Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s congressional delegate, failed to show up at a MoveOn.org rally on Tuesday afternoon as the left-wing organization attempted to stage a protest at the Social Security Administration headquarters in Washington, D.C. Organizers at the event, who would not provide their names to The Daily Caller upon request, said Holmes Norton was stuck speaking on the House floor. Holmes Norton does not have a vote in the House, only an opportunity to make recommendations.
Holmes Norton wasn’t the only person missing at MoveOn.org’s DC rally. The crowds of people MoveOn.org claims to have as followers didn’t make it out either. Maybe 30 people showed up – and that’s a generous estimate.
The event was part of MoveOn.org’s attempt to “Reclaim the American Dream,” or stop Republicans from balancing the budget. “Republicans in Congress are holding the middle class hostage—proposing a federal budget that would would [sic] cut 700,000 to 1 million jobs from our communities and slash funding to support preschool and college students, pregnant women, unemployed workers, and much more,” the leftwing organization funded by billionaire George Soros says on its website.
Some of the chants organizers led included, “We are Wisconsin,” (even though nobody there was from Wisconsin – the leaders asked each person where they’re from), “Social Security works,” “Repeal the Bush tax cuts,” and “We Want Jobs.” No speaker offered any recommendation on how to fix the economy or fix any of the budgetary issues with Social Security, though they did say that Social Security is not causing problems for the nation’s budget.
Eric Kingson, a professor at Syracuse University and the co-director of left-wing group Social Security Works, told TheDC the reason for the rally was to “point out that there are many Americans who care about both protecting Social Security and maintaining fundamental rights, like the right to collectively bargain.” Kingson said the $1.7 billion in proposed cuts to Social Security would be detrimental to those currently on it, as it acts as a safety net for people who need help and for retired people.
“The President’s budget already called for more resources to bring more people in to help with the backlogs and some of the slowdowns,” Kingson said. “The $1.7 billion proposed pulling out of resources of Social Security would slow down and lead to delays and probably lead to some office closings. It would probably also lead to some layoffs of workers and probably increase the backlog significantly.”
MoveOn.org claims to have held more than 250 such events all across the country with more than 18,000 people showing up. That means they’d need to have had more than 65 people at each event to hit their estimate.
The Utica Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York, reported that “about 25” people showed up at their local rally. MyCentralJersey.com reported that “about 50” people showed up in Somerville, New Jersey, for the local rally. Cincinatti.com reported that MoveOn.org attracted “about two dozen people,” to the Mason, Ohio, rally.
UPDATE 9:21 a.m.:
Charlotte, North Carolina, Tea Partiers report to TheDC that about 25 MoveOn.org supporters showed up at a rally in their city, but they staged a counter rally. According to their website, the Tea Party ralliers outnumbered the MoveOn.org supporters at least two to one, if not three to one. Tea Partier Tracy Bengson told TheDC that the MoveOn.org supporters could not be seen from the street and the MoveOn.org organizer discouraged them from interacting with the Tea Party counter rally.
WATCH: Video of MoveOn.org rally in Charlotte, North Carolina:
See a news report of a MoveOn.org local rally’s size? Send it to matthew@dailycaller.com or tweet it to @mboyle1.