Overestimating The Opposition

I'm not sure which looks worse, House Dems clearly pissing themselves worrying about 2 million birthers showing up, or the fact that only tens of thousands of them actually did.

A sea of protesters filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall on Saturday in the largest rally against President Obama since he took office, a culmination of a summer-long season of protests that began with an opposition to health care and grew into a broader dissatisfaction with government.

On a cloudy and cool day, the demonstrators came from all corners of the country, waving American flags and handwritten signs explaining the root of their frustrations. Their anger stretched well beyond the health care legislation moving through Congress, with shouts of support for gun rights, lower taxes and a smaller government.

But as they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns like “God Bless America,” sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Mr. Obama and Congress.

Dick Armey, a former House Republican leader whose group Freedomworks helped organized the protest, stood before the crowd and led the rallying cries in nearly the same spot where Mr. Obama took his oath of office eight months ago.

“He pledged a commitment of fidelity to the United States Constitution,” Mr. Armey said, suggesting that Mr. Obama was in violation of what the founding fathers intended the size and scope of the government to be.

“Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!” the crowd shouted back.

The crowd numbered well into the tens of thousands, though police declined to provide an estimate of the size of the crowd. Many of the participants simply came on their own and were not part of an organization or group. But the size of the rally took the authorities by surprise, with throngs of people streaming from the White House to Capitol Hill for more than three hours.

Whee, fun for all this morning. My favorite quote:

“I want Congress to be afraid,” said Keldon Clapp, 45, an unemployed marketing representative who recently moved to Tennessee from Connecticut after losing his job. “Like everyone else here, I want them to know that we’re watching what they’re doing. And they do work for us.”

That abyss keeps staring back, folks.

[UPDATE 3:20 PM] Malkinvania claims the crowd really is two million. This is getting funny. Since when does anybody on that side of the line deal in reality, anyway?

[UPDATE 3:25 PM] Stay classy, Wingnuttia.


Nice.

[UPDATE 3:30 PM] Why are the GOP astroturf groups behind this lovely little display trying to pass it off as a bi-partisan event, and why is the Village playing along?

This is not people upset over one particular politician or one particular party," Williams has said. "In fact, if you ask the Republicans in the crowd, you'll find they are just as upset at their party as they are at the Democrats." Members of conservative groups such as FreedomWorks, run by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Campaign Liberty and the Institute for Liberty also were expected to participate in Saturday's rally.

Oh I see. Congress hasn't impeached the Kenyan usurper yet. Nice.

[UPDATE 7:30 PM] Still no reliable numbers on how many people have showed up, but as Think Progress reports, the racist, birther freaks were out in force.