The DC Tea-Party

Matt Welch reports his impressions.

And The NY Times practices some crowd control with these dueling headlines:

1 - Thousands Rally in Minnesota Behind Obama’s Call for Health Care Overhaul

and

2 - Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government

Obama performed in a basketball arena, the Target Center, which seats around 20,000; the crowd was estimated at 15,000.  In a moment of candor the Times even gives away their mission:

On a day when demonstrators crammed onto the west lawn of the Capitol to protest what they regard as Mr. Obama’s brand of big government, including his health plan, the images of screaming, cheering Obama supporters here provided a welcome visual counterpoint for the White House.

Crowd estimates at the Washington DC event were more dramatic.  The Times leads with "a sea of protestors" but later settles for "tens of thousands", probably because "oodles and boodles" didn't meet their editorial standards.

Comments

[Thousands marched. Yep, that's literally true.]

What a sad sack the Old Grey Whore has become. The paper of record now scribbles in the sand, wiping it out and rewriting it if it doesn't look just right.
===================================

[ben]

At DK someone estimated the crowd at 2,500. Maybe he was only counting hot dog vendors.

[Inglorious Basterd]

Freedom Works has it's work cut out for it when they can only muster 15,000 for their signature rally. I think that breaks down to
.00005 percent of the population. Could the Party of 'NO' shrink any further into it's myopic singularity?

A Tempest in a Teabag.

[bishop]

So, any further impressions from the rally,

[Yet more madness on the Left.]

Special for you, PeterUK, linked under that chameleon puppet's name.
===================================

[clarice]

Jane, Judy and I posted on the Saturday thread. here (correted) is my last post on it.
A scene from yesterday is how I'd begin my movie on the Jump the Shark president.

A bit after 2 I left the Capitol because there was no place to sit and my legs were killing me. I went over to Judy's hotel to see if by chance she was there and if not to pick up my car and head home.

The capitol grounds were packed with people.In the bar at the hotel open to the lobby were two tvs , one had a football game on ; the other Obama speaking to a group of union trucked in supporters in Minneapolis. No one was watching either screen.

[counter]

The official size of the crowd was:

So F**king Many We Can't Count Them All

[lonetown]

I've got a hot flash for them. Writing something different won't change the size or tenor of the crowd.

If I were a Washington insider, I'd start gaming a pivot around ethics in government and become a crusader for the people.

[So, don't believe my lyin' eyes.]

IG, 10:20. yes, your books look cook'd and baster'd.
================================

[PeterUK]

But Septic,you were quoting "only" 75,000
yesterday.

Some consistency in your idiocy please!

[Inglorious Basterd]

It's funny when you talk about cooked books. You can't gerrymander the results so easily when Executive Privilege is not in play

With all the eyes on this little kerfluffle
rally. it's difficult for you to parse the numbers.

I know you must be smarting from the disappointments of yesterday. What's evolving is a perfect storm of Republican
entropy.

[Semanticleo]

Numerical consistency is for those wingerz occupations like accountants and engineers. Talking like an idiot is where it's at in the Oconomy.

[Hebrew National]

How many hotdog vendors?

[PeterUK]

"I know you must be smarting from the disappointments of yesterday. What's evolving is a perfect storm of Republican
entropy."

Whereas nothing will make you smart eh, Septic?

[Urinary Libertine]

The good news from Saturday?

No lines at the Port-a-Potties.

[clarice]

No hot dog vendors. The area is under federal control and none were permitted. On the mall where the demonstrators were not allowed to mass, a few licensed trucks operate. On the capitol grounds--no sirree.

[PeterUK]

Urinary Libertine,you're free to piss off.

[MarkJ]

Proposed New Motto for the New York Times Masthead:

"All the news that's fit to print...unless we think otherwise."

Alternate Proposed Motto:

"All the Party-approved news that's fit to print."

Another Alternate Proposed Motto:

"What-Me-Worry?"

