TPM: Dick Armey's FreedomWorks 'Tea Party' 9/12 DC rally basically a bust

9/12 Politicize 9/11 Rally Looking Like a Bust

Josh Marshall
September 12, 2010

It's looking like today's FreedomWorks "Tea Party" 9/12 event down in DC is basically a bust. Tiny crowd not only compared to last year's estimated turnout of 37 million people but even in comparison to the actual numbers of people who showed up last year. Our Evan McMorris-Santoro has live updates from the ground.

Tea Party's 9/12 Rally Looking Much, Much Smaller Than Last Year's
Evan McMorris-Santoro
September 12, 2010, 11:44AM



Do not miss this pic. It was shown LIVE on CNN: http://twitpic.com/2nuihq

At the 9/12 tea party rally in Washington.

Maybe the tea party movement has had enough of DC's endless subway delays. An hour and a half in to FreedomWorks' second day-after-9/11 megarally, 9/12/10 is no 9/12/09. The thousands of angry Americans who packed Washington during the House vote on health care reform, who poured into town on Tax Day, and who came by the busload to heed Glenn Beck's call on August 28 just haven't materialized today.

The crowd is downright tiny by comparison to those past events. Sure, there are several thousand people here. But it's nowhere near the size of last year's 9/12 crowd. If FreedomWorks wanted a repeat of last year's traffic-halting protest, so far it looks like they've failed.

Things might pick up later this afternoon, though, as this morning's hour-long prayer rally on the grounds of the Washington Monument turns into a march and then a star-studded rally at the Capitol. The weather could be a factor, too. This morning it was overcast, drizzly and just plain gross. The forecast says things are supposed to improve as we get closer to the day's 5 p.m. finale.

Diversity update: Minorities on stage? About five. Minorities spotted in the small crowd? None.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/tea-partys-912-rally-looking-much-much-smaller-than-last-years.php

Read my preview of the day's event here. And follow my live coverage throughout the day here.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/interactive/2010/09/twitter-wire.php