While the official Tea Party estimates of Saturday’s rally attendance may range between a gajillion and the fafillion, the company CBS hired to give an estimate placed the turnout at a respectably large 87,000, larger than the official estimates of turnout last year’s 9/12 rally but no where near the estimated 1.8 million that attended Obama’s inauguration.
The number of people who showed up for Beck’s rally was also considerably smaller than the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom, at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech and which Beck self-consciously styled his “restoring honor” event after, to the irritation of many liberals. The 1963 march drew around 200,000 people, according to contemporary estimates. The crowd then was considerably more diverse, had a leftist economic agenda and was organized by admitted socialists who palled around with a number of other lefty types who likely would have ended up on Glenn Beck’s chalkboard back in the day. That crowd also was produced without the kind of financial support provided by Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity, and at a time when long-distance communication tools were considerably more limited.
[…]
All of which begs the question of why liberals wrung their hands so publicly over Beck’s spectacle, as though this even might actually dwarf the 1963 March on Washington in terms of historical and political significance. At this point, it’s obvious that Beck’s stunts have a self-conscious hint of irony to them. His increasingly messianic self-conception and his outsize comparisons between himself and important American historical figures seem deliberately designed to make liberals issue angry public denunciations, which only increase his profile and solidify his stature in the conservative movement, where Pissing Off Liberals is actually more important than anything else. He’s figured out how this hustle works. What I don’t understand is why liberals keep indulging him with their outrage.Beck’s inversion of history, by which a people demanding more supply-side tax cuts and a conservative takeover of Congress become the civil rights activists of their time, is too patently absurd to take seriously. The historical context of the 1963 march, the size of the crowd, and MLK’s avowedly leftist social and economic politics make an enduring association between that event and this one impossible. The only people who should be genuinely angry about Beck’s event are the conservatives who have apparently decided to take the comparison to heart.
http://www.specialops.org/ #31 he raised 5 mil for SOWF. How much did you donate?
# 54 Pop “The vast majority where white, middle-age or older, & fat.”
So you’re saying most of them were average Americans?
#54
racist much?
#61 WilcatBN,
That is $5 million BEFORE expenses. That is TOTAL contributions. Several million will be paid out to cover expenses… I have seen calculations where the charity will be lucky to break even, with only the publicity gained as a positive.
How much did I donate? 8 years of military service. How much did you donate?
Expenses will end up somewhere between $1-2M. Curious if Beck and Palin charged speaker’s fees for this…
#62 Counterweigh – Good one!
Yes, but even more so.
This is the breakdown:
White – 100%
Middle aged and up – 90% (not including the kids)
Fat – 90%
When I say fat, I don’t mean overweight. I mean grossly obese. Went on a tour of the Capital building Friday, overhead a couple of them complaining that they had to walk across the plaza.
>> Faxon said, on August 30th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
>> Figure that Republicans and Conservatives actually have JOBS, as opposed to welfare bums that swell the crowds at Far Leftist Events….
Newt Gingrich came to my town and used this same dumb line.
It was hilarious — but few of the dullards in his crowd got the joke.
He was complaining that the “liberals on welfare” turn out for rallies as opposed to the hard-working conservatives who couldn’t come.
But Gingrich’s rally was in the middle of a work day!
Most of Gingrich’s fans looked like they where leeching off of Social(ist) Security.
I totally cracked up when he used that idiot line but most everyone else just boo’d the lazy liberals who lived off of government programs.
I thought the best name for this event was “Whitestock”
#63 jman
“racist much?”
You think I’m a racist against whites because I pointing out that the Beck fan boys were all white?
You got me. Though, since I am in fact white myself, I suppose it’s more of a case of self-hatred.
Awake thanks for you service.
The 5 mil was after the rally was paid. Did you read the site? Beck said the rally cost 1 to 1.5 million and SOWF
would break even and would not have to pay a dime if donations didn’t come thru. None of the speakers were paid. You may hate Beck as most do but at least don’t hate the amount of money he brought to SOWF and the exposure to a worthy cause.
Even if the 5 mil is before the cost of the rally came out that still means they have 2 to 3 million more in the bank then they did before. Not to mention the continued donations they will get from people in the coming months and years.
As far as what did I do for the cause doesn’t matter I know the truth I could say I was in the service for 15 years and gave 1.5 mil it wouldn’t matter.
Pop,
Do you point out that the crowds a PETA and environmentalist rallys are all white too? just wondering because the make up of a crowd doesn’t mean a damn thing. You try to insinuate racist where there are none and for what reason. You’re the type of person that Rev. King was speaking against all those years.
BTW the crowd was not all white and most of the speakers and performers were black.
keep up the generalities though. Might want to stock up on Xanax though because the first Tues in November is going to be a big shock to your system
#60. Yep, Jon Stewart is brilliant!
BTW – It’s impressive how Beck is playing up his new role as teabagger messiah. He swiped that role right from under Palin.
It’s great watching who fills the boat captain vacuum when the Teabaggers go rudderless.
#71
“the first Tues in November is going to be a big shock to your system”
jman might want a math book a to go with his Xanax
the average midterm election seat loss for a below 50% approval President is just 36 that won’t be enough to change the balance of power in the House and thats if the GOP can do even that well given that the polarizing Tea Party candidates are less likely to get the independent and moderate votes
I suspect that after Labor Day the Democratic Party will do it’s best to remind every body just how we got into this mess and at lest they are trying instead of just saying NO.
Oh and the chances that Democrats will lose 10 or more seats in the Senate nest to none.
Yes Obama now owns this fried economy but given that he did not create this mess and has been no less successful then the rest of the world leaders at keeping his country afloat and that the GOP has NOT offered any workable solutions of it’s own and only tried to keep or reinstate the policies that got us here, I think we will not see much more that average seat changing this fall.
#66 Pop – “This is the breakdown: White – 100% Middle aged and up – 90% Fat – 90%
When I say fat, I don’t mean overweight. I mean grossly obese.”
Pop, I wasn’t there so you have the advantage. But your fat description certainly does not match what I saw on the news. Jman seems to have deflated your 100% white accusation. As for middle aged? 40 and up seem to be the age group that would be able to afford a day trip to the Plaza. Are you upset there weren’t more teenagers? Someone has to man the McDonalds Drive Thru!
“Went on a tour of the Capital building Friday, overhead a couple of them complaining that they had to walk across the plaza.” I don’t doubt you there at all.
# 67 Greg Allen – “leeching off of Social(ist) Security.”
Not sure you’re being fair there GA. Forty years of working, all the time they were forced to pay into a retirement plan and encouraged to make their plans around it. Now, they take the miniscule benefits and you call them leeches. I’m sure when you hit 65 you will send those monthly checks right back to the Treasury. Just think: because of you, they’ll be able to pay off the National debt!
# 70 Wildcatbn – “You may hate Beck as most do”
I’m not a fan of Glen Beck. I find he delivers the lowest common denominator and really appeals to people who do not wish to think for themselves. Yet – he has very popular television and radio shows and he’s had three books (or more?) on the best seller lists and made a fortune along the way. You think “most” people “hate” him? Wow! I wish more people hated me!!!
President Obama: 66,882,230 votes.
McCain: 58,343,671 votes.
Regardless of how many teabaggers showed up at Crying Glenda Beck’s little nutter fest, you could double the false estimates and you’re still a few votes short.
Grandpa & Grandma Teabagger, I don’t want to go back to where you want to take my country. I like living in the present, thank you very much. Now go watch your mindless reality shows while you fall asleep in your easy chairs. Nighty night.
Maricopa Yeah sorry ment to say on this blog.
Last I heard Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann state that there were 300,000,000 people at the rally.
You libs are so easy to get stirred up.
IF YOU LIKE THIS VIDEO PASS IT ON
I went to the 1963 March on Washington. When I saw the last summers “Restoring Honor” gathering abusing the memory of Martin Luther King I wrote the song “Bus Ride To Washington”