[bishop]

No, Peter, clearly not, so Brown is basically following Obama's lead as his main foreign policy advisors, are two self flagellating lefties, hence the Bagram
'ambulance chaser's' gambit, the detente with Iran, and other assorted idiocies

[DebinNC]

MinnPost article about Obama's triumphant Target Center appearance during the campaign and efforts to replicate it yesterday. That 5000 seats were empty is astounding and wonderful.

[clarkhoyt]

There were only "dozens" of people who attended this rally.

We counted one hundred and twenty-five thousand dozen.

So, it was only "dozens."

[PeterUK]

"QUINCY WRAPUP: I’ve been involved with a lot of events over my life, from civil rights protests to rock concerts to science fiction conventions, and I’ve never been involved with an event that ran with such well-oiled efficiency. I was going to say “ruthless efficiency,” but of course it was cheerful, considerate Midwestern efficiency and not ruthless in the least. The Quincy folks were charming hosts, and threw a dinner party for us last night where all the food was homemade, and delicious.

One interesting note: I’ve said this before, but those in the GOP who think that the Tea Party movement is for their benefit need to think again. Roger Stone spoke, and while nobody had anything against him in particular, several people told me that they thought the GOP was trying to co-opt the Tea Party Movement, and they weren’t happy about that. My advice to the GOP — and, for that matter, to those Democrats who care — is to try to find a way to address the Tea Party crowd’s interests, bearing in mind that if you don’t they’re just as happy to throw Republicans out of office as Democrats.

But it probably doesn’t matter. Based on the level of organization, commitment, and sheer likability I saw this weekend, the folks from Quincy are going to wind up ruling the world anyway . . . ."

Posted at 10:10 am by Glenn Reynolds

[Jack is Back!]

Measure this:

I don't remember any sizable protest rallies by the Silent Majority just turnout on election day for Reagan. That is the only measurement that counts. But I will wager that the people at this rally are more likely to vote in primaries, special elections and other forms of effecting change than all the people trying to marginalize them.

All the protestations mean zilch for me and fellow travelers. I am going to max out my political contributions for 2010 and so will my wife then we are going to vote in every damn election we need to in order to change the direction of our country. And we are not alone. Crist is in trouble in Florida even with all his fund raising and stacking the deck with his appointment of Lemeiu. Marco Rubio is on a roll and by 2010 will have the poll numbers for the primary. If Crist runs a democrat (which is what he is philosophically) he could possibly win. But not as a republican in a primary.

[PeterUK]

2,000,000 with jobs - protest.

[teabagger]

The important thing to take away from all the media outlets deliberately undercounting the number of protestors who descended upon the nation's Capital yesterday is that Congressmen can count.

They're able to look out the window. They read CNN. They listen to NPR. But they're not morons. They're keenly aware of how many voters just descended upon them, carrying signs; and cognizant of the fact that they could easily have been carrying torches.

Congressmen don't have the luxury of believing crowd estimates put out by the NY Times. They have to actually run for re-election. They know a pissed off mob of registered voters when they see one.

And their buttholes are puckered something good this morning, you can bet.

[Hey, I pay for that Mall.]

Clarice, I like the symbolism that these protesters were not allowed to mass on the Mall, America's common ground. And I like the symbolism of the real march rather than just a gathering. The dynamism is appealing.

Except to Leo, whom it nauseates and maddens.
====================================

[clarice]

Yes, PUK, the "with jobs" stuff is what I said, too, yesterday. Real people with real commitments and lots of other stuff to do turned out. And that's big.

My proposal for the NYT new motto (because its subscribers are clearly morons):
"Don't run with scissors"

[Left to print, get it? Huh? Huh?.]

MarkJ, I've long liked 'All the News That's Left to Print'.
===============================

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
I asked yesterday.There must be some formula for assessing the number of inactive supporters from the active supporters.Pollsters must do it all the time.

