Million American March 9/12/09

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I just spent this lovely Sunday organizing and editing close to 500 photos from yesterday’s historic march in DC. I am still inspired by the sheer joy expressed by the million marchers in DC.Can we say this is the Woodstock for conservatives? Absolutely. I’d even say if MLK were alive, he would be out marching to the Capitol with the people and give a rocking speech.

Several impressions I took home from the Rally:

A million plus attendees is my estimate of the crowd size. Compare the official crowd estimator from the 2009 Inauguration (fig. 1) to the screen cap taken of the crowds (fig. 2) yesterday. I will say there were more patriots yesterday than fans at the January 20th inauguration. Metro police say 1.2 million and they would know a thing or two about crowd counts.


El Marco posted some great photos that speak to the size of this crowd.

I traveled to DC via a chartered bus from West Chester – I have to give kudos to Paula Stiles for taking the initiative to organize this bus trip. I must admit that it was good to be on the bus instead of being thrown under the bus. Our group arrived at Union Station and Dee and myself made our way to Freedom Square where we came upon a massive amount of people:

For a moment or two, I didn’t know where to start photographing. I got over that real quick and shot almost 500 photos on Saturday, not including video.

More of the story below the fold:

Wading through the crowd, we found ourselves swept away by the mass movement of people marching to the Capitol:

99.9 percent of the signs were hand made and held proudly:

The mood of the crowd was that of sheer delight, as many of the participants have never participated in a public rally. Yet here they were in Washington DC, marching with a million fellow patriots to the front lawn of the Capitol Building. You could sense a carefree joy as the marchers realized they were making history and that they were not alone in their beliefs. Waves of rolling chants from the back of the line to the front energized the crowd and gave me goosebumps.

One detail I keep noticing as I walked along  – several marchers donned t-shirts signed with numerous names:

Perhaps this was a way to represent those who could not attend in person and it demonstrates how much grassroot support this rally generated. During my time in DC on Saturday,  I chatted amicably with people from at least a dozen states and heard that every state was represented at this rally.

Arriving at the lawn of the Capitol Building the crowd was densely packed yet extremely civil – I never heard so many “pardon me” as I wandered through the crowd snapping photos and videotaping. People were open, friendly and happy to pose for a photo or laugh at your jokes.


I’ve covered many liberal protests over the years and can only say that the difference in deportment stems from what brings the groups together. Where the 9/12 Teaparty supporters gather around a mutual love of country, the leftists rallied around a common hatred – namely GWB and/or the United States. The difference is everything.

Congressman Mike Pence spoke to the amassed crowd and gets the gold star with this comment:

“There are some politicians who think of you people as astroturf. Un-American. I’ve got to be honest with you, after nine years of fighting runaway spending her on this hill, you people look like the cavalry to me.”This was a watershed event, a powerful call to action that resonates with a rally held in DC on August 28, 1963. America started on the long road of change on that sultry August day, now 47 years later, America is renewed again.

Oh yes, Sarah Palin was on the minds of the marchers:

You can review the complete set of photos from the 9/12 March on Flickr.

Okay..just one more video… I swear!  This video was shot during the march to the Capitol Building – Note the lack of prefab signage:


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Must have been those Astro-Turfers Nancy & Barbara were talking about!

Awesome collection!!!

A round of applause in appreciation for your eye-witness account of the 9-12 DC Rally: narrative, photos, and video…especially the coining of the “Conservative Woodstock.”

I have to agree “Conservative Woodstock” is the best I’ve heard yet.

And what do you bet that this crowd left the Capitol much cleaner than when they got there. Unlike the Obamatons who trashed the place after Obama’s “Green” Inaugural (see photo below):

P.S. Skye, I had a feeling you might be among the million!

I was there and it was a day I will never forget. And if we must, we will go down there again, this time MILLIONS AND MILLIONS will come. It’s in the air. It’s a revolution by the people…we are going to take this country back..WE OWN THE DOME.

Mike’s America, your photo looks like some third world country street scene after a riot except I can notice the Washington Monument in the background and the buildings on the left are not smoking ruins.

The trashing of America began at the last Inaugural both literally and figuratively. Even the poorest of Eastern European or Balkan Countries have more pride in the appearance of their Public thoroughfares.

Quick and dirty estimate:

PA avenue was covered from Freedom Plaza to the Capital; that is about 1 mile (WH to Capitol 1.2 miles) of people on a street 6 lanes wide or 80 ft from Google data. A mile is 5280 ft x 80 ft at 2.5 sq feet per person (Obama’s inauguration number for the mall) gives us over 168,960 people just there at any one time. This human traffic lasted for 3 hours from the media. With the average human walking speed of 3 miles per hour, that is 168,960 people passing a point every 33 minutes or over 3 hours being 9 x 168,960 = 1,520,640. Although, like me not all people started at Freedom Plaza. Many went directly to the Capitol for good “seats” and not all came down PA Ave. The police also asked the protesters to leave the plaza two hours early. Nor does it count the time after 12:30 when people were still arriving or the people on the sidewalks along PA Ave. So the number of 1.5 million may be low.

Problem is that we may never know. I saw reports of 1.5+, but LGF is reporting 50-70,000. Just from the pictures that looks way to low. And we’ll never have a number from the MSM either, remember the German “beer/rock fest” that the “O” gave his European speech? Remember the reporters stated 20,000 then a commercial break, and the number went to 200,000+, and that number was thrown around like it was gospel. If it’s a Dem/lib/progressive, the MSM adds a “zero”, 5 numbers become 6 figures, 6 figures become 1 million+. Conservative/rep/patriots, take a zero (or two) away.

Me… I just go with “There was allot of freaking people there!”

Sarge

I read CNN…There was no TeaParty, nor was anyone at the Mall.

(sark/off)

It really doesn’t matter what the msm reports. Those of us who were there know that there has NEVER been a gathering like this before! It was an honor and privilege to share this experience with others who feel that the government is screwing us into the ground.

The word has gotten out through the efforts of the blogosphere like our friends here at Flopping Aces.

Keep up the good work! One day the libs are going to wake up and find that they have been kicked to the curb and they will stand there, scratching their little pointed heads wondering what happened!

Thanks, FA!

THe MSM’s philosophy is if they do not cover it, nothing happened. They can avoid an elephant in a kitchen, but not a heard in a house!

Should that word be spelled “herd”?

@emanuel goldstein

Herd’s are descriptive of sheep. Driven from place to place to feed on what is placed before them, sheared of what value they have, and eventually killed and eaten for their loyalty. You know, like the typical befuddled straight Democratic party voter.

These protesters are anything but docile sheep. They are angry, protective of their home and family. They are showing their fangs, roaring, and are a fierce foe to those who would foolishly confront or screw with them.

No, the correct term for them is a Pride.