Hey, what's all this fuss about no one showing up at the Million Mom Assault or whatever the hell it was called?

They had plenty of notice, and I highlighted the special coverage the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the event.

Well, some corrections are indeed in order.

Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that only 3000 out of a million bothered to show! (Note that the 3000 figure is given by the Washington Post as the organizers' estimate, so it probably wasn't even that high.) And my blessed blogfather Jeff covered the story, and says there were only 2000. (I think Jeff's being generous, too.)

Well, you can't say they weren't told. The Inky told everybody, and I gave the thing an advance review in my blog. (Sure, I'm on the wrong side, but all publicity counts, right?) So what accounts for the low turnout? And what about all those cool things like the $75,000 Charlton Heston Table? The featured speaker was Jesse Jackson, whose name is a household word, and well, I think even Jackson realized some corrections were in order, because he seems to have changed the subject a little:

The day began with an interfaith service and then yielded to several hours of speakers, each taking the stage with the majesty of the Capitol as their backdrop. Jesse L. Jackson was on hand, as were a smattering of members of Congress and seemingly hundreds of people whose lives had been directly touched by gun violence.

At one point, as the crowd eased into the first verse of the spiritual "We Shall Overcome," Pamela Bailey stood silently. The Silver Spring resident said she couldn't sing, so frozen was she by memories of her lost son, Terron Coleman -- the sound of his voice, birthday cards, a greeting on Mother's Day.

"He had a right to his life," Bailey said.

Jackson, in oratory that was in equal measure political and religious, denounced the war in Iraq and drew the crowd to its feet, booming out a line that became an instant slogan: "We will remember, in November."

Did someone neglect to tell Jesse which rally he was addressing?

Later on, though, someone obviously realized that the theme had shifted to months of the year, and the war in Iraq:

Suddenly, someone in the back shouted what many seemed to be thinking: "March! March! March!"

And in November they'll remember March! Right?

That has to be it!

When I wrote my previous post, the Inquirer said it was all about the "Mothers Day March to Halt the Assault." In May! You'd think the Post could have at least gotten the name correctly. Except now it's morphed into the, um, Million Mother May I March to Halt the November Assault remember November March! Well, that's better than the non-melodic name Jeff reported from Yahoo, the "much balleyhooed Million Mom March United With the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence."

I'll say this for Jesse Jackson: he seems to be the only person attending that March to understand that there are true assault weapons (capable of fully automatic fire) somewhere -- in Iraq!

NOTE: As diligently as I could, I Googled Pamela Bailey, Silver Spring, and Terron Coleman, and could find no articles about the 2001 shooting deaths which are mentioned. If anyone can confirm that they really were victims of true assault weapons, let me know.