Why that McCain volunteer’s “mutilation” story smells awfully weird; Update: Police to administer polygraph; conflicting evidence at scene; Update: Hoaxer confesses
Scroll down for updates…”Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said”…and more below on following her MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook trails…10/24…more fishiness…10/24 3:26pm Eastern….HOAXER CONFESSES
Throughout my career, I’ve covered dozens of fake hate crimes — campus hate crime hoaxes, Muslim hate crime hoaxes, fake noose hangings, etc., etc., etc. Most were perpetrated by liberals, but there have been some shameful ones on our side of the aisle as well.
I’ve reported on the great lengths that warped attention-seekers have gone to in perpetrating fake hate crimes, including beating themselves up, carving swastikas on their dorm room doors and walls, locking themselves in bathroom stalls, and burning down their own houses.
Which is why I’m not jumping up and down with outrage over Drudge-promoted story of a McCain volunteer claiming to have been attacked by a black man whom she accused of carving a “B” in her face after spotting her McCain bumper sticker.
She refused medical treatment after reporting the incident to police. Why on earth would she do that?
Look at her face (photo via Hot Air):
What’s wrong with the “B?”
I share my reader Kathy’s suspicions on this. She writes:
Notice how the “B” is backwards on the right cheek……if you were looking in a mirror and put it on your own face…it would appear backwards and would probably be on your own right cheek (due to most folks are right handed)……she put it on her own face but forgot it would show up backwards.
She may have been robbed and beaten but I think she added the “B”….
Take a close look at the picture.
Maaaaybe the alleged robber straddled her upside-down while carving it into her face.
Maybe.
But I’ve got my doubts.
(Update: And yes, as many readers have pointed out, it’s also the neatness and superficiality of that “B” that also raises red flags. See my police officer reader’s e-mail below.)
The woman has been identified as GOP volunteer Ashley Todd of Texas. Her Twitter page is here and I find it, well, odd.
This seems to me to have shades of Paul Mirecki (note that there was a photo in that case, too), Sarah Marshak, and Tawana Brawley all over it.
If I’m wrong, I’ll apologize. If I’m right, will this woman?
It needs to be said — and since it is not said often enough by those on the other side of the political aisle, I’ll say it again:
We have enough low-lifes and thugs in the world running loose and causing campaign chaos and fomenting hatred without having to make them up. I’ve been blowing the whistle on the real, left-wing rage not on the front page and in-your-face tactics throughout the election season.
Hate crimes hoaxes — by anyone, of any political persuasion, and of any color — diminish us all.
Either way, I hope that Todd gets the help she needs, that the whole truth comes out, and that justice is served on the perpetrator.
Whoever he or she may be.
***
And from a reader who is a police officer:
“I’m a cop – 8th year now – and this McCain supporter attack just didn’t pass the “smell test” as soon as I read about it.
At this point, I’ll guess the shiner was inflicted either by a friend willingly as part of this hoax or a boyfriend in a domestic dispute.
The “B” is far to[o] shallow and clean to be taken seriously. Reminds me of the stab wounds that a “hero” would get when fighting off a phantom attacker – far to[o] superficial to have been done in what is a fairly violent encounter.
Either way, I’m voting McCain
***
Update 1am Eastern: Via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review…
A knife-wielding man robbed a McCain-Palin campaign volunteer and etched a “B” into her face after he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car, the woman told Pittsburgh police.
Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said.
FYI: Todd’s MySpace page has been turned private, but cached links are here.
Her Facebook profile has been deleted, but the cached front page is here.
Update 9:30am Eastern 10/24: She told police the assailant sat on her chest and pinned her hands down with his knees.
So much for all those thinking the attacker was upside-down with her head between his knees.
Update 3:26pm Eastern: I was right.
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we can hope can’t we!
If there is mental illness, then yes, leniency is in order, as well as giving her the help she needs.
I am glad this didn’t drag on for days, or months, with her insisting that her version of what happened was true, like another certain young woman *cough crystalmangum cough* being talked about on this board today.
Mmmm…I think that’s overstating it just a bit. MM showed pretty awesome sleuthing skills here, but most other rightward sites ran with it (and there were more than a few folks here who chastized MM for her suspicions…go back and read the earlier comments). Hence all the liberal sites that cited MM’s post, in particular, as a way of saying “even this well-known conservative blogger thinks it’s a hoax.”
