Do The Math

Howie the Putz proudly polishes his diploma from the Donnie Luskin School of applied Innumeracy:

Excelsior Springs, Mo.: Hi Howard --

Yesterday CNN aired all through the afternoon that war supporters had 20,000 people show up for their rally. This was hours after the actual number of 400-500 people was reported by Associated Press and other news services including The Washington Post. At 3:40 p.m. eastern, Renae San Miguel said on CNN headline news -- "About 20,000 showed up in Washington today to voice support the Iraq war". This was a bold faced lie that mislead anyone watching. My question is how long can the media continue to do the right wings bidding before the nation realizes you are a mouthpiece for the administration?

Howard Kurtz: I think you're underestimating the difficulty of doing crowd estimates. The Post and other news outlets had the same problem at the antiwar demonstration the day before, when estimates like 100,000 and higher were floating around but the D.C. police chief refused to provide an official estimate.

Yes, it's hard to tell the difference between 400 people and 20,000. Almost as difficult as telling the difference between Kurtz and a journalist.