The New York Times is getting a new look,it will come with perforations,on a roll.

[bishop]

The Herald and I imagine the Sentinel and other papers are on the warpath against Lemieux, going a page and a half on all his great imputations against 'man & beast' nice guy but is the best they could come up with, voted against Sunstein, (as any sane person would) but is thinking of opposing offshore drilling, yet again. Local former
political poobah Maurice Ferre is thinking
of getting in the Democratic primary, making
things even more interesting

[daddy]

GO TO HELL DUKE!

"The wagering starts:

My bet is the MSM undercounts the 12 September DC TEA PARTY Protesters by 650,000.

We need to decide on who we can agree to come up with as a legitimate counter of protesters. I will kick in either smoked salmon or a frozen tub of King Crab Legs to the winner. If I win, I want every poster here to have to finish each comment till the end of September with the 4 word comment, "Go To Hell Duke."

Any takers?

Posted by: daddy | September 02, 2009 at 05:34 PM "

[peter]

OT, but I just read the Esquire magazine interview with Bill Clinton. His talking points--the Supreme Court stole the 2000 election, and Republicans are racists who can't accept the new demographics. Totally omitted are any mention of his perjured testimony, his scandals, his weakening of national security, his pardons of hundreds of scoundrels in the middle of the night. Yada, yada, yada.

[Queer Engineer]

"for that matter, to those Democrats who care — is to try to find a way to address the Tea Party crowd’s interests,'

How do you interrupt pathological anal-gazing?

[Yeah, try that Hillary; half the country is racist.]

It's a little shocking to see Bill Clinton gone mad, too.
===============================

[DebinNC]

Maybe that rumor about HC thinking of running for NY gov is true.

[PeterUK]

"How do you interrupt pathological anal-gazing?"

Even a liberal like Semantic Leo has to come out to breathe.

[Fresh Air]

Peter--

Did Clinton spread his legs for the cover again?

[Potomac Joe]

I think the 2 million figure is too high, but 75,000 is too low.

Look at those time lapse images of the folks going up Pennsylvania Ave. For perspective, Penn Ave is at least 8 lanes wide (with wide sidewalks lining either side), and it's about 12 blocks from Freedom Plaza to the Capitol Reflecting Pool. That's a lot of space to fill with a moving crowd.

[bishop]

You wouldn't think that would be the smart play, to swallow the koolaid so fervently,
this time Matt Daamon is on the cover, because of his portrayal of one of the sterling portraits by the Time's Eichenwald, the one who created the Texaco brouhaha, a decade back.

[Original MikeS]

The most astounding thing is not the number of anti-government protesters, which was astounding in every sense of the word. The most astounding thing was what the President said in Minnesota as protesters massed in Washington DC.

He said, "They can't stop us!"

[Scroll to the review of Garth Paltridge's book 'A Climate Caper'.]

How the climate alarmists were fooled.
========================

[clarice]

And many people (like me) did not march but joined up with the crowd on the capitaol grounds.

A MUST READ:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/health-obama-government-2562126-care-president>Mark Steyn at his very best

Sample:
"Three stories bubbled up in the past week, although if you read The New York Times and the administration's other airbrushers you'll be blissfully unaware of them: The resignation of Van Jones, former (?) communist and current 9/11 "truther," from his post as Obama's "Green Jobs Czar." The reassignment" of Yosi Sergant at the National Endowment for the Arts after he was found to be urging government-funded arts groups to produce "art" in support of Obama policy positions. And, finally, the extraordinary undercover tape from Andrew Breitbart's Big Government Web site in which officials from ACORN (the Obama chums who'll be "helping" with the next census) offer advice on how pimps can get government housing loans for brothels employing underage girls from El Salvador.

What do all these Obama associates have in common? I mean, aside from the fact that Glenn Beck played a key role in exposing them. We are assured by the airbrushing media and "moderate" conservatives that Beck is crazy, a frothing spokesnut for the lunatic fringe. By contrast, Van Jones, Yosi Sergant and ACORN are all members of the lunatic mainstream, embedded philosophically and actually in the heart of Obamaland.

