FINALLY, SOME PHOTOS from the 9/12 Tea Party rally on the Capitol steps in Washington. The rally assembled on the Ellipse in front of the White House, and marched down Pennsylvana Avenue to the Capitol steps where the speeches took place.

Most of the pictures shown below were taken during the march down Pennsylvania Avenue and early during the rally itself. The posters were pointed, often sarcastic, but I saw none that I would consider beyond the pale. I think I would characterize most of them as neither pro-Republican or anti-Democrat, but of the "Dammit, listen to me!" variety.

On another blog I read recently, it was argued that the people are telling their congresscritters in no uncertain terms that "You represent me to Washington DC; you do not represent Washington DC to me." I believe that's a fair characterization.

"Recovery summer" is now "Recovery Fall" ....


The "You're Fired" poster - and its variants - was very popular.


This is representative of the "listen to me" posters.

Separation of wallet and State - one of many economic-themed posters.

West Virginia's coal miners cheering on the rally marchers.


No Apology ... there is a significant undercurrent of disgust at the President's apparent lack of patriotism.


No child left behind a dime.


Shovel ready. I expected more of this, but the rally emphasis this time was clearly on the economy and jobs.


Sarcastic - and smart.


There were many of these ... if number of signs mean anything, the 2010 mid-terms will be a Democratic rout.


Nice play on the "rich Republican" meme the Democrats keep trying to reinforce.


Too obvious for the nuanced Democrat mind.


Nice play on the "What's in your wallet?" commercials.


This one I have to disagree with - in my view, "NO" is the politically incorrect N-word.

Some final observations: the rally size was over 10,000; under 100,000; probably on the close order of 30,000-50,000. Moving with the march, it was hard to get a sense of the totals, but the route along Pennsylvania Avenue is something over a mile, and I'd say the march was the entire length of the route, 6-8 abreast, at a 3 foot interval. Say 12 to 16 thousand; then double that to account for the watchers and early and late arrivals.

I've been waiting for the 9/12 Metro ridership reports; doubling the excess riders seems to be a good surrogate for attendance at previous rallies I've attended.

As usual, attendees were largely middle-aged and white, although there was a significantly higher percentage of minorities this time as compared to earlier rallies. And as usual, the crowd was very well-behaved.

Reason's video summarizes the Tea Party rally quite well. Link is from Instapundit.