap and trade” means the government, not YOU, will decide how much energy and what form(s) of energy you may purchase and use — and that the government may seize whatever portion of your wealth is necessary to finance the program.

I could go on, but the point is clear: every Obama program is based on the belief that our lives and our property belong, not to US, but to GOVERNMENT, who may dispose of either as it sees fit.

It is, in fact, YOU who are unable to recognize the fact that an openly socialist/fascist administration is opening its voracious jaws to take a fatal bite right out of your backside.

Sep 14, 2009 - 6:20 am 119. Jim Rockford:

I was there. I’d estimate at least 100,000 up to 500,000. I didn’t see the Hitler poster among the tens of thousands of posters I saw. I was very impressed by the courtesy and respect of the crowd. No profanity whatsoever – spoken or on posters. This crowd had class. The strongest thing I heard was when the crowd would chant “You Lie, You Lie” which is, in fact, a true statement. These hundreds of thousands of people are tired of being lied to by their out-of-control federal government.

Sep 14, 2009 - 7:13 am 120. Ralph Woods:

It certainly appears to me that the wheels are coming off the “axelrod” of the Obama administration.

Sep 14, 2009 - 7:29 am 121. FreedomWorks Makes Shit Up, Michelle Malkin Uncritically Repeats It, Wingnuts Uncritically Link to Malkin — Then Blame Media « ::Broadcatching:::

[...] bloggers from Glenn Reynolds to the Pajamas putzen to Newsbustards start jerking off excitedly link to the Anchor [...]

Sep 14, 2009 - 7:33 am 122. myna:

Need more high dosage of koolaid drinks? Libertards are cowering and scared. Million strong and ready to get rid of parasites in Congress.

Sep 14, 2009 - 8:47 am 123. myth buster:

35. I think you mean 1934, not 1939. WWII didn’t start until 1939, but we don’t want our version of a Reichtag Fire or the T4 Project, either. Lots of bad stuff can happen without a world war breaking out.

Sep 14, 2009 - 9:09 am 124. chrisa798:

according to rasmussen, obama’s speech last week has given him a pretty large boost — disapproval index is back up to -3. someone please persuade me that we aren’t doomed. DOOMED!

Sep 14, 2009 - 9:37 am 125. Dinocrat » Blog Archive » Burying the lede:

[...] Some estimates of the March on Washington were a million people or more. It sure sounded that way in the video below (HT: RS): [...]

Sep 14, 2009 - 9:57 am 126. Gaffe Prices:

I jistened to Tammy Bruce’s (internet) radio show this weekend, she was there.

She has plenty of knowledge about this kind of assembly, and what criteria is used to determine the estimate of how many people attend.

They use numbers from hotels as to occupancy rates, and chartered buses for those who had to book a hotel in the suburbs, etc.

This information is compiled such that a fair estimate can be used to determine crowd size for an event such as this, especially in D. C. where its a company town capable of assimilating 1-2 million (or more) for all the goings on, particularly the inauguration back in January.

And I’ll just bet you the data coming back from this weekends event confirms that the attendance of this tea party assembly had goughly identical crowd size as the one in january, give or take.

Except that the inauguration had 130 tons of trash to clean up afterwards.

http://tinyurl.com/b7r7u6
http://tinyurl.com/lj45qc
http://tinyurl.com/mfysxl

Sep 14, 2009 - 10:25 am 127. Inventor:

Folks:
Why can’t we have the same health care that our “WONDERFUL”?? President has.

What is that??

No deductable, No copay, No limit health care plan. Same for the Congress and Senate and Fortune 500 CEO’s.

Just not for us.

Why?? Greed.

I had $1,372.00 worth of blood work done.
BC/BS “Allowed” $27.00 and payed “NOTHING”!!!!

BS/BC has “NEVER” payed anything “EVER”!!!

Nuff Said.

Sep 14, 2009 - 10:28 am 128. MIke Reynolds:

Just go over to zombietime.com and refresh your memory of how we excoriate the Left because of some of their wacko extremist banners and posters. In all fairness, why wouldn’t/shouldn’t the Left do the same to some of these Tea Party nutjobs?

Sep 14, 2009 - 2:54 pm 129. Larry Hughes:

If you think 500,000 is a large crowd, just wait until cap and trade gives us $5 gasoline!

Sep 14, 2009 - 10:20 pm 130. John Moore:

It’s all too reminiscent of the non-stop hysteria coming from the Right during the entire Clinton Administration.

Gee, and I suppose the left was just calm and reasonable under Bushitler. Don’t forget, a lot of truthers come from the left, as do all sorts of nuts who thought he was going for a dictatorship with the Patriot act, etc, etc.

The left has been screaming loud insults and coming up with paranoid theories since the Reagan years, getting louder each year.

Sep 14, 2009 - 10:58 pm 131. jonboy:

I sympathise with anyone that was insulted by the poster of Obama as Hitler. Hitler was a monster by any standard of measure. But the poster brings a correlative thought stream. Hitler got so very powerful by using hope and change in his message as well. He indoctrinated the youth as well.
Obama is a lightweight thus far but he’s trying. I remember seeing many films of the Hitler Youth in my younger years before the the progressive socialists took over our educational system and we were actually allowed to see the face of evil second-hand but accurate none-the-less. How many children of our modern schools do you think have seen the death-camps with piles of bodies stacked like cord-wood? The teeth from Jewish Holocaust victims piled on the table with fresh blood on them, indicating that the person was still alive when it ripped out? Probably none or extremely few. They did it for the gold fillings. These people following Obama with rock-star adulation should be wary of the way children are taught to sing the praises of Obama in schools. This link shows an Obama campaign film and it looks just exactly like the tactics Hitler used on the children of Germany. Alarmists? Perhaps. Better safe than sorry! Never saw anyone forcing, or compelling, or teaching children to sing a Republican song for JohnMcCain/SP. Pray that this is not a harbinger of things to come!

Sep 15, 2009 - 12:19 am 132. Fen:

“Oh goody, Little Green Drama Queens are here to split their lizard spleens.”

No kidding. WTH has happened to Charles Johnson? Is he trying to woo Maureen Dowd?

Sep 15, 2009 - 7:10 am 133. squidz:

“Question: Who are you more afraid of?
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer, Barack Obama – or US?”

Well, it’s sure as hell not you. Not when your counting is off by a factor of 30x!

I always knew the right had more than its fair share of morons, but this is priceless!

Sep 15, 2009 - 9:47 am 134. Joan:

The people with the Obama Hitler poster from the LaRouche Party (two guys handing out their info) and were not from ordinary citizens attending the rally. Since we attendees don’t believe is stopping free speech, they were allowed to be there but should not be consider a “big” part of the Tea Party rally.

Sep 15, 2009 - 3:27 pm 135. Joe:

I was right up front at the stage, about 10 yards back.There were people jammed from the Capitol building all the way to the Washington Monument. We were packed in so tight you couldn’t move hardly.
Give it up,the election is over?I am no whackjob and resent being called one by people who are satisfied to let an unconstitutional injustice continue, because they are afraid of being called names.
Call me whacko,birther,nutjob or anything else, I know that I am just a patriot. Gee,it was online, the MSM said it’s real, and the Dems said he’s a citizen.Now there’s what I call credible sources.Keep calling us “Birthers” names,the Founding Fathers were called worst by their “Tories” also!

Sep 17, 2009 - 6:59 pm

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