Just how many "more than 1000 people" were there? – UPDATED

This might seem like small potatoes, but it comes down – again – to the press reporting one way for one candidate (“a crowd of 75,000″ comes out for Obama, but no mention of the free concert that went with his appearance) and another way (“more than 1000” people come out for McCain in Cedarberg, WI – but people who were there say more like 12,000) for another.

It is true that 12,000 is “more than 1,000.”

One paper reported the crowd to be “hundreds.” But you can’t find that page, anymore.

The thing is, the press can play this game all they want. All they do is destroy their own credibility; they don’t change those numbers. Lying about facts does not change the facts.

In fact, all the press is managing to do at this point, besides destroying themselves and hurting their candidate, is to really piss off the audience they need in order to continue to work and sell ads for, you know, revenue.

Althouse has pictures and comments from some of the “more than 1,000 people” who were there in Cedarsburg, WI, which may someday seem like the Fort Sumter of this election. Or maybe we say, Cedarberg, WI is where the Media has met its Waterloo?

Slightly O/T UPDATE: When a Flag is More Than a Prop then Boy Scouts rescue them and bring them to the GOP. It’s almost a working metaphor for the recent trajectory of these campaigns, isn’t it? And once again, Campaign ’08 is coming down to authenticity.

Ed Morrissey: The SANEST take on the flags and the Obama response – which they could have handled better.

Gabriel Malor writes:

I was floored yesterday at a lunch when somebody countered the WaPo’s lie that Palin slashed funding for teen pregnancy centers. To my knowledge, the WaPo hasn’t retracted or corrected that story, but this person knew the truth anyway and confidently straightened out some other folks at the table.

Yes, it’s anecdotal, but I sense a sea-change. A tipping point has been reached.

More: Crowds Turn Out for Palin, McCain. “Crowds.”

Also, just for fun, the bogus list of “books Sarah Palin tried to ban and the disappearance of that page from the Obama site.

Yeah, they’re just making crap up, as they go along, now – throwing everything they have at Palin, and hoping something sticks. But Obama says, “you can’t just make stuff up”. Hmm.

Related: (much H/T/ Larwyn)
Curl: The McCain Plane is Suddenly Full
Suber: What does Palin Owe the Press?
Kristol: Thanks, Guys; The Press Attacks on Palin Backfire (Superbly snarky must read!)
Ace: Relentlessly Bullying Obama, aka “Candace”
Palin’s Radio Address: Full Text
Ed Morrissey: is playing the card again
The Hurricane: “of elite rage”
JOM: The Smell of Fear
Small Dead Animals: It’s not the women, it’s the men!
Obama’s Leadership: Orders not being followed!
Alaskans: Fed Up With the Press
The Politics of Personal Destruction: Remember when that was a bad thing?
Sundries Shack
Cedarberg has a population of about 10,000
Link to slideshow
More Flag Discovery