Did those liberal sites ever determine whether the ‘Bristol is Trigs mother’ story was a hoax’?
nyk:
And this “well-known consertavie blogger” turned out to be right in this case
See, if you were going to blog with people who are mostly on the “other side of the political fence”, you made a good choice!
Imagine an exclamation point after “case” in my last post.
*blushing*
Big surprise, huh?
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
“consertavie” = “conservative”.
*blushes harder*
*kicks self for hitting submit button before reading*
Point taken!
Why don’t you go to one of those sites and check and then tell me what you find. I’m stay here and keep talking about the actual topic of this thread.
She just did MAJOR damage to McCain-Palin with this little stunt. Both of them called to offer her their sympathies IMEMDIATELY after this story broke and had not been fully vetted and now they both look like FOOLS. It’s too perfect. Somebody needs to look into this girls background because I smell a set-up to manufacture an embarrassment that benefits the Obama campaign (and expect to see them milk this BIG TIME in the next week or so).
Yup. You kinda have to feel more sorry for someone who would do this to him/herself than anything else.
I meant “I’ll.”
I’ll bet you anything that not anyone from the Obama campaign brings it up unless prompted by a reporter. And then they will just say “hope she gets the help she need blah blah blah.”
SHE MADE IT UP!
(nyk was a live birth)
But good catch Michelle. I did have a neighbor boy try to steal my Vote Sarah sign Sunday so I tried to carve a P on his face but the police would not let me
—
Sarah/Michelle in 12
Two chicks, no RINOs
They look like fools only to fools. You don’t “vet” an alleged victim of an attack before you offer them your sympathy. You take them at their word, and if the situation changes, you address it appropriately.
SalsaNChips:
I certainly hope not. McCain and Palin should be seen as victims of this fraud by a mentally and emotially unstable person. Yes, they called to offer sympathy after first getting word that someone working on their campaign had been hurt for having a sticker on her car that showed her support. I wouldn’t fault Obama if he called/expressed sympathy for a campaign worker who claimed to have been similarly attacked and then turned out to be a fake.
As long as there is no credible evidence that she acted under Obama campaign orders, I’m not into conspiracy theories.
Call me crazy, but I have such a problem with this thinking.
#1 – since when does offering sympathy make them look like fools. Yes, they were fooled. OMG!!!!!
#2 – she did major damage to her own credibility – it has nothing to do with McCain nor Palin.
#3 – There was nothing “perfect” about it.
#4 – You watch too much TV, and I don’t mean news programs. I’m saying this and I don’t even like Obama. Please.get.a.grip.
(i go to sleep for a couple of hours and now Im late to the party)
What did the five fingers say to the face??
I don’t even know what this means. But then again, I doubt you do either.
Exactly. It’s not John McCain’s job to wait until the investigation is complete before he reaches out. Can you imagine what a jerk he would’ve seemed if he hadn’t reached out in a “case” like this? The campaign responded the only way it possibly could’ve.
SLAP!!!!
No, just to herself..
Darwinism would clear this up…
Can I borrow you Platinum membership Id?
Whats the address: mybarakobama.com
I’m worried because I’m agreeing with so many people today…
But yeah, I think this is totally right. It’s silly to think this is some ingenious, twisting and turning, incredibly complex political plot where there’s more than meets the eye. It isn’t. And it isn’t going to change the race. This won’t be in the news by Monday.
The first line was pretty funny, but you stumbled on the second.
Uh…whatever.
nyk – TGIF!!! Eaaayyeeee!!
Nah. The first one sucked, too.
Not unless we find out Ashley is actually Trig’s mother.
Yeah. Sometimes I get lazy and just lump socialist in with liberals.
Thats because you’re uneducated and clingy.
True! ….. and I see you are still celebrating the Texas-OU game!
TGIF indeed!
The real issue is how the MSM will beat this drum to death and use it to coerce and itimidate more and more people to vote for poor, maligned Obama.
Reality is a sick little girl did something incredibly stupid. But, when has the MSM NOT blamed this on the GOP.
I suspect we will have a torrent of news stories about this next week! “Fair and balanced” will not describe the anti-GOP screeds that will result from this idiotic act two weeks before the election.
Wow…then I guess that settles it. YOU haven’t heard anything and so that means there is no threat. Well, I guess the police and all know less than you, right? How does being god feel?
