…and this is a 
This is the top news story on Fox right now: a McCain volunteer says she was robbed at an ATM, by a black man of course, and then when the thief saw her McCain bumper sticker, he beat her up and carved a "B" for "Barack" in her face. It's getting a bit…shrill.
It could have happened, but there are just a few odd details here. She claims the assailant used a knife — a very dull knife — to cut her cheek, but all there are are faint scratches, not real cuts. It's also lettered quite nicely, not exactly like the work of an angry mugger on a struggling woman.
But the most glaringly obvious detail is that the letter is backwards. As if it were done in a mirror. Hmmmm.
Comments
Posted by: Bob O'H | October 24, 2008 11:08 AM
Or it was done upside down.
Posted by: RM | October 24, 2008 11:08 AM
Police obviously have questions as well. They are giving her a lie detector test and have said they cannot find a single witness in an area that has a good many people.
Posted by: PZ Myers | October 24, 2008 11:13 AM
Upside down would work, except that it's hard to pin a struggling victim down while working from the head side, and that's not how she described it. Unless there were accomplices. Her story has changed so often I'm sure that the addition of a team of black Democrats wearing Obama buttons will be appearing in it soon.
Posted by: Quiet_Desperation | October 24, 2008 11:13 AM
It's a stigmata! Obama IS the Messiah!
Follow the gourd! No, wait, follow the shoe! No, wait...
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 11:13 AM
This should be easy enough to confirm... most ATMs have security cameras pointed at them... if the attack happened at an ATM, it should be in film...
I'm guessing there is no such footage...
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 11:14 AM
Perhaps it would have been more appropriate if she's scratched an "L" on her forehead instead.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | October 24, 2008 11:14 AM
The old boogie man syndrome for failing campaigns. Find a minority to blame to scare people. Sick minds.
Posted by: Raynfala | October 24, 2008 11:15 AM
From the article:
"You are going to be a Barack supporter," she recalled the robber saying before he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees and scratched the letter "B" on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife. Then the robber fled, she said in the police report.
==========
Sorry, what you suggested doesn't jibe with her statement.
Posted by: davidstvz | October 24, 2008 11:16 AM
She said the robber sat on her chest and carved the letter. That means it wasn't done upside down. It was very likely done in a mirror.
I was skeptical at first that someone could be so stupid, but I guess I was wrong.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 11:16 AM
And isn't it just too coincidental that this awful attack happened to a McCain volunteer... not that any McCain supporter would stoop to this level... right? Right?
Posted by: Amanduh | October 24, 2008 11:17 AM
PZ, I was thinking those EXACT SAME THINGS this morning when my boss was all, LOOK WHAT AN OBAMA SUPPORTER DID TO THIS POOR LADYYY! I didn't dare say anything for fear of sounding like I was in denial. Obama supporters are capable of violence as are all kinds of people--but this scenario seems seriously doubtful.
Posted by: Joey | October 24, 2008 11:18 AM
Maybe the assailant is dyslexic!
Or, it could be that this wasn't politically motivated at all. I personally think that the attacker was a big Emeril Lagasse fan and decided to put the "B" for BAM! on her cheek.
Posted by: Paholaisen asianajaja | October 24, 2008 11:18 AM
"Or it was done upside down."
She said that the man sat on her chest.
Posted by: DocAmazing | October 24, 2008 11:22 AM
Reverse Cowgirl position for muggers?
Posted by: Kobra | October 24, 2008 11:24 AM
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s16/r3v3r3nd_album/fail1.jpg
Posted by: phil | October 24, 2008 11:24 AM
Before you guys go patting yourselves on your backs too much for you incisive investigative skills - consevative bloggers such as Malkin and Little Green Footballs were calling into question the veracity of this woman's story last night. But sure, ALL the McCain supporters are getting desperate.
Posted by: becominginvisible | October 24, 2008 11:25 AM
Pittsburgh Post newspaper site has more details. Click the link "Did McCain stickers enrage attacker?" If I had someone who was assaulted show up at my door, I would have the police there immediately.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 11:25 AM
I still find that difficult to believe. Her torso and arms are stuck. She can still move her head. If a dull knife is use, it is going to hurt. Even if her head was immobilized, she can still flinch from the pain, making for very jagged lines.
Posted by: Sauceress | October 24, 2008 11:26 AM
A few girls at my high school,at least that I was aware of, drew the initial of their latest crush on the top of their leg (usually)by rubbing unlit matches back and forward on the skin. Often the letters were only right way up to them but upside down to anyone else. That B instantly reminded me of that before I even read the story...very similar colouring of the skin!
Posted by: genesgalore | October 24, 2008 11:26 AM
grasping at straws..... it's been a riot to listen to whitewing wadio. they are all in a dither and in a panic.
Posted by: Kobra | October 24, 2008 11:27 AM
@16: Nobody said all McCain supporters. STFU
Posted by: Sundar | October 24, 2008 11:27 AM
This one is highly suspect. Especially if Fox News (of all) starts its segment with: "Several "inconsistencies" have emerged in the statements made by a John McCain volunteer.....".
Posted by: Coturnix | October 24, 2008 11:28 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/drudge-puts-dangerous-spi_b_137342.html
and
http://www.tmz.com/2008/10/23/politically-motivated-mutilation-real-or-hoax/#
and
http://wonkette.com/403766/racial-mugging-victim-helpfully-twittered-her-tale
Posted by: FB | October 24, 2008 11:28 AM
No no no. The mugger was insightful enough to carve it that way so the "victim" would be able to read it in a mirror.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 11:29 AM
Seriously... the backwards B on this pretty much clinches it as being self-inflicted, doesn't it? Only an idiot would buy this story after seeing that...
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 11:30 AM
Another "lying for
PalinJesus" loser. Didn't I read something about "bearing false witness" somewhere? Oh, I'm sure I'm wrong about her.Amazing her attacker didn't give in to the cliched Zorro-esque slashes; instead this dyslexic robber should be praised for his carefully labored penmanship - how symmetrical his loops are!. Amazing how patient and still this girl must have been while her face was being
carvedscratched.Posted by: Ktesibios | October 24, 2008 11:30 AM
Celtic_Evolution said exactly what I was thinking. Video cameras at ATMs are the norm not the exception. If you report an armed robbery, the cops are going to insist on knowing where it happened- "at an ATM" isn't going to do, they're gonna want to know which ATM at what location. If she specifies that, it should be a simple matter to review the videotapes and sort out whether anything happened at all.
Posted by: BdN | October 24, 2008 11:31 AM
It looks more like a /b/tard to me...
Posted by: JackC | October 24, 2008 11:33 AM
Maybe it is just the photo, but usually, with a black eye like that, there is swelling, isn't there? I don't really see any swelling. I might just be seeing some really nice makeup. Those eyes look pretty much the same to me.
Maybe someone getting ready for Halloween a bit early?
JC
Posted by: afterthough | October 24, 2008 11:33 AM
Salon mentioned this briefly, but have you ever seen a black eye where the shape of the eye is exactly the same as the unaffected eye? The hurt eye is not even slightly closed in that picture. Anything is possible I suppose, but I tend to doubt this story for all the reasons stated here and in comments on Salon.
Posted by: Quiet_Desperation | October 24, 2008 11:35 AM
The Heroes Angle: Maybe it's a superpower manifesting itself. She can make letters appear on her face. That would allow her to fight against, um... illiteracy or something.
Posted by: Michelle | October 24, 2008 11:36 AM
The robber must've been a kindergarten kid. You know, back when we wrote letters backwards and it was supposed to be cute?
Posted by: 12345 | October 24, 2008 11:36 AM
Lying for Jesus.
If someone were taking a knife to your face, you'd be fighting back, and that would very likely include turning your face side to side. The wound looks way, way, WAY too clean, WAY too shallow for it to be a mugging. Just a few of the many problems with her story.
Posted by: marym | October 24, 2008 11:39 AM
And also, the letters seemed remarkably even in their depth... she must have been a very good christian and just done what she was told ;)
Posted by: randy | October 24, 2008 11:40 AM
I'm trying to figure out how he:
1. knew which car was hers;
2. was positioned such that the bumper sticker was visible
3. just happened to be as pro-Obama as her McCain compulsion.
Of course a scenario could be constructed to account for these details, but the "facts" fit around the story in an unlikely fashion.
Posted by: Dave Wisker | October 24, 2008 11:41 AM
Sounds like an incredibly inept attempt at imitating Tamara Brawley.
Posted by: Sidartasan | October 24, 2008 11:41 AM
And the eye lookes black, but not swollen.
I've done that with make-up sometimes (obsessive eyeliner user) and it looks like that.
Faaake.
My worry is only for all those americans who'll believe Faux News.
Posted by: ERV | October 24, 2008 11:42 AM
@29 and 30-- Thats what I thought. Ive gotten kicked in the face before. Left eye. My injuries didnt look anything like this chick. Eye swollen shut for a while, bright red, bruises didnt appear for days. I also had to get stitches. And my injury was an accident (soccer). Not the result of a violent person trying to hurt me.
Assuming that chicks injuries are 'real', they are at least a week old.
Posted by: whololo | October 24, 2008 11:43 AM
Of course, there are crazy people on Obama's side as well.
Posted by: HumanisticJones | October 24, 2008 11:44 AM
My own observation. The term black-eye, while colorfully descriptive, is actually in accurate. The area around the eye doesn't actually turn black due to the fact that the blood seeping into the severe bruising would actually be a deep-red/purple. It certainly can become extremely dark with enough damage done (see the posts on toenail smashings) but to assume that much impact, you'd think the eye would still be swollen with some discoloration to the white of the eyes. That point aside, the black under her eyes looks just that in this picture, grey-scale, shoe-polish black.
I'm calling shenanigans.
Posted by: rob | October 24, 2008 11:46 AM
maybe the image has been flipped, so the "B" is really on her *left* check...
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 11:46 AM
Oh, fuuuuuuuuuuuck. This crazy bitch is from...
... (wait for it)...
TEXAS
Posted by: Michelle | October 24, 2008 11:47 AM
did anyone read the comments on that story over at FoxNews? Lots of gems in there!
"
by doreen [Oct 24, 2008 11:34:00 AM]
If it turns out to be a hoax, then it was definitely a plant by the Obama campaign, as it is a very close race in Pennsylvania due to Murtha's and Obama's insulting comments toward Pennsylvanians. "
"by ldvuong [Oct 24, 2008 11:32:27 AM]
It is terrorism, of the worst kind. Barack Obama is only one who wants to grant driver licenses to illegal immigrants, it is a liberal leftist extremist viewpoint, that even Hillary Clinton tries to avoid. It only encourages more terrorists, at home, as in 9/11/2001 (right after Bill Clinton). "
"
by getrealpeople [Oct 24, 2008 11:25:10 AM]
This is Obama's preaching of spreading the wealth. Look and the media is already attacking her to show Obama's image might be tarnished by this girls story. How dare she get mugged by a Obama supporter and tell. Go hide or the media will come after you just like Joe the plumber. Sorry girl but they have already decided who they want to win this election. Keep fighting and lets not let them force this guy down our throats. Go McCain\Palin!!!!"
