by Teh Nutroots | Bill Kav said earlier that calmer coverage of the alleged disfigurement incident would be a good thing. The brave "citizen journalists of the right" who trumpeted the story---visibly eager for it to be true in order to "prove" Christ knows what about Obama---are now having to back and fill. They're probably wishing they'd adopted some of the circumspection our colleague recommended. Here's what he said:
Fox News was blaring all night with a lead about a young woman in Pittsburgh who allegedly was attacked by a robber who carved a “B” (for Barack Obama?) into her cheek after noticing her McCain bumper sticker. The story is bizarre enough to attract serious amounts of airtime as we near the election and it reminds me of another story of a similar nature, from a different source.
20 years ago, I was covering a racially charged housing desegregation story in Yonkers, NY when a woman who had rather courageously spoken up in favor of fair housing in front of a hostile crowd later reported a swastika being spray-painted on her apartment door. The pictures and headlines following her tale were chilling. The area news was filled with the story for some time, until she was later caught painting another swastika herself, then reporting it to police as a hate crime....
I have long been expecting a very dirty, racially charged end of campaign this year and the way Fox News was playing up the story of the young McCain volunteer’s alleged attack and disfigurement is exactly the sort of thing I have been afraid of. (BN-Politics)
Waiting for confirmation by the cops before going all out---as Drudge and the rest of the right wing idiosphere has might have been a good idea because it was a lie. Meanwhile, in a piece all about how this is a "moment of truth" a Fox News VP gravely non sequitured:
If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee. (John Moody)
Um....huh? Who in the what now? That's Foxian "logic," all right---else it's something much, much worse.
Anyway, he goes on.
If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.
For Pittsburgh, a city that has done so much to shape American history over the centuries, another moment of truth is at hand. (John Moody)
Which just shows where hyperbole gets you. Less gullible people might have held back. I don't think it proves anything about anyone, except the person who made the false allegations. Well, there's the additional aspect commented on by Benen and Spaulding: once more the scary black man specter is used as a "foolproof" scapegoat.
Anyway, the cops say it was a lie. Get that? A lie. Which is what anyone, confronted with the "facts" would have concluded. And Todd is facing charges.
Some responses:
Hoax: McCain volunteer admits to fabricating attack story (Crooks and Liars)
Todd Recants, Will Face Charges (Benen)
Goddamn Liar (Pandagon)
The Which Drudge Blare Project, Pt. 2 (Jed Report)
McCain campaign worker confesses: made up claim that she was mutilated by black man (Pam's House Blend)
Pretty Disgusting (The Anonymous Liberal)
Don't Worry, Ashley Todd will Always be Welcome in the GOP (No More Mister Nice Blog)
Fox News VP: If McCain Worker 'Mutilation' Story Is a Hoax His Campaign Is 'Over' (HuffPost, Greg Mitchell)
So when I’m in your neighborhood, you better duck/Coz Obama supporters is crazy as fuck(TBogg)
Um, The Tape Was Stolen By A Black Man (Sadly, No!)
A Children’s Treasury Of Ashley Todd Updates (Wonkette)
The Scarlet "B" (Digby)
Joe the Mugger Update Update (The Daily Dish)
The Hoax (Yglesias)
Attack on McCain worker didn't take place in 'real America', it seems (The Guardian)
As Swift says, it's been a great year for election-year blogging by the citizen journalists of the right. Injured victims of the hoax have expressed their outrage---over the "assault", over media skepticism over the assault, and over having made asses of themselves.
Bloggenfreude here:
Drudge Blare: Story Up, Awful but Oversold if True, and Looking Sketchy Besides; Update: Photo Out, and Story Looking Less Sketchy (Ace of Spades)
McCain supporter maimed for her politics by robber; Update: Hoax (Ed Morissey)
It's a fake (Vox Popoli)
Obama Supporter Carves Letter B in Woman’s Face (Right Pundits)
Pam Atlas here and now here (advocating public flogging; "So now every legit act of harassment, intimidation, and thuggery will be suspect. Great.")
The Corner: Mark Steyn; Jonah Goldberg; Andy McCarthy
More Obama-inspired violence (Babalu Blog)
McCain Volunteer Attacked. But Someone Yelled "Kill Him" at a Palin Rally (UPDATED) (RedState)
Ray of Hope (Powerline)
AP Skeptical: 'McCain Volunteer Claims Attacker Cut 'B' Into Face' (NewsBusters)
Thugs For Change (Riehl World View)
Some of them seem very ungrateful. After all, the kid was trying to give them what they've been longing for: proof that Obama supporters will go as low as McCain's. Jonathan Chait writes:
I don't think the actions of one sick volunteer say anything at all about John McCain or his campaign. They do, however, tell us a lot about right-wing yellow journalists, from Drudge on down, who manipulated primitive racial-sexual fears for partisan gain.
Because I am a liberal, and therefore reasonable, I agree with both assertions. Fortunately, it was resolved very quickly. The cops didn't believe it from the start, though they had to waste a lot of police time ascertaining that it was false.
"We had some serious cases going on, and this wasted so much time," Bryant [the assistant chief of the police department's investigations division] said. "Our detectives have been working through the night just to verify the information we suspected was false from the beginning."
Bryant said somebody charged with making a false report would typically be cited and sent a summons. But because police have concerns about Todd's mental health, they are consulting with the Allegheny County District Attorney. She remained in custody and was awaiting arraignment.
Todd worked in New York for the College Republican National Committee before moving two weeks ago to Pennsylvania, where her duties included recruiting college students, the committee's executive director, Ethan Eilon, has said. (CBS News)
For a final roll of the eyes, read "Obama supporter" and "libertarian" Megan McArdle: McCain worker “victim” of self-hatred (McArdle).
How sorry do I feel for the perpetrator? A little. Not that much.
Steve Benen said it:
Someone who felt compelled to lie to the nation and apparently carve her own skin in order to "help" the McCain campaign probably needs some help.
But this wasn't just some spur of the moment accident or the result of a random bad decision -- Todd deliberately perpetrated an elaborate hoax, exploited racial fears, and lied wildly in the hopes of helping change the outcome of a presidential election.
"Pity" isn't the first reaction that comes to mind.
I do feel a little bit of pity for the wingnuts that desperately wanted it to be true.
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