Burying The Anti-War Rallies (My Stint As Assistamt To James Joyner)

James Joyner tackles the emerging meme that the anti-war rallies were buried by the MSM, in contrast with their fawning coverage of the Tea Party rallies (which they ignored as long as possible, but not on 9/12.).

Mr. Joyner provides a link to a helpful Wiki guide to international protests against the impending war in Iraq and discusses the Oct 26 2002 rally, which was buried by the Wellstone crash and the DC sniper (at least on the Times front page; their story was on A8.  The 9/12 rally did better.

The first big anti-war rally in the US in 2003 seems to have been organized for Martin Luther King weekend; the Times had a story on A12 but splashed a crowd shot across their front page. 

By way of contrast, the 9/12 rally got a picture below the fold and a story on page A37.

So far, the score is Anti-War 1, Tea Party 1.  Let's press on:

On February 15 coordinated protests were held around the world.  My goodness - "From New York to Melbourne, Cries For Peace" is the headline for the front-page story accompanied by three photos filling most of the space above the fold.  Not a bad day for the Anti-war publicists; a make-up story on Monday even picked up San Francisco, which went a day later to avoid a conflict with the Chinese New Year.

We make these tough calls every day - I am calling it Anti-War 2, Tea Party 1.

The rally on March 16 2003 got a Times story on page A15; nothing on the front page, although the report includes the news that crowds were smaller than in earlier rallies, so the scaled-back coverage may have simply been a sensible news judgment.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

It matters nought since the MSM is becoming more and more irrelevant. Even down here on Florida's First Coast, papers like the St. Augustine Record and Daytona News-Journal (as left wing as you can get and in NASCAR country) are having declining readership and ad revenues. We don't need them. There are other ways to get the news out and you have the ability to filter it.

[clarice]

Can we throw in all the absolute moral authority carpola about mother Sheehan before and the elction and her vanishing soon afterwards?

[Thomas Collins]

It is ludicrous to assert that the Tea Party March on Washington was given undue coverage by MSM. This was a massive rally by normal people who usually don't march. The anti-war protests were populated largely by the usual leftists who will protest any war carried on by America. MSM is coming to terms with an amazing political movement, one more akin to that carried on by the hard working Colonials against the Crown in the 18th century than to anything we have seen recently.

I have unfortunately only been able to make it to one Tea Party, that in Worcester in April. I really have to laugh when I hear Tea Partiers referred to as rightists. The Worcester Tea Partiers were of diverse ages and views. Tea Partiers are united by a desire to limit and roll back the bureaucratic state's control of the lives of Americans. For anyone with more than a passing knowledge of intellectual history, that is more of a liberal than a rightist cause (although 20th and 21th Century progs have managed to bastardize the term "liberal" for their own statist purposes).

[Thomas Collins]

Jack is Back, I agree that MSM's influence a'int what it used to be, but if the Palin-Obama battle in 2012 is a close election, MSM at least softening its stance a little toward the Tea Partiers could mean the difference in states such as Ohio, Virginia and Florida. Of course, if the Palin-Obama battle in 2012 is more akin to Reagan-Carter-Anderson in 1980 or Reagan-Mondale in 1984, it won't matter.

[MayBee]

It's interesting to note that war support was something like 70% when the anti-war rallies were trying to work their magic. Anti-war marchers thought they deserved more coverage because not enough coverage was given to them to ultimately stop the war from happening.

By contrast, the 912 protesters are marching more in line with public support (although being told their opinions are not mainstream).

It's a very through-the-looking glass comparison.

[Thomas Collins]

Funny, isn't it, that leftists are not concerned about current lack of MSM coverage of the activities of one of the most prominent left wing organizations in America. See LUN.

[clarice]

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cburgard/2009/09/14/912-the-revolution-has-begun/

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

“Until a full investigation is launched into ACORN, no taxpayer money should be used to fund its activities. A vote in favor of my amendment is a vote in favor of the taxpayer and a vote against the status quo.”

