Glenn Beck: Tea Party March Had 1.7 Million People!

Both The Huffington Post and Glenn Greenwald have amply covered the sheer amount of lies the right wing blogosphere is spreading regarding the attendance at Saturday's tea party.

And now, the idiot in chief throws his hat into the ring with another ridiculous claim; this time that 1.7 million attended. .

"We had a university, I think it's University of -- I don't remember which university it is -- um, look at the pictures. And you know, they can do body space and calculate -- 1.7 million, that crowd was estimated."

If you look at the pictures, university looked at it, did the body count, et cetera et cetera, 1.7 million."

Notice that classic Beck tactic; he pretends that he has a legitimate source, and then feigns that he simply can't remember which university he is talking about. It's his way of implying that what he says has a source without ever revealing what that source actually is.

And what was the actual number who attended?

But either way, the reports of tens of thousands came not from "liberal sources" but from the establishment media. Just yesterday, the Post's Fletcher reported that his journalist colleagues - not Daily Kos -- "say it was in the tens of thousands, probably around 20,00 or 30,000."

So, Malkin is out by a mere 1,970,000, while Beck is almost bang on the money by being out by a hair-splittingly close 1,670,000.

I've said this before but it's worth looking at Beck's claim in historical perspective, by viewing the number of people who have attended various presidential inaugurations:

1965: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1.2 m
1973: Richard Nixon, 300,000
1977: Jimmy Carter, 350,000
1981: Ronald Reagan, 500,000
1989: George H.W. Bush, 300,000
1993: Bill Clinton, 800,000
2001: George W. Bush: 500,000

I mean it's simply ridiculous to claim that more people attended a tea party than had attended each of these inaugurations.

But, Beck and his ilk are beyond shame. They want to reduce all facts to a matter of opinion. As Greenwald points out, they are being well assisted in that task by this month's Time magazine story on Beck. Apparently the number who attended the rally depends on who you believe.

Who would have thought facts would go out of style so quickly? In the good old days Time would have quoted one of the many credible sources who all state that the numbers are nowhere near what these insane right buggers are claiming, but Time magazine declined to do so.

In this instance Time are actually outdone on the honesty stakes by Fox News - practically the sponsors of the event - who stated:

The tens of thousands of protesters marched to the U.S. Capitol chanting various slogans and waving posters that voiced a rather broad array of grievances against big government and the leaders, particularly President Obama, who the protesters blame for its size and scope.

The fact that Fox are being more honest that Time magazine deserves to be remembered as a first.

Glenn Beck's lying lunacy is no surprise, but Time magazine's cowardice is a thing to behold.

Click title for Time magazine article.

Tags: Time Magazine, Glenn Beck, tea baggers, 9/12