Ashley Todd

Ashley Todd's little stunt last week wasn't her first. It turns out she was kicked off of the Ron Paul campaign for pulling some other hijinks.

The McCain campaign has tried to deny any involvement in Ashley Todd's racially charged hoax last week, but a Pittsburgh councilman isn't buying it:

A Pittsburgh city councilman said he is upset with the way Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign handled last week's alleged attack of a supporter, which later turned out to be a hoax.

The Rev. Ricky Burgess said a McCain-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin official was pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than what was confirmed at the time.

Ashley Todd, 20, went to police with two black eyes and a knife-carved "B" on her face after she said she was brutally attacked in Bloomfield on Wednesday for her political views.

Burgess isn't stopping there either. He wants an apology from the McCain campaign for their actions:

Burgess sent a letter to McCain, saying, "That one of your campaign spokespersons would spread such an incendiary story before any confirmation of the facts is both irresponsible and runs counter to our nation's constitutional guarantee."

Burgess also asked for an apology to the city of Pittsburgh and its black community.

Somehow I doubt we will hear any apology from the McCain campaign, but this could be good to keep the story fresh for this week.

Brian Williams did a great introduction to the Ashley Todd story last night, hitting on the fact that the campaign "steered reporters" to believe that the B was for Barack:

Todd is also showing her right wing instincts by now blaming the media for blowing this story into a firestorm. Perhaps she should look to her own party. It was Drudge who pushed this story so hard and his minions that whined the media wasn't covering it enough. Well they got their wish and now everyone knows the dirty games McCain supporters love to play, and how they get promoted through the actual campaign.

It comes in the form of Ashley Todd, who miraculously healed in just 24 hours:

Thursday:

Friday:

In 1986 a political operative in Texas called a press conference to say that the Democratic opponent of his boss had bugged their offices. The FBI and police investigated it and dropped the case. That Republican operative was none other than Karl Rove.

So crying wolf and using the police to try and garner some sort of public sympathy for your candidate has a history in the Republican Party. It should also come as no shock that Todd was working on behalf of the very organization Rove once ran - the Young College Republicans.

Perhaps it is time to really start questioning the GOP and their tactics. Even if there is no sign of collusion, there is still a the question surrounding the previous actions by Karl Rove, someone thought of highly by young college Republicans and the impact it may have had on Ashley Todd.

It looks like the McCain campaign is now tied to the whole Ashley Todd story more so than her just being a volunteer. This now puts the ball in the national campaign's court. Their only hope is to get out and very publicly denounce this and fire all involved. I don't think that will help McCain though, as this story will occupy the news cycle in Pa. from now until Election Day.

And the truth comes out:

A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed. More details to follow.

And we all called it!

UPDATE -

The full story is now online. Plus this little gem. The VP of FOX says if this turns out to be a hoax then it is the end of McCain.

UPDATE 2 -

MSNBC is now reporting that in a press conference with police Todd said she didn't know how she got the B, but she may have done it herself. They also say she has had mental problems in the past. So far she is being charged with filing a false police report and other charges may still follow.

I'm starting a new post on this since the story is constantly growing. For background, check out my earlier post.

So the skepticism is really growing now with this latest story:

When Ms. Todd reported the incident, "nowhere did she say to the officer that [the assailant] made reference to the bumper sticker. I don't know how she came to the conclusion that he noticed the sticker," Cmdr. Ross said.

Updates after the fold

He said the description of the robber as a 6-foot 4-inch, 200-pound black man is similar to that of a man who robbed a Liberty Avenue bank in recent weeks.

Police were checking surveillance video of the Wednesday ATM incident.

Several employees at nearby businesses last night said they were unaware of the attack.

So the whole bumper sticker thing was thought of after the fact? MSNBC has reported that she took her lie-detector test today, but the results aren't known. I have also been reading that this is a very busy part of town with a lot of bars and restaurants, including right across from the ATM. This happened at 9:00 pm at night, so business should have been good, yet no one saw it happen.

There was also the postings on her Twitter making it sound like she had no idea where she was and was in a "bad part of town". Apparently she knew right where she was:

Ms. Todd then went to a friend's house in the 5100 block of Cypress Street, about a mile away, where she reported the incident to police about 45 minutes later. She declined medical treatment at that time.

So she was in an unknown part of town, yet went to a friends about a mile away? Really? Let's add some perspective here. Todd is from Texas, but in Pittsburgh volunteering for the McCain campaign, on behalf of the College Republicans. Apparently she hasn't been there that long, so where did she make a friend at? A safe guess would be McCain headquarters, and possibly another volunteer.

Now let's add to that the fact she waited 45 minutes to call the police. If this is fake then I wonder if she now has an accomplice in this fraud. I am sure the police are talking to her friend now.

Also the right has been trying to defend the upside B by saying that the man sat above her head as he carved it in, which would make the B face properly. That story is now debunked:

Ms. Todd told police during at least five hours of questioning last night that her attacker said to her, "You are going to be a Barack supporter." She told police the man then sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees and used what she believed was a dull knife with a roughly 5-inch blade to carve the B.

Five hours of questioning is a lot also. If her story was solid, the questioning wouldn't have taken no where near that long.

If this all does turn out to be a fake then she needs to be publicly humiliated for what she has tried to do. Perhaps a public apology beside Obama when he does his big national TV appearance next week?

(Updated below the fold)

(Updated and bumped)

So the big story is of this McCain worker who was mugged and assaulted by a supposed Obama supporter. Drudge has been pushing this story hard. Here's the image of the "victim" that he had appearing at the top of his site for the last several hours:

Cesca and Wonkette have both questioned the authenticity of this. For a real shocker, I have to point out that I am even agreeing with Malkin on this that the story really smells.

Besides the obvious, the backwards B (think Morton Downey Jr. and swastikas) , notice anything else wrong? I have been the victim of plenty of black eyes from my rough younger days of bar fighting. When you got a shiner with that much bruising your eye is swollen up bad for at least a couple of days. This just happened less than 24 hours ago. Where's the swelling?

Also - where are the broken capillaries that go hand in hand with this type of shiner? How about a bloodshot eye? What's with the black streak above the B that happens to be the same shade as her black eye? Look again at the black eye. I have never seen one squiggle down as though a pen or marker made it, like hers.

A final thing. She refused medical care. Why was that? I hope these questions get answered soon. We are a nation waiting.