Okay, “fool” was not the correct word to use. I had just read the story on Drudge and was majorly P.O’ed. I do wish McCain and Palin had waited longer for the story to validate itself better however. Yes, I hope this turns out not to have the major impact to their campaign. I do see potential for that to happen however, unfortunately. As for conspiracy theories, being the final stretch for the POTUS, manufacturing a story to embarrass your opponent doesn’t seem to me a particularly outlandish notion (but that’s just IMO and no, I don’t have a TFH
).
I’ll respond to this ridiculousness in kind:
It’s pretty awesome.
Actually, celebrating isn’t the word I would use.
Did they already play this year?
Now we can talk about the McCain/Palin Campoaign staffer whose house was shot up, the billboard supporting McCain/Palin in Sacramento last night that was torched by arsonists and nerely caught an apartment complex on fire, the countless vehicles displaying McCain/Palin stickers that are daily being vandalized to the tune of hundreds-thousands of dollars in damages, the countless houses that are vandalized for displaying McCain/Paliln signs…..
Huh? Regardless of whether her tale was true or false, this was a local incident. In no way does this represent anything beyond the block it was committed on.
There are 300 million of us, which means even at .01% there are 30,000 idiots running around.
If the Obama campaign has sent people out to do othings that’s an issue. But I am not going to blame Obama for things he does not control, when idiots do bad things in his name.
ACORN is an issue. Some thug committing a crime against a McCain supporter is not. It’s life; it happens.
People need to get a grip and some perspective. We’re acting like the U.S. is a small town of 3,000. It’s Looney Tunes.
What can you draw from this “incident?” NOTHING!
Like the $150k wardrobe issue that has ever Geroge Staphinfectionous repeating how Palin is bringing McCain down all this wilst New York is forking out $2mil for Obama’s celebreation construction?
That didn’t take long. Drudge Report headline SHE MADE IT UP!
For those of you that fell for the story and didnt believe MMs skepticism, I understand your wanting to give the girl the benefit of the doubt and that if it had been true then it would have been a dispicable crime.
But…. now you know how these lemmings that are voting for Obama are going to feel. The only difference is – you learned the truth within ~24 hours and have no personal repercussions to yourself.
The Obama-ites are going to feel the pain themselves too AND its not going to go away for a minimum of 4 years.
I thought small towns was where “real” America lived. Are you calling real Americans crazy?
On-my-soap-box:
Absolutely! OT, but:
So she got some new clothes for the campaign that she doesn’t even intend to keep after November 4. It’s all going to be given back or donated/auctioned off for charity. I heard someone this morning describe it as a “binge” and had to laugh. Especially in light of the $2mil construction that you mentioned.
Plus, the same people who tell us Saracuda’s wardrobe is an issue told us that it was none of our business how much John Edwards spent on his haircuts.
I believe his camp is paying for this party, and I believe its in Chicago.
I’m sure the MSM will give Obama hell for using campaign resources for his personel business in Hawaii though.
aahh huh in 3…2…1…
Chicago is a different issue and NY has $2mil going into construction for his acceptance speech. So I hear. If I am wrong, I apologize.
No, the MSM will not give him hell. They are depending on his win so The One can enact the Fairness Doctrine and do away with their competition.
Since you were dreaming today!
Misscheryl:
“aahh huh in 3…2…1…”
*cue crickets chirping*…
I live in a town of 3,000 Chap, so you have the opportunity to reach your own conclusion.
She is just a typical white woman having typical white health issues.
……..writing a note to myself to NEVER say that to the wife. Don’t want my own “white health issues.”
speaking of typical white women, what’s wrong with Oblama’s grandmother – tail pipe hit her in the head?
How typically smarmy of him that he doesn’t want to get to her too ‘late.’ You know, after she dies like what happened with his own MOTHER who died of cervical cancer. The way he explained it was he thought she had more time. He called it a mistake.
What’s difference this time – oh yeah – he’s running for president and it wouldn’t look so good.
Hot Air
$5.3Mil = $150k (to a liberal)
I stand corrected. $19.4mil. I sure hope the DNC does not buy him clothes as that would just be WRONG!
Are you effin’ kidding me, misscheryl? Are you really trying to make a political point out of him going to visit his dying grandmother who raised him? And doubting his sincerity that he regretted not being there when his mother died?
Unreal.
The Emperor has no clothes.
Sorry could not resist.
No – what is UNREAL is him. He’s an opportunitist to the core!