Posted by: Ryan | October 24, 2008 11:50 AM
I don't know. This seems so obviously fake that I'm wondering why no one is considering that maybe this is an Obama supporter trying to make McCain look this desperate. Not that they would have any reason to stoop to anything like this.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 11:53 AM
She's obviously FOS and a lying SOS... however my $0.02 as an ER doctor and given the description and the picture:
She could have dermatographia which would give you something like that on her face. If the guy was writing upside down. And she was holding still (or had loss of consciousness). Though you can do that with a fingernail.
The thing that gets me is the timing of the injuries. Those don't look the same age. If anything I would peg that as a domestic abuse thing because she's got injuries of differing apparent ages.
Posted by: Sili | October 24, 2008 11:53 AM
Well, duh!
Do you really expect those dirty n-----s to be LITTERATE?!!! Of COURSE they can't rite laik proper CREEEESTAINS!
Posted by: Reinis | October 24, 2008 11:53 AM
Yeah, the black eye looks like it could be fake. I hope the police washed her face.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 11:54 AM
I'm surprised it wasn't a gay black Obama supporter. She got the black part in there but how come no fag hatin'?
Posted by: Nate | October 24, 2008 11:56 AM
Who cares if she was or was not mugged by a black man that supports Obama. What happened or did not happen(most likely) in no way implies, sanctifies, or says anything legitimate about Obama or McCain. This is not news. Everyone knows that stupid and evil people support both Obama and/or McCain.
Posted by: Babar | October 24, 2008 11:57 AM
Clearly the work of Bob Barr!
Posted by: Shaden Freud | October 24, 2008 11:58 AM
OK, maybe this is fake...BUT! Obama had his own flag made! An "O" flag! Bob Grant said so!
Posted by: Alex | October 24, 2008 11:58 AM
Ummm, wait. Is anyone else asking why "B"? Does that mean "C" stands for McCain, or "L" for Clinton? Why not an "O" for Obama? Perhaps I missed reading that somewhere.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | October 24, 2008 11:58 AM
I'm willing to take her story at--ahem--face value. But so what? So there's a rabid, angry, violent, Hawthorne-esque Obama supporter out there. So what? They get to tar his entire campaign because of what one man did?
Well, if that's the way you wanna play it, suits me just fine. Let's throw all the Protestants in jail because Phelps is a fucking ass. Then all the Catholics can go down too, as that's exactly what at least one priest made an alterboy do. Joseph Smith was any number of variations on a freak, so good-bye Mormons. Hell, we're already all over the Muslims because of Bin Laden, so no change necessary there. Hindus have been violent against Christians and Muslims, so we can toss each one twice for that. Then there are the Buddhists, of which at least some were Kamikaze pilots....etc., etc., etc.
After all, campaigning politicians have much less control over their followers than religious leaders.
Posted by: Milo Johnson | October 24, 2008 11:58 AM
Backwards letter B, no breaking of the skin, and despite a large amount of discoloration in the "black eye," there is absolutely no sign of swelling? This couldn't be any more fake.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 11:59 AM
#39
Sure... and as soon as they do something like this, we can talk about it similarly.
#44
Yeah, she's a plant... a secret Obama supporter who's been pretending to a be republican for years and worked under-cover as a McCain campaign volunteer just waiting for the moment to spring her clever trap. Idiot.
Posted by: Dutchvigilante | October 24, 2008 11:59 AM
Or its a woman starving for attention and should receive medical help. Or everything went exactly as she said. Or something else entirely, maybe the mugger wanted to write /b/ instead.
Whatever the case, its nothing newsworthy above the local news.
Posted by: Alex | October 24, 2008 12:00 PM
Whoops - yeah. Ok, it's early and I need to slow down. "B" for Barrack. Got it. Now back to my breakfast.
Posted by: zoxim | October 24, 2008 12:03 PM
It doesn't matter if it's fake or not. It's having the exact effect it's intended to. To be a distraction, sow fear and doubt and maybe tip a critical state. There will be plenty of people that want to believe this. That's all it takes.
Posted by: Mike W | October 24, 2008 12:06 PM
Pittsburgher here. Bloomfield isn't exactly a bad neighborhood, and at that time of night Liberty Ave. would be pretty crowded. Also, she twittered immediately beforehand (while driving??) that she was in a "bad part of pittsburgh". Yeah...
Posted by: jj | October 24, 2008 12:06 PM
For those looking for ATM surveillance footage:
"Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank's surveillance cameras."
Posted by: Russell | October 24, 2008 12:06 PM
I wonder if the McCain campaign will still pay her for her trouble, when clearly they should have scratched that B themselves instead of letting her do it in a mirror. See how important education is? She doesnt even know that mirrors invert things. Perhaps she should have scratched an O instead, cant invert those bad boys.
Posted by: phoenixphire24 | October 24, 2008 12:07 PM
Apparently the police have checked the cameras at the bank but according to the police spokesperson "the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank's surveillance cameras." (from http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17789356/detail.html)
Sounds shady to me.
Posted by: WRMartin | October 24, 2008 12:08 PM
OT (way OT) - anyone else experiencing IE troubles when scrolling the page down to Opie Cunningham? My browser at work pukes when it gets near that post on the main page. I can hop to the bottom of the page and scroll up or start at the top and scroll down - either way causes a crash.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 12:09 PM
Uh-Oh.... the police are now wanting young Miss Todd to submit to a polygraph since the ATM where she withdrew the $60 does not corroborate her story.
Tsk tsk tsk.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 12:09 PM
@ zoxim #58
Exactly. To most of us rational thinking people, this is a non-story. The issue here isn't the incident. It's the intentional over-coverage of the incident, the continued fear-mongering and racially driven anger and hate that the McCain campaign won't outright support or condone, but has done nothing to condemn, either. It's not as if these incidents are not well known... the footage of the Ohio rally... the nasty comments made at each and every McCain or Palin rally on the way... yet the silence from the McCain campaign is deafening regarding the condemnation of this behavior. It's sickening, and I don't think it's the slightest bit accidental.
Posted by: Joe S | October 24, 2008 12:10 PM
Did you dress her up like that?
No, No No. Well, a little, yes. We did do the nose.
The nose?
And the hat. But she's still a witch
Posted by: 1 | October 24, 2008 12:10 PM
"IE troubles"
There's the problem, you're using IE.
Firefox, Opera, seriously anything will be better than using IE.
Posted by: Ian | October 24, 2008 12:10 PM
NickG: "The thing that gets me is the timing of the injuries. Those don't look the same age. If anything I would peg that as a domestic abuse thing because she's got injuries of differing apparent ages."
Maybe we should be a bit slow on the draw to mock this woman. It is not clear whether her injuries stem from a violent attack of some kind or from mental health issues she's facing, but it's not funny in either case.
The best take I've seen on this is here.
Posted by: jj | October 24, 2008 12:12 PM
I once gave a good buddy of mine a pretty good shiner, single punch, but I got all face. His eye was swollen for about a few days, and his eyeball was COMPLETELY RED. I got hit back, but didn't have nearly as bad a mark, but it was still SWOLLEN FOR DAYS and a little bruised (not nearly as much as the accuser above). Doesn't look like a real black eye to me either...
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 24, 2008 12:12 PM
No, no...a crack team of 6'4" black men wearing black jumpsuits, black leather jackets, black berets and black leather gloves, who arrived in a black helicopter and wielded dull black switchblades and tubes of black makeup...and with black masks obscuring their black eyes. And the backwards "B" is for Black.Posted by: Ibid | October 24, 2008 12:12 PM
If she was at the ATM how did he know which car was hers and that the bumpersticker was hers?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 12:14 PM
What ever you do, do not read the comments at fox news.
Holy shit I want to stab myself in the eye with Andres Serrano's crucifix after reading a page of them.
Posted by: nietzschesbulldog | October 24, 2008 12:15 PM
The "B" stands for for Ben Roethlisberger
GO!!! STEELERS!!!!
Posted by: marilove | October 24, 2008 12:15 PM
NickG #45: The first thing I thought was domestic violence, as well, and perhaps she put the backwards-B there herself and came up with this story because she is in denial, or perhaps someone was on to whomever beat her and she didn't want that. That "black eye" looks way, way old.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | October 24, 2008 12:16 PM
OT WRMartin, I'm also having trouble with IE at work. I don't know if it is the Opie post or the one below it.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 12:16 PM
That take misses the part where she says the attacker was sitting on her chest when the letter was carved.
Posted by: Dahan | October 24, 2008 12:19 PM
marilove,
Yeah, I agree. That black eye is definitely not from the last 24 hours.
Posted by: Spock's Brain | October 24, 2008 12:21 PM
I live near that neighborhood. There is no way, even at night, that the assailant would have enough time to carve her face without multiple people witnessing and/or trying to stop him. Concidence that Palin is in town today?
Posted by: Kevin | October 24, 2008 12:21 PM
Also using IE from work (no choice, sys admins only approve IE for browsing), also crashing when I scroll down the main page.
Posted by: Tulse | October 24, 2008 12:22 PM
Don't you love how their worldview is so internally consistent and resistant to outside influences like facts? If it did happen, it was Obama, and if it didn't...it was Obama! Heads they win and tails Obama loses! Palin FTW!!!!!!
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 24, 2008 12:23 PM
Here's the ATM in question.
I guess everybody was off the street to watch the ball game.
Posted by: Michelle | October 24, 2008 12:24 PM
story just got retrograded to 2nd rank on Foxnews. :P with lots of inconsistancies.
Posted by: sad | October 24, 2008 12:24 PM
That black eye also looks way too severe. There's no swelling whatsoever. A black eye that looks that severe would very likely have a large amount of swelling, especially since it sounds like she didn't have ice on hand soon after... plus why is it so black? It should be much more purple/blueish. It almost looks like a bad special effects makeup job.
Plus why is the B so faintly scratched? It doesn't look like it even broke the skin, something a knife DEFINITELY would have done.
Posted by: Michelle | October 24, 2008 12:26 PM
Most likely-... HEY! THERE'S A BLACK GUY WITH A RED CAP! QUICK! ARREST HIM! It MUST be him!
Posted by: BigHeathenMike | October 24, 2008 12:29 PM
Man, if this is fake (which it certainly seems), I'm amazed that the Republicans down there are actually at the Morton Downey Jr. level of clawing for attention.
Hmmmmm....Posted by: Scott from Oregon | October 24, 2008 12:32 PM
Clearly demonstrating the absurdity of giving so much power to one man and one office, something longed warned against by the folks who wrote the Constitution.
The fact that we have rabid folks screaming to not "shove that man down our throats!" (presumably because Obama wants to dictate his vision to an entire nation when less than half the nation actually agree with his vision) and an entire TV network pumping out propaganda pieces to elect a military friendly loon with a barbie doll, moose killing sidekick...
What kind of sane and rational collection of folks buy into this nonsense? The largest and most deadly military in the world, dispersed across the globe and we elect one man or woman to be the "Commander in Chief" by Ron Howard doing Opie in a video and Bill O blustering about his desk on Fox?
Governance is and should be about meeting the simple needs of the governed, decided upon by the governed, and left at that. The Federal Government only needs to concern itself with protecting the nation and not protecting multi-national corporate interests abroad.
How does an educated nation set up this whole charade and then go through with it?
The mind boggles...
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 12:33 PM
Well there's a name from the past.
The mouth.
What a tool he was.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 12:33 PM
Ian @68 "It is not clear whether her injuries stem from a violent attack of some kind or from mental health issues she's facing, but it's not funny in either case."
