Photo of 9/12 "Tea Party" crowd was taken before the American Indian Museum was built in 2004

[Ian David]

Bloggers claim photo shows millions at "tea party" protest

Over the weekend, conservatives enthusiastically passed around a photo they said showed a huge crowd protesting President Barack Obama's policies during the "tea party" protest on Sept. 12, 2009.

<snip>

The New York Times reported that "thousands" of protesters "filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall," while Fox News wrote that "tens of thousands" marched on Washington.

And from CNN: "The march leading to the Capitol stretched for blocks on the final day of the Tea Party Express' cross-country bus tour, which began August 28 in Sacramento, Calif. En route, the group hosted rallies in about 30 cities. An official crowd estimate was not available, but reporters at the scene described the massive crowd as reaching the tens of thousands."

<snip>

There's another big problem with the photograph: it doesn't include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth St. and Independence Ave. that opened on Sept. 14, 2004. (Looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the National Mall, next to the Air and Space Museum.) That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn't show the "tea party" crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

Also worth noting are the cranes in front of the Natural History Museum (the second building from the lower left of the National Mall). According to Randall Kremer, the museum's Director of Public Affairs, "The last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the IMAX theater was being built."


Bloggers said this photo showed a gargantuan crowd at Saturday's "tea party" protest. But this photo was taken years earlier, at a different event.

More:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/14/blog-posting/blogger-claim-photo-shows-millions-tea-party-prote/



See also:



More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=109&topic_id=37914&mesg_id=37920

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. It would be quite ironic if that were actually the Million Man March photo

[foo_bar]

this might be the source ("Promise Keepers", 10/97)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/throughtheveil/2291798365

...although I wouldn't take the flickr wingnut's word for it, it's more consistent with the headcount estimates for that particular Dionysian cult.

[blogslut]

29. Ahh but notice that photo was uploaded in 2008

So, whatever the origins of the photo, it sure as hell IS NOT a photo of Saturday's tea party thingy.

[brendan120678]

2. There's also no visible signs of...

the new Capitol visitors center. Plus it was a crappy cloudy day Saturday, and there are visible shadows here.

[liberalmuse]

3. There was a pretty decent crowd in DC on Saturday...

though not even close to 2 million. They lie just for the sake of lying. Even the truth doesn't dissuade them from believing the lies.

[wordpix]

82. I was told by some lurkers at the event that the wackos didn't even fill up the Capitol's west lawn

[tammywammy]

4. I thought that photo was from the Promise Keepers event years ago. n/t

[Ian David]

7. That's what one blogger was saying a few days ago. n/t

[moggie]

11. Yes, look here

Freeper link to a thread containing the picture, in January this year:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2174736/posts

I don't think the Freepers have time travel.

[Ian David]

15. Of course Freepers have Time Travel. All those port-a-potties are actually TARDISes. n/t

[moggie]

20. Ah, I always wondered what the TARD part meant n/t

[comtec]

63. Time And Relative Dimension In Space

and don't dis the Doctor!

[RaleighNCDUer]

75. No. Freepers use the TURDis. nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

77. I heard they're trying to get FOX to air a new right wing show about time travel

it would be called "Quantum Freep"......

Theorizing that one could travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Jim Robinson stepped into the Quantum Freep accelerator porta potty, and vanished.

He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the worse. His only guide on this journey is Glenn Beck; an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Jim can see and hear. And so, Dr. Robinson finds himself freeping from life to life, striving to put wrong what once went right, and hoping each time that his next freep, will be the freep home.

[Grinchie]

50. They sure do have time travel! Look at all the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer's" they brought back!

[tammywammy]

13. I googled "promise keepers washington dc"

I came up with a photo from FR. Distasteful source...the thread is about how many less people showed up at Obama's Inaguration, but I would think they'd be truthful on the source of the picture (especially if it's Promise Keepers).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2174736/posts


I know I've seen the same pic elsewhere and someone saying it was Promise Keepers then too.

Here it is at another blog too.

http://hiscrivener.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/promise-keepers-breaking-one-off-for-the-ladies/

[polmaven]

76. Excellent job, Tammy!

Have you sent this info to any of the MSNBC shows? Ed was ranting on the estimates last night. I'll be he would love it....not to mention Keith or Rachel!