HOW CAN YOU MISS YOUR MOTHER DYING! She had cervical cancer – it’s not like they are alive and then die within an hour. You generally know the end is very near for a couple of days. So don’t give me that crap
Chap – you ever watch anybody die from CANCER?
Whats that country song? Everyone dies famous in a small town
I have a relative that bought a brand new house and moved to a town of 6000 people. After 6 weeks, she couldnt take it any more because the town was TOO BIG!!
So she made the house a rental property and moved back to a 500 person town. Fricken hillbillys
Oh yeah Chap – that’s why I don’t like the man – everything is framed this way: it’s either a political opportunity for him or it isn’t. Sorry, but that’s the way I see him.
Oh really?
Nothing relevant, amusing or important.
And sometimes you don’t, as I happen to know, having missed my grandfather’s death while visiting my father in Wyoming.
No…that is how you are evidently framing everything with respect to him.
I’m going to leave it alone Chap – but if I hit a nerve with you – sorry, he hit a nerve with me and this whole thing just reinforces what I think about this guy. We will agree to disagree!
Obama’s mother essentially abandoned him at age 7. He probably wasn’t all that close to her. She was an odd one, apparently posed for pornographic pictures, and could only marry Muslim men.
But then, Obama’s grandfather had named her “Stanley”. Ann was her middle name. And, after she abandoned him, Mr. Dunham, the grandfather, decided young Barack needed a Black father figure, so he introduced him to Frank Marshall Davis, member of the Communist Party-USA (CPUSA). Obama, in his first book, says Frank and ‘Gramps’ used to hang out and drink whiskey. So Obama’s maternal grandfather was at the very least friendly with communists.
Of course, Obama had been abandoned shortly after birth by his Kenyan father.
So Obama probably has some major issues. And from the age of seven onward, his father figures and mentors were all apparently communists and/or Palestinian terrorists.
No, it doesn’t surprise me he didn’t go out of his way to visit his dying mother.
I think we should lay off O’Bidet visiting his grandmother. The One gives us enough reasons to go after him. Take our capital gains and our jobs (which he will)…
Come hell or high water Chap – if my mother or father has cancer or any illness in which we know death is inevitable I’d make sure I’d be there! One step further, I’d be taking care of them before the end comes!
After all chap, he did throw her under the bus to protect his spiritual mentor while simultaneously calling all ‘typical white’ women racist.
It’s TRUE!
I moved to this town a little over a year ago. Three months ago some people who live about 4 blocks away were walking by my house while I was working next to the street. They literally began the conversation with, “Hello, you aren’t from here are you?”
HYSTERICAL. The whole town knows everything about everyone.
Ed – personal note here. I was estranged from my mother when she was dying of cancer. I put it aside and was there for her until she died. It took such a little bit of my life to be there for her. Talk…Walk…
!@#$!@$!% I went to lunch… LUNCH and it happened. lol, things were relatively good when I left and by the time I got back all of the equipment in the hospital room was gone. that was after several weeks in the hospital.
Almost all cervical cancers are caused by HPV (human papilloma virus). HPV is a common virus that is spread through sexual intercourse.
We have a blessing and a curse in my family. In our family we drop dead, literally. When my dad hit 80 in our own way we said our goodbyes, because we knew what would likely happen.
One night at midnight three years later the call came. The doctor told my mother he expired while walking between rooms and was probably gone beofre his head brushed the edge of the bed.
When death wants to come, it comes. I am sorry to all of you who did not get a goodbye. Don’t worry your loved one knows it and understands.
They have a 3-shot series vaccine for teen/young adult girls now – Gardasil.
My daughter describes it as being hit in the arm with a sledgehammer followed by burning from head to toe inside. I’ve never seen tears squirt from a tear duct before.
But I told her, its still better than the alternative.
I have a very dear sweet friend who is only 35 and just this past couple of weeks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. No symptoms. Took a test re: the virus…she has it…check for cervical cancer..she has it. It is breaking my heart! Please pray for her.
Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. But cervical cancer has high rates of survival/recession, doesn’t it?
Hard for a woman to be sure the man is holding up his end of the bargain, but if two people save their virginity for their wedding night, there is no need for the vaccine at all.
I meant “remission.”
I’m not sure nyk – her’s is aggressive they said and it’s in the lymph vessels. She should have found out today if it has spread. If they catch it early, I think chances are good. Unfortunately, they didn’t catch her’s that early.
If any one reading this thinks they could have contacted the virus based on what Ed posted – please get checked immediately!
