Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Alex G]

even Michelle Malkin, who was one of the first to repeat the lie later corrected it... the true number of lunatics was more like 60-70,000


http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/12/celebrating-the-912-rallies/
Late update: The misattribution to ABC News came from Freedomworks:

Conservative activists, who organized a march on the U.S. Capitol today in protest of the Obama administration’s health care agenda and government spending, erroneously attributed reports on the size of the crowds to ABC News.

Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the group that organized the event, said on stage at the rally that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.

At no time did ABC News, or its affiliates, report a number anywhere near as large. ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department. In its reports, ABC News Radio described the crowd as “tens of thousands.”

Brendan Steinhauser, spokesman for FreedomWorks, said he did not know why Kibbe cited ABC News as a source.

As a result of Kibbe’s erroneous attribution, several bloggers and commenters repeated the misinformation.

Thanks to ABC News for clearing this up.