Johanns Amendment #2355 to HR3288 passes Senate 83 to 7.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Charlie:

Have you see this video from CSPAN? Right at the beginning it does a nice job of panning the crowd and gives a better view than I've seen anywhere else.

[PD]

Charlie's article gets a mention at Babalu.

[matt]

The Code Pink protests at the Berkeley USMC recruiting station got more coverage from the MSM than 9/12.

[The acorn doesn't sprout very far from the oak.]

c&s, yeah that Senate vote is a stunner. Two from Chicago, two from Vermont, and one each from Philadelphia, New York, and the Providence Plantations. Some of my folks are from Vermont.
=========================================

[ben]

Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford got huge coverage and endless stories about how it was viewed by locals, etc. and basically it was comprised of a few dozen people in tents on the side of the road.

[ben]

What's with Bob Casey? If I was given a list of 7 senators voting with Acorn I wouldn't have picked him at all.

[Pofarmer]

I don't know why the intentional misrepresentation of these numbers is pissin me off so much. Maybe it's because it's being repeated on blogs by folks who ought to know better.

Found this in a Newsmax Article.

"Everett Wilkinson, a national leader for the Tea Party Patriots group, says the crowd size caught the park police by surprise – so much so they ordered the event to begin several hours earlier than planned to maintain crowd control.

"Looking at the videos posted on YouTube, you can tell it was millions.We completed surrounded the Capitol." "

Doesn't that sort of change things?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Another death today. Former Press Secretary to Carter, Jodie Powell, died today.

[PD]

Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford got huge coverage and endless stories about how it was viewed by locals, etc. and basically it was comprised of a few dozen people in tents on the side of the road.

I especially liked when we saw MSM pics of the protesters up close (to give the effect of a large crowd) and some wag posted a picture from farther off giving the full story: A few measley protesters surrounded by a larger crowd of journalists.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Pofarmer: If you look at the opening scene of the CSPAN video I linked, you can see the crowd around the Capitol and way way down 3 separate feeder streets.

[Pofarmer]

Here's where the people meter story comes from

http://www.barbaraespinosa.com/2009/09/wtf-congress.html

They started marching at 10 A.M. A meter had been set up two blocks from start of march after one hour meter had registered over 450,000 had passed that site. We were texting information back and forth to and from volunteers when I sent that message I got one back of Million point two {$ 1.2 million} by the time we got to the Capital we were getting reports of {$1.5 million}. By one o'clock there were reports roads were being closed and buses headed for march were having hard time getting to site.

That's just supposedly on one avenue.

Why sandbag this this badly?

[Southern Man]

The racial composition of the Teabagged Teapotters looms large in the scope of
anti-Obamism. Could racial tension feed the multitude with the proclivity of Jesus' miracle of the loaves and fishes?

You decide;

"Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has been circulating a letter to his House Republican colleagues, asking them to sign onto a petition in defense of Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson (R-SC). Over on the Wonk Room, Andrea Nill notes that King is going so far in his defense of Wilson that he’s defending the South Carolina congressman’s vote in favor of keeping the Confederate flag waving above the state capitol. Here’s what King said this morning on Fox News:

"[Wilson] is an officer and a gentleman and everyone who knows him knows that. … Being a son of the South puts you in a different position when it comes to the Confederate flag. It means something entirely different to the people who have ancestors who fought in the Civil War on the south side of the Mason-Dixon line."

Ah yes. To quote Rhett Butler, 'all the South has is cotton, and ARROGANCE"

[Southern Man]

Last Saturday, FreedomWorks, a corporate-funded right-wing advocacy group headed by former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), hosted an anti-Obama rally in Washington DC. The event was attended and paid for by various conservative organizations, from Parental Rights associations, to “birthers,” to the Rural Landowners, a militant faction that has referenced Waco and Ruby Ridge to call for violence against the government.

