By now, chances are you've seen a supposed picture of last weekend's 9/12 Teabagger rally that shows, from an aerial view, a Capitol Mall choked with protesters. It's been widely circulated among right-wing blogs and news outlets. One problem: It's fake.
From the nonpartisan journalistic fact-checking organization Politifact:
"'It was an impressive crowd,' Piringer said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol the crowd 'only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,' he said. Yet the photo showed the crowd sprawling far beyond that to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets. There’s another big problem with the photograph: it doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth St. and Independence Ave. that opened on Sept. 14, 2004… That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the 'tea party' crowd from the Sept. 12 protest."
Sorry, Teabaggers -- the number according to the Washington, DC Fire Department still stands right around 70,000. A good amount of people, to be sure -- but not the two-million that Glenn Beck and his minions continue to assert.
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