This seems to be the question of the day from the Right, the Left, and everyone in between. With no official numbers as of yet, there continues to be widespread speculation.

FreedomWorks had originally planned the sound system to be able to reach 100,000 people at the event, but they are now reporting that most of the people in attendance could not hear the speakers.

YouTube user JohnDarash, who was at the rally, had this to say,

The media will have you to believe that only thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of people came to Washington. Well, the media does what it does best and that is to not report on anything that is not the will of the governing elite. But I am here to tell...

This seems to be the question of the day from the Right, the Left, and everyone in between. With no official numbers as of yet, there continues to be widespread speculation.

FreedomWorks had originally planned the sound system to be able to reach 100,000 people at the event, but they are now reporting that most of the people in attendance could not hear the speakers.

YouTube user JohnDarash, who was at the rally, had this to say,

The media will have you to believe that only thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of people came to Washington. Well, the media does what it does best and that is to not report on anything that is not the will of the governing elite. But I am here to tell you that so many people showed up on 9-12 that Washington all but shut down. I cant say what one or two million people looked like but if I were to guess I would have to say it looked like Washington DC on 9-12-2009: ABC reported 1.5 Million people and Home Land Security reported 2 Million.

The Wizbang blog posted a time-lapse video of the march down Pennsylvania Avenue that shows the area growing larger and larger with the protestors.


Main stream media outlets not surprisingly reported much lower numbers than the first-hand videos and pictures seem to be showing. The New York Times reported only "thousands" of people showed up, and Politifact reported that the Fire and Emergency Department "unofficially" estimated the crowds numbers at between 60,000 and 75,000, even though the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department told Wnd.com that they do not provide crowd estimates.

Hopefully there will be some official final tally to put this matter to rest, but there is something more important to take away from this event than a number. Watch the videos, view the pictures, listen to the people who were there. They are all saying the same thing in one clear, loud voice - They are tired of big government, out of control spending, and zero accountability.

ABC never reported that there were 1.5 million attendees. An organizer attributed that claim to them, which they quickly denied.

Homeland Security never reported that there were 2 million attendees. That number came from the Daily Mail, a right-wing British tabloid, with absolutely no attribution.

Nate Silver, a liberal, but a widely-acknowledged and trustworthy numbers man, writes that the estimate of the Fire Department is the most accurate. Silver then explains:

I was in Washington for...

ABC never reported that there were 1.5 million attendees. An organizer attributed that claim to them, which they quickly denied.

Homeland Security never reported that there were 2 million attendees. That number came from the Daily Mail, a right-wing British tabloid, with absolutely no attribution.

Nate Silver, a liberal, but a widely-acknowledged and trustworthy numbers man, writes that the estimate of the Fire Department is the most accurate. Silver then explains:

I was in Washington for the inauguration, an event at which there really were almost 2 million people present -- and let me tell you, it was a Holy Mess. Hotels, charging double or treble their usual rates, were booked weeks in advance.

Major stations on the Metro system were shut down for hours at a time. The National Guard was brought in. At least 3,000 people got stuck in a tunnel.

Essentially the entirely of the National Mall, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, was dotted with onlookers. Heaps of trash were left behind.

The entire city was basically a warzone for a period of about 20 hours, from midnight through mid-evening.

But there are no accounts of any of those sorts of things happening yesterday.

Look, kareval, if there were actually over a million people there on 9/12, it would have been obvious and with no need of speculation.

70,000 is an impressive crowd. Be content.