Controversial crowd count
Re “Can you count the Capitol protesters?” Sept. 15
Your article’s readiness to give validity to suspect sources for the high estimates is troubling.
Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union and Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, the sponsoring groups, have an incentive to inflate the numbers. The consensus among local officials and media outlets is that the crowd was well under 100,000.
Do estimates vary wildly? Sure. But someone who doesn’t read the entire article will have the impression that the various estimates are all equally legitimate.
To give Sepp’s and Brandon’s estimates the same weight as that of the District of Columbia Fire Department, a university professor and countless media outlets is mind-boggling.
Karlos Garcia
Chula Vista
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It should be no problem to count the Capitol “protesters.”
Simply total up all the guests who have ever appeared on Jerry Springer’s show.
David Bernstein
Studio City
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