Standing proudly on-stage during the rally, FreedomWorks leader Matt Kibbe proclaimed that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance. However, ABC News quickly called Kibbe out for his lies:

At no time did ABC News, or its affiliates, report a number anywhere near as large. ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department. In its reports, ABC News Radio described the crowd as “tens of thousands.”

Kibbe also lied and said that the crowd stretched back to the Washington Monument, even though the crowd barely got past 3rd Street (the Washington Monument is at 15th Street). Kibbe’s lies were echoed by much of the right-wing community. Michelle Malkin dutifully enlarged the number of attendees even more, claiming 2,000,000 people were there. As Nate Silver has noted, “That’s not a twofold or threefold exaggeration — it’s roughly a thirtyfold exaggeration.” Conservatives on twitter distributed a fake picture of the rally showing the entire mall filled with people:

Fakerally

The problem? The picture is over ten years old, from another rally.
Update Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who now competes with Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) as the most popular South Carolina politician of the tea party crowd, took to the stage to endorse Kibbe's celebratory attitude. Even though polls are now showing public opinion swinging towards increased public approval for the President's health reforms, DeMint proclaimed victory in defeating health reform. As Politico reported, DeMint announced to the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Waterloo!"

[PD]

The racial composition of the Teabagged Teapotters looms large in the scope of
anti-Obamism.

Tea Party-goers and sympathizers, as far as I've noticed, are happy to have anyone join them, regardless of race. That is, race doesn't matter.

I've also noticed that the anti-Tea Party commenters find it necessary to bring up race and use it as a bludgeon. That is, race does matter.

So who's really interested in a post-racial America?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Po, the major march was from Freedom Plaze, at 14th Street, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. They counted along that one to count the march.

[Southern Man]

"So who's really interested in a post-racial America?"

The same shills who cheered General Custer.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Hi Mr. Young!

I missed David's last e-mail missive, so thanks for elaborating on the talking points. Very effective, I'm sure you've moved mountains here.

Nice Work!

[Charlie (Colorado)]

"Southern man", you arrived late. We got a count of in excess of 250,000 using the Park Service method just for one side of the Capitol, and we have independent numbers from about 300K to more than 1 million using different methods just of the marchers on Pennsylvania Ave.

So go peddle your stupid somewhere else.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The same shills who cheered General Custer.

Poopsie, my family was on the other side.

Now bugger off.

[Southern Man]

"we have independent numbers from about 300K to more than 1 million"

I'm sure you do. What credibility can you claim for your count?

'Trust me'.

[Southern Man]

"Poopsie, my family was on the other side."

And that means what, to me, race traitor?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I'm sure you do. What credibility can you claim for your count?

Full description of the methodology and detailed analysis. What credibility do you have for yours?

[Southern Man]

"Full description of the methodology and detailed analysis."

Holy Shit!

You ARE good!

[bgates]

"Southern Man" - you're not either of those things.

The same shills who cheered General Custer.

Progressives: Rooting against the American military since 1876. At least.

[bgates]

race traitor

Who talks like that?

I think this is that same guy who wanted to pretend to be Charlie's ass yesterday.

You know, President Obama.

[Southern Man]

I don't know who charlies ass is, but I'm sure you're close to the source.

[bgates]

I don't know who charlies ass is

An ass by any other name would sound like you, S&M.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Deep toolbox, I see, Mr. Young.

Try some heavier lifting, past the eyeglass repair kit. You might find something blunted, presuming you have opposeable thumbs.

Which might be a leap, on second thought...

[skinnydog]

Move along everyone. This is not the million person crowd you are looking for.

[Southern Man]

"presuming you have opposeable thumbs."

presuming your Mandrill-like ass-cheeks are your most attractive feature.

[Southern Man]

"This is not the million person crowd you are looking for."

'Seek and ye shall find' your delusion is
secure in your own imagination

[Melinda Romanoff]

I love Barabara Mandrill!

