Beck opens show by repeating "2 million" teabaggers lie from Rupert's Daily Mail

[Trocadero]

pathetic!

Shows what a flop it was.

He also showed the flag at half-staff video which has been debunked.

[rufus dog]

1. enlighten me - what is the flag at half mast debunk? nt

[Emit]

8. There is a 'theory' going around that the still photo and video

that Malkin and others used on their websites from a traffic cam of the 9-12 marchers were fake.

Many DUers watched this cam, including myself, in real time on Saturday as the 9-12 event unfolded. The stills and videos are accurate. Malkin's and other right wingers' claim that this footage depicts 1 to 2 mil protesters is patently false, of course.

But, these photos and videos were questioned by some DUers and some folks at DailyKos because there was a flag at half-staff on the building in the forefront of the video/photo that Malkin posted on her website. Later in the day, from that traffic cam, the flag was flying at full staff, and folks believed it 'proved' the photo/video Malkin posted was false, because the position of the flag had changed. Also, some were wondering why the flag was at half-staff on Saturday, as well.

See: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/12/202947/637

What they aren't understanding, despite many attempts to explain it, is that folks here on DU and over at DailyKos actually saw the cam footage in real time and can attest to the fact that the footage and still shots were real, and the flag was indeed at half-staff.

At least one DUer noted the flag at half-staff on this early morning linked to in this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6536945&mesg_id=6540527

[moggie]

2. It's not Rupert's

Assuming you're referring to the British Daily Mail, it's certainly toilet paper, but it's not Murdoch toilet paper. Come on, if you're (justifiably) complaining about Beck playing fast and loose with the truth, it pays to check your own facts.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Daily Mail didn't even say 2 million.

They said "up to 1 million" and offered no source whatsoever (Fire, Police, Parks etc.) for the figure.

They probably just chose that number because that's the approximate number at Obama's Inauguration.

[krispos42]

5. And I make up to one million dollars a year, too.

I also paid up to one million dollars for my cat, and spend up to one million dollars are McDonald's tonight after work.


:eyes:

These people are idiots. If you can't get a good count, say "several tens of thousands" and leave it at that.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. Well, what happened was the Pres. of FreedomWorks claimed he saw Tweets from unknown people

that said ABC was reporting 1.5 mil. So of course he had to repeat that upon the stage, and of course then it became gospel, these are the same people who send FWDFWDFWD emails without any fact checking whatsoever.

I'm sure they knew that, they can lie and their minions will simply repeat the lie if it suits them. They know there was no where near 1 million much less 2.

[Emit]

10. Actually, he didn't credit the Tweets - he just claimed flat out that ABC reported 1.5 mil

He knew exactly what he was doing. There are still numerous right wing blog sites that can't let go of that 2 mil.

There's a run down of the events here, for those who want a good laugh:

Michelle Malkin and the Anatomy of the 2 Million Protester Lie

... The conservative comedy of errors began on Saturday when Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, took to the rally stage and unfurled a massive lie. He told the crowd ABC News had reported that between 1 million to 1.5 million people had gathered to protest Obama's policies. (Later, a FreedomWorks flack conceded she had no idea know why Kibbe manufactured the claim about ABC News.)

Immediately, conservative activist Tabitha Hale (aka "pinkelephantpun") tweeted Kibbe's lie but added an additional 500,000 people to the tally: "ABC reporting 2 million people."

Seven minutes later, Malkin re-tweeted Hale's claim. Then, one minute after that, Malkin turned that tweet into part of her ongoing protest coverage. Intrepid "reporter" Malkin took an unsupported tweet and reported it as news:

12:34pm Eastern: Police estimate 1.2 million in attendance. ABC News reporting crowd at 2 million -- tweets Tabitha Hale from D.C.
...

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10121:michelle-malkin-and-the-anatomy-of-the-2-million-protester-lie&catid=88888989:health-care-reform&Itemid=88890248

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. When called out on it afterwards, he attributed it to "Tweeters". As if it's

legitimate to announce things that come off tweets without any verification. He knew what he was doing. It is now official truth to these people, even if common sense should tell them that Fox would have choppers hovering over that scene live all day if it had happened.