What all these individuals share is a supersized view of the state, from a make-work gig coordinating the invention of phony-baloney "green jobs" to Soviet-style government-licensed art in support of heroic government programs to government-funded "community organizers" organizing government funding for jailbait bordellos. OK, government-funded child prostitution's a bit of an outlier even for this crowd – for the moment. But you get the general idea."

[sbw]

Daddy, I spent yesterday at West Point with a friend and her cadet son, two British friends in tow.

I surprised myself by how many generals in portraits and paintings I knew by sight and could explain what made them worth revering. In the Grant Hall coffee shop I said, and that's General Marshall... I need say no more as they recalled the Marshall Plan.

What they came away with with a profound appreciation for the quality of West Point and its graduates, and what they have done for the people of the world. They could recognize that whatever is described in MSM-covered politics, America has invested substantially and wisely to produce graduates of character from these magnificent grounds.

Army played Duke and led until near the end of the game. Some nice plays and room to grow.

Coach K. was there to be inducted into the Army Athletic Hall of Fame -- 1969 graduate, proud of what he learned at West Point and who conveyed his core beliefs to unify the Olympic basketball team that went on to win the gold.

Even Duke has winners... but where did some winners at Duke discover their core principles? Yesterday, at the football game, as their 40th anniversary gift, the 1969 alimni donated $3M to fund a chair for leadership and character at West Point.

And after the game, as the football team lined up at attention in the corner by the band for the West Point Alma Mater... the Duke football team surrounded them standing respectfully at attention.

[centralcal]

Clarice - thanks for the Steyn link. Can't wait to read the whole thing.

Since I was away from home nearly all of last week and not up on local events, I was surprised to see in my Sunday paper that "several hundred people" lined a busy, main thoroughfare here yesterday afternoon in support of the 912 march. Three other large cities also had similar events.

Wonderful news.

[Tea-bagged Libetarian]

"I mean, aside from the fact that Glenn Beck played a key role in exposing them."

I love Glenn Beck. I think he speaks for
all 1.5 kilobytes. To Hell with the Terabytes.

[Central Square Indian]

Fox News kept saying "tens of thousands" during the event. I don't know what they are saying now.

[DebinNC]

More Steyn: "As I've written before, the appeal of this issue to him and to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank et al is that governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture – one in which elections are always fought on the Left's issues and on the Left's terms, and in which "conservative" parties no longer talk about small government and individual liberty but find themselves retreating to one last pitiful rationale: that they can run the left-wing state more effectively than the Left can."

Exactly. I'm doubtful with Obama, Reid, and Pelosi at the helm there's any stopping it.

[Tea-bagged Libetarian]

Crap. I meant 15 kilobytes, but Fox says 'tens of thousands'.

This looks better and better.

[Tea-bagged Libertarian]

It could be as high as 60-75 kilobytes.

My first computer didn't RAM much more than that circa 1983.

Reagan was Prez. Good times. I feel confident.

[centralcal]

OT, but I wanted to share a laugh, okay a guffaw. Geraldo gets it. He really, really gets it! From TVNewser:

He's been with Fox News for nearly eight years, leaving CNBC to join FNC as a war correspondent in November 2001. But Geraldo Rivera is increasingly finding himself, in his words, "out of sync" with the rest of Fox News these days.

[You really want to read that review of 'The Climate Caper', by Garth Paltridge.]

Yes, excellent commentary from Steyn, clarice. The rapidity of the fall of Jones, Sargent, and ACORN is evidence of the guilty complex of this administration. And guilty will be the verdict by the Senate, after the Republicans gain strength in 2010 and the Blue Dogs realize they've got to treat the mange in their midst.

er, rather the rabidity in their pack.
=======================================

[clarice]

Well, maybe Oprah will retire and Geraldo and Shep can turn the show into a two guys do dumb Chick shit stuff..they are master emoters

[matt]

Remember, it wasn't just Washington, but across the country. We are many more than two million now.