[bgates]

Hey ass, what's your prediction for the chances of the progressives keeping control of the House in 2010?

[Southern Man]

Ilove Barbara ManDRELL's ass-cheeks.

Yours are a little too blue and red for my taste.

[Southern Man]

"Hey ass, what's your prediction for the chances of the progressives keeping control of the House in 2010?"

How long have you been fermenting that incisive question? You're not a quick study, are you?

[skinnydog]

" 'Seek and ye shall find' your delusion is
secure in your own imagination."

Well that's brilliant. Does Kos run a school for comments like that?

BTW what's the point of seeking if the delusion is already secure in one's mind?

[bishop]

Where did these folks, and I use that term for trolls advisedly go before the internet,
tagging walls, writing graffiti on bathrooms

[Melinda Romanoff]

No sense of humor.

I'm bored with slopey head. Too many blunt instruments used in school to teach him to spell.

Clean up the mess when you're done with Mr. Young.

[clarice]

Oh dear, it must be rec time with a shot at the computers in the asylum again.

[Are you OK?]

What's all that blood on you, Leo?
====================

[bgates]

"Hey ass, what's your prediction for the chances of the progressives keeping control of the House in 2010?"

How long have you been fermenting that incisive question?

How'd you know I was talking to you?

[bgates]

Does Kos run a school for comments like that?

It's a step up from his college drivel about the apes and figs.

[glasater]

Breitbart is tweeting:

Brandon Darby, former leftist activist, FBI informant, unsung American hero, pulls back curtain on ACORN. http://tinyurl.com/ngdfum

[clarice]

That can't be the big new thing--I read it yesterday.
It's shocking, of course..

[Stephanie]

What's with all the libs "fermenting"? That's the second lib to use the same word on today's threads. Incorrectly, I might add. One - accident, twice?

Wasn't one of the uses the chick from the other group that had the mall reserved for the day and quoted in the WaPo or somewhere.

Maybe the trolls on the threads are all journolisters with too much time on their hands?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Sorry for the interruption, but sometimes you just have to yell - GO CHARGERS!!

[Peter]

I am still curious about the raw hatred coming out. The folks attending these tea parties are quite ordinary Americans. Many actually voted for Obama, believing his speeches about a post racial America and a post partisan government.

I don't mind the constant desire to lowball the size of our gatherings. Some staunch citizen mentioned Custer. He lowballed the Sioux and Cheyenne. He regretted that but not for long. So, keep underestimating us!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

CHARGERS RULE!!!

[bgates]

Sara, when was the last time you had to watch a Chargers/Raiders game until the very end? They pulled it out, I guess, but either that was a worrisome start to the season or Oakland is a lot better than anyone expected.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

bgates: I've been a Charger fan a long time and we might have won the last 12, but there are way too many memories of the Raiders finding a way to win in the last minute of a game. And it is a miracle to ever see a call go the Chargers' way.

I had a bumper sticker back in 1980 that read: Iranians Go Home
And Take the Raiders with You.

The rivalry is longstanding and bitter. And the win is so deeeeeeeeelicious.

The Raiders played better than they are, the Charger defense sucks.

[Gregory Koster]

When the kind folks here gave me a cordial welcome they said JOMers had a troll carving ceremony that was great fun. I wondered. No more. What a gaudy show, done on an extinguished specimen who lowers any average he touches.

Charlie, many thanks for the article on estimating crowd sizes. Lots to think about, though I wouldn't recommend that Southern Man read it, too much lip moving, lips get all numb, sweetie comes home, you try to kiss her, drool on her instead, she's disgusted, pushes you away, gets you excited, you try again, she hits you, SHE gets excited, clothes start flying about, nine months later Mark Steyn's worry in AMERICA ALONE that the West faces demographic annihilation is proved silly even while C.M. Kornbluth's future liberal utopia "The Marching Morons" uh, marches forward on schedule. Goodness, don't read any more, SM!