You may be correct she may have some significant mental health problems. I would say better than a 90% chance she's got a significant problem with personality structure... cough-borderline-cough. She may also be the victim of abuse (or gravity).
However, you quote me out of context and make me sound a lot more concerned for young woman that I am. I do not use these words lightly: she is a *racist cunt* who thinks its funny to place the lives of thousands of others at risk in order to get her the attention she craves and try to falsely influence the election of the POTUS. I suspect she does this because she thinks she knows better who should lead our country than the voters she aims to terrorize with her claims of hate crimes on decent white women-folk by 6'4" violent dark skinned minorities.
This goes beyond the pale and its the kind of hate-mongering that directly puts lives on the line. In December my partner (who is mixed race) and I will be traveling to one of the more conservative areas of Ms Todd's home state for me to lecture. And her comments (if they stick amongst the more violent and ignorant elements of our society) will place us at a real (if only incrementally increased) risk of interpersonal violence as a mixed-race gay couple in Lubbock, TX.
So I say this with the utmost disregard for this vicious and violent child. If someone gave her those shiners and she didn't paint them on with make-up: she probably fucking deserved it.
Posted by: fierce-rabbit | October 24, 2008 12:33 PM
The "B" on the right cheek would also mean the "mugger" was left-handed, otherwise he would've had to cross her face to carve it, which would have made it even more awkward - unless he used one hand to shove her face over to the left and hold it there - in which case there should be finger marks on her face.
And wouldn't have an Obama supporter carved an "O"? An Obama supporter carving a "B" is like a "J" for McCain.
Posted by: Moggie | October 24, 2008 12:35 PM
#53:
But... but... scary black men! Don't you see? Don't vote for the scary black man, because that will embolden all the other scary black men! Why aren't you scared, like a real American?
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 12:39 PM
How does Scott's rant fits into the topic on hand?
The mind boggles...
Maybe Scott has something about the game.
Posted by: Pantufla Milagrosa | October 24, 2008 12:40 PM
The interesting thing is that when you reflect an "M" you get back an "M", giving pro-McCain muggers a clear advantage. Is the media reporting this?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 12:42 PM
Scott do you have something relevant to the post to day or just more of the same?
The mind boggles...
Posted by: fierce-rabbit | October 24, 2008 12:43 PM
Apologies. My last comment should have read, "And wouldn't an Obama supporter have carved and "O"? An Obama supporter carving a "B" would be like a McCain supporter carving a "J" for McCain.
NickG brings up a really good point. This is a lot like the numerous cases in the south in which black men were accused of raping white women, which were *always* believed and ended in lynchings.
The right-wing response to "if it's a fake" is also common. The anti-abortionist response to clinic violence is usually, "Oh the pro-aborts do that to stir up sympathy for themselves" or "it was a rival clinic owner".
Posted by: obviously a foreign terrorist or something | October 24, 2008 12:43 PM
Yeah... you're not going to be able to carve a very faint, yet well-defined, letter on a chubby cheek like what she's got. You'd have to press the cheek down hard to provide a decent surface to cut into. Also, cutting (or even scratching as seems the case here) curves into skin, especially the stretchy skin on a chubby cheek, is darn near impossible without surgical equipment.
It's funny that now, even Faux News seems to have modified the story to put the whole thing into question. Of course, they wouldn't take the story DOWN, as that would mean less fools would be misled by it.
Posted by: Kraid | October 24, 2008 12:44 PM
Turns out she didn't actually visit the ATM in question. Color me shocked.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081024/ap_on_re_us/attack_mccain_sticker
Posted by: negentropyeater | October 24, 2008 12:44 PM
Things are getting desperate on the republican side
Yet McCain claims he likes being the underdog, and that polls have often been wrong. They are also trying to subliminally revigorate that old Bradley effect.
On intrade, Obama is at 87 /13. Polls show Obama with a comfortable lead which has hovered around 7 points for the last month. And the lead on the electoral college seems even more solid.
I think most of Obama's supporters are finally seeing the light at the end of a long 8 year tunnel.
But what would happen if McCain would win with a surprise close victory similar to 2000 ?
Would Obama supporters accept it, or would they say, this time, it's too much, we don't trust the electoral system, Bush and the republicans had 8 years to fiddle around with it, and what would they do ?
In 2000, Gore threw the gloves and saved the Union. What would happen this time ?
I don't know what's the risk. I find the desinvolt reactions of the McCain campaign towards the polls a bit strange, but maybe I'm reading too much. But just to think of the idea that they could win by rigging the election (there are reports of millions of voter registration cancellations for instance by rollingstone) and the number of guns lying around in people's homes makes for a real nightmarish scenario.
What do Americans think about this ? Are they mentally prepared for it ?
Posted by: Hockey Bob | October 24, 2008 12:46 PM
Obviously the attacker was a bitter Red Sox fan.
/I keed, I keed!
(Seriously, this is such a blatant self-inflicted "wound", it's pathetic - then again, this whole campaign season has bees pathetic. I think I'll move to Iceland or something...)
Posted by: Trevor | October 24, 2008 12:47 PM
Seeing this, made me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGxFAn0zj7o
For Common fans... :-)
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 12:50 PM
Nah. Not likely. We don't get bitter as easily as we used to... 2 WS in 4 years will help you do that. Can't win one every year.
Posted by: Cary | October 24, 2008 12:51 PM
Just read that the cops said she has changed her story now.
I.E.
THIS WAS MADE UP.
Seriously, how pathetic.
Posted by: Steve_C | October 24, 2008 12:52 PM
It's OBAMA supporters...not Barack supporters... she didn't even get that right.
And how did this attacker know she wasn't an Obama supporter and felt the need to make her a supporter by "carving" it into her face.
I call fraud.
Posted by: negentropyeater | October 24, 2008 12:57 PM
#58
I agree with you, the only problem is that the people who'll want to believe in this story are those who've already decided not to vote for Obama.
Posted by: Carlie | October 24, 2008 12:57 PM
If someone gave her those shiners and she didn't paint them on with make-up: she probably fucking deserved it.
NOBODY deserves it.
Posted by: Thuktun | October 24, 2008 12:57 PM
The amusing this was that even the conservative morning show commentators on KTLK-FM, a conservative talk-radio station in the Twin Cities, were saying that this was a "fake hate crime".
(They then proceeded to side with the ACLU on the issue of a hunger-striking prisoner exercising his free speech. My brain almost exploded.)
Posted by: Anonymous | October 24, 2008 1:00 PM
Ebaumsworld did it.
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | October 24, 2008 1:00 PM
Let's see...
Reversed letter?
Carved in a place that a left-hander would choose?
Aha! She was attacked by Leonardo Da Vinci!
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 1:00 PM
I have to agree with Carlie.
Posted by: clinteas | October 24, 2008 1:01 PM
Neg @ 97 ,
Got a link for that story?
And Obama has been pretty proactive with the whole ACORN/voting business,as opposed to Gore back in 2000,so I dont think hes going to let them get away with widespread vote-rigging this time around.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 1:01 PM
Wait for it... its coming... 'No one manipsnates [sic] me or my family!'
Posted by: Bill Dauphin | October 24, 2008 1:05 PM
Yeah, because a campaign as smart and disciplined as Obama's would so want to pull a crazy, guaranteed-to-backfire stunt like that just as it's on the verge of an electoral landslide!
Word!
Posted by: Words that start with "B" | October 24, 2008 1:05 PM
There are a lot of words that start with "B", such as Bush, bitch, bogus, brainwashed, bacon, batty, berserk, bigot, birdbrain, boilermaker, Bill O'Reilly. The list goes on...
Posted by: ronco | October 24, 2008 1:08 PM
Did she seriously drive around for over an hour looking for an ATM to avoid fees? The gas costs were probably more than her fees would be. Not that any part of the story makes sense.
If she's stupid enough to believe that this will pass muster, she is probably stupid enough to spend $10 driving around to save $3.
Posted by: SplendidMonkey | October 24, 2008 1:09 PM
Maybe she was asking him to bust up a chifforoBe for a nickle.
Posted by: Jack The Rapper | October 24, 2008 1:10 PM
So, a Big Black Man robbed her of $60, got pissed off when he saw her MCWhitey bumpersticker, held her down by sitting on her chest to scratch a backwards "B" on her cheek after she faints, and he's gracious enough not to rape her? (because that would mean supplying DNA evidence??) What's more damaging to Obama than "Where da white wimmen at?" mentality?
If I were enraged enough to leave a message on someone with a blade of any kind, I would go for the chest or forehead. And I wouldn't bother with trying to make curves either. Just sayin'.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 1:12 PM
You'd be surprised what some people will do. I had a girlfriend who would burn $1 in gas to save ten cents on a pack of cigarettes.
Posted by: RobinSV | October 24, 2008 1:12 PM
So, the black eye is her left and thus she was likely punched by someone with his right hand, suggesting that the "attacker" was right handed. If a right hander was sitting on her chest carving letters on her cheek, it's most likely he would be carving on the cheek on his right side, i.e. her left cheek. But the "B" in on the right cheek. One more oddity in her story.
Of course, none of these oddities people are finding are impossible, but they're all somewhat improbable. And as people come up with more and more, Occam's Razor is getting sharper and sharper.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 1:16 PM
Carlie @104. You are right. Emmett Till and every other African American man who was lynched as a result of the kind of false claim that Miss Todd is making today didn't deserve it. (Why don't you scroll half way down the page to see how that 14 year old by was tortured and murdered because he supposedly looked the wrong and may have had the nerve to speak the wrong way to a white woman like Miss Todd.)
And while Miss Todd may have gotten popped a few times as I have as well as the victim of a hate crime and of domestic violence, comparing the suffering we endured to the suffering of thousands of victims OF people like her is like comparing decapitation to a fucking papercut.
And I hope in addition to any suffering she's endured thus far, she goes to jail has her life virtually ruined and finally gets all the attention she so obviously wants.
Posted by: Katkinkate | October 24, 2008 1:18 PM
"Or it was done upside down.
From the article:
"... he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees and scratched the letter "B" on the right side of her face ...
==========
Sorry, what you suggested doesn't jibe with her statement."
He was dislexic?
Posted by: Adrienne | October 24, 2008 1:19 PM
Another oddity: Her black eye isn't swollen shut, or even noticeably puffier than the unaffected one. The times I've had shiners (due to accidents, not to getting into fights), they've always been horribly swollen. Yet aside from the color difference of the skin around them, her eyes look the same in the photo.
Posted by: Katkinkate | October 24, 2008 1:20 PM
Oh, someone already suggested dislexia. Should read all comments first.
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 1:21 PM
Uhoh, speaking of lies...
Palin's $150,000.00 wardrobe receipts aren't adding up. One exclusive shop can't verify any purchase attributed to them by Palin's personal shopper (who happened to work for the company who provided the attack ads against McCain in 2004.)
Palin is now claiming she is very frugal and has only worn one or two things from Neimans, however, her personal makeup artist has been paid @$22,000. for two weeks worth of work. Daaaaayuuuuum! Either being a makeup artist is more lucrative than being a lawyer or Palin is one ugly woman under all that Max Factor.
Posted by: Feynmaniac | October 24, 2008 1:21 PM
She should have drawn an 'O'. It would make more sense and it wouldn't have mattered that she drawn it in the mirror.
