A right-wing rally to honour the US military drew tens of thousands of supporters to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday - just two months ahead of key congressional elections.
The rally - organised by conservative TV pundit Glenn Beck and addressed by Republican politician Sarah Palin - is seen as a show of strength by the so-called Tea Party movement, who argue for low-taxes and small government and are vehemently opposed to the administration of President Barack Obama.
Palin, a vice-presidential candidate in 2008 who may run for president in 2012, told the crowd, "We must restore America's honour." The timing of the rally on the National Mall - the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream... " speech - was widely-criticised as an attempt to commandeer King's liberal anti- racist vision for the Tea Party movement.
Critics of Beck point out that he has called Obama a "racist" and compared Obama's administration to "The Planet of the Apes." A crowd of largely African-Americans organised a separate demonstration in Washington, that will end at the site of the soon- to-be built Martin Luther King Jr memorial, just a stone's throw from Beck's rally.
"If we hadn't elected a black president, do you think they would be doing this today?" asked Joyce White, a counter-protestor quoted by the Washington Post.
Ben Jealous, head of the civil rights organisation NAACP, recalled at the counter-rally being at Obama's inauguration in January 2009 which packed the Washington mall with more than 1 million people.
Then, referring to Beck and the Tea Party movement, he added: "For a year and a half we have been subjected to small hearts and small minds on our small screens."
Beck has argued that his rally is not political, but merely a way of honouring US troops. She worries about taxes and government interference in the affairs of individuals - major issues for the Tea party, along with the newly-passed health insurance reform measure.
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