I think it's time that Beck, Hannity & Co. start pushing this notion: the New York TIMES has slipped a couple of times recently, notably on 23 July when Sean Hamill published a 586 worder on ACORN on page A21 or on 5 May when Steve Friess published a 488 worder on page A18. I think it's time the radio boys and anyone who wants to pitch in, started asking, Where's Friess, Hamill &Co? Help these poor overburdened with expense accounts if not brains with tips for news stories. Of course no one really believes that these reporters are fools. That's what would make this stunt amusing: treating them like the fools they claim to be. Unlike in the 1970s when Jack Nelson, LA TIMES Washington bureau chief observed that you couldn't ruin a newspaperman's reputation by calling him a drunk, today it's calling them liars that won't get you anywhere. The favored spot for off the clock TIMES reporters is in the peacock zoo, strutting in front of all the male peacocks, trying to obscure the plumage. Laugh at them, and get the world to laugh with you and an age of miracles may begin: satrating with skepticism Instead of slepticism) about The Once's antics.

Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster

[Kevin B]

Did Mary Jo Die in Vain?

Thank God that St Ted Kennedy didn't live to see the day when a cowardly rethuglican senate would vote to cut off funds to a brave people's organisation at the behest of a mouthbreathing Faux News rabble rouser and in fear of a few thousand racist haters who slunk around the Mall on Saturday waving their guns and Nazi flags.

Those eevil right wing senators like Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and Al Franken showed their complete contempt for the people by caving in to the rabble and leaving the poor people of the country bereft of the community organisations they need to survive in this cruel world.

For Shame!

/NYT

[Porchlight]

Brandon Darby, former leftist activist, FBI informant, unsung American hero, pulls back curtain on ACORN. http://tinyurl.com/ngdfum

I know Brandon Darby...he is a local guy, kind of a friend of a friend I met years ago (though the mutual friend is something of a radical himself and they may no longer be buds after the informant thing). I haven't seen him in a long time but I'd love to get his insight on all of this.

[Pofarmer]

Po, the major march was from Freedom Plaze, at 14th Street, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. They counted along that one to count the march.

Is there any better info on the "People meter"?

[boris]

Is there any better info on the "People meter"?

Didn't it have one eye, one horn, fly around, and wasn't it sorta purple?

[clarice]

west coast huh?I suppose that's going to be L.A.
Perhaps ACORN tried to help Giles and O'Keefe get federal grants to set up a child porn studio.

Otherwise I frankly am lacking imagination to guess what Breitbart has that's worse than what we've already seen.

[bunky]

I think O'Cragly said 75K last night. What a shame.

[Jane the lynchpin]

According to Glenn it will "rip the skin off your face" which sounds rather painful all things considered.

[clarice]

Jeffrey Lord lets the Old Media and Tom Brokaw have it--listing some of their greatest malfeasances.Join him in a walk down media memory lane:

* The year after JFK's murder, a beautiful young woman named Mary Meyer, the wife separated from CIA official Cord Meyer, is found shot to death along a canal towpath in Georgetown. She is the sister-in-law of JFK's close friend Ben Bradlee, then the Washington bureau chief of Newsweek, later famous as the executive editor of the Washington Post during Watergate. In the middle of this tragedy, Mr. Bradlee discovers an official from the CIA in his murdered sister-in-law's home rummaging through her belongings. It happens a second time. Then Mr. Bradlee discovers the object sought by the CIA -- Ms. Meyer's secret diary. The diary tells the startling tale of 20-30 get-togethers for sex with Bradlee's friend President Kennedy, where the two had occasion to smoke marijuana in between trysts. In the White House. Mr. Bradlee is stunned his buddy the president was sleeping with his own sister-in-law. He had no idea. Fair enough. But his reaction once he knew? To do his best to see that this explosive news story never sees the light of day, with the diary destroyed. In fact, the story does surface -- years later when a source who had seen the diary tips off the National Enquirer -- the National Enquirer! -- and Mr. Bradlee 'fesses up, very disturbed the story is out. He admits that, well, yes -- the story is true. Every word of it. Coverage at the time any of this actually happened -- which is to say the eve of the 1964 Johnson-Goldwater election? A point, you surely would agree, when Americans needed information to make what, in your words, would have been an "informed decision" on the Kennedy-Johnson administration record and also that of the Democratic candidate for Senator from New York -- Robert Kennedy. Zero. Why? The story was in Bradlee's hands -- the hands of the Washington bureau chief for one of the most influential newsmagazines of the day -- and, said he later: "I never for a minute considered reporting the discovery of the diary and its contents.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/15/media-malpractice-tom-brokaws