Posted by: LisaJ | October 24, 2008 1:23 PM
Oh give me a break. Perhaps it's true, but that black eye sure looks alot like eye shadow to me.
Posted by: BRad D | October 24, 2008 1:23 PM
My gut feeling is also on the domestic violence scenario. As far as the coloration, monitors and file formats etc. can be off, that said, here is a bigger version where the color looks "better" to me: http://pittsburghlive.com/photos/2008-10-23/1024pcarve-a.jpg
I think it looks like a real injury, but I agree with others that said this looks older than she states (the black eye part) and a different age than the "B".
Posted by: lll | October 24, 2008 1:27 PM
#125
That picture makes the bruising under her eyes look a bit more believable... but the lack of swelling is still a concern. Even if she'd gotten hurt, the B is WAY too suspect. That one straight line looks more like a wimpy scratch than a knife cut.
Something clearly happened to this woman, be it mentally or physically, but one thing's for sure, she wasn't mugged by someone who carved that 'B' into her.
Posted by: Adrienne | October 24, 2008 1:29 PM
From the Associated Press, released an hour ago:
Police say bank surveillance footage doesn't show her at an ATM where she says she was attacked.
Todd, who is white, now says she was knocked unconscious and doesn't remember being cut. She now says she only discovered the wound later.
Posted by: kc | October 24, 2008 1:30 PM
Apparently the story changed quite significantly, and she was now unconscious. And the police say she wasn't at the ATM where she said she was. `Inconsistencies in her story` is putting it mildly.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iidrMKZwVNDDlEtkssY6t1xxhg9QD940VEM01
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 1:30 PM
Actually after looking at the higher resolution picture, I think it looks more fakey. The smaller 'bruise' on the right eye is totally wrong and the left is only slightly better. You will get more bruising on the lateral aspect of the eye if you are punched, while she has darker coloration more medially on both eyes (though more noticeable on the right.)
If you do have trauma focused more medially, you are going to break that perfect looking nose. Also, why does she have not a single subconjunctival hemorrhage in either eye?
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 1:30 PM
Now that I got my serious comment out of the way...
She was obviously attacked be a Black Russian, that would explain the backwards B, I mean they write their Я's backwards don't they!
(On an unrelated note, I need to stop by Toys 'Ya' Us later and pickup a present for my daughter's upcoming b-day)
Posted by: SplendidMonkey | October 24, 2008 1:31 PM
Mayella Ewell: I was sittin' on the porch, and he come along. Uh, there's this old chifforobe in the yard, and I-I said, 'You come in here, boy, and bust up this chifforobe, and I'll give you a nickel.' So he-he come on in the yard and I go in the house to get him the nickel and I turn around, and 'fore I know it, he's on me, and I fought and hollered, but he had me around the neck, and he hit me again and again, and the next thing I knew, Papa was in the room, a-standin' over me, hollerin', 'Who done it, who done it?'
Posted by: garth | October 24, 2008 1:32 PM
couldn't the story be completely real? though a mugger saying "you're going to be a Barak supporter" seems oddly specific, it could still have happened. that doesn't make the person an "Obama supporter". it makes them a "mugger and violent criminal". if things were reversed, i'm sure people would freak out all the same, but it still doesn't matter. it doesn't reflect on Obama in any way shape or form, and it has nothing to do with the presidential election.
it's just sad, that poor woman got beat up and robbed.
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 1:33 PM
"by" a... not "be" a
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 24, 2008 1:35 PM
Please read the comments, then write your own. That way your brilliant insight in comment # hundred-and-something isn't redundant to something noted within the first 30.
She's been working in a McCain phone bank--plenty of people would know if her "injuries" were really days old. Similarly, if it's makeup, that's easily debunked by the cops.
This whole thing is just really weird.
Posted by: Scott from Oregon | October 24, 2008 1:36 PM
"Scott do you have something relevant to the post to day or just more of the same?
The mind boggles..."
Sure--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm224g-OtjI
(Well, at least it elevates the conversation past the sophomoric...)
Imagine- A people with the most power in the world, using a girl with black eyes and a B on her cheek as an election weight...
Boggles boggles boggles...
Posted by: lll | October 24, 2008 1:38 PM
@Garth
You're a fucking moron. She wasn't mugged, and noone other than her or someone in on this lie scratched the 'B' into her face. If you had actually read the comments, you'd have noticed that it's already been determined she's never been to the ATM she's claiming she has been to. Her story has more holes in it than swiss cheese.
Posted by: Lsuoam | October 24, 2008 1:38 PM
Breaking news: she's making it up:
story here.
Posted by: Lsuoam | October 24, 2008 1:40 PM
Text from prvious link:
# Breaking News
# 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.
Posted by: lll | October 24, 2008 1:40 PM
#137
Win post is win.
Of course, it was fucking obvious from the beginning, because the cunt was so damn moronic. I hope her genes never propagate.
Posted by: Qwerty | October 24, 2008 1:42 PM
If she disfigured herself, she should have done an "H" for Hussein (sp?). Then, backwards it would have been the same! Of course, she seems a little backwards. As for it being done with a knife, the scars would have been more pronounced. This has all the makings of a desperation hoax by an overzealous McCain/Palin supporter.
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 1:43 PM
#125
Um, if she'd been walking around with a black eye for several hours before the attack, don't you think someone would have noticed? And covering up a black eye and the subsequent swelling is very difficult with make up since most contemporary make up is sheer; even concealer isn't truly opaque. You need theatrical or mortuary make up to hide bruises and Visine won't hide all the broken blood vessels on the sclera. (I'm willing to bet she's got a very dark plum eyeshadow in her pocketbook.)
Most domestic abuse victims sport oversized overdark sunglasses to hide shiners; easy enough to check if little Miss Kelly Osborne wanna-be was sporting the Hollywood look before the "attack".
If she wanted to fake it better, she should have gotten an accomplice to beat the crap out of her. Her injuries are so superficial as to be unconvincing.
She's probably going to really see the bad part of town now.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 1:48 PM
So how are the wingers going to spin this now?
She was a fake campaign supporter?
Obama hypnotized her into being a McCain campaigner and then planted the thought of faking this attack?
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 1:49 PM
yup... there it is! She's a liar and now a criminal.
And now sit back and wait for the McCain campaign to condemn this racist, lying bitch. If I'm wrong, well good for McCain and his campaign, and I'll be the first to applaud him... but recent history leads me to believe this will just be ignored by the McCain campaign.
Posted by: Moses | October 24, 2008 1:51 PM
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
She's now admiting she faked it.
Posted by: Buffalodavid | October 24, 2008 1:52 PM
Here's the update http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Posted by: 123 | October 24, 2008 1:52 PM
If you're not aware she just confessed, then go read post #137. NOW.1
Posted by: Michelle | October 24, 2008 1:52 PM
What was she thinking? Of course they were gonna grill the truth out of her mouth sooner or later.
But well, with so many lame flaws in her story... I guess she didnt have the smarts to think up that would happen.
Posted by: Moses | October 24, 2008 1:53 PM
Fuck, that was funny.
Posted by: raven | October 24, 2008 2:00 PM
Well it looks like she was beaten up. The so called B just looks like 2 closely placed bruises. There is swelling around the so called B as well, ruling out most clever make up jobs.
The dull knife story isn't believable. A knife would leave cuts not bruises.
My best guess is someone, maybe a husband or boy friend smacked her around. It will come out in the end.
Posted by: Miles Tougeaux | October 24, 2008 2:01 PM
Maybe she could run the Senate.
Posted by: aaa | October 24, 2008 2:02 PM
#149
Go and read post #137 now. Lsuoam was the first to notice the link to a news article where she's confessed.
Posted by: EvoStevo | October 24, 2008 2:03 PM
I say "B" for Bull$hit.
Posted by: Steve_C | October 24, 2008 2:05 PM
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
UPDATE!!!
She confessed to making it up.
Posted by: phantomreader42 | October 24, 2008 2:05 PM
So, what is this woman expecting people to believe?
She expects people to believe that she was attacked at an ATM by a crazed Obama supporter, over her McCain bumper sticker.
...despite the fact that the ATM security cameras caught no footage of the alleged attack.
...despite the fact that there is, in fact, no record whatsoever of her even being at the ATM in question.
She also expects people to believe that this scary black man held her down and carved the letter "B" in her face with a knife.
...even though an "O" would have made more sense.
...and he did it without drawing a single drop of blood.
...and without any jagged lines or signs of struggle.
...and he carved it BACKWARDS, as if it were done in a mirror.
...and despite being injured, she refused medical attention.
...although her injuries couldn't be TOO bad, as her "black eye" shows absolutely NO signs of swelling.
...in fact, it looks painted on.
This story is not plausible to anyone with a brain. Lucky for her, that's not her target audience. Hopefully the police will be quick at charging her with filing a false report, and expose her as the lying sack of shit she is.
And even if all this obvious bullshit was true, it says nothing about Obama. Just some "crazed suporter", who is magically invisible to security cameras. And given that the McCain campaign had their own crazed supporters calling for Obama's MURDER at rallies, they might not want to be throwing this particular stone right now.
Posted by: raven | October 24, 2008 2:05 PM
Yes, me also. I had to kludge a work around to avoid that post.
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 2:06 PM
I wonder if we will ever hear the real story, now that our suspicions are confirmed.
Posted by: Cods | October 24, 2008 2:06 PM
"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."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/24/mccain-supporter-who-clai_n_137484.html
Posted by: Moses | October 24, 2008 2:07 PM
Ah, you missed the point. There was no evidence she even used an ATM. She didn't make any bank transactions:
Posted by: Ignignockt | October 24, 2008 2:08 PM
Some commenters at SadlyNo! decided that her assailant was, in fact, a rabid Biden, supporter; as it would be easier, more efficient, and more logical to carve an "O" otherwise.
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 2:08 PM
And another liar for
JeebusConservative Values is exposed. Her momma must be so proud."B" is for Bearing false witness, "L" is for "Liar" and "Loser".
I wonder if she'll have any African-American cell-mates?
Posted by: phantomreader42 | October 24, 2008 2:08 PM
OH, good, now even Faux Noise admits she's lying:
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 2:12 PM
I'm having Seinfeld flashbacks... you know, the "fake orgasm" episode?
I see the woman sitting across from officers in the police station... it's after confessing to making the whole thing up, and they are looking at her in disbelief...
police: "So... that WHOLE production... all made up?"
Todd: "Yup... not bad, huh?"
police: "the mugging, the beating, the black eye, the knife-carved B..."
Todd: "Fake... Fake... Fake... Fake."
Posted by: www | October 24, 2008 2:14 PM
Apparently this is Ashley Todd's YouTube account. She appears to be paranoid about a school janitor damaging her oh-so-precious McCain signs or something... go spam the comments with how much we appreciate her lying about an assault. :")
Posted by: Raynfala | October 24, 2008 2:15 PM
I FIGURED IT OUT!
The Duke Lacrosse team did it!!!
/me ducks...
Posted by: www | October 24, 2008 2:17 PM
Edit: I failed miserably, forgot to put the URL in. Again, Ashley Todd's YouTube account.
Posted by: Dahan | October 24, 2008 2:19 PM
Faux News is now reporting that she's admitted to the fraud. McCrazy's fans will have to come up with a better thought out October Surprise than this.
