Inflate Those Expectations!
Greg Sargent has the details of a very conveniently leaked House Democratic memo on tomorrow’s 9/12 Tea Party march on Washington.
“„A top House Dem leadership aide has emailed a memo to Dem aides on the Hill and outside liberal groups … the aide, Doug Thornell, warned in the memo that the dust-up over Joe “you lie” Wilson has been invigorating conservatives. “It looks like Saturday’s event is going to be a huge gathering, estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to 2 million people.”
It’s true that the Tea Party movement has latched onto Wilson’s outburst. It’s come up at every event I’ve covered yesterday and today. Dick Armey of FreedomWorks happily defended Wilson into reporters’ voice recorders. But 2 million people? Mary Katherine Ham is right: This is expectations-managing, a way for Democrats to dismiss the size of the rally if, say, a few hundred thousand people show up. That would be incredibly impressive, but less than 2 million.