The administration is being hit time and again with corruption, misuse of government resources and pork expose's. This isn't going away. It's building.

We need to organize teach ins now and be ready to educate our neighbors and our kids on the issues. Hee hee....taking it back at the 60's radicals is going to be fun.......

[A great big plate of green greasy gopher guts.]

sbw, my favorite display in the West Point museum is the map Custer drew as he marched west through Dakota. I may be overinterpreting it, but you can see his mental deterioration as he goes. Emblematic of the course of the Democratic Party.

Obama's Last Stand, to a half empty house in Minnesota.
==================================

[BobS]

LUN of a Tea Party in my home ton of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

[clarice]

matt, ACORN has tax prep offices in 80 cities now-as part of a VITA program with IRS--Strap on your hidden video cameras and catch them in the act. I don't know if IRS is subsidizing this but i bet it is and this year the program is being expanded to cover food stamp benefits.

[He lies.]

There are a plethora of high crimes and misdemeanors. Let me count the ways to impeach him.
==============================

[BobS]

I've been wondering when the argument gets to his subversive foreign policy. His Honduran actions are mind boggeling.

['Dick' Army]

"This isn't going away. It's building."

Are you sure there's only 2 million of us?

My guess is we're at least one percent of the population.

[JM Hanes]

daddy:

"My bet is the MSM undercounts the 12 September DC TEA PARTY Protesters by 650,000"

The problem is that the MSM believed their own memes (with what might as well have been collusion on the commentariat right) about a fringe movement. They essentially had no one on the ground to cover it, because they didn't expect a big turn out, so they have to rely on rumors too.

The only overhead shots that I've seen were taken by civilians whose windows happened to overlook Pennsylvania Ave. The only way to photograph the Capitol grounds & the Mall is from a helicopter, and Freedom Works, who handled the DC logistics, was otherwise occupied raising money for portapotties.

There is always a controversy over numbers between protesters and detractors, which is why the Park Service (& the DC Police, I believe) finally wussed out and stopped publishing official counts. Pollsters, politicians, & any halfway competent political analysts know that when it comes to the voting booth, however, intensity matters more than pre-election polling ever suggests. That's why likely voters are more useful than registered voters for predictions. There are still plenty of surprises, though, because there are really no reliable "metrics" for measuring zeal.

I must admit, what I'm most curious about is the weight of the garbage these protesters left in their wake. You wouldn't lose any money if you bet on that number being unusually low.

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
"The minute a first-world country has "free" health care, it becomes the provider of choice to anyone who can get there, particularly for any long-term ailments requiring state-of-the-art medications. In 2004, Britain's Health Protection Agency revealed that 44 percent of HIV patients being treated by the National Health Service were not residents of the United Kingdom at all but from southern Africa. In essence, a huge number of AIDS patients in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho have decided to outsource their health care needs to British taxpayers. Similar trends will manifest themselves here in nothing flat."

Obama's stepmother.

[clarice]

from American Thinker:

'Google News' or 'Obama News'?
Paul Shlichta

I hope this was an accident, a fluke that can be rationally explained. If not, then our news is being censored beyond the wildest excesses of the Soviet Union. And Google, which has already stooped to co-operating with China in similar censorship, may be a co-conspirator.

On Saturday, September 12, 2009, President Barack Obama spoke before about 15, 000 people at a healthcare rally in Minneapolis. A few hours earlier, a crowd of between 70,000 and 1,200,000 citizens gathered in Washington, DC to protest excessive federal spending and intervention. I think we can safely conclude that any Tibetan monk or Zulu, blissfully unaware of American politics, would nonetheless conclude that the second event was at least as newsworthy as the first.

