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The BecKKK hate fest people started over-estimating before it happened and it only got more ridiculous with time. You know the teabagger meme is going to be that Stewart/Colbert were a failure because they only got a handful of people. Hell, they even made a joke of that AT the rally when they had two guys in the crowd interviewing "Kevin" and the one guy said it was a "pretty sparse crowd". The "groundswell" thing they did near the beginning (with Mythbusters) when they had everyone jump at once was clearly more than a seismic wave test.
It isn't about the "numbers game", but about the power behind the event. If you haven't watched it, do so. It was a profoundly diverse crowd and they were all pushing positive energy. That beats the hell out of the scattered group of nearly all white (disclosure: I'm white) fascists and simpletons BecKKK attracted. I only believe the 87,000 number because the estimate came from the same source that did the scientifically based estimate of this crowd using helium balloon-mounted cameras and computer analysis of the images. The BecKKK hate fest certainly looked a lot smaller than that.
Your reply is exactly on target - "We are not robotic morons that get schlepped around by astroturf groups backed by rich, evil men." If nothing else, that's what this rally proved - well, and that Stewart and Colbert can get some KICK-ASS musical performers.
But I will argue with one point you made: we are not the last of our breed, not now and not "for a while". I've got three daughters (15, 17, and 19) that are part of the next wave of Americans who will fight for what the country is really founded upon, and they are not at all alone in their peer groups. We live in a fairly red part of PA (not heavily, but fairly) and their generation is pretty well equipped to take over from us.
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