Who's Lying Now?

Lots of lying from the fringe about the size of yesterday's Rally of the Misinformed in Washington.

From Salon.com:

"You have redefined gridlock in Washington, D.C.," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told the crowd gathered in front of the Capitol on Saturday for a rally that was part Tea Party and part Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project. The reference was to the highways around the nation's capital, which Blackburn said she'd heard had been closed due to the 1.5 million people who'd come out for the demonstration.

Crowd size estimates like the one Blackburn gave were flying around all day on Saturday. Some said they heard 1.2 million, others 1.6 million; conservative blogger Michelle Malkin said in one post that ABC News had estimated the attendance at 2 million.

Malkin was wrong -- ABC had never reported anything like that. In her own way, Blackburn was wrong, too. So were all the others. They weren't even in the ballpark, which most news outlets estimated in the tens of thousands and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services said, unofficially, was somewhere between 60,000 and 75,000 people.

That first screenshot above is of ABC News' Yunji di Nies' Twitter page, in which she refutes the eternally-shrieking Malkin's bogus claims.

The second is from D.C.'s Fire and Emergency Medical Services.

And the third is from Malkin's own blog, where she blames her lies on event organizers and Astroturf-masters Freedomworks.

(As usual, nice "fact-checking," Ms. Goebbels.)

If you're looking for truth and accuracy from Michelle Malkin or her fellow propagandists, look someplace else.

Reactionary Parents To Impressionable Children: 'Don't Stay In School.'

Here are President Obama's prepared remarks for tomorrow's Back to School event. Of course, some drooling Neanderthals--the type taking their marching orders from talk radio and Teabag TV--are planning to keep their kids out of school because they think Obama will be planting socialist seeds in the minds of their snot-nosed brats.

Their breeding is fundamentalist.

Caught On Tape: 15 Yammering Idiots Protest David Letterman.

In an earlier post, I gave the idiots protesting David Letterman's Palin jokes way too much credit.

50 protesters? Nope; 15...

From CNN:

A crowd of 15 protesters upset with the late night comic held signs and occasionally shouted as they stood across the street from Letterman's studio.

But they were often hidden from view by the more than 35 members of the media there to cover the protest, and out-shouted by a few very vocal counter-protesters.

From Danny Shea on HuffPo:

New York Magazine videographer Jonah Green was one of those press members, and he captured a disturbing video of several of those protesters in hate-filled rants against the CBS "Late Show" host.

Among the more alarming lines of attack -- particularly given that the rally was held because Letterman supposedly made a joke about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Willow -- was that Letterman's son Harry was born out of wedlock (he recently wed Regina Lasko after dating for over a decade).

"Should we talk about his son?" one protester asked Green. "I believe his son was born out of wedlock. I believe there's a term for that."

"Is someone making jokes about his child?" asked another. "Especially, you know, when he had a daughter out of wedlock himself" (he didn't; 5-year-old Harry is his only child).

"How dare he?" asked yet a third, the most offensive of all. "When he has a bastard son, and a slut for a wife" (Letterman's wife Lasko has kept a notoriously low profile)

It should be noted that Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol gave birth to baby Tripp (out-of-wedlock) in December and broke up with the baby's father, Levi Johnston, in March:

(Editor's note: I told you the protesters were most likely nutbag teabagger-types looking for something to do...):

Other conservative talking points thrown around at the rally included, "Close the borders!" and "I only watch Fox News," as well as the general sentiment that Jay Leno is a better host than Letterman.

Letterman Protest Fizzles; Dave Beats Conan By 700,000 Viewers.

FireDavidLetterman.com and crackpot radio douche John Ziegler really know how to stage a protest!

50 people showed up--in New York City!

Were New York's Finest on horseback, outfitted in riot gear?

From the New York Daily News:

An apology from David Letterman was good enough for Sarah Palin - but not for protesters who demanded the late night host's dismissal Tuesday at a Broadway demonstration.

"Fire Dave! Fire Dave!" the crowd of about 50 protesters chanted as Letterman fans filtered into the Ed Sullivan Theater for the show's taping.

The demonstration came hours after Palin accepted Letterman's Monday night apology for what he described as "a bad joke ... a joke that was beyond flawed."

The governor released a statement saying she accepted the mea culpa "on behalf of all young women, like my daughters, who hope men who 'joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve."

(Editor's note: did this evangelical media junkie really use the world, "evolve?" So she doesn't believe that Dave was "intelligently designed," after all.)

Letterman sparked the controversy with a crack about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium last week. The one-time GOP vice-presidential candidate attended the game with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

Letterman - who initially said he was referring to 18-year-old Bristol Palin- said the teen "was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez" during the seventh inning.

Bristol Palin became a single mom in December when she delivered son Tripp.

And Sarah Palin became a national laughingstock in late August, when John McCain picked her as his running mate.

UPDATE: A Shout Out To UPS.

Great news from The Big Brown Machine.

UPS has pulled its advertising from The O'Reilly Factor thanks to a grass-roots protest led by ThinkProgress.org: 

Click here if you are unfamiliar with the details.
Tell O'Reilly's other corporate sponsors that you are sick of his act here.

Dirty Dozen (UPDATE.)

I blogged about Bill O'Reilly's ambush tactics yesterday, and ThinkProgress.org's campaign to hold his Dirty Dozen enabling corporate advertiser's feet to the fire.

Here's an update from ThinkProgress editor Faiz Shakir: 

Hi, I wanted to update you on our Stop The O'Reilly Harassment Machine campaign.

After day 1 of our campaign, we had over 3,000 people take action against O'Reilly's corporate advertisers. Yesterday, we doubled that number. Well over 6,000 concerned citizens have taken action, urging O'Reilly's sponsors to issue a clear statement expressing their opposition to the Fox News host's "ambush journalism" tactics.

O'Reilly's advertisers are responding to our concerns. Yesterday, UPS told us that it "values and takes seriously" the emails they've received, adding that they are investigating whether to continue supporting The Factor. Capital One told us they "regret" O'Reilly's offensive tactics and do not endorse his "views/opinions."

Please keep the heat on! Keep taking action and let your friends know about the campaign:

http://thinkprogress.org/stop-oreilly-harassment/

Last night, ThinkProgress deputy editor Amanda Terkel appeared on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. (Watch the video here.) Amanda explained our campaign: "What we're trying to do is just let advertisers know what their dollars are funding. Their dollars are funding this type of harassment. And we want statements - do they agree with this or do they not agree with this? And hopefully that message will get back to Bill O'Reilly."

Please help us by doing your part. Take action again and let your friends know about the campaign.