Another Day in the McCain-Palin Campaign
20-year-old Ashley Todd, a Texas Young Republican volunteering for McCain in Pittsburgh, searching late Wednesday night for an ATM, suddenly found herself in “the wrong part of town.” As she withdrew her cash, a tall black man – 6’4″, 200 pounds – pulled a knife on her, and robbed her of sixty bucks. Then, noticing the “McCain-Palin” sticker on her car, he flew into a rage, yelling, “Oh, you’re with McCain, the McCain campaign? I’m going to teach you a lesson.” At which point he began beating her with his hands and fists, then, bizarrely, held her down and groped her sexually while carving the letter “B” in her right cheek and muttering: “Now you’re a BARACK supporter.”
And most of us may never have heard this story if it weren’t for the uncommon courage of Matt Drudge trumpeting it in huge banner headlines at the top of his popular Drudge Report most of the day. I am re-considering my support for Obama, given the way this reflects on the character of his supporters and the beastly emotions and primeval rage Barack obviously churns up in the hearts of some Americans. And there are many who agree with me – not just our local boy Hugh Hewitt (whom you can watch opining on this in the video below) but the distinguished right-wing writers and bloggers quoted over the flip:
RedState‘s Erickson: “Josh points out in RedHot that Obama did tell his supporters to get in people’s faces. Hey! The dude was just doing what The One asked him to. Full pardon on January 21st. […] This means we cannot just blame the media. We must blame Obama too.”
Dan Riehl: “Well, I’m sure the Kos Kidz will get some real laughs out of this. Obama’s run his campaign just like a street thug out of Chicago. Now we get to see what some of his worst supporters are like. Don’t tell me — after Obama passes his welfare-like tax plan guys like this won’t be forced to rob and maim innocent people, right? Yeah, sure.”
NRO‘s Andy McCarthy: “Change, the ‘Direct Action’ Way.”
Townhall‘s Carol Platt Liebau: “Do those who stoop to engaging in violence in service of Obama’s cause really think they’re helping their candidate? Rather, they may be frightening normal voters, who won’t be eager to bring to power someone who, even unintentionally, inspires such ugly zealotry.”
Power Line‘s Hinderaker: “I don’t think for a moment that Barack Obama wants his supporters — even the muggers among them — to engage in this kind of brutality. I think he is content with financial fraud, voter fraud, and mild bullying of voters without actual physical attacks. (The physical attacks will come once the Democrats have enacted the Union Thug Empowerment Act, and they are ‘persuading’ workers to vote for unionization.) Obama condemned this felonious assault, and I am sure his condemnation was sincere. But I also think that a great many voters, some of them heretofore uncommitted, will see this incident as symbolic of a race in which every voter who has not jumped on the Obama bandwagon has been subject to various forms of harassment and bullying. Americans, generally speaking, don’t like to be bullied. This, as much as anything, explains why the McCain campaign still has a chance.”
NRO‘s Jim Geraghty: “Of course, it’s unfair to hold Obama responsible for hooligans and nut cases claiming to act in his name. But then again, for the past two weeks, we’ve seen the press holding McCain and [Sarah] Palin responsible for what a few hooligans and nut cases shout at campaign events.”
Glenn Reynolds: “This is so serious that I predict it will get almost one-tenth as much national coverage as something some guy may have yelled at a Palin rally once. […] A commenter…adds: ‘But, were it a black woman with an ‘M’ carved in her cheek, we’d be getting 24/7 coverage.’”
Erickson: “Words versus actions. How many news outlets have covered the Obama supporters trying to block Sarah Palin’s motorcade? How many news outlets covered the vandalism of Senator Norm Coleman‘s property? Compare that to how many covered the words spoken at a Palin rally that allegedly foment hostility toward Barack Obama. Today there is a new, more violent twist. A McCain supporter, a 20 year old college Republican volunteer, was savagely attacked by a Barack Obama supporter in Pennsylvania. She was at an ATM getting money. He saw the McCain sticker on her car, robbed her, and carved a ‘B’ into the side of her face. He carved her face like it was a pumpkin. […] But someone yelled ‘kill him’ at a Sarah Palin rally in reference to Bill Ayers.”
You know, it really is pretty frightening that any form of media (blog or otherwise), so ravenous for scandal, would be so gullible (read: STUPID) to report this with so many clues about this woman’s plethora of mental challenges. Seems like the backwards “B” should have struck most as the biggest red flag. Poor Ms. Todd must’ve forgotten what happens when you carve a letter into your face standing in front of a mirror. I suppose she claimed the attacker, in addition to being big, black, and an obama supporter … was dyslexic?
BTW Sarah, thanks for the new font and numbering system; much easier to read and comment!
Longboobs,
I watch a number of posting communities and I was happy to see quite a bit of restraint when it came to this story. The backwards “B” was a flag to most, however, the comments remained contained and the basic agreement was that the police would find out the truth of the matter. They did and the girl is in hot water.
There are stories out there right now linking the actual McCain campaign to leaking out the supposed event, even before the police were notified. I am not sure if that is true or has been verified…. and I am taking the same wait and see tactic. This instant media/information is a wonderful thing, but as you suggest it is best to verify the rapid fire stories that come our way.
Speaking of which, Bill Maher was good last night. Allen Raymond, the guy who went to jail for jamming the phone lines for the GOP, talked about some of the tricks they pull out at election time. Unfortunately, he didn’t get into too much detail because I s’pose he wants to sell more copies of his book. Anyway, it’s worth a watch if you get a chance.