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 2:23 PM
Whoa, man it was lucky she escaped with her life! We all know how rabid those Biden supporters are!Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 2:24 PM
...have a lot of great stuff planned...
giggle
One minute in.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 2:25 PM
I hope the police charge her. I bet the NAG's are really going through a case of cognitive dissonance over this.
She is a Women and she said a man attacked her.
But she has the wrong political party.
Women don't ever lie about being attacked or raped.
But she admitted lying.
BTW Crystal Gail Mangum's book came out toay.
Duke lacrosse accuser.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 2:27 PM
You know... it remains seen how this will play out for the McCain campaign. He hasn't shown himself to be too quick on the up-tick... he's still thumping "Joe the Plumber", long after it's been pointed out time and time again that Joe the Plumber won't be affected by Obama's tax plan in any way but a positive way... so I won't be at all surprised to hear him on the podium in Western Pennsylvania, telling his voters he wants to get this great country "back to a time and place when innocent political supporters can live without fear of being physically accosted and beaten for their views"... and then repeat it again every hour for 2 weeks...
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 2:27 PM
Oh. I don't approve of some of the attacks on her you tube account comments..... but damn.
ouch
Posted by: David W. | October 24, 2008 2:29 PM
She's confessed to making up the story.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Posted by: www | October 24, 2008 2:30 PM
At #171.
She deserves every last attack.
Well, except for the one commenter who poster her home and cell and work numbers. They may be bullshitting for all we know, but spreading phone numbers around (okay, there's Yellowpages but still) is crossing the line for me.
Posted by: Lsuoam | October 24, 2008 2:30 PM
BTW, if the GOP could spend $13.5K on Palin's makeup, maybe they should have spent a little on this moron...
Posted by: Michael Fonda | October 24, 2008 2:30 PM
That's, um, Tawana Brawley (former copy editor here), but I had the same thought. Tawana had "KKK" written backwards across her chest which "proved" that she had been raped outdoors over a four-day, cold and wet Thanksgiving day weekend by guys who all had families.
Forgive my propensity for being a marginally-relevant wet blanket here, but, if you young pups out there think that only conservatism has a serious self-discrediting nut infestation problem, allow this survivor of political correctness and former person accused of being a rape apologist for not believing the above hoax, assure you that that's far from true. In 1988 it was leftists who were the most belligerent enemies of rational thought. Twenty years from now don't be surprised if that's true again. Political groups, if left to their own devices always wind up becoming insane just like the Republicans are right now.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 2:31 PM
Erik, there is no cognitive dissonance at all. It is just wish fulfillment on your part. It is now you wish feminists would act.
Posted by: hje | October 24, 2008 2:32 PM
The big loser is Drudge who ran this story with a Second Coming sized type header for awhile yesterday. Now it's just a little type story saying in a mumble that she made it up.
Wonkette has given them both a big whupping.
Posted by: Elwood Herring | October 24, 2008 2:35 PM
This about sums it up I think:
www.herring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Toddfail.jpg
Posted by: JackC | October 24, 2008 2:36 PM
Does ANYONE know yet if she admitted to just making the whole thing up???
/ducks and runs.....
JC
Posted by: Elwood Herring | October 24, 2008 2:37 PM
Oops - let's try that again...
http://www.herring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Toddfail.jpg
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 2:37 PM
Erik, there is no cognitive dissonance at all. It is just wish fulfillment on your part. It is now you wish feminists would act.
I would wish feminists act like rational people. Not much hope for that.
Not much hope for Democrats to remember how much Hillary spent on outfits either.
Posted by: BlueIndependent | October 24, 2008 2:37 PM
I just looked at her YouTube...a commenter posted "...Bible Spice..." in reference to Palin.
THAT. IS. CLASSSIC.
Posted by: wqe | October 24, 2008 2:38 PM
The person posting the phone numbers on her YouTube pages seems to have just made them up, they don't link to anyone remotely by the name of Todd or whatnot.
Posted by: Tulse | October 24, 2008 2:40 PM
I tremble as I type these words, but I actually agree with SfO on this (and only this) issue: It is profoundly sad that in the contest to determine the leader of the Free World and the commander of the largest nuclear force on the planet such an "incident" is considered meaningful political fodder.
Posted by: Norm | October 24, 2008 2:41 PM
Sorry if someone already posted this but CNN just reported that she's admitted to making the whole thing up.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 2:41 PM
Um. No. Hoping she gets raped. That's not deserved.
Hoping she is punished with in the law, that is deserved.
Posted by: OneMadClown | October 24, 2008 2:42 PM
It has been confirmed that she faked it.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 2:43 PM
@ Tulse
Uh-oh... SfO will be upset that you quote-mined him and took his words out of context, as there was so much more to his diatribe that just that point...
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 2:44 PM
Erik, not all feminists supported Hillary. Also, are there any stories that the Democratic Party paid for her clothes. If Palin paid for own clothes, it would not be an issue.
Oh, nice way to duck the issue at hand.
Posted by: www | October 24, 2008 2:47 PM
@#186
You're right, hoping she gets raped wasn't very thoughtful. The poster should have expressed the hope that she get raped by a black guy while she's in jail getting her face cut by a real knife, thus the irony would have made it funnier.
The bitch can go die in a fire for all I care, the liar isn't getting any sympathy from me unless she's deemed not criminally responsible due to mental disorder. In that case, she obviously needs therapy, not jailtime.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 2:47 PM
Wow. Me and the Rev. agree on something.
I am sure we may agree on other topics.
Not meaning to piss off the Rev.
Really.
Posted by: cactusren | October 24, 2008 2:49 PM
I just saw a report about this on CNN. They said the woman's story has changed so many times, and is unsupported by evidence, that the police don't believe her. They will likely be charging her with making a false report.
Posted by: Transient Reporter | October 24, 2008 2:50 PM
Atrios:
Should've gone with the "O".
Posted by: JimCH | October 24, 2008 2:51 PM
The best part is that Fox's executive VP for "news" said this:
So, given the link that OneMadClown provided in #187 above I guess McShame's campaign is over?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 2:52 PM
Didn't take it that way ;)
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 2:53 PM
"The Heroes Angle: Maybe it's a superpower manifesting itself. She can make letters appear on her face."
Geek moment: That was the mutant "power" of one of Solomon O'Sullivan in Peter Milligan's satirical comic X-Statix. Cryptic messages kept showing up on his body, which he would later peel off and collect.
Posted by: JimCH | October 24, 2008 2:53 PM
Oops, here is the link to that Fox V.P. statement:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/23/jmoody_1023/
Posted by: E.V. | October 24, 2008 2:53 PM
Well, what do you expect from a girl from Aggieland?
Posted by: Hap | October 24, 2008 2:56 PM
This incident wouldn't be a very good reason to vote for or against anyone, but then again none of the recent reasons (Dean Scream, Swift Boat Veterans for Political ExpediencyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTruth, not knowing milk prices, Willie Horton and his "furlough") motivating people to vote for a presidential candidate have been much better.
Oh, and JIATLD, if your candidates were Sen. McCain, and Gov. Palin, you'd be doing a lot of ducking too. It's hard work trying to pretend that your campaign slogans aren't "McCain/Palin '08 - With enough incompetence and ignorance, anything is possible." or "McCain/Palin '08 - Where does one drill for brains, exactly?". There isn't enough soap in this soap opera to clean their records up, anyway.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 2:59 PM
Anger management. Look in to it.
Saying fuck all to the rule of law is what got us into a lot of the mess we are in now. Your attitude is no better.
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 3:00 PM
Eric, when you quote something that someone else has posted, PUT IT IN QUOTATION MARKS OR A BLOCKQUOTE OR ITALICS OR SOMETHING TO SET IT APART FROM YOUR OWN WORDS!
Posted by: Josh | October 24, 2008 3:03 PM
Damn, now that the story's been debunked, there goes my theory that it was a rabid Bérubé supporter: "You are going to buy Rhetorical Occasions."
Posted by: 123 | October 24, 2008 3:05 PM
#200
This bitch has pulled a 'crying wolf' both to ACTUAL victims of political attacks (the spraypainting recently), and ACTUAL victims of assault. I'm more than happy to say 'fuck all' to a cunt whose actions have shamed those who have been genuinely affected by such crimes, and it'd be delicious irony if someone actually assaulted her. It'd be a horrible, despicable act, and I wouldn't advocate doing it, but still wonderfully ironic.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:05 PM
#189
Hillary raised $133 million in contributions, loans and transfers in her election bid. If you think she paid for her own outfits on the trail...well what can I say.
As for their being news stories, well if she had been a Republican...
Posted by: kingjoebob | October 24, 2008 3:06 PM
Just found this she admits its BS.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:09 PM
Thanks for the advice Fox.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 3:11 PM
And to the rule of law.
Stoop down to their level much?
Yes she's a despicable cunt who deserves to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, shamed in front of the whole country and have to live with the societal ramifications of her actions, but I would find no comfort in her being raped, attacked, cut because of or as some ironic event following her actions.
Posted by: nietzschesbulldog | October 24, 2008 3:11 PM
WWW;" the hope that she get raped by a black guy while she's in jail getting her face cut by a real knife, thus the irony would have made it funnier."
123;"I'm more than happy to say 'fuck all' to a cunt"
Two startling members of the stubby choad variety of dispicable attitudes, I think
Posted by: AAB | October 24, 2008 3:13 PM
who walks around with dull knife..
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | October 24, 2008 3:13 PM
Y'all better be respectful: if the voting machines and vote suppressors perform as promised on 11/4, there will be a public record of every mean thing you've said about the next White House Press Secretary...
Posted by: Tulse | October 24, 2008 3:14 PM
There always is...
Posted by: JimCH | October 24, 2008 3:15 PM
Eric #204...
Please confirm if this is the grammar that you intended & if so, make sense of it. Then, please complete that thought. Before you do however I'll just remind you about a certain $400 haircut story.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 3:15 PM
Thank you for making my point. As for speculating that if she was a Republican, it would have been the same.
But I thank you for playing Blame The Liberal Media game.
Posted by: Carlie | October 24, 2008 3:16 PM
Comparing the suffering we endured to the suffering of thousands of victims OF people like her is like comparing decapitation to a fucking papercut.
NickG, I hope you don't think I was comparing those situations, because I totally was not. I never said anything of the sort. I don't think people deserve to be the victims of physical violence at all. What she did was incredibly serious, incredibly vile, and most probably due to mental illness. That doesn't mean she deserves physical violence in retaliation. It means she needs to be charged with the crime of falsifying an attack, it means she needs enforced psychiatric/jail time, it means she deserves every social shunning that might come her way, but even if her actions had sparked a riot, that doesn't justify physically harming her.
Posted by: Kraid | October 24, 2008 3:16 PM
From the executive VP of Faux News:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/23/jmoody_1023/
"If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
Here's hoping!
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 3:17 PM
He does it on purpose. Killfile is your friend.
Posted by: nietzschesbulldog | October 24, 2008 3:20 PM
sorry, I meant to write; despicable. But It gives me the opportunity to say it again. Despicable, vile and repugnant.
Since when has rape been a part of the justice system?
Posted by: tomecat | October 24, 2008 3:21 PM
Rev @195
Don't worry, we all know that the misogynist is Eric A.
