How did the 9/12 protest crowd compare?

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/09/14/march/


Monday, Sept. 14, 2009 07:15 EDT
How did the 9/12 protest crowd compare?


Many right-wing pundits wildly overestimated the number of conservatives who marched on Washington, D.C. this past Saturday. Saturday, right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin claimed that two million people had attended the rally -- a number she attributed to ABC News. ABC News made no such claim. As Media Matters documented, Malkin seemed to have no source for that high estimate, but many in the right-wing blogosophere repeated the number as if it were fact.

In actuality, ABC News estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 people were at the rally. Certainly, that's a significant amount of people, but two million it is not. Fox News put the number at "tens of thousands," a figure echoed by the Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.

To put that estimate in perspective, here's a look at the number of people who flocked to the nation's capital for some other recent massive rallies.

* January 27, 2007: Protest against the Iraq War -- The protest against President Bush's plan to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq had tens of thousands in attendance.

* September 25, 2005: Protest against the Iraq War -- Official estimates run from 150,000 to 300,000.

* April 25, 2004: March for Women's Lives -- This pro-choice rally drew between 500,000 and 800,000.

* March 16, 2003: Protest against Iraq invasion -- 20,000 joined in a candlelight vigil in Washington.

* January 18, 2003: Protest against the Iraq War -- Estimates range from "tens of thousands" to nearly 200,000.

* October 16, 1995: Million Man March -- Estimates for this famed rally vary from 400,000 to 837,000.

* October 11, 1987: Second National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights -- This rally pushing for increased funding for AIDS research drew at least 200,000 people.

* October 15, 1969: Protest against the Vietnam war -- Rallies were planned all across the U.S. but the largest was in Washington D.C., which 250,000 people attended.

― Vincent Rossm

[liberal N proud]

1. Sad you can't get official estimates any longer

This allows the windbags to talk up the numbers as high as they want if they have enough people show up to fill the camera lens.

[KansDem]

2. Sadly, conservatives have a problem with overestimating

Bush said the Iraq invasion and occupation was only going to cost $50-60 billion.

[blueworld]

3. Typical, but I think there's a bigger problem

CNN will now take up Malkin's & Beck's stories as if they had any validity or relevance whatsoever. Cronkite might have noted that Conservative pundits overestimated, but would have quoted the best of the facts & possibly these numbers you've provided. Bunny Blitzer & co. will avoid the actual point & focus on the personalities & conflicts. That's not just sad, it's the death of decent journalism.