[tammywammy]

78. No, I haven't

But feel free to do so yourself. :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Why do Republicans lie so goddamn much?!?!?!

Fucking hell, it's one thing to lie about policies and/or have difference of opinion on policies.

But they consistently flat-out lie about shit that is easily provable as lies, and they also continually get away with it.

It's really pissing me off more and more every year.

And maybe I just answered my own question - it's because they get away with it.

[Stargazer09]

14. Just think of your typical republican neighbors

They aren't exact known for their intellect. They will believe whatever they are told or see in an e-mail.

And they think that they have some sort of inner knowledge of the political system, simply because they watch fox news. Which makes them even more pathetic.

Too bad you don't have to be educated to vote.

[butterfly77]

33. and why does the media go along..

with their lies. Things that make you go uuummmm...

[Grinchie]

51. It because "God Loves Them"

and will forgive them from all of their lies when they're Raptured up.


Also, they all know that their is no law against lying. Ask a Cop, he'll tell you the same.

[cognoscere]

72. It's the only way they can get anyone to believe in their message.

Seriously, if they told the truth about half the shit they embrace, nobody, including their base, would even listen.

[wordpix]

83. Even dumbass Michelle Malkin is backtracking on her 1-2 million estimate, lol

:rofl:

[louis-t]

6. Expose the liars. Can we expect to see this

on KO and RM tonight?

[moggie]

8. It was so easy to debunk

When someone asked about this photo, I did a google image search on "million man march" (just guessing), and one of the top hits was a January 2009 thread on Free Republic where that same photo appeared, identified as taken at the Promise Keepers march in 1997 - in a post complaining about inflated numbers at Obama's inauguration!

[Call Me Wesley]

10. LOL! You're always ahead of me.

;)

[moggie]

12. I have no life n/t

[Ian David]

31. In other words, the Freepers accidentally helped solve this mystery. n/t

[wordpix]

84. now THAT was an event that filled the streets & Mall from the Capitol to Wash. Monument

[Call Me Wesley]

9. Promise Keepers, Oct. 4th, 1997. (nt)

[ThisThreadIsSatire]

16. Do you have contact info for the blogger who claimed this was 9/12?

We should get as many as possible to post on their blog:

"YOU LIE!"

[Ian David]

17. Here

This moron is still running with it:

CORRECTED For What It’s Worth: The Best Aerial Picture Of The DC Tea Party I’ve Seen Yet
By Rob on September 13, 2009 at 06:10 pm
46 Comments
Subscribe
Bookmark and Share

Update: As was noted in the comments, the picture below in the original post is of the wrong rally. This ground-level picture of the rally clearly shows that it didn’t take place on the mall nearly as extensively as the image I mistakenly posted does.



Even based on that image, however, I feel the National Park Service’s graph holds up. I don’t think the 1,000,000 figure for the tea party is at all inappropriate.

Maybe this will finally put some of the speculation about the size of the DC tea party into perspective (click for a larger view):



<snip>

Comments

Avatar for djer

Rob, are you kidding me? You ran with this picture, really?

Perhaps you can point out to the the Indian Museum in the picture. Oh what you can’t, you’re right it’s not there.

You posted a picture from the Promise keepers march in 1997.

so perhaps instead of posting your talking points and pictures for the day, you should make sure that what you post is actually true.

Had you even checked, you would have known that the teabaggers had march on the street and not on the mall.

You should be embarrassed to post this ruse and lie to people.

More:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/for_what_its_worth_the_best_aerial_picture_of_the_dc_tea_party_ive_seen_yet/

[ThisThreadIsSatire]

18. Thanks, message sent. n/t

[Emit]

35. Well the blog is called 'sayanythingblog'

so I guess they can say anything and call it the truth

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

69. Is it just me

I can't see any of your photos.....

it is sad if the OP photo is of Promise Keepers though, so many misguided folks.

[liberal N proud]

19. Amazing how they made a whole building disappear

:rofl:

[DireStrike]

21. OBJECTION!

This evidence contradicts your assertion!