I had a similar situation. Nobody would purposely miss the last moments of somebody they care about. When it’s time, it’s time. You have no control. Hopefully Obama’s grandma makes it till election day, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. After she passes, Obama won’t have any parental figures left. I’d expect this to be a very emotional weekend for him and his family.
I don’t want to sound so political or rigid but people are dying because of permiscuous behavior. Babies and women – please rethink this behavior.
…and, if you read the fine print, they say it is NOT effective for all forms of the disease. That is why not having sex and marring someone who waits is THE BEST defense for all kinds of diseases. Of course, this flies in the face of having sex because everyone is. Speaking from experience (4 daughters) 3 waited and do not need to worry while one went crazy (her brother calls her a wild child) and she is having all kinds of problems. Don’t tell me abstinence does not work!
His maternal grandparents were the only relatives Obama had who didn’t abandon him.
But, because she was scared of an aggressive Black panhandler, who menaced her even after she gave him a dollar, Mrs. Dunham is a typical white woman, ready to be thrown under the bus with Reverend Wright. Obama hasn’t thrown Bill Ayers under the bus yet, but his grandmother, not a problem.
Oh, jeez. I’m so sorry. I hope the best for her.
As do I. It’s quite sad.
Well…these last few posts have been a bit of a buzzkill…
Anyway, I gotta run. Have a great Friday night, all.
I don’t know what this thread is about anymore but here’s a story. A while back, I was invited to a party at a local bar. I had never been there before so I went in the first door I saw. The room I went through had about 6 people in it and I’m convinced everybody they knew in the entire world was already there cuz when I walked in, everything stopped — I mean stopped — everything — and they all turned to see who the hell this new person was. I didn’t bother introducing myself. I didn’t want to end up on the menu.
I have three philosophies, have experienced multiple interations, but I dont have the answer. I like your familys view.
) Get ‘hit by a bus’ – no goodbye
) Quick illness, say your goodbyes, get most of your business done and then they are gone
) Long illness – say your goodbyes, say your goodbyes, say your goodbyes, theres no business left to get done, say your goodbyes – and then the person you knew is not the person thats there.
Sorry. Been there.
True, but I cant legislate morality. I can only provide the best tools and education that I can.
=======================
Well, OK! I’m done for now! I hear a hot tub calling my name
Its Friday!
And High School Musical 3 is in the Theatres!
flaming_o I feel your pain!!
To disagree with Michelle on issues is as it should be, since everyone just thinks differently. It’s “Cie la vie”.
To disagree when Michelle gets a whiff that something’s rotten is another thing. She’s got a “nose that knows” and you’d be unwise to bet against it.
sorry all..really didn’t intend for this thread to end up like this. Any body got any good Aggie jokes? lol
Frankly, we are teaching our children (all girls) to value and protect their virginity for moral and health reasons.
The vaccines are not proven effective by long-term studies. Like many recent these vaccines, they may not provide long-term protection, and they may well provide a false sense of confidence and security and have undiscovered side effects.
It is much better to keep your pants up and your legs closed than kill yourself having promiscuous sex only to find out your vaccine didn’t help.
Abstinence is the only proven, effective method to avoid pregnancy and monogamy is the best way to avoid STDs including cancers.
Have a good rest of the day and weekend.
Chap, come to my little town and we can get you a ride on a John Deere 10 row combine!
I wonder…..just wonder if someone from the Obama campaign offered her some $$$$ to do this stunt? Lets face it, it is well documented in EVERY election he has ever been in he has shown he is a truly ruthless politician. He will do ANYTHING to win, so it certainly is a possibility.
The ‘where in the world” thread is for fun and happy talk…
I agree and I’ll re-add my comment to Ed.
True, but I cant legislate morality. I can only provide the best tools and education that I can.
Ever watch the show Intervention? Even the best can end up in the gutter through a twist of fate/personal decision.
Great,
The dems just got their “Joe the Plumber” card. McCain will lose a point or two for this moron’s stunt. Nice eye Michelle.
This will stick with her forever. – too funny she carved it backwards!!
I grew up on a small dairy farm outside a town of about 3K. I’ve ridden on and driven plenty of Deere in my time, thank you very much.
I am so tired of hearing this statement. Virtually ALL legislation legislates somebody’s morality. We legislate morality ALL THE TIME in this nation.
JTP is like a Kevin Costner movie.