Glenn Beck rally will be a measure of the tea party's strength
By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 25, 2010; 9:40 PM
When Fox News and talk radio host Glenn Beck comes to Washington this weekend to headline a rally intended to "restore honor" to America, he will test the strength - and potentially expose the weaknesses - of a conservative grass-roots movement that remains an unpredictable force in the country's politics.
Beck, who is both admired and assailed for his faith-based patriotism and his brash criticism of President Obama, plans in part to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. as an American hero. He will speak on the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech, from the spot where King delivered it.
Some "tea party" activists say the event, at which former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is also scheduled to speak, will have a greater impact than last September's "9/12" march along Pennsylvania Avenue. Though the attendance figures for that anti-tax rally are disputed, it was the first national gathering to demonstrate the size and influence of the tea party movement.
But with just a few days before the Beck rally, basic questions linger, including how big it will be and whether the event, which Beck says is nonpolitical, will help or hurt Republicans in November. Also unanswered is whether Beck can pull off the connection to King without creating offense - or confrontation with another event the same day led by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
(Photos: Glenn Beck, civil rights leaders spar over MLK anniversary)
Beck said in a recent broadcast that he did not intentionally choose the "I Have a Dream" anniversary for his rally - but that he believes the coincidence is "divine providence."
"Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln," he said. "Blacks don't own Martin Luther King. Those are American icons, American ideas, and we should just talk about character, and that's really what this event is about. It's about honoring character."
The rally, which is also being billed as a tribute to U.S. troops, will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Video screens and sound towers will be positioned along the reflecting pool and as far east as the Washington Monument.
It will be a weekend of political activity, with tea party organizer FreedomWorks hosting a convention in Washington on Friday, Beck's and Sharpton's events Saturday, and a major effort by Democrats to knock on 200,000 doors nationwide Saturday and Sunday.
Beck is expecting as many as 100,000 people and is heavily promoting his event on his TV and radio shows. Sharpton expects a smaller number for an annual commemoration of the "Dream" speech. That event, which focuses on education, will begin at 11 a.m. with speeches at Dunbar High School in Northwest. It will continue with a march to the site of the planned King memorial, at the same end of the Mall as the Lincoln Memorial, placing participants of both events in close proximity. PERMALINK >>>>
Editor's notes: per the Post's formatting, we have 9 paragraphs in the first part of this article. In 6 of the 9 paragraphs, misinformation is at the heart of the thought.
You need to number the paragraphs, we leave the formatting as it appears in the original article.
1. The Post implies the possibility of exposing "weaknesses" in the grass-roots movement. Of course, these yahoo's have been forecasting this possibility since the inception of the movement, last spring ('09).
2. Beck's role in the event is not one of a "featured speaker." The Post article makes it sound as if Beck will offer up a speech to rival the wonderful speech of Dr. King. Ain't going to happen.
3. Palin IS NOT A FEATURED SPEAKER. Her role will be to introduce one or more of the six individual on a schedule that has not been revealed to the media as we write. In this paragraph, there is the implication of conflicting crowd estimates for the first 9/11 gathering. Our estimate is between 1.5 and 2 million in attendance. We posted two pictures giving evidence of this numbering. One pic is that of the 9/11 crowd in the mall between the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument, a mile away - a mall completely full of folks (perhaps 700,000, the same estimate that was attached to a similar size crowd at Obama's inauguration). The second picture is that of the crowd standing in the streets that run to the "right" of the Lincoln Memorial - a crowd that appears to be the same size or larger than the one standing in the first picture.
4. This thought reminds the reader that "questions" remain "unanswered. Questions as to the size of the event and the effect it might have on the future of GOP politics. Our response? Well, since the event has not taken place yet, OF COURSE THESE QUESTIONS REMAIN. Further, they pose the problem of pleasing the racist, Al Charlatan. . . . . a most unimportant concern.
5. The secularists at the Post have no clue as to meaning of "divine providence." Suffice it to say that divine providence is "God working in history." This paragraph will strike a cord with those who think "divine providence" is the doctrine of a fool.
6. This accurately quotes Beck.
7. The first of two paragraphs that merit reporting.
8. Ditto except this paragraph wants you to know that the Dems are hard at work, as well.
9. Here, the Post suggests that the expected crowd will be 100,000. They fail to report that Beck took out a permit for at least 300,000. Since they did not research this article, they do not know that by Monday, of this week, there were more than 1,000 buses schedule to make the trip. There were 1,900 buses that made the trip to the 700,000 Obama Inauguration.
Point of post: to set the record straight while offering a prime example of how the Marxist Media works. It is clear that the reporters never talked to Beck, did not view any of his televised programing related to the event, and embedded their Marxist bias in the reporting.
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