Go Ahead, Ed

While people from both sides of the political spectrum spat at each other regarding how many people attended Glenn Beck’s event in Washington this past weekend (numbers seem to range between 1,000 and 17 kagillion), I wanted to focus on another set of numbers – a set that is a little more quantifiable.

It seems that Ed Schultz at MSdNC is absolutely certain he could draw a larger crowd if he so desired:

“I could get every union head in this country, I could organize every progressive group in this country, the main bloggers. This could be The Ed March. Folks, 300,000 people on the heels of six months’ promotion, that ain’t no big shakes!

Six months’ promotion, NBC News says 300,000 people. I bet I could do that! I bet I could do that with this radio show and my TV show and six months’ production, six months’ promotion, if I had the budget I could equal that march. I know I could!

I guarantee you, I could do more than 300,000! It ain’t a big deal!”

Aww, isn’t that just so sweet? It harkens back to my days of youth, remembering the kid who didn’t win the science fair proclaiming that the victor’s trophy wasn’t any big deal anyway.

So Schultz calls the number 300,000. Fine (sounds a little high to me, but okey-dokey, then). Juxtapose that number with these numbers captured from Drudge tonight:

One will note Beck’s viewership at 2,600,000. 300,000 divided by his current viewing audience yields an 11.5% attendance. Now note Schultzie’s 699,000. Do the math. If Ed really thinks he inspires his viewing audience to the tune of nearly 43%, especially when Beck uses faith in God as his call to action, then I might suggest some therapy for the man. Considering recent allegations of his behavior as of late (due to not being important enough to be used in an MSdNC promo spot), this suggestion might be overdue…

Just the same, I’d love to see it. You can do it in six months, Ed? Cool – have at it. We’ll wait. And watch.