Citing "a university," Glenn Beck claimed on Monday that 1.7 million people had attended the anti-reform protest in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
He couldn't remember the name of the school, for some reason. "We had a university, I think it's University of -- I don't remember which university it is -- um, look at the pictures. And you know, they can do body space and calculate, 1.7 million, that crowd was estimated."
Fox News host Gretchen Carlson pointed out that her network, like most of the press, had estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands. Beck dismissed that "official report."
In fact, the 1.7 million number was probably inspired by Michelle Malkin. The conservative blogger spread around a claim that there were two million protesters, only to blame organizer FreedomWorks for the misinformation when it was debunked by ABC News.
Even FreedomWorks has cut back its boast, saying now that only 600,000 to 800,000 people attended. D.C. police told ABC News the rally actually numbered 60,000 to 75,000. While an official estimate has not been released, the network reasonably noted that it would be impossible to confuse thousands with millions.