What now, teabaggers?

[Ian David]

22. That large crowd definitely is NOT "The National Day of Prayer"

Jeff Gannon’s ‘Bible Reading Marathon.’
By Nico Pitney on May 4th, 2007 at 10:14 am

Dana Milbank writes, “Let us pray that, on next year’s National Day of Prayer, there is better attendance at the ‘Bible Reading Marathon’ on the West Front of the Capitol.”

Organizers put out 600 folding chairs on the lawn — the spot where presidents are inaugurated — and set up a huge stage with powerful amplifiers. But at 9:30 a.m. yesterday, not one of the 600 seats was occupied. By 11 a.m., as a woman read a passage from Revelations, attendance had grown — to four people. Finally, at 1 p.m., 37 of the 600 seats were occupied, though many of those people were tourists eating lunch.

Where was everybody?

“This isn’t that kind of event,” explained Jeff Gannon, spokesman for the host, the International Bible Reading Association. Gannon, actually a pseudonym for James Guckert, had earned fame in 2005 representing a conservative Web site at White House briefings until it was revealed that he posted nude pictures of himself on the Web to offer his services as a $200-an-hour gay escort.

Let us pray for the power to understand how Gannon made his way from HotMilitaryStud.com to the International Bible Reading Association.

More:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/04/jeff-gannons-bible-reading-marathon/

[Crowman1979]

23. ROFLAO! The prostitute is at it again! Luckily his latest bid at publicity failed.

[Wetzelbill]

24. Why lie? They got a decent crowd

Why go to the extent to embarrassingly lie about the numbers? I guess they just figure, as usual, that most of their sheeplike followers will take whatever is said to be true, and spread it out among the flock so it becomes an accepted "fact" that is really completely bullshit.

[droidamus2]

64. Maybe

I think the reason they lied was that they really, really, really wanted to be able to say the 'Million Man March' didn't get a million but they did. As usual with the conservatives it doesn't matter if it is the truth it only matters if you repeat it enough that you can get the fools out there to believe it is the truth.

[Wetzelbill]

80. that could be true

no matter what though, you can always count on them to continually repeat a falsehood over and over and over until it sticks with some people.

[backscatter712]

25. TIME TRAVEL FAIL!!!

:rofl:

[mistertrickster]

26. It was probably an ANTI WAR RALLY that the press ignored. nt

[makeanoise]

27. he's corrected it now...

Supposedly of course ;)

[Ian David]

30. No, he just changed the link to make it harder to hot-link

[mod mom]

28. Oh come on...that's a minor detail!

:sarcasm:

[Christa]

32. Mwahahahahaa

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[uppityperson]

34. ooops. k&r&lol

[McCamy Taylor]

36. WTF? Did they steal a million man march photo?

[rbrnmw]

43. wouldn't that be ironic as hell

[JNelson6563]

37. lol

Pointing and laughing at those losers.

Julie

[onehandle]

38. So what would the scrotum slappers more than a couple of hundred feet away from the podium...

...be listening to or even doing?

Nope. There were a few thousand unwanted idiots in this great 90%+ Democratic city on Saturday.

Bused in by Big Insurance.

[femrap]

39. The picture must be from

the huge March on Washington for Women. That was April of 2004, I think. And that crowd was ENORMOUS!

That's exactly what they did!!!!

[Richd506]

40. Morans... nothing but a bunch of morans

[rbrnmw]

44. reality always escapes these tools

look they call themselves teabaggers they carry signs that a second grader could correct my favorite was Americans Needs Inserterection now!!!! ok homophobe racists calling themselves teabaggers carrying a sign saying that on top of using a million man march photo possibly to lie about the crowd size WOW talk about Ironic

[The Hope Mobile]

41. Can anybody get this to KO or Rachel? nt

[Subdivisions]

42. Also, it was a cloudy day in DC and the protest ended before the

time of day indicated by the shadows.

The photo shown is of the Promise Keepers DC gathering.

[Douglas Carpenter]

45. kick and recommend!!

