If someone honestly believes that the number in Washington fell way short of six figures...they either have serious comprehension issues, or their medication has impaired their judgement.
Or both.
It is important because conservatives have been COMPLETLELY shut out of the process.
Check and see how many Republicans have been involved in the committee discussions on healthcare.
Notice how the media marginalizes conservatives...acting as though they are an insignificant number.
(they should remember...that even with fielding a weak candidate, and in a hostile election year...over 40% of our voters did not vote for Obama.
Why are they always ignored and marginalized?
Why are their numbers so minimalized?
It is important because Obama and the media will not discuss the issues brought up by conservatives.
This is the only forum we have!
So...when outright lies about the number of attendees are propagated by the media, and then repeated by Inigo Montoya (or whatever the troll del sur's name is)and CTB...then those in power say to themselves, "Oh...well, this is just a handful of wackos...they're not legitimate or significant."
Well....yes we are, and yes, we are.
Finally...because of an uninformed (or apathetic, or stupid, or greedy) electorate, and gerrymandering...a third or more of the congress cannot...and will not...ever be dumped from office.
Something like the 9/12 forum is pretty much the only shot there is.
So when it's ignored, or falsely marginalized, it takes away the one chance conservatives have to change the political climate in this country.
President Obama knows exactly how many people were there and he's probably shaking in his boots (oops I meant to say - presedent Obama está temblando en sus zapatos).
Fair enough, that's how you feel. But if it ISN'T 2-mil, so what? It was a big crowd. Wouldn't you rather know the real attendance rather than falsely having it inflated?
If you've ever been to the mall in DC as is depicted in the picture above, you would know it isn't exactly a small piece of real estate. Here are the official dimensions from the US Park Service.
It is the second measurement that is germane to this discussion. What we are essentially viewing is 1.2 miles of people between the Capitol (Grant Memorial to be precise) and the Washington Monument, and then the folks who are surrounding a good part of the grounds around the Monument itself. If you are only looking at the crowd around the monument, you are only seeing what is maybe 1/3 of the total crowd gathered there. Also, at what time was the photo taken? Was this at the peak of the event or had some already begun to leave? Judging from the shadow, it is probably mid to late afternoon when the pic was taken.
Having stood there myself, I would think at least 6 figures... if not more.
Re the OP: my response is that Christians should not be so quick to accuse other Christians of lying. That is a grave charge and not necessarily proven. It implies deliberate dishonesty on their part whereas even if they are wrong they may be merely mistaken. Other Christians should not be so quick to accuse the OPer of being a troll or an illegal immigrant.
Here's what I consider a rational, reasoned estimate:
SOURCE
Now...my addendum:
Because this crowd was so unaccustomed to these type of events;
And because the infrastructure was not prepared for this sized march (predictions, you remember, were much smaller...therefore the crowd took longer to trickle in than it might have otherwise);
And because organizers didn't have enough sound reinforcment for that crowd...which meant there was likely more "drifting in and out" along the periphery of the event...
I would add 20-25% to the above estimate...placing it near 930,000-1,062,500.
And they were grossly mistaken.
At worst, they exggerated.
They can be guilty of being boastful and exaggerating, but to say they're lying is a bit of an overstatement.
Let me help CTB understand the "lying" issue, since he seems stuck on it:
Did event organizers lie?
Unknown.
An estimation (even a poor one) isn't a lie.
However...if you give a number, and you know at the time you give that number that it is not true, then you are lying.
The event organizers doubtfully had access to instant counts at the time of their "estimate."
So I'm with John...it could have been inaccurate, but I doubt a lie was spoken.
CTB, however, followed a different process here...I think that pretty effectively sums it up.