I've been super busy and all I caught about the D.C. anti-war rally was the figure on the networks of 100,000 marching for the new Jesus. I saw MTP and Bill Kristol and Russert used that number. Now everybody on the web is saying the figure is 2,000. What the hell am I missing? Comments and emails welcome because a lie of 98,000 is more than just bias. There is this from USA Today....
District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey estimated that Saturday's anti-war crowd numbered at least 100,000. Protesters gathered on the National Mall and on the Ellipse outside the White House.Then there's this one from BuzzFlash
On Saturday, more than 100,000 protesters congregated for a rally and march around the Executive Mansion, the largest such gathering in DC since the Iraq war began. It was hard to move in the crowd without accidentally being clobbered by a poster, flag or that ubiquitous weapon of mass obstruction, the backpack.And this one from the Georgetown University paper
Emotion ran high as anti-war activists from all over the country stood together while calling for peace and justice in Iraq. Metropolitan Police Department officials said that over 100,000 protesters attended the demonstration, which lasted all day Saturday and featured a number of speeches, musical performances and booths dedicated to raising awareness of the Iraq war and other related issues.WTF??? Are these lies??????
Bush has a big bounce in the polls, at least at Rasmussen..... He also shows that 60% think the economy is going south (it will for a couple of weeks because of Katrina).
4 comments:
100,000 appears to be the going-number (right or wrong... and, of course, its worth determining if 100,000 is accurate or not).
At the same time, and as you say, a lie of 98,000 is more than bias. So if the number is 100,000 versus 2,000... whoever put out the 2,000 is equally culpable.
It appears there were two (count 'em) different events going on in D.C.: The protests, and some kind of book fair, sponsored by the Smithsonian. The book fair's attendance *last year* was c.a. 60,000, and some have suggested that the 100,000 is the attendance for both. My figures aren't any better than anyone else's, but from what I saw on C-Span it didn't look like any 100,000 protesters. (Also note that Reuters is giving a peak figure of 300,000! LGF is following this, FWIW.) There are also claims of exaggeration of attendance in London.
They're both wrong. I'll give the protesters maybe 10-15 thousand.
Here's a simple test - there's an overhead photo of the demonstration on LGF - compare it to the start of the New York City Marathon which has usually has 36,000 people who are jammed in a lot tighter.
The marathon wins.
Apologies if this posts twics... I couldn't deciper the "Word Verification" script and couldn't tell if the first attempt was successful...
Washingtonpost.com quotes National Mall Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey as validating the 100,000 count for the Saturday protest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092400416_pf.html
The 2,000 count may refer to follow-up demonstrations in front of the White House on Monday, where more than 300 were arrested.
So, the blogger who indicated the number was 2,000 versus 100,000 was either confused or attempting to discredit the Saturday protest through intentional distortion. In either case, it doesn't say much for his methods.
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