[watchdoggity]

46. WE HAVE TO BE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE AND TRUTHFUL

I support the 9/12 Tea Party Patriots. To be fair to history, we have to stand for the truth. There is nothing to be ashamed of with the awesome turnout on 9/12/09. However, the actual truth in pictures below, shows that far more people were at President Obama's inauguration back in January, then were at the 9/12 Tea Party march. The pictures below show more dense crowds at Obama's inauguration, without cardboard signs etc which cause people to spread out more. Also, the crowds at the 9/12 event did not go past 3rd St, which were reserved for an annual "Black Reunion" that had set up the large white tents that you see in the 9/12 Tea party photos:

9/12 photo from Capitol steps:
<IMG SRC="">

Obama inauguration photo from Capitol steps:
<IMG SRC="">

more photos of Obama inauguration showing massive density:
<IMG SRC="">

<IMG SRC="">

<IMG SRC="">

<IMG SRC="">

[1Hippiechick]

62. " I support the 9/12 Tea Party Patriots." Really? Yours is an interesting post, and questionable.

[wordpix]

86. I call bullshit on your alleged photo of 9/12 b/c that was a blue sky day in DC

your photo shows a full-of-clouds sky.

Furthermore, even if there were some clouds over the mall, which were not at my home 2 miles away on 9/12, a lot of the crowd on the mall was there for a different event. There was a some kind of race nearby and I think an arts event, both. You can see the tents for one of the events in the distance.

:crazy: I don't think for a minute that the crowd on the mall was there for the 9-12-vers

[chknltl]

47. As the unofficial DU sky-watcher, I am calling Shenanigans!!!

hmmmmmm......................................

Lets see here...photo looks east from Wa. Monument to the capital bldg. North would be to the left of the photo. Perhaps someone better versed in sundial-ology could help me out a bit but according to my inexpert calculations, using the Washington Monument and it's CLEARLY EVIDENT SHADOW as a sundial, my uneducated guess puts the time of day somewheres mid to late afternoon. I'd guess 5-7 PM. What time did that teabuggerin take place?

Accdg to the local weather report, that area was trending from partly cloudy to chance of rain:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=20001&hourly=1&yday=257&weekday=Tuesday

This aerial photo does not appear to be partial cloudy to chance of rain...well not to my inexpert eyes!

Oh well, all CLEARLY EVIDENT SHADOW conspiracies aside, why is it that this aerial photo of that impressively large crowd, obviously taken on a bright-bright-sunshiny-day conflict with the photos taken at ground level, obviously taken on a NOT so bright-bright-sunshiny day?



Attn. lurking freepers who believe that the aerial photo is from the teabaggerers* protest march held on the 12th of Sept.: Please provide photos of protestors with shadows. You know, shadows as pronounced as the one provided by the Washington Monument.
*(I'm sure ol GW wanted to be there too/to/two/tu!)
:popcorn:

[Grinchie]

52. Vampires don't cast shadows.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[chknltl]

53. Good point! Nor do they care much for sunshine either.

My guess is that there are no vampires visible in the photo in question.

[Grinchie]

67. I saw several photos. Which one is in question?

[chknltl]

88. This one from OP

This photo was used by some to portray over a million morans at the teabaggers march on DC Sept 12. There actually were many many folks at that march but not near the crowd shown in this photo. First off, there were far far fewer protesters than is portrayed here. Estimates of the size of the tea bagger crowd are between 30 to 100 thousand in attendance. Higher estimates by Faux News, conservative pundits and freepers are simply inflated propaganda. http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/09/13/malkin-and-others-overestimate-tea-bagger-crowd-by-195-million-or-so

Other DUer's and I have pointed out a further proof that this photo is being used fraudulently: The Tea bagger rally photo, if shot from the same perspective would have been one shot during an overcast day! No sunlit crowd in the streets for the teabaggers, no WA. Monument shadow either-especially considering that at the part of the day in this photo, (likely between 5pm and 7pm) the overcast had thickened on Sept 12th. Furthermore, my own research indicates that the Sept. 12 teabuggers rally had wound down by 5PM.

So, nope, no vampires in this photo, too much sunlight! This one is of a totally different rally period!

