New York Times Under Reports on DC Tea Party Rally
WASHINGTON — A sea of protesters filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall yesterday in the largest rally against President Barack Obama since he took office, a culmination of a
summer-long season of protests that began with opposition to a health care overhaul 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, echoing the accusation that Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., hurled at the president three days earlier during Mr. Obama’s address to Congress.
The demonstrators numbered well into the tens of thousands, though the police declined to provide an estimate of the size of the crowd. Many of the participants came on their own and were not part of an organization or group. But the magnitude 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.
Face Fwd Comments:
While all of the government news outlets reported ten of thousands actual time lapse footage gives the crowd a more accurate number at 300,000
The important thing to remember here is, that these were not paid demonstrators, they were not bused in, they were American men and women who felt it important enough to be there to make sure their message was being heard. Sadly, only a few politicians came out to hear it.
