CNN: "Smaller-than-expected gathering follows anti-war protest"

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/25/war.rally.ap/

Defenders of Iraq war counter-rally
Smaller-than-expected gathering follows anti-war protest

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Support for U.S. troops fighting abroad mixed with anger toward anti-war demonstrators at home as hundreds of people, far fewer than organizers had expected, rallied Sunday on the National Mall just a day after tens of thousands protested against the war in Iraq.

"No matter what your ideals are, our sons and daughters are fighting for our freedom," said Marilyn Faatz, who drove from New Jersey to attend the rally. "We are making a mockery out of this. And we need to stand united, but we are not."

About 400 people gathered near a stage on an eastern segment of the mall, a large patchwork American flag serving as a backdrop. Amid banners and signs proclaiming support for U.S. troops, several speakers hailed the effort to bring democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and denounced those who protest it.



Supporters and detractors of the war in Iraq line opposite sides of a Washington street Sunday.

[mzmolly]

1. "Freedom is not Murder"

Looks like about 10 guys showed up.

[Poiuyt]

2. Tens of thousands??

I heard 500,000 people were at the protest.

[lakeguy]

4. well, you didn't hear it in the msm so it isn't true!

[Poiuyt]

12. I heard it on C-Span. Isn't that considered MSM?

[sexybomber]

15. Yeah, I heard half a million too

[politick]

34. I'm not qualified to estimate

but, having been there, I will anyway. My group was at the bottom third of the march, and it took us a good half hour to get moving, so jammed were the streets. And we were shoulder to shoulder, ass to elbow. It's no joke.

When we got to the intersection of 15th and Pennsylvania, we saw throngs of people as thick and as long as we were, across the avenues. There was no end to their mass. They were at the last third, we at the first, of the march route. We cheered and whistled to each other, and it was a feeling quite unlike anything I've ever experienced. But judging just from that, I would imagine it would take at least 200 thousand people to fill up that much real estate over that kind of distance. No way was it 100 thousand. Even the police said we probably exceeded 150 thousand (I read in the Post the chief said they didn't care the number, so long as it was peaceful. They did not dispute organizers' numbers (300K) which, for once, I would not say was an exaggeration.)

Now, when you try to tell the difference between 300K and half a million, your guess is as good as mine.

[FRmd2576]

3. Beautiful!

Proof that Freedom Of Speech can be a glorious thing.

[tanyev]

5. I agree with Marilyn Faatz.

They are making a mockery out of this.

[Botany]

6. Stop lying

< About 400 people .....>

100 if they were lucky .....

[FightingIrish]

7. "Smaller than expected" is the message the troops will get.

[alarcojon]

8. Ha ha

our "focus group" was at least five hundred times bigger than theirs! Add to that all the solidarity gatherings across the nation, and we see who is more passionate about their position.

[XanaDUer]

9. "Arrest the traitors"?

That pretty much says it all. :eyes:

[WePurrsevere]

36. They want the traitors arrested? How odd, I thought...

Freepers LIKED Bush, Rove, etc? :shrug:


;)

[Liberal In Texas]

10. 400? They were counting people twice or three times then.

Counting passers-by who wandered in to see what the noise was about.

In the video you could see many people just standing there when the few faithful were obediently applauding some talking point.

[Scurrilous]

13. The passers-by...

...probably wondered who's funereal it was.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

22. LOL! n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. So tell me...

How are the numbers of cocky-ass, snot-nosed Freeper/Protest Juvenile posters running today? Things pretty quiet?

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

26. Protest Whorriors = Chickens for Frank Perdue.

I just want to go up to them and say "You know, I was once young and dumb like you. I supported HWB like a chump. But then I read. And progressed. And found out that the Bushes aren't real conservatives, they're just corporate gatekeepers. Get a Brian. Morans."

[iconoclastic cat]

14. How are troops in Iraq fighting for my freedom, exactly?

I don't understand that logic.

[HughBeaumont]

28. Don'tcha know??

ARMIES of Iraqis are going to come by the PLANEload, destroy the National Archive, overtake our Glorious Media, enslave us in Gulags, slaughter the intellectuals and create Year Zero all OVER again!! Just you wait!! Pacifism is the first step to that eventuality!!

:silly:

[dsewell]

16. "Hundreds, not thousands"

Headline on CNN.com right now:



The organizers forgot the Bush presidential campaign lesson: lower those expectations! They should have announced beforehand that they were expecting a few of their neighbors and maybe a brother-in-law or two, so that today they could have proclaimed victory.

[stlsaxman]

17. There's no doubt about THIS statement-

"We are making a mockery out of this. And we need to stand united, but we are not."

Yes, the sure are making a mockery of "Support The Troops" AND they are NOT standing united with ANYBODY.

[pinkpops]

18. Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, told the crowd. "

"I frankly don't know what they represent, other than to blame America first."

That guy is such an A-hole.

[Arugula Latte]

38. I do blame America first for bombing the crap out of innocent

people -- nobody else slaughtered them with such a massive show of force, Jeff Boy.

[damntexdem]

19. I saw a minute or two of the rally on CSPAN:

whereas yesterday, the cameras shot at the speaker, with an angle that made it look like the hundreds of thousands weren't there -- today they shot from BEHIND the speaker, onto the 'crowd' of hundreds, making them appear to be many more. And this is the BEST coverage any of this got.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. Video....here's the video of the pathetic pro-war rally.....funny

http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/ProWarRallysep2505.wmv

look who showed up

[dweller]

24. Bianca?

:evilgrin:

dp

[WritingIsMyReligion]

25. ROFLMAO n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

33. Gannon was there?

That's not surprising being that his bodyguard Kristinn was there.:-)

[WearyOne]

21. "fighting for our freedom," ..uh ?..from who ?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

23. Any smaller and they could have been mistaken for a tour group

sightseeing in the Capital.

[justgamma]

27. "Freedom isn't free"

Of course it is! Shrub gave lowered my taxes. Now I can buy an extra loaf of bread a week. Don't ask me for anymore money.



:sarcasm:

This one seems to have it nailed.

" "We are making a mockery out of this."

[ComerPerro]

29. If freedom isn't free, how come that douchebag with the sign isn't in Iraq

fighting for our freedom?

[illflem]

30. The reason the count was off

is that many of the freepers in attendance had two heads

[NightOwwl]

32. Hahaha!

:rofl:

[symbolman]

31. Don't the freepers realise that by showing up in few numbers

that they are demoralizing the troops in Iraq/Afghanistan?

Seriously, how do the troops feel when these guys claim they are supporting them and then only a few hundred show up?

Get your act together freeps, YOU are demoralizing the troops by not making the sacrifice to even SHOW UP at anti war rallies.

Shame.

[Arugula Latte]

35. Why should we stand united with a president who we did not elect

who wages a war we never supported for a cause we know to be based upon lies?

[tularetom]

37. I'm tired of this support the troops bullshit

If you support the troops so fuckin much, go be a troop or else stfu.

[Piperay]

39. Actually that is pretty good

considering they are getting what they want without making a fuss but they can still get out people to come in not to protest but to support. I wish that the democratic side had done that kind of thing when Clinton was in to continually support everything he did maybe if our side had we would not be in such a mess now.