[Grinchie]

91. OK OK, I thought you were implying that I meant your tagline photo, which I was not.

It was of the Joe the Plumber looking guy, and not Obama, which is why I was a bit wary.

I thought a trap was being set for some flame war.

I look back and yes, it could be taken out of context, just like I was in the Special Olympics or something. We all know how well that went over for Obama when he was on Jay Leno.

I'm glad we got that straight. Aloha!

[chknltl]

93. Sorry for lengthy response

I wasn't sure either, I'm easily confused like that! Figured I'd better go over everything just in case which btw explains my ridiculously detailed and longish response. No flamewar traps being set here. :pals:

[watchdoggity]

48. HERE'S ANOTHER THAT SHOWS LIGHT DENSITY ON 9/12

9/12 Tea Party photo from Capitol steps, showing light density of crowds back toward white tents and Washington Monument:
<IMG SRC="">

[brettdale]

54. Heck

There would only be around 30 thousand people tops at the 9/12 march, someone should flood Beck's email with that picture.

[NewJeffCT]

60. Welcome to DU

certainly a lot smaller than the Promise Keeper crowd.

[rbrnmw]

49. kick

[brettdale]

55. Faux still has that Picture up

They are hanging on to a lie.

[rbrnmw]

56. huh? no kidding?

Who was it that said if you repeat a lie often enough??????????

[rbrnmw]

58. Oh yeah it was................

"A lie told often enough becomes truth" Vladimir Lenin.
does this mean Fox News embraces Communism?

[NewJeffCT]

61. Like 95% of their viewers/readers will fact check them?

I don't think so...

[chknltl]

92. Link?

I would very much like to see this being used by faux

[Raine]

57. Dumb asses never seem to understand that

they can be caught in their lies.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

59. This photo was linked on Freerepublic in a thread from Jan 09 in which

they identify it as 1997 Promisekeepers March. The thread was about the Obama Inauguration.

Notice the circled area in the photo and a recent shot of the mall.




If anyone wants the link to the FR thread where they show the photo, PM me since I think it's against the rules to post it here.

[GinaMaria]

65. This thing has been BS even before Rick Santelli

started his rant. This was in the works before Obama even won the election. The tea bagger movement is fake and the media should expose them.

[Soylent Brice]

66. bookmarked.

[AlbertCat]

68. And of course there's the question of WHY they would have to do this fake photo thing.

Anyone want to venture a guess? :eyes:

(That was a rhetorical question, y'know)

[demwing]

70. The National Museum of the American Indian is missing

Here's a map of where it should be:


And a couple of pics of what it looks like:


and here:


And finally, a picture of the National Mall with the NMAI completed. (first large building on the mall to the left of the Capitol)


The museum opened in September of 2004, so the freeper picture obviously predates that time.

End of story.

[xxqqqzme]

73. The NMAI is such an

amazingly beautiful building, did that freeping idiot think nobody would notice?



Well, I think it is an strikingly beautiful building. It captures the feeling of the mesas.

[FailureToCommunicate]

74. Sure is! It also has the tastiest, most unusual food court in the whole area...

and the best part(at least from a tired tourist point of view): the museum never seems to crowded.

[demwing]

79. My guess is that the idiot just didnt know it was there

and therefore, did not know it was missing

[Mosaic]

71. Bunch of fucking liars

The whole damn bunch of them.

[wordpix]

81. absolutely not the crowd that was there 9/12/09

I was at the public health care option supporters' march in DC on Sunday 9/13 and met a number of people who were at the Capitol the day before. They said the crowd was relatively small, did not even cover the whole front lawn of the Capitol much less fill up the streets toward the Lincoln Memorial.

:crazy: geesh

[Taverner]

85. Freepers: YOU LIE! BOY!

[jeremyfive]

87. News Flash: The Right Wing Lies Through Its Teeth

News Flash: The Right Wing Lies Through Its Teeth

[chknltl]

90. News Flash? Surely not an msm News Flash!

They get paid quite well to ignore such news.

[lpbk2713]

89. *Photos courtesy of the Orly Taitz GOP documentation files.

We should expect nothing less than lies and deceit from these rethuglican assholes at all times.