memeorandum: Quick Impressions of the D.C. 9/12 Protest (Matt Welch/Reason)

10:30 AM ET, September 13, 2009

Top Items:

ABC News Was Misquoted on Crowd Size — ABC News Reported D.C. Rally Size in Tens of Thousands, Not 1M to 1.5M as Activist Said. — Conservative activists, who organized a march on the U.S. Capitol today in protest of the Obama administration's health care agenda and government spending …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, Media Matters for America, Washington Monthly, Jules Crittenden, Osborne Ink, TVNewser, The Mahablog and DISSENTING JUSTICE

Daily Mail:

Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama's spending in ‘tea-party’ demonstration — Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, American Power, Another Black Conservative, QandO, Erick's blog, Stop The ACLU, Pundit & Pundette, Don Surber, Confederate Yankee, Associated Press, NewsBusters.org, Big Government, GayPatriot, Wizbang and The Rhetorican

Matt Welch / Reason:

Quick Impressions of the D.C. 9/12 Protest — I just came back from spending four-plus hours with the Don't-Tread-On-Me crowd at our nation's capitol. Expect a full Reason.tv report later, but my snap impressions: — * Big crowd. Do not believe any description that says “thousands.”

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The American Scene and New York Times

Michelle Malkin:

Yes, the picture is real, nutroots — I was offline for most of the afternoon and early evening — and just learned that the nutroots are claiming that the screenshot of the 9/12 march in D.C. that I posted — taken from a livecam of the event that I linked to here — is somehow “fake.”

Discussion: The Political Carnival, Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Freedom's Lighthouse

Think Progress:

Radical, Racist Signs Featured At 9/12 March — This morning on ABC's Good Morning America, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) embraced the protesters at today's 9/12 March in Washington, DC, saying that he was “glad they're here to take back their country.” He characterized the attendees as nonpartisan …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, At-Largely, The Politico, Climate Progress, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, The Raw Story and Washington Post

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Tea Party Patriotism — I wouldn't want to tell you that the majority of the people I saw at this morning's tea party were such hard-core patriots that they felt the need to walk around waving flags of treason and slavery: — Still it did strike me as noteworthy that your basic tea party crowd …

Discussion: TBogg, The Reality-Based Community and The Reaction

Washington Post:
Tens of Thousands Protest Obama Initiatives at Capitol

Discussion: Don Surber, NewsBusters.org, The Politico, AMERICAblog News, The BRAD BLOG, theblogprof, The Corner on National …, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, The Political Carnival and TPMCafe

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
HEADLINE: Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest …

Discussion: The Powers That Be, Chicago Boyz, Pajamas Media, The Rhetorican, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Commentary and Gateway Pundit

Michelle Malkin:
Celebrating the 9/12 rallies; Turnout estimated at 2 million; Update: How many?

Russell Goldman / ABCNEWS:
Thousands March to US Capitol to Protest Spending

Discussion: Reason, CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Right Wing Nut House, Hot Air and Verum Serum

Mark Hemingway / The Corner on National Review Online:
NRO at the 912 March — By: Mark Hemingway

Discussion: Power Line, Salon, The Rhetorican and Neptunus Lex

Kevin Drum / MoJo Blog Posts:
Quote of the Day — From Sen. Jim DeMint, commenting …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, New York Times and JammieWearingFool

Stephen Green / Pajamas Media:
They Will Be Heard [UPDATED PRETTY CONSTANTLY]

Discussion: The Other McCain, Nice Deb, capitalist coffee, Instapundit, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers, American Power, The Sundries Shack and GayPatriot

Alan Colmes' Liberaland:
The GOP Corporate Push Behind The 9/12 Teabaggers

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Think Progress, The Other McCain and At-Largely

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Boy, Oh, Boy — The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind. — Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men's club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn't.

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, NewsBusters.org, the talking dog and The Mahablog

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Obama's Squandered Summer — THE day before he gave his latest brilliant speech, Barack Obama repeated a well-worn mantra to a television interviewer: “My job is not to be distracted by the 24-hour news cycle.” The time has come for him to expand that job description.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Ronald Bailey / Reason:

Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died — Norman Borlaug, the man who saved more human lives than anyone else in history, has died at age 95. Borlaug was the Father of the Green Revolution, the dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity that swept the globe in the 1960s.

Discussion: Power Line, The Agitator, Moe Lane and The American Mind

Justin Gillis / New York Times:
Norman Borlaug, 95, Dies; Led Green Revolution

Discussion: Cafe Hayek

Mark J. Konkol / Chicago Sun Times:

Key Blagojevich adviser Christopher Kelly dead — The man federal prosecutors pressured to cooperate in the corruption probe of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich died of an apparent aspirin overdose on Saturday, law enforcement sources said. — Christopher Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Newsdesk / Clout St:
Christopher Kelly, key figure in Blagojevich corruption probe, is dead

Discussion: Associated Press, TalkLeft and Pajamas Media

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

U.S. to Expand Review of Detainees in Afghan Prison — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration soon plans to issue new guidelines aimed at giving the hundreds of prisoners at an American detention center in Afghanistan significantly more ability to challenge their custody, Pentagon officials and detainee advocates say.

Discussion: ATTACKERMAN

Washington Post: New Review System Will Give Afghan Prisoners More Rights

Tyler Cowen / New York Times:

Where Politics Don't Belong — FOR years now, many businesses and individuals in the United States have been relying on the power of government, rather than competition in the marketplace, to increase their wealth. This is politicization of the economy. It made the financial crisis much worse, and the trend is accelerating.

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, The Big Picture and EconLog

CNN:

Rep. Kline to Obama: ‘start from scratch’ on health care — WASHINGTON (CNN)—Congressman John Kline urged President Obama to take the proposed health care bill off the table Saturday and “start from scratch,” if he wants a bill passed anytime soon. — “There are things we can agree on …

Discussion: Washington Monthly