They'd be wrong. Between 2:00 and 4:00 PM PDT of that day, I monitored the Google News website, which in recent years has acquired some of the aura of omniscient impartiality that the New York Times once enjoyed. As of 3 PM, here's how the two stories were treated:

"Obama Takes to the Road to Promote Healthcare Reform": 14,488 news articles

"Tea Party Protesters March on Washington": 126 news articles

The first story remained at the top of the main page throughout. The second appeared on the main page from about 2:00 to 2:30 and then disappeared into the recesses of the "More Stories - U.S." page. Then it reappeared in the lower reaches of the main page at 3:45, as if the omission had caused some protest or embarrassment. As of 4 PM, Obama's speech was still on top with 15,891 news articles cited and the DC rally had again disappeared, after having peaked at 130 cited articles.

Am I being fussy or is there something strange about this hundred-to-one ratio of coverage? At the bottom of the Google News page, it says, "The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program." I wouldn't dare to disbelieve them but perhaps there's a glitch in their program. Or perhaps it's been hacked. Or perhaps they mixed up their US and Chinese programs.

Or perhaps Google is blameless. Perhaps that really was a fair sampling of news articles and the 100:1 ratio is an index of media bias. Or perhaps someone very influential managed to suppress the story about the DC rally.

In any case, I think an explanation is required. And I hope that some brave congressman will get up, on the Senate or House floor, and demand an explanation.

[Michael Schtool]

"Obama's stepmother."

Yo Mama.

[clarice]

Yes, PUK, that is undeniable, too.
You can be sure that the minute such care is denied--providing an act is passed that actually deals with this--the press will be writing sob stories about honor studens denied liver transplants just because they are really citizens of Zimbabwe who swam here or something--nothing but emotive crapo that disregards the cost of such care and its effect on the overall program.

[clarice]

A little sherbet on the rally http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/912_was_a_transformative_event.html

[PeterUK]

"Yo Stepmother" cretin.

[bishop]

No, no accident there, anything pro Obama, pro Islamist, pro leftist (Babalu Blog has an entry about Francisco "Pepe" Hernandez,
former leading Cuban exile honcho, now understanding man of compassion, for willing
to accept the Castro brothers

[matt]

I think Google is probably correct. This is suppression on a grand scale; Van Jones, the NEA scandal, the pimp-daddy ACORN story.....the press is destroying whatever credibility they have left with the middle.

These may become revolutionary times in other ways as well.

You see, in St. Petersburg just before the October Revolution, and in Paris just before the French Revolution, the ancien regimes were also delusional and could not comprehend the force and nature of the anger against them.

It would take a schwerpunkt to set off a crisis, but I think many more Americans will be waking up to the fraud our leadership has become, perhaps enough to help get us back on the right track.

But I just have a feeling that the Blues are ever more delusional, and that could get dangerous if they see any chance at power slipping away again. Unlike Bush, I put nothing past the scum at the top now.

[Original MikeS]

Not only does the U.S. have the highest quality health care in the world, but anyone can get it. All they have to do is show up. It doesn't matter if they are a U.S. Citizen, and illegal alien or an escaped convict. So, there is no health care crisis in terms of access to health care.

Obama argues that there is a crisis in health insurance. He says we have a moral obligation to pay $1 Trillion to buy health insurance for people who don't make enough money to buy their own insurance. Because... if we don't, and if they suffer a medical catastrophe, and if their lives are saved by the best medial care in the world, those poor people will have to choose between filing bankruptcy or losing the wealth they have amassed by not paying for health insurance.

[BobS]

I've enjoyed watching the Tea Party movement evolve as it has, but I have concerns about what it will actually mean on election day next November.

There's a strong libetarian element in the movement which shows disdain for the GOP. Will it spark libertarian candidates in congressional districts that will gobble up votes that would go to a GOP candidate? Sort of a Ross Perot element - a wasted protest vote that just keeps Dems in power.