Posted by: Craig | October 24, 2008 3:22 PM
She faked it!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081024/ap_on_re_us/attack_mccain_sticker
Posted by: Tilia | October 24, 2008 3:23 PM
Sorry, didn't read all the comments, so I don't know if it's already there, but we had a similiar case in Germany some years ago, when a girl claimed that someone attacked her and carved a swastika in her face. The swastika mirrored. It turned out, she did it herself. This picture immediately reminded me of that case.
Posted by: Scott from Oregon | October 24, 2008 3:23 PM
""""ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president.
Why? The real "game changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Imagine: Greed, arrogance and incompetence create a massive bubble, cost trillions, and still Wall Street comes out smelling like roses, richer and more powerful!""""
Thank God for Liberal Democrats!
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:23 PM
Killfile is for pussies like tsg. He is one of the STFU thugs around here.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 24, 2008 3:24 PM
I heard McCain's campaign is all set to reveal the game-changing, shocking truth about Joe Biden: He's actually from Altoona!!!Posted by: Another George | October 24, 2008 3:26 PM
The perp has been caught! I say throw the book at them.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/24/mccain-campaign-volunteer-admits-alleged-attack-hoax/
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 3:26 PM
Wait! Hold on!
She faked it?
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | October 24, 2008 3:26 PM
Wow, # 221-222: COnsecutive killfiled posts! Very unusual. I can't bear to look; are they talking to each other?
Posted by: Hap | October 24, 2008 3:27 PM
123: Don't you have a blog? I think there were some posts here about it recently. I don't think the oblique threats to gays went over so well.
We have this pesky concept of the "rule of law" to cover this sort of thing - you make false claims to the cops, you go to jail. Police get annoyed at being lied to, but don't don't normally ponder the death penalty for it - they try to make the penalty fit the crime (well, sort of). In addition, it wasn't like anyone actually believed her - even Fox was questioning her story, and Fox isn't exactly the first stop for the train of logical thought. Assault and murder would be rather disproportionate responses for a transparently idiotic stunt with little consequence. Besides the legal consequences, she has made her life and its problems fodder for the primetime news (and the talk shows) - that will be harder to get out of her hair when she gets finished with the court system than six pounds of gum.
IANAP, but you need serious antidepressants, counseling, or both. At minimum, either some extra conscience or a reduction in hyperbole might also help.
Posted by: SplendidMonkey | October 24, 2008 3:29 PM
There, fixed it for you Moody.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:30 PM
#195.
Misogynist. I would this fool tomecat to explain why her tiny brain thinks I am hateful of Women.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 3:30 PM
Erik, to think that I criticized the person who wanted you placed in the dudgeon. Killfile is very useful in that one can block out those who repeatedly post inane shit. You are not there yet for me, I find more amusement then annoyance in your conservative talking points.
But you are acting like an ass.
Posted by: Hap | October 24, 2008 3:32 PM
#226: I can't tell. SfO seems to be channeling some cranky guy in a tin shack who sold this month's meds, while EA is complaining about the killfile.
You can laugh at the sweet consonance of the latter comment, I guess.
Posted by: kermit | October 24, 2008 3:34 PM
A comment, which can apply to many news stories. I heard several folks complain that she "obviously didn't struggle", and at least one say that if the left-handed knifeman punched her, it wouldn't have been on his right side.
As a martial artist, I and my teachers have some experience with physical confrontations. If I had a chunk of her scalp and hair held tightly in my fist, and a knife point to her throat, she wouldn't struggle if I told her not to. And bruises could come from any side, at any angle. If the assailant had been real and a southpaw, a boxer's jab would be from his right hand.
When you see photos or news stories, please don't assume that the struggle is something that you can retroactively figure out. People freeze solid, or panic and struggle at the risk of their lives. They bend, twist, fall, get hit with head butts, both fists, elbows, and fall into fences and trash cans. They can even be attacked from above their head when they're lying down, and not remember it.
But the bruises and "B" were clearly bogus, yeah. I'm glad she confessed right away; the story can fade and maybe she can get help. (A variant of Munchausen's syndrome?)
Hopefully none of the loons will be encouraged to act violently at this point.
Posted by: Doug Little | October 24, 2008 3:34 PM
"If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
I guess it's over then. WoooooHoooo.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 3:36 PM
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 2:37 PM
I would wish feminists act like rational people. Not much hope for that.
Nothing misogynistic about that. After all, feminists are not real women.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 3:36 PM
If she had, someone would have mentioned it by now.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:37 PM
In what way am I being an ass Janine? By not going along with the group think? Maybe I am a ass, but I'm not "Misogynist."
BTW the name is eric.
Posted by: Mark Sawyer | October 24, 2008 3:37 PM
C'mon! Her attacker was dyslexic! It's perfectly plausible! If, you know...well, OK, it's not, but...nevermind.
Posted by: sinned34 | October 24, 2008 3:40 PM
The article on Fox News now states:
Developing news: Police sources tell KDKA television in Pittsburgh that 20-year-old John McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd has admitted to lying to them about being mugged and attacked by a man who carved a "B" into her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car. Todd is expected to face charges for the false report, according to KDKA.
Posted by: bogo | October 24, 2008 3:41 PM
Yep, confirmed as a hoax. She also claimed to have been sexually molested by her imaginary attacker. I'm glad that they didn't already arrest some random black guy who happened to be in the neighborhood. Remember the Runaway Bride? She claimed to have been abducted by a Latino driving a white van. These stories ended with the liar admitting her fabrication but too often some innocent person gets imprisoned and suffers terribly. There needs to be harsher penalties for this sort of thing. I guarantee this woman will get a slap on the wrist if that.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 3:42 PM
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008
Killfile is for pussies like tsg. He is one of the STFU thugs around here.
If it walks like an ass and talks like an ass...
All tsg did was say that killfile is your friend. And I agree.
Also, I made tsg have to lie down
*boing* *boing*
Posted by: Smiggs | October 24, 2008 3:42 PM
The videos this girl has posted on her youtube page are horrible... I don't use the youtube very much, is this typical?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 3:43 PM
Anyone keeping count now?
Posted by: ice9 | October 24, 2008 3:44 PM
Brownian at #53--I caught the Hawthorne thing. SA (snickered audibly.) You win the thread.
ice
Posted by: MrMarkAZ | October 24, 2008 3:44 PM
Entry in FAILBlog commencing in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 3:45 PM
So by saying feminist should act rationaly, I hate Women.
Gee, I guess my wife hates Women too.
Is this some sort of liberal logic?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 3:46 PM
Yeah that was good.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 3:47 PM
Eric, you are amusing me again.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 3:47 PM
I guess McShame's campaign is over?
That certainly seems to be how McCain and his staff are treating it. He's planning to skip his own election-night party, and his staff has started sending out resumes. They're hard pressed to even sound positive when talking to reporters these days.
Posted by: me | October 24, 2008 3:49 PM
Mavericks, by definition, do not have brands.
Posted by: Mary (in Bloomfield) | October 24, 2008 3:49 PM
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the story has been retracted.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 3:50 PM
Rev. BDC
.No... but did you hear? She faked it!
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 3:50 PM
A FAKE!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?
Posted by: thalarctos | October 24, 2008 3:50 PM
Janine, he's not acting.
Posted by: Wrought | October 24, 2008 3:57 PM
When you're standing at the pearly gates... sorry, automatic doors... of the bus featuring the slogan, and smiling to yourself, and you're part of what is becoming a global campaign, you'll know why you donated to the Atheist Bus Campaign.
http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 3:58 PM
She faked it!
Let's leave my late wife out of this.
Hehe, just kidding. She never, in fact, bothered faking it.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 4:01 PM
I really hope Democrats think the election is over.
November 5th might be a fun day for me.
Happy,Happy, Joy,Joy.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 4:03 PM
Eric. Non sequitur much.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 4:06 PM
Shut the fuck up, Eric. Nevermind, say whatever the hell you want. I have killfile.
"What the Klingon says is unimportant and we don't hear his words."
MPEG! MPEG!
Posted by: abeja | October 24, 2008 4:07 PM
I'm glad that they didn't already arrest some random black guy who happened to be in the neighborhood. Remember the Runaway Bride? She claimed to have been abducted by a Latino driving a white van. These stories ended with the liar admitting her fabrication but too often some innocent person gets imprisoned and suffers terribly.
Reminds me of the Charles Stuart story. I'm not comparing her crime to his, just saying that the community reaction to these stories can be very, very bad, and the Stuart case is one example of that.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 4:09 PM
Janine. I was refering to post #248.
I should have said.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 4:13 PM
Eric. Non sequitur much.
No, he's actually got a point. Obama won't win if too many of his supporters don't bother voting because they assume that everyone else will take care of the job. As Obama himself is saying, this is no time to get complacent. There are still 12 days left, there is still the Bradley Effect, and there are still plenty of tricks the Republicans can pull to rig the election again.
Posted by: DianaGainer | October 24, 2008 4:13 PM
As the daughter of a lawyer, I'd like to mention a little point about law here. Why do you suppose we have laws, eh? My father once noted that the whole point of having laws was because sometimes it's hard to behave properly. That's an important thing, folks. This young lady behaved badly. The law needs to deal with her. But if those of us who are disgusted with her behavior go off half-cocked and invoke lawless behavior in turn, then how are we any better? I'm talking to those of you who want her raped. As Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | October 24, 2008 4:14 PM
I like "Bible Spice", but I think I still prefer "Caribou Barbie" or "Calamity Sarah".
Posted by: James Webb | October 24, 2008 4:14 PM
Watch Will Ferrell spring a surprise endorsement on McCain and Palin as George W. Bush: http://brainrageblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/hot-lady-and-tiger-woods-guy.html
Posted by: Katkinkate | October 24, 2008 4:15 PM
Posted by: nietzschesbulldog @ 217 "...Since when has rape been a part of the justice system?"
From what I've read it's and integral part of the prison experience, at least in the men's prisons.
Posted by: tomecat | October 24, 2008 4:16 PM
Janine,
You got it right. The generalization about feminists is what pissed me off. Thanks for the response while I was gone.
Eric,
I shouldn't have taken your bait. Just because one woman (your wife) agrees with you about feminists doesn't make it true.
Posted by: Arnosium Upinarum | October 24, 2008 4:24 PM
Been expecting this sort of thing. Watch, there will be lots more of this staged crap as hopes continue to implode. But making stuff up is already second nature and routine to them, so it won't be as if they'll notice they're doing anything wrong.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 4:25 PM
Tomecat. I hope you also realize that the small percentage
of Women who are feminists, don't get to dictate the definition of who is a "Misogynist."
At least not yet.
Posted by: ice9 | October 24, 2008 4:25 PM
Nitpick, that isn't really a nitpick, at #250. The story can't be retracted, either by the victim or by any of the news organizations that published it. Sure, she can admit she made it up, but the act of making the statement is a crime and the statement stays made, legally; the best she can do is apologize and hope for a presidential pardon.
But the "journalists" involved are guilty of a worse, and equally non-retractable, crime. Sure they can mea culpa or weasel--I'd look for the latter--but this is beyond retraction. Any mistake damages a journalist's standing, but the hasty, editorial, very badly sourced, and extremely slanted reporting in the initial postings about this incident are retraction-proof. I suppose you could blame the accelerated news cycle, but the drooling joy of the Fox tease and several subsequent postings show that they took the story on face value on purpose, not because they were fooled (who could possibly have been fooled!) or lacked a way to source up a contrary perspective or even voice doubts. It was a stupidity trap, and no amount of retraction can salvage the credibility here. Whoever pushed the button on that story should be fired, but even that won't save the damage.