[Jane the lynchpin]

To me the vote to cut off ACORN funds means only one thing - Congress noticed what happened Sat.

I assume they think this will now go away as we have had the opportunity to vent. Little do they know we are just getting started.

[Anyone for croquet? Painting the inside of a small room with only a shuttered fenetre?]

Greg @ 3:25 AM

Heh, we develop these quaint customs on our isolated isle. Beware the drums and flying carp.
============================

[One pot makes your heart thump; two pots makes you pee.]

Wow, clarice, Slicker than Grace at a tea party.
===========================

[tea anyone]

" Little do they know we are just getting started."

So true Jane. There are many of us out here that wanted to be at this rally but could not attend.
My spouse and I had hotel reservations and were ready to go, but Wednesday we got a call from relatives that were on there way home from their vacation and wanted to stop to visit, of course we said yes. Turned out they were staying several days, so we had to cancel out reservations.
However, WE WILL be at the next one, I promise.

[On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm.]

Oh, it's tea, tea, tea; it makes you wanna wee-wee, on the Mall, on the Mall.

[hit and run]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform>Ras:

Is the bounce over? Support for health care reform falls back to pre-speech levels... 45% favor 52% oppose...

So, Obama'll go on five Sunday talk shows.

[Uncle BigBad]

Clarice

I read Lord's excellent article, and I would add one anecdote: A number of years ago, Richard Reeves (or maybe it was Richard Rovere) told a JFK story. A press gaggle followed JFK to the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in NYC, where he was meeting one of his mistresses.

Reeves/Rovere then said that not one word of the assignation ever appeared in the media. The context of the larger story was that Reeves/Rovere was bragging about media discretion in dealing with important people.

[Jane the lynchpin]

I remember that story Uncle Bigbad.

[Southern Man]

Fuck all you white guys.

I'm looking forward to Obama taxing the shit out of every one of you uppity bitches!

[clarice]

hit--maybe all the people Ras called on the weekend were at the rallies..his Monday count was different than anyone else's and I figured it was a weekend blip, not anything real.

[clarice]

BTW the Jomettes walked down that very tow path Saturday night.

[Gregory Koster]

Dear Southern Man: I'm sure you do. What would you do without all us Nixons to kick around?

Now that your clothes have finished flying, and you're ready to make the trip down to the welfare office to ask your yet another allowance, any thoughts on Charlie's detailed description on estimating the citizens present in Washington on 9/12? Or is Sullivanesque foaming at the butt your limit?

Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster

[bishop]

So, the story from Beck's expose has Hannah
and James visit a San Bernadino ACORN office
where the staffer admits she ran a call girl
ring, long time ago, and the pimp volunteers
he wants to run for office.

[maryrose]

clarice:
What a stunning story! His own sister-in-law so he had a double reason to hide the story.
Last night Chris Mattews called the 9/12 march a fondue party and denigrated the people who attended. He also surmised that Joe Wilson's shout out was politically calculated. He reluctantly admitted that this disapproval vote will backfire on the democrats. He has become such a partisan water-carrier for Obama.

