Media Matters: My friend's cousin said there were 4 million people there

[meegbear]

Yesterday on his radio program, while discussing the crowds at this weekend's 9/12 protests, Glenn Beck claimed that the London Telegraph "quote(d) a source from the Park Service, the National Park Service, saying that it is the largest march on Washington ever." This led to a good deal of confusion here, as the Telegraph article contains no such quote. Just another case of Beck making things up? Actually, the story behind this turns out to be much funnier than we could have anticipated.

Several conservative blogs have been quoting National Park Service spokesman "Dan Bana" as saying the 9/12 protest was "the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever." This appears to be a repurposing of this quote from David Barna (who, unlike Dan Bana, appears to be a real person):

David Barna, a Park Service spokesman, said the agency did not conduct its own count. Instead, it will use a Washington Post account that said 1.8 million people gathered on the US Capitol grounds, National Mall, and parade route.

"It is a record," Barna said. "We believe it is the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever."

Very impressive! Unfortunately, as Little Green Footballs pointed out, that quote was actually about the inauguration:

This is so pathetic I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Dozens - if not hundreds - of right wing blogs are running with this quote, portraying it as a statement about the tea party held last weekend: 'We believe it is the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever.'

The quote is from January. The National Park Service spokesman was talking about Barack Obama's inauguration.

Pam Geller quoted "Dan Bana" as saying this on Saturday. She cited Thomas Lifson at American "Thinker," who also calls him "Dan Bana." In keeping with his fellow conservatives, Lifson doesn't feel the need to provide a link for his outlandish crowd estimates:

Despite mainstream media attempts to characterize turnout as in the thousands, a spokesman for the National Park Service, Dan Bana, is quoted as saying "It is a record.... We believe it is the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever."

True, "Dan Bana" definitely "is quoted" as saying this. By whom? Well, Thomas Lifson.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909150013

[tridim]

1. This is great.. They're so screwn. :)

[gratuitous]

2. The Beck reaction: So what?

Now that it's "out there," the media aren't going to go to all the time and trouble to say that what they're reporting is a lie. That's just too hard and complicated. Let's just say that there are differing numbers out there, and let it go at that. However, when the subject is something they want to debunk, they'll go through any number of logical gymnastics and linguistic gyrations to "prove" that Al Gore is a liar or Michael Moore took a shortcut to the truth.

Thank you, Media Matters anyway; someday your efforts at bringing the news media back to journalism. But that day won't come anytime soon.

[FSogol]

3. Guess we add math to what we know about freeper's critical thinking and spelling skills.

Freeper's gants book learn'

[onehandle]

4. I personally counted 20+ million protesters.

Rather than present the truth, let's add to the lies.

Use the Fox News method to discredit the whole thing.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. Whether it was 10 thousand or 10 million, they're still a bunch of wrong-headed goofs

Having a lot more of them concentrated in one place doesn't make them right. I'd prefer that the actual number be small, as it's embarrassing to be an American and think that there are a million or more people as crazy as these anti-government nuts appear to be.

[xxqqqzme]

6. IF these loons got

500,000 people to show up for anything, they would pee all over themselves.


How many estimates has fixed news made about their corporate sponsored event?

I still want to see something about the money behind all this. Who paid the fees to stage it, who applied for the permit, rent the porta potties, the sound system, the signs, the bus companies, clean up the after mess?

[and-justice-for-all]

7. Absolutly NOT a million people at that white wash...nt