Worse, of course, is that the model of this act--Tawana Brawley has been mentioned, and she has a hundred sisters--is out there for everybody to see. Only a half-wit or a dedicated partisan could go with this story, even on a fifteen minute cycle.
I'll be using this one with my j-students on Monday morning.
ice
Posted by: Michael Johnson | October 24, 2008 4:28 PM
So, the story that she's telling now, if I've got it right is:
She's sitting alone in her car. So what does she do? She intentionally mutilates herself by scratching a 'B' in her face.
But now she's going to go see her friends. They're going to ask her where the 'B' scratched in her face came from. Being a racist and a McCain supporter, she makes up some utterly stupid story about an attack.
Now she's at her friends' house. Being stupid, she hasn't anticipated the fact that being mugged and mutilated is extremely serious and her friends, charitable as they naturally are to a friend, believe her and tell her to call the police.
Now she's called the police. She can't tell them a different, more plausible story, because then her friends will wonder why she lied to them. Still stupid as ever, she imagines she can tell the police her dumb story and they'll believe it (hey, it worked with her friends).
But it doesn't work and she's forced to come clean. I think this is a sad, sad tale. Here's a woman who harms herself intentionally, probably because she's abused (if the black eye and bruises are any indication). We can condemn her for being racist, and condemn her for, inadvertantly as it were, harming the cause of actual victims of violent crime, but I think it's rather harsh to say she's vile and disgusting and deserves to be raped. She's sad and ill and deserves to be helped and enlightened.
Don't we all?
Posted by: ice9 | October 24, 2008 4:28 PM
#261: Bradley Effect has been debunked thoroughly.
ice
Posted by: Tom L | October 24, 2008 4:30 PM
That was done with a knife? Yeah, right.
Looks more like it was done with, I dunno, maybe a miniature Tesla coil.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 4:34 PM
Ice9.
For fairness,please read post #16 .
BTW Crystal Gail Mangum's book came out today.
Duke lacrosse accuser.
We remember how the media responded to that one.
Posted by: Ted Powell | October 24, 2008 4:40 PM
#4: Quiet_Desperation-- It's a stigmata!
Erm... FWIW, you can't have a stigmata, any more than you can have a women or a mice. You can, however, have stigmata (plural) or a stigma (singular).
Posted by: MikeM | October 24, 2008 4:41 PM
I'll take the "over" on that one.
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | October 24, 2008 4:41 PM
Although I think that the amusing acronym ("shoddy tale") of her name is almost punishment enough, I've decided that Ashley Todd should be fed to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson. | October 24, 2008 4:42 PM
Ice9
If the Bradley effect has been "debunked thoroughly", which it doesn't look like to me, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect
then there must not be any such thing as the "reverse Bradley Effect."
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 4:42 PM
@ #274
Pedants make baby jesus cry.
Posted by: JimCH | October 24, 2008 4:43 PM
eric...
Please read this slowly to yourself & tell us again who possesses the tiny brain.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 4:45 PM
Or a beer.
"Beer" is always plural.
Posted by: Richard Smith | October 24, 2008 4:47 PM
Hey! Just found an article that says she faked it!
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2...
Meh. Necrohippoflagellation only gets you so far.
I could always just close the window without posting at all... Nah!
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 4:47 PM
Must be you Jim. I see no hate in that statement.
Of tomecat or of Women.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 4:48 PM
HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHE FAKED IT!
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 4:48 PM
Aww shut up Eric.
Stop using that word.
And quit picking on tsg, you're just jealous because he gets goosed more than you do. Troll.
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 4:48 PM
I, personally, find that going off on a tangent about false rape accusations is a good indicator of, if not outright misogyny, then at least issues with women, or insecurity with masculinity, or just privileged sneering. All of which are par for the course when it comes to Eric of the Republican Sound Biters.
Posted by: Denis | October 24, 2008 4:50 PM
"PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B" scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack, police said Friday. Ashley Todd, 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false and was being charged with making a false report to police, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department's investigations division."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iidrMKZwVNDDlEtkssY6t1xxhg9QD9412IF83
Posted by: tomecat2002 | October 24, 2008 4:52 PM
Eric: "I hope you also realize that the small percentage
of Women who are feminists, don't get to dictate the definition of who is a "Misogynist."
I hope you realize that you don't get to define who is a feminist. In fact, there is a lot of discussion about just that, so I don't know why you think there is only a "small percentage of Women who are feminists". Try googling feminist and self-identification if you're really interested. All of which is off topic, as I never said I was a feminist.
Instead of engaging you, I'll apologize for the misogynist remark & settle for jerk.
P.S. Not everyone who defends women IS a woman. Not everyone who dislikes your statements has a "tiny brain".
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 4:53 PM
Holy shit! She faked it!
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 4:54 PM
Mr. Chimp, are you saying that this woman has not been entirely honest in her accusations? I think we should wait until the facts come in, shouldn't we?
Posted by: Steve_C | October 24, 2008 4:55 PM
The Bradley effect would of shown up in the primaries if it were to have an effect on Obama's chances. It didn't happen. When Obama won states, he won them by a BIGGER margin than projected. And when he lost a state, which wasn't that often, the projections were pretty much within a percentage point.
It's not gonna happen. If anything people will be swayed by the "vote for the winner" pressure, who wants to vote for the douche bag that lost?
REPUBLICANS are endorsing Obama at this point. Former McCain and Bush supporters are supporting Obama.
You're deluded Eric. This election could turn out to be a gigantic win for the Democrats, possibly even 60 senate seats.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 4:55 PM
@ Rev. BDC
And, I'm not sure if you've heard... but apparently, the bird is the word...
Posted by: Tom L | October 24, 2008 4:59 PM
Can you have a stigmatism?
Oh, she has a stigma NOW, you betcha.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 5:01 PM
The Bradley effect would of shown up in the primaries if it were to have an effect on Obama's chances.
I do hope you're right. I'm just afraid to get my hopes up after the beating my psyche took in 2000 and 2004. That's okay, though; it keeps me from getting complacent.
Posted by: MrProsser | October 24, 2008 5:02 PM
B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a...
Ugh, you're evil for bring that up Celtic
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:03 PM
I did hear something about that.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 5:04 PM
What makes you say that?
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 5:04 PM
Seemed appropriate...
Posted by: Jadehawk | October 24, 2008 5:04 PM
since the actual story has been milked to death, just a few random notes to posters
E.V. in #141:
actually, it's perfectly possible to cover a shiner with foundation, as long as you use chap foundation powder. I've done it before. It covered the yellow-and-purple just fine. Nothing to be done about the swelling though, hence the giant-sunglasses that abuse victims use.
Eric Atkinson, re: the clothing issue
since Hilary Clinton never claimed to be a struggling, regular Middle Class woman, her wardrobe is not a question of hypocrisy. this is more comparable to a populist like Edwards getting caught with a $400 haircut. Either way, the stories are really sideliners.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 5:04 PM
a gigantic win for the Democrats, possibly even 60 senate seats.
It won't really be 60 if that includes Lieberman, of course.
Not that I care much. I don't mind if the Republicans can filibuster as long as the Democrats actually make them filibuster, instead of caving in just at the threat of it.
Posted by: Steve_C | October 24, 2008 5:04 PM
TSG. She admitted it to the police.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:05 PM
Even better
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:08 PM
In case anyone hasn't mentioned it.
She admitted she faked the whole thing.
I don't have a link right here.....
Posted by: Steve_C | October 24, 2008 5:08 PM
60 doesn't include Lieberman. They're democrats are counting him as a Republican.
I wouldn't be surprised if he got knocked down to the refreshments committee in the next congress.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 5:08 PM
@ Steve_C #300
Yep... that's right... my sources tell me that the bird is in fact the word...
Bird bird bird... the bird is the word...
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 5:08 PM
Really? I hadn't noticed....
IOW: I was joking. It's only been mentioned about every other comment since it happened.
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 5:08 PM
Unless you have only one?
I always hear it as beers though around here, and that's how I am accustomed to saying it. Call me unrefined if you will :)
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 5:11 PM
Hilary Clinton never claimed to be a struggling, regular Middle Class woman
There's also the whole "paid for by the Republican Party" angle, which leads into the "illegal use of public funds" area.
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 5:11 PM
No it's not.
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 5:13 PM
There are only two numbers when it comes to beer: "not enough", and "enough".
Case in point: There's a hockey game on tonight. I called my wife to see how much beer we have. She said, "not enough," so I'm stopping on my way home.
And, no, there is no such thing as "too much beer".
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:13 PM
Is beer always plural when talking about bottles of beer?
Hand me three beer?
Posted by: Jesse | October 24, 2008 5:17 PM
In case I missed it in the cloud of comments. Yes, she admitted she faked it - Link
Posted by: tsg | October 24, 2008 5:19 PM
Okay, apparently my joke was a little too subtle.
Fully aware of the "if you have to explain it" rule....
What I was trying to imply was that I can't drink a beer, because I'll always want another.
I'd answer your question, but I'm on my way out the door. I have to get 10 gas.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 5:20 PM
Well, technically, the correct phrase would be to ask for the containers in which the beer is kept... bottles of beer, cans, kegs, tubs, balls, vats, etc...
It's the same as asking for 3 waters... commonly accepted but still technically, grammatically wrong.
Could this conversation get any nerdier? I need some beers.
Posted by: Jeanette | October 24, 2008 5:20 PM
#256: Dream on. We're voting. You freaks are going down.
Posted by: Jadehawk | October 24, 2008 5:21 PM
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 5:22 PM
tsg said
Oh crap, does this follow that rule too??? I count six, and that's just the NHL. I'll be watching the Kings lose, cause I like that kind of pain. I'd better call my wife and see if I have enough Beerseseses.
PS. Did you hear she faked it?
Sorry.
Posted by: Jadehawk | October 24, 2008 5:24 PM
*looks at #315*
preview. use it wisely.
*headdesk*
Posted by: Penny | October 24, 2008 5:24 PM
I'm glad some people invoked 'rule of law' against the advocates of rape, battery and harassment as suitable punishments for this person, but I would have thought 'civilized society' would have done the trick. And has anyone ever heard of compassion, by the way? This poor girl is surely mentally unstable / unreasonably afraid / ignorant and feeling terribly powerless. Her scam was transparently clumsy and nobody's ever going to believe anything she says from now on. That makes her safe for society, so I would opt for psychiatric treatment and a serious warning from the cops.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:27 PM
Just finished Sweetwater IPA # 2.
And yes that was some serious nerdiness on display.
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 5:30 PM
"Hand me three beer?"
Quick, three beers!
Therefore "beers" is the correct plural, as evidenced by ornithology.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 5:31 PM
Myself, I have some IBC Pale Ale waiting for me at home... and it's about time I went and saw to doing just that...
Posted by: Jeanette | October 24, 2008 5:33 PM
tsg, @312: I thought it was funny.
But you've all made me thirsty; I'm going for some beers. (Not joking.)
Have a great night.
Posted by: Celtic_Evolution | October 24, 2008 5:34 PM
Ornithology... that reminds me...
have you heard...
Posted by: Eric Saveau | October 24, 2008 5:35 PM
@Michael Fonda #175
In 1988 it was leftists who were the most belligerent enemies of rational thought.