And while we see numbers which indicate a decline in Obama's popularity, how many Tea Party ehthusiasts are former Obama voters or folks who will be voting at all?

[Rick]

The Tea Party turnout was far more impressive than the coronation figure, no matter what the real totals were.

For one thing, libertarian-oriented folks are the proverbial "herding cats" demographich.

And regarding demographics, the DC metro area is as blue as Bill Clinton's balls between assignations. Out of a population of something over 3.5 million mostly fuehrerprinzip-fan Democrats in government and its parasites, it's easy for them to pack an assemblage on a mid-winter day off. Being, as they tend to be, underemployed, servile, uneducated and easy to command.

Cordially...

[Ignatz]

Cleo always cheers me up.
He's like a fly; whenever he shows up you know the left is in some deep s***.

[PeterUK]

"Cleo always cheers me up.
He's like a fly; whenever he shows up you know the left is in some deep s***."

Cheering also that Cleo is Obama's Waffen SS.
No wonder Obama has claimed asylum in Venezuala.

[Nahanni]

Memo to the 0bamaworshipers:

Go ahead and scoff all you like, just like your intellectual forefathers did on the Titanic in the early morning of April 15th, 1912. Except this time around there will be no lifeboats for you and no one will lift a finger to help you. You are going down with the ship.

[centralcal]

Excellent Clarice (and Rosslyn)!

[Fresh Air]

Re Steyn: It was only about four years ago he was pronouncing the U.S., Australia, India and Britain as the leaders of the future, characterized by a muscular, interventionist foreign policy. Europe and its sclerotic socialism were waning, etc., etc.

I agree with virtually all of his positions, but his prognostication swings a bit too wildly for my taste. Sounding the alarm bell every 15 minutes is a bit ridiculous, especially for a guy who isn't even a U.S. citizen.

We've gotten the message and we're doing all we can, okay, Mark? We'll run these bastards out on a rail next year. Until then, let's have more "Zero is a Marxist and here's proof" and fewer "Henny Penny, the sky is falling!" pieces. Deal?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Folks, I just finished a detailed estimate for PJM. Hopefully, if Allison and Aaron don't fall asleep reading it, it should be up shortly. In the mean time, the basic conclusions:

* 70,000 is just not believable: the Pennsylvania Avenue pictures show more than that at an one instant during the march.

* 2 million probably is too big.

* There was an actual count, of uncertain accuracy, of 1.5 million

* The march itself (three hours, even as reported by the NYT) had to have been more than 800,000 people.

[bishop]

He does plenty of that, but having come from a land where the left did push their
signature policy (actually two countries)
and has not been reversed, he does have some reservations, in a more light hearted
vein than most others

[PD]

The suggestions for Obama over at Althouse's article on How can we help him? are pretty brutal.

There's even some for Michelle, e.g., "Ask Mrs.0 to quit wearing that polka dot belt with the purple buckle."

[PD]

You can be sure that the minute such care is denied--providing an act is passed that actually deals with this--the press will be writing sob stories about honor studens denied liver transplants just because they are really citizens of Zimbabwe who swam here or something--nothing but emotive crapo that disregards the cost of such care and its effect on the overall program.

It's how the left thinks, er, make that, feels. Here's a comment from a thread at Tapper's yesterday:

I'm comforted that the great christian republican party, the party of love your neighbor, would let a little sick mexican boy die on the street because he didn't have his papers.

So if someone comes here illegally and gets sick, it's my fault?

I don't really follow the logic.

[PD]

Our MayBee took down that Tapper commenter immediately, by the way. Go, MB!

[Jane]

Hi Guys! I'm home - tired as can be and happy as a clam. That was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done. Besides meeting a bunch of old friends, and meeting a ton of new friends, and seeing a spectacular city, I am just thrilled with pride about the Tea party itself.

On my way home I heard David Axelrod call it a "distraction" and that just made me laugh.

As one of my favorite signs said: Don't make me come back here".