That was actually covered in today’s Urban Dictionary Word of the Day (kind of raunchy for the sensitive reader):
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ratfuck&defid=2004746
“Politics: Formerly known as “the double-cross,” it refers to infiltration and sabotage of the opposition party, particuarly during (but not limited to) an election campaign. The second half of “All the President’s Men” describes ratfucking done to 1972 Democratic presidential candidates by employees of the Committee to Re-Elect Nixon”
Longboobs, Red, thanks for pointing out the ‘b’ but the whole story had that too-good-to-be-true, chain email stench about it anyway. Apparently spam has a redeeming value in making us immune to this b.s.
I’m not sure which is worse – the sad, unbalanced young woman who would do that to herself, or the McCain/Palin staff who pushed the story as fast and hard as they could onto the national stage.
No, wait, I guess I am sure.
“McCain/Palin staff who pushed the story as fast and hard as they could onto the national stage.”
….
Unlike, say, Joe the Plumber? Or even the Palin selection for VP?
LMAO…. it’s gotten so predictable….
I guess the two things that impressed me most were:
1. How this mentally ill, attention-starved young lady assumed that this would be precisely the stunt that would get her the most positive attention from her peers – being attacked by a big black Barack backer.
2. How quickly the morons above just assumed the whole thing was true and jumped to all kinds of nasty conclusions
It seems like the Pennsylvania branch of McCain’s operations jumped right on it too, even providing extra details for the press. That’s also being looked into.
The crazy girl was just telling the press that she blames the MEDIA for blowing the whole thing up into a “political firestorm.” But we must remember, she is only a slightly more unhinged exaggeration of a typical College Republican – the milieu that gave us Karl Rove, Jack Abramoff, and yes, Segretti’s rat-f**king.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239900.php
TIME FOR ANSWERS
It is time for the McCain campaign to come clean about what role any of its staffers may have had in hyping or pushing the press to hype the charges stemming from Ashley Todd’s vicious and reprehensible hoax.
As Greg Sargent reported yesterday, McCain Pennsylvania communications director Peter Feldman pushed reporters on a highly incendiary version of Todd’s hoax — providing reporters with quotes from the fictitious attacker and telling them the the “B” scratched on Todd’s face stood for “Barack.” As the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson aptly put it, Feldman’s actions showed “not just a willingness to believe it but an eagerness to incite a … racial backlash against the Obama campaign.”
Our reporting did not find any direct evidence that the McCain campaign’s national headquarters played a role pushing the story.
However, the national campaign has now come forward and lied about what happened in Pennsylvania. McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers has now told NBC that alleged quotes from the McCain campaign in early reports of the story were actually the product of “sloppy reporting” and that they were actually quotes from the Pittsburgh police.
This is simply not credible.
Initial reports specifically quote the McCain campaign. And at least two sources involved in the contemporaneous reporting have come forward and said on the record that the quotes came directly from the McCain campaign. To believe that two separate local news organizations made the identical mistake with the same quotes and are now both covering it up is simply not credible. But that is what Rogers is now claiming.
The McCain campaign’s after-the-fact lie about its role in this hoax makes it essential that it provide a complete and honest account of both the local and national campaign’s role. As I said above, we did not find direct evidence of the national McCain campaign pushing this story. But Gov. Palin did call Todd after the purported attack, as did Sen. McCain. And news of these calls was provided to the press.
The involvement of the candidates and specifically the release of such information — which was clearly intended to bump up interest in the story — shows some level of involvement by the national campaign.
Perhaps it is simply that the national campaign heard a staffer had been mugged and had the principals call the purported victim. One might further speculate that it was only the Pennsylvania communications director who heard about the calls and took it upon himself to push these out to the media.
Possible, but certainly a generous interpretation. And now that we see the national McCain campaign making false statements about what happened, its credibility on the whole story is simply too damaged to allow such a benefit of the doubt.
Reporters who the McCain camp cannot stonewall need to push for a clear accounting of what happened — starting by coming clean on Feldman’s role. If this were simply some other minor campaign mystery, the sort that is routinely tossed off late in a hard-fought campaign, it might not matter. But the awfulness of what was attempted here makes nothing less than a full accounting necessary.
Vern.
Ashley Todd needs some serious counseling. I would also say that her allegation should have been verified before hitting the airwaves.
That said, your closing sarcasm exposes the real Vern. I will continue to pray for you.
Brother Larry
(this should have been logged in at 12:17 PM, but because of ongoing computer glitches didn’t make it here in a timely manner)
No sarcasm intended, Brother Larry. I’m sure that, apart from her mental problems, she is completely aware of the long history of dirty tricks played by College Republicans over the last few decades – the one she came up with is right out of the old playbook.
Care to back me up, Red? I’m gonna be on the road for a bit.
Not that either party is free of dirty tricks!
True that, true that… just that some tricks are EXTRA dirty. We could just for fun have a competition on that, going thru the history of the last 40 years. Let’s not waste our time on that though till after Nov 4.
Oh, and I was speaking specifically not even of the GOP in general, but the Young Republicans or College Republicans, which gave rise to Don Segretti, Jack Abramoff, Karl Rove, and Ashley Todd.
Brother Vern. And we are to believe that the “young Democrats” are all living the clean life as it relates to this topic? Come on now. They have some great teachers on effective “strategy and tactics”, or they should.
Larry –
‘They have some great teachers on effective “strategy and tactics”, or they should.‘
Apparently, you aren’t aware of the true ineffectiveness of the Young Dems. They are a group of young people who all think they have all the answers. For many, their involvement with the YDA is their first foray into politics, but they refuse to heed to wisdom of those with more experience.
In fact, it was the first organization I joined when I moved here to OC 3 years ago and their pigheadedness is the reason I left. I get enough of that from my ex, thank you.
Of course the exceptions to the rule are Mike Lawson and Tim Steed who used the OCYDs as a springboard for their political careers, but everyone else, well…
SMS