Flat wrong. I was on this planet in 1988; were you? In 1988, right-wingers were getting in my face and yelling that "Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom FROM religion!", screaming that evolution was an evil liburel secular hyoooomanist conspiracy (and that science actually supports everything in the Bible but the above conspiracy was keeping everyone from finding out), that gay people were child molesters and independent women just hate men, that cigarette smoking didn't cause cancer (it was just liburels who said so because they hate the successful capitalism of the tobacco companies), and that Reaganomics was proven to work and the notion of regulation for the markets was an evil Communist conspiracy.
Batshit-fucking-insane.
Sure, there have been irritating irrational "leftists" (and there are some to be found now), but they have never had the numbers or been anything remotely like the destructive force that the right wing has.
Posted by: qedpro | October 24, 2008 5:36 PM
looks like she just admitted to making the whole thing up.
they're going to charge her with a misdemeanor.
what a loser. She must have been desperate. they said she took a year off to volunteer for McCain. I guess its hard to swallow that you just wasted a year of your life on a grumpy old man.
Posted by: Brad D | October 24, 2008 5:37 PM
From CNN.com http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/24/mccain.sticker/?iref=hpmostpop
Hope she gets the help she needs.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:40 PM
Interesting, I was just listening to some jazz from Birdland.
Word
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 24, 2008 5:42 PM
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 24, 2008 5:43 PM
"have you heard... "
Papa ooh maow maow, papa ooh maow ma-maow?
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 5:45 PM
I wonder if the whole "image designer" thing isn't by now part-and-parcel of campaigns
It is, unfortunately, but clothing purchases are on the list of things specifically forbidden by FECA.
http://www.fec.gov/law/feca/feca.pdf
See page 73.
Posted by: Jadehawk | October 24, 2008 5:56 PM
aaah, thanks bunny, i didn't know that. THAT changes things a bit, of course.
Posted by: JimCH | October 24, 2008 6:08 PM
Who's talking about hate? The topic was tiny brains ... & you even brought it up! You cannot even form a grammatically correct sentence yet you accuse someone else of having a tiny brain. That was the point that was lost on nobody but you.Posted by: suirauqa | October 24, 2008 6:14 PM
I don't understand! If that can be a 'B' (mirror image), why can't it equally be a large 'M' - done by either a zealous MacDonald's fan, or perhaps (gasp!) a McCain supporter?
Posted by: Adobedragon | October 24, 2008 6:31 PM
And using the word "pussy" as an insult is for misogynists like Eric, who can't get one if they paid for it.
Funny how all the misogyny trolls invariable claim to be married...to a woman. Sorry, not buying it.
Posted by: ggab | October 24, 2008 6:35 PM
I just got home, did I miss anything?
Did they catch the bastard who hurt that poor girl?
Do you think he was a filthy liberal muslin?
What's with all these birds?
papa oo mau mau
Posted by: SayWho? | October 24, 2008 6:43 PM
Has anyone called her fat yet?
I'm very concerned...
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | October 24, 2008 6:45 PM
EricA, kill file, at least for me, is to prevent boredom. SfO rants remind of the radical literature I read while waiting for the bus to arrive/class to start during my undergraduate days. Same shrill voice, same use of big words, but null immoral content when everything was deciphered. I could almost write his rants for him. So yawn. When SfO posts on non-political blogs he usually does add to the discussion.
Your little rants are similar. You are a conservative posting at a liberal blog, who likes to unnecessarily tweak noses. I could write some of your scripts for you. Your purpose is disrupt us, so yawn. If you ever said something cogent I might change my mind. But to do that, you would have to stop trying to tweak our noses so hard.
Posted by: negentropyeater | October 24, 2008 6:57 PM
Naked Bunny with a Whip,
Gee, it's not the Bradley effect you need to be worried about, but this :
http://www.gregpalast.com/rolling-stone-its-already-stolen/
"According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale."
I mean it's quite clear, if McCain wins, they'll claim that it was the because of the Bradley effect that the polls were that wrong.
But after 2000 and 2004 will Obama supporters buy it this time ?
I found strange that this massive vote tampering by the GOP, if true, is having so little coverage in the News.
Would Americans rather wait for a surprise result, how would they deal with it ? With the extreme level of polarization that exists in American socety nowadays, I predict that this would result in a real nightmare scenario.
Posted by: AshleyToddIsACunt | October 24, 2008 7:05 PM
And now she's off to jail! Good riddance, and don't come back until you've carved the word 'liar' in your fucking skull. =3
Posted by: windy | October 24, 2008 7:07 PM
"...doesn't know how the backward letter 'B' got on her face."
Poltergeist scratches!!
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 7:14 PM
a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering"
Yeah, I know. That was one of the things I had in mind when I mentioned Republican dirty tricks, though "trick" is certainly an understatement for this particular issue.
I found strange that this massive vote tampering by the GOP, if true, is having so little coverage in the News.
I'm not. It's never been covered by the corporate media with any significant focus, though it happens every election cycle.
Posted by: llewelly | October 24, 2008 7:15 PM
#339, and others like it:
This young woman's silly fraud is no justification for you to start acting like you were a violent misogynist. You're beginning to sound like you came straight from powerline or lgf.
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 7:27 PM
Poor tsg, he really can't take it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oITaM_KOypg
We won Janine!
Posted by: Tom L | October 24, 2008 7:29 PM
Misogynist? What exactly about the phrase "liar" or "skull" applies specifically to women?
Posted by: WhoopsNeverMind | October 24, 2008 7:35 PM
Oops, found it. Need to read the user IDs a little more closely. (Would you be happier if he called her a prick?)
You will note, however, that this person suggests that she carve "liar" in her own skull. Seeing as she already carved a lie in the form of a backwards B into her own cheek, how does that make HIM violent?
Posted by: negentropyeater | October 24, 2008 7:37 PM
This is a recipie for disaster. When a nation can't trust its electoral system anymore, it will irremediably put itself at risk of a latent civil war.
Think about it, if Obama loses this election, despite having at least a 7 point margin in the polls (assuming it stays that way until election day), what happens next ?
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 7:51 PM
Would you be happier if he called her a prick?
Probably. I've never seen the PC brigade complain about men being called sex-specific names.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 24, 2008 7:55 PM
what happens next ?
Dunno. Nothing much happened the last couple times, but the Republicans had the advantage of the margins being razor-thin going into election day.
Posted by: 12345 | October 24, 2008 7:58 PM
I say McCain's a fucking jackass due to his policies. Why hasn't anyone called me a misandronist yet? I smell a double standard here.
Posted by: Kel | October 24, 2008 8:48 PM
"fear of a barack planet"
Posted by: raven | October 24, 2008 8:52 PM
C'mon why would anyone expect this young woman to carve "liar" onto her skin? That is silly!!!
She couldn't even get the B right. It is reversed. She needs to learn how to spell simple words first.
Rumor has it, she has a history of psychiatric problems. If she didn't, she does now.
Posted by: Kel | October 24, 2008 8:54 PM
Is that the republican side making excuses for her? That she doesn't have personal responsibility due to psychiatric problems? Who'd have thought that it would suddenly be okay simply because she can't control herself... it almost sounds liberal ;)Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 8:57 PM
Comments like #334 do kind of make me want change my mind about kill file.
What a Kos Kid.
Posted by: Susan | October 24, 2008 9:00 PM
Threads like this can only be read at home, where I have Killfile installed and fully loaded.
PS: Has anyone mentioned that all wimmin lie all the time yet? That feminists totally are to blame for this incident? Something about "false" rape accusations? I'll assume evidence and links and lots of vicious words the Men Who Obviously Adore Women use to describe them have been posted in abundance, and I'll happily update my Killfile list once the thread runs its course.
Posted by: Monado | October 24, 2008 9:03 PM
There's a picture of her under arrest. The "black eye" has pretty much washed off and there's still no swelling.
Can you say, "Teh stupid, it burns?"
Posted by: bezoar | October 24, 2008 9:13 PM
she's lying and admitted it to the police. Bitch!
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 9:17 PM
Susan. Can you say "reducto ad absurdum?"
Some feminist think that all sex bewteen men and women is rape.
Some are willing to believe the wildest stories told by women making rape accusations.
BTW Crystal Gail Mangum's book came out today.
Duke lacrosse accuser.
Some Women do lie.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | October 24, 2008 9:22 PM
So do some neocons like you Eric A.Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 9:30 PM
Eric, You can killfile all of us. Just don't come trolling here anymore. Simple.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 9:30 PM
So Nerd, you just told one lie yourself.
I am no Neocon.
"I dissiagree with you so you are lying"
Typical Democrat Behavior.
Posted by: SplendidMonkey | October 24, 2008 9:33 PM
Hey the Surfin' Bird Trashmen are playing a gig in St. Paul in November.
Posted by: Carlie | October 24, 2008 9:34 PM
I've never seen the PC brigade complain about men being called sex-specific names.
Then you haven't hung around them very much, because most of them do. Gender-neutral terms like asshole and dipshit, though, are used liberally, especially for people who like to use terms like "PC brigade".
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 9:34 PM
Why should I Trish? You are some much fun when you and your crew are mad.
Besides, I like the science articals.
Posted by: ice9 | October 24, 2008 9:40 PM
Can I just say...this has been a lot of fun.
Erik A is caught leaning, picked off first... .
The slavering desperate republican media, Drudge foremost, are revealed (in the span of about 45 minutes) for the hack's hacks they are... .
The texas girl is shown to be...un-blackeyed, dumpy, and rather forlorn and puny between two peace officers...no sign of violence...like the McCain foreign policy, her terrible bruises vanished in the light of day... .
Somewhere in the ghettoes of Pittsburgh a marauding Democrat, no doubt middle-named revealingly, perhaps "Qaddafi" or "h. rap brown"--chortles, sensing an election-day triumph with his ACORN homies, and spends his $60, cleaning his fingernails with his strangely dull knife... .
and the morons slaver...World Net Daily will be DELICIOUS tomorrow.
ice
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | October 24, 2008 9:42 PM
EricA, you lie. I am not a democrat. I've never met a ballot I haven't split. So you need to stop presuming to. Otherwise, your lies will keep adding up.
Posted by: cicely | October 24, 2008 9:47 PM
Eric Atkinson @ 360:
Typical Democrat Behavior.
Typical Human Behavior, in a certain (unknown to me; possibly someone has scientifically determined this, but if so, I've never heard it!) proportion of people regardless of political/religious/ethnic/the-gods-alone-know-what-all affiliation.
No moral superiority attaches.
Posted by: cicely | October 24, 2008 9:49 PM
*sigh*
BLOCKQUOTE FAIL
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 9:50 PM
Never said you were a Donk.
I said accusing some one of lying because you don't agree with them is "Typical Democrat Behavior."
And I am registered democrat in NC and voted for Hillary in the primary.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 9:50 PM
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008
Susan. Can you say "reducto ad absurdum?"
Some feminist think that all sex bewteen men and women is rape.
Yet most feminists still willingly have sex with men.
Some are willing to believe the wildest stories told by women making rape accusations.
Let us talk about the woman who led the prosecution. What was her name? Mike Nifong.
BTW Crystal Gail Mangum's book came out today.
Duke lacrosse accuser.
BFD.
Some Women do lie.
I did not see the light until you opened my eyes.
Wait, is this your proof that feminists cannot