[Thomas Collins]

I don't get ESPN, so I missed Chargers -Raiders. One of the local stations carried Bills-Patriots, so I saw that one. The old AFL players' and officials' uniforms brought back memories of Babe Parilli and Jackie Kemp flinging the pigskin in the 60s!

[Porchlight]

Is the bounce over? Support for health care reform falls back to pre-speech levels... 45% favor 52% oppose...

LOL - oopsie. I thought yesterday's Ras numbers on health care looked really weird.

The context of the larger story was that Reeves/Rovere was bragging about media discretion in dealing with important people.

There is also the story, confirmed by multiple Kennedy-circle luminaries, of Jackie and RFK's affair, which began after JFK's death and ended with Bobby's. Apparently "everybody knew" - everybody except the American public, of course, who are always the last to know anything.

[clarice]

Why would this "tear the skin off your face?" Looks like hype to me--Isn't it enough that the 4 offices they visited all helped fake tax returns to apply for federal grants to run a brothel.

[Pofarmer]

He also surmised that Joe Wilson's shout out was politically calculated.

Whether it was calculated or not, it worked. It got the opposition past the media wall of silence. Whatever it takes.

[Porchlight]

It got the opposition past the media wall of silence. Whatever it takes.

Yep. It is idiotic at this point to assume that the media will do anything but cover for O, unless forced to do otherwise.

[hit and run]

Speaking of disapproval...

http://web10.twitpic.com/img/29934571-94a316e98cf860d1a68e91a47774998b.4aafab08-full.jpg>

(h/t rwsparkle on twitter who had the pic undoctored)

[Jane the lynchpin]

Last night Chris Mattews called the 9/12 march a fondue party and denigrated the people who attended.

The old media is dead. Once we tumbled Van Jones without their help, they became obsolete. Don't even bother to give them the time of day.

[hit and run]

Right now that pic seems not to want to embed.

If it doesen't, you can http://twitpic.com/htlnv>click here

George Washington wasn't content just to express his disapproval on signs at the 9/12 rally.

[Sue]

LOL. Obama is keeping the color-code advisory. He is going to reduce the colors though, from 5 to 3.

[Jane the lynchpin]

LOL Hit!

[C.R.]

Bishop,
Where did you read / hear that?

[Bill in AZ]

clarice: "hit--maybe all the people Ras called on the weekend were at the rallies..his Monday count was different than anyone else's and I figured it was a weekend blip, not anything real."

I think we can use the RAS numbers as a way to back into the number of people attending the DC 9/12 rally. Approval index went from roughly 12 to 4, and is climbing again. 8% difference of a population of 307M means 24 million conservatives were in DC or attending their own rally. Well, some of them were watching the 2nd big weekend of college football, and the first big weekend of pro football. Now, if RAS were to make their calls during the NBC pregame or halftime when the idiot Olberman is blathering, their numbers would not have dipped.

[bgates]

Obama'll go on five Sunday talk shows.

I don't think there are five Sunday talk shows. Maybe he can join Olberman in making me not watch the Sunday night game on NBC.

"Well Keith, it's...injuries like that suffered by, uh, Troy Palomalu [off camera sound of David Brooks ejaculating at sound of Obama's pronunciation of dreamy Pacific Islander name] that make the case...for health care reform. Now, nobody has ever suggested that the government pay for physical rehab for NFL All-Stars. Anybody who says different is clearly a liar, wish there was...a nicer way to say that, but there isn't, the fact is there are a bunch of traitorous racist lying unAmerican drunks who enjoy, and in many cases...uh...get what lit-tle sex-u-al satisfaction they are capable of getting, from seeing poor people suffer."
Keith: "So there's no basis for this ludicrous, outrageous, quite frankly evil claim that you're somehow nationalizing health care for the NFL."
O: "Exactly. That language is going to be removed from the bill tomorrow. But it's important that we stay on the high road...."