I attended the march today. The turnout and the atmosphere was amazing. There's not yet an official attendance estimate, but several news outlets have put it between 1.2 to 2 million. This was a huge event and I thought it deserved it's own thread.

Here's a good overheard shot of the crowd I found, just to give you an idea of how many people were there.




Tea party activists rally at U.S. Capitol

Story Highlights
Conservative tour concludes with rally outside halls of Congress
A major theme is a call for smaller government, reduced federal spending
Strong opposition to health care reform is a key rallying point
Movement is conservative but nonpartisan, organizer says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On the final stop of the Tea Party Express, activists marched to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday to protest health care reform, higher taxes and what they see as out-of-control government spending.

The conservative advocacy group began its tour in Sacramento, California, and made its way across the country, hosting rallies in about 30 cities. Washington is the final destination.

Demonstrators gathered on the west side of the Capitol on Saturday and the crowd stretched for blocks

At each stop, the tour highlighted members of Congress "who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses," according to the Tea Party Express Web site.

One woman at the rally summed up her feelings about issues this way: "It's too much too fast." Watch crowds stream into Washington »

A major theme of the rally was the push for less government.

"The government should be doing things that are authorized by the Constitution; they should be doing things that the people want, not things that they just decide are nifty," one demonstrator said. "We can't afford these things anymore.

"The government should be concentrating on cutting spending on all the programs, not thinking of new, wonderful ways of spending more. ... I've voted my whole life. This is the first time in my life I've gotten off the couch and said, 'I'm sick of this. It's only three hours away, and I'm going to be there.'"

Another man said, "We're here to let the government know that we do not want government involvement in our health care, nor do we want the higher taxation that comes along with such a proposal."

Several speakers were to address the crowd throughout the afternoon, with events at the Capitol wrapping up about 4 p.m.

The tea party movement gained momentum this year; several parties were held across the country this summer to protest President Obama and the Democrats' economic stimulus plans, among other things. iReport.com: iReporters trade barbs

On July 4, nearly 2,000 advocates, toting signs and chanting slogans, rallied outside Congress. Activists said the TEA Party Day -- an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already" -- was in response to runaway government spending. But now, the focus is on health care reform, an issue that has prompted a more encompassing debate.

"What brought everything together was the Obamacare idea, which contains every odiferous objection," Tea Party Express organizer Mark Williams said in August.

Although the Tea Party Express tour was funded by Our Country Deserves Better, a conservative political action committee, Williams said his organization is nonpartisan and that the rallies are not aimed at one politician over another, namely Obama. iReport.com: Images from the rally

"This is not people upset over one particular politician or one particular party," Williams has said. "In fact, if you ask the Republicans in the crowd, you'll find they are just as upset at their party as they are at the Democrats."

Members of conservative groups such as FreedomWorks, run by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Campaign Liberty and the Institute for Liberty also were expected to participate in Saturday's rally.

CNN's Rachel Streitfeld contributed to this report.

"news outlets"

And what % of that crowd hates Jews, blacks, gays, and mexicans.

"I'm not really a racist..."

I really like that there's that many people concerned about government spending, I just wish they would have shown the same concern when Bush was president.

I actually saw several African Americans, Hispanics, Asians....people of all walks of life. Can't say whether or not many were Jews or Gay, since that's a little tough to identify just by sight alone.

Everyone should be concerned about government spending. That's not in dispute.

Me too. If only more people were paying attention when Bush got the ball rolling, then perhaps things wouldn't be so out of control now.

I'm sure there were plenty of African Americans there. They probably just had their own separate rallying area.

Why is that laughable? I was there; I think that number may be pretty close. It was shoulder to shoulder people for a two mile stretch.

Where's MacArthur when you need him?

Nah, they were probably government employees

Not at all, they were there rallying right alongside everyone else. In fact, to my surprise I didn't see any opposition protests the entire day. I had heard that ACORN would have people there, but I never saw anyone rallying but fellow Tea Party goers.

I wouldn't doubt there were 10s of thousands...but millions?

isn't that cute

G_V: Look, if you don't agree with the Tea Party movement that's one thing....but trying to marginalize the impact by posting false information is just plain wrong. That photo could not have been taken at noon. The march was scheduled to begin at 11:30 am down Pennsylvania Ave, but had to be started around 10:30 am because Freedom Plaza was over capacity. I personally reached the Capitol by 11:45 am; and by that time the area in front of the Capitol was filled entirely and people still stretched down Pennsylvania Ave for about a mile.

I heard Rage Against the Machine were making an appearance.

Of course you'd believe a hateful cunt like Michelle Malkin.

This "movement" is a sham. It's mostly the same bigots who put people like George W Bush into power.

by msblucow
Only 1.5%-5% of estimated crowd shows for DC tea-bagger rally
Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 03:50:42 PM PDT

OK, I'm going to make this short and sweet.

Although no "official" estimates are being offered by the National Park Service, the news media is reporting "tens of thousands" of protesters marched down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol building this afternoon, protesting everything from health care reform to the very existence of the federal government.

As late as yesterday afternoon, organizers of the event expected upwards of a million. But street level reports from protestors themselves put crowd estimates anywhere from 15K-50K, meaning only about %1.5-%5 of the estimated crowd actually showed for today's event.

Event organizers had been planning the march for six months.

To give this some perspective, with only 6 days notice, President Obama's healthcare rally in Minnesota drew capacity crowds. of 15,000+

Enough said.

I can't get the "Parasite-In-Chief" one to show.

Classy.

I would love to imagine that the march were packed with criticial thinkers libertarians, but it seems mostly made of rednecks saying "obama is a nazi commie!"