Also, 1 mil is such a huge clusterfuck for DC no way it could have happened without serious logistical repercussions for the area that would also have made the news. I was down for the Inauguration, I know.

[Emit]

13. Ahh, I did not know he attributed to the Tweeters.

I think the whole thing about the crowd size is so comical - they are so desperate. I listened in on Hannity for a bit today and callers were calling in breathlessly to explain how 'happy' they were, how invigorating it was to be 'a part of history,' how proud they were, blah, blah, blah. Bleh.

Maybe we shouldn't be so harsh on them, though. Most of them have probably never been in a crowd any bigger than their Klan gatherings, so it probably felt like a million people to them.

But I agree. Those FreedomWorks guys - they knew exactly what they were doing.

Edited to add, that this Tweeter is the likely culprit (she's the one Malkin linked to first as the events were unfolding), if we are to believe FreedomWorks:

http://twitter.com/pinkelephantpun/status/3936308212

She's interned at the Leadership Institute, according to her blog: http://twitter.com/pinkelephantpun

Same place Rove and many other right wingers, including Joe Wilson, attended (as discussed throughout this thread): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6543128

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. Here:

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

[Emit]

19. You know what is interesting and we will see what comes of this if anything

Kibbe, or whatever his name was, of FreedomWorks was also calling out to the crowd for attendees to text in to certain numbers to prove their attendance. I posted about it at the time. One DUer asked what's to stop folks not at the event from texting in and claiming they were there? This is a ruse, imho.

[cali]

16. Actually they first said up to 2 million. I posted that on the 13th

a day later they said up to 1 million. The Mail is about a notch below Pravda.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. And neither time did they give any source for the figure, eh?

[Emit]

18. I guess they knew they'd be even less credible if they cited pinkelephantpun's Tweet as their source

:rofl:

And yet, in fact, she was!

:rofl:

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Since he hangs w/ the "cells = babies" crowd, Maybe he's started counting his own sperm as people.

I've got a million man march... RIGHT HERE IN MY PANTS!!!

[krispos42]

6. !

:rofl:

[Emit]

7. The photo/video of the flag at half-staff is accurate

*sigh*

Do we have to keep repeating this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6536945&mesg_id=6540527

They have enough to hang themselves with their own lies and obfuscations. We do not need to spread false rumors and silly conspiracies that only serve to tarnish us at some point in the future.

[blogslut]

12. But another photo they cite, is not

This one:



Supposedly a shot of the 1997 Promise Keepers rally in D.C. - uploaded by a Flickr member in February, 2008.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/14/blog-posting/blogger-claim-photo-shows-millions-tea-party-prote/

While I concede that the webcam screenshots are authentic, righties are inflating the hell out of actual attendance numbers for their 9-12 teabagger event. Strike that. They are not inflating. They are flat-out lying and spreading that lie to every feeble minded fool they can.

[Emit]

14. Yes, I know.

[ixion]

20. This is a great example of how their BS works

- Someone from a shady outfit like FreedomWorks says that ABC reported 1-2 million ( a M.O.E of a million?).

- Malkin and the other teabaggers repeat it.

- ABC denys it.

- Beck repeats it, and now (in the fuzzy minds of teabaggers) 2 million is the truth, and the rest is 'liberal' media bias.

- Now any discussion of actual numbers is corrupt, because this meme is now part of the dialog, despite the fact that it's bogus.

They do this over and over again, and people get sucked in by it.

[KharmaTrain]

21. It's All But Forgotten Now...

Other than the coverage on MSNBC all but mocking the baggers and the faux parallel universe, no on else either paid attention nor cares.

The value of such a rally isn't what led to it, but where it leads. We look back on the March on Washington in 1963 as the catalyst to getting the 1964 Civil Rights bill passed...or the Vietnam protests surely had a lot to do with Nixon's de-escalation of the war and ultimate withdrawl of our troops. A march should be a rally point...a place to move forward. That's not what we saw last weekend. It was just a bunch of cranking old white people who had every bitch under the sun with no solutions...thus no real movement and no real relevence.