Altho I would in a heartbeat.

[MayBee]

Thanks, PD. Though I've been wrong wrong wrong today. How embarrassing.

It is odd the number of people on that thread who want to scream at Republicans for not wanting to care for illegal immigrants, without noticing it is President Obama who is promising to exclude them.

So...does someone have a link for what Axelrod said?

[MayBee]

Jane- how's the kumquat taste doing?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Comparing Tea Party 9/12/09 To Obama Inauguration Crowds

[Rob Crawford]

So if someone comes here illegally and gets sick, it's my fault?

I don't really follow the logic.

I think their "logic" is worse than that. The person you quoted, rather than lift a finger to help the sick Mexican boy themselves, demanded that everyone else be forced to help him. When that demand was refused, that person sat on his hands rather than doing something HIMSELF.

If people really are concerned with the plight of the less-well-off, why do they spend so much time demanding other people do something about it?

(Oh, and let's not forget the decades-long, Ahab-like campaign to shut down Christian charitable hospitals. Those hospitals would have cheerfully, voluntarily taken in the sick Mexican boy, except they've been forced to close because they refuse to perform abortions.)

[Old Lurker]

Jane, thanks for all you did to bring us along with you and the gang. Sorry I could not make it in to meet everyone.

[Jane]

Jane- how's the kumquat taste doing?

Who was that? Cleo again? I was too tired to correct him.

OL I left you an apology in the Sat Open thread. My yahoo mail account tanked so I didn't have your email to let you know I couldn't make it. Caro and I were hoping you would still be there in a couple of weeks so we could sail over to visit. I really really wanted to be there but life really caught up with me recently!

[Old Lurker]

Saw it but none was necessary, Jane. Your rain check is extended for next summer!

[Old Lurker]

Hmmm. Caro and Jane both. Maybe I left something up there and will have to go get it...

[Jane]

Awww - now I even feel worse!

[peter]

Did Clinton spread his legs for the cover again?

No, he didn't, and if you are wondering why I subscribe to Esquire, it is because of David Wondrich's articles.

[peter]

OT, again,
Mo Dowd says Joe Wilson is a racist.

Is that all ya' got, Mo?

[The folks there are getting awfully sensitive.]

Hmmm, has the White House repudiated Dowd's thesis?
=====================================

[clarice]

I had some more fun with ACORN this morning:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/time_for_irs_to_review_all_aco.html>Check every return ACORN prepared in conjunction with the IRS

[Perverted taxation in any culture or historical time inspires revolution.]

Clarice, this government faces a tax revolt of stunning proportions unless they divorce the IRS from ACORN. See what happened about the census. That's just counting people, not taking their money.

This is gonna be big.
=======================

[Fresh Air]

Peter--

I quit subscribing back in the early nineties. Too many perfume swatches tucked inside. Naming "Meredith Viera" one of the "Women We Love" was the final straw.

[E. Nigma]

Just a comment with regards to sbw from earlier on:
George C. Marshall graduated from VMI, not West Point.
That does not detract from anything else you said, though. Marshall, in Churchill's words at his funeral, was "the noblest Roman", paying homage to a allegorical connnection of America to Rome, I quess.
Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and host of other great general officers were West Point grads (including the son of a former co-worker who is a very fine officer, a captain, in his third tour in Iraq).

The long gray line; it has not failed us yet.

[Jane]

Clarice,

I just got a call on my cell from a woman in Indiana who had $15 of calls charged to her room in JMH's hotel to Caro and me. She has the same first name as JMH. She got them erased from the bill but was worrying if someone was in her room.

I assured her not. They were either your or JMH's calls. When we were at the capital we kept getting calls from numbers that were people we did not know when we called back. I swear all the networks were totally screwed up.

At any rate, I assured her all was fine. And now I have a new teaparty friend from Indiana!

[clarice]

Thanks. I made just one call --to Jean-- from JMH's room.