Crowd estimates anyone?

[PCIntern]

This is extremely important...the MSM can move in one of two directions in tomorrow's papers...

[thewiseguy]

1. "Tens of thousands" according to NewYork Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/us/politics/29beck.html?_r=2&hp

[jtb33]

36. Here's a good shot

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/28/scenes-from-the-restoring-honor-rally/?hpt=T2

[Junkdrawer]

2. Beck own words: "There's over a thousand people here!!!!"

Reality: a couple thousand. But I bet the media pegs it between 500,00 and a million.

If you're going to lie, big lies are best.

[tridim]

3. A few thousand bewildered and confused white people who probably want their money back.

[global1]

4. To Be Fair - It Is A Decent Turnout - More Than I Expected Would Show.....nt

[tridim]

6. Fair to whom?

They're not showing crowd shots at all.

[thewiseguy]

9. Yes they are.

The mall looks packed. They have a good turnout.

[tridim]

10. Where? CSPAN is only showing one side of the reflecting pool.

The VIP's on the steps and the people in the background.

[global1]

13. Beck Just Announced He Heard Two Reports On Turnout Numbers......

he heard 300,000 and he heard 500,000. He went on to say - "If that's coming from the media - who knows." Insinuating that the media is under-counting the crowd

[tridim]

15. 500,000 my ASS.

:rofl:

[sofa king]

30. CSPAN was showing empty grass as he was saying that.

I'm pretty good at estimating crowds in DC, having lived there most of my life and having attended many enormous events on the Mall.

One of the biggest I went to was the last Beach Boys show on the 4th before James Watt gonged 'em. The estimate was half a million people, and to pack half a million people there, each of eight "cells" east of the Washington Monument had to be filled with people. In the past, I've guessed that each "cell" of the mall can easily hold 40,000 people.

West of the Washington Monument, where Beck is holding his dog-and-pony show, there are no "cells," because most of that space is taken up by the Reflecting Pool and the WWII Memorial. Therefore, far fewer people can fit in that space than on the East side of the mall. Those beyond the treeline on either side of the Reflecting Pool can neither see nor clearly hear any event at the Lincoln Memorial, and therefore anyone in those areas can be discounted as attendees.

CSPAN showed that the crowd does not even pack in the area around the Washington Monument, and as I mentioned half of the Reflecting Pool area is occupied by a few dozen ducks and geese. Here's a little graphic I cooked up using a sat photo of President Obama's inauguration, with the large crowd concentrations circled in red. Beck's event, judging from the crowd size shown on CPAN, is in schwanze-kissing pink:



As you can see, unless Beck's event is covered remotely with television screens throughout the whole mall, instead of just on the west side of it, there is no way his event can attract more than about 100,000 people, and a good proportion of those people will actually be tourists wandering the half-dozen memorials in the area on this, one of the highest traffic tourist weekends of the year.

[Bitwit1234]

8. BUT he said this was to honor the troops so that's why

a lot of people showed up. But the absolute asshole said "today we are taking the nation back under God". So who is going to give a prize if the can name all the reasons he has given so far for this republican political rally.

I got an email from some republican organizations that said it was for JOBS AND FREEDOM. I will never ever understand and there is not one republican or tea bag jerk that will tell you WHAT FREEDOMS have been taken away. Can anybody.

[Voice for Peace]

23. the freedom to discriminate against others; the freedom to cheat & deceive, etc. nt

[seabeyond]

27. a "few thousand" a decent turnout?" free advertisement for weeks.... on the major networks

and cable. printed press. internet

a few thousand is decent?

i dont have it on. i am curious. i expected much much more than a few thousand simply cause of all the hype by the media. if it is merely a few thousand then it is a losin event

[Junkdrawer]

5. That's the thing about taking Free Buses to a rally...

You can't leave early.

[Imajika]

7. Looks like 50-100k to me...

So yeah, tens of thousands.

They got a pretty good turnout. Nothing earth shaking, but a solid turnout and a very nice day to keep the crowds around.

[jtb33]

11. Not sure - how many does the mall hold?

From some guy's site:





If you dare watch the CSPAN steam, they show crow shots and I'd say Beck's right: More than 1,000 people there.

[miscsoc]

12. he is claiming like, half a million now

and saying "if that's what the media are saying, god only knows"

what a tremendous tit

[tridim]

16. Half a million is very easy to bump up to "A Million".

Fuzzy math rules and all.

[miscsoc]

19. mathematics is a liberal lie

if you only have faith you will see the truth

[AngryOldDem]

14. I'm seeing a LOT of green space on the Mall. n/t

[tridim]

17. Yep, personal space doesn't count as people.

[RamboLiberal]

28. I see the same thing in shots from CSpan

I'd say he might have 100,000 but it looks like they are not packed cheek to jowl and have plenty of space to move and walk around.

Beck's on now at 12:30 and this crowd is not fired up even for him. He is boring right now. And that crowd looks damned bored. It's not even that hot a day in D.C. They look right now like they can't wait to get back to the buses.

Beck IMHO is demonstrating he is not that charismatic with a live crowd so far.

[alfredo]

33. All they want to know is where is the nearest Cracker Barrel/

[Cognitive_Resonance]

18. Doesn't look or sound like more than a few thousand. nt

[earthside]

20. One billion.

I learned this trick from the financial talking heads on CNBC.

"The crowd was less than expected as experts had predicted as many as one billion people would attend the 'Restore Honor' event."

The thing is that this is such a boring, dull event that who really cares how many people have been suckered into showing up.

And, considering that this is mostly a white Christian religious service and pro-war rally, well, it is what it is and that's not very much.

[Bravo Zulu]

21. The stupid people in this country,

want one of their own,to lead them!

[mike r]

22. Divide by 29 anything Faux News says:

Tea Party rally last year claimed 2 million vs. unofficial government estimate 70,000

[redirish28]

24. How diverse is the crowd?

[earthside]

25. Moslems or Jews ....

... would feel very out of place at this white Christian praise service.

And the only significant presence of people of color were obviously hired or cajoled to be on stage.

The only diversity might be among those whose who prefers SP 15 or SP 30 sunscreen.

[DCKit]

26. Bwahahahahahahahahaha. You have an amazing sense of humor. n/t

[alfredo]

34. It's a nearly even mix between white men and white women.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. If the crowd noise is an indicator, maybe a few thousand, at most.

[Subdivisions]

31. Right-wing idiots rally: 100,000. Left-wing rally: 0 n/t

[geek_sabre]

32. Quite a few (closest to aerial shot available so far)

From http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Glenn-Beck-host-Lincoln-Memorial-rally/ss/events/us/082610beckrally#photoViewer=/100828/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_fe35cc139c514e8885c1cf10a6200d8e">Yahoo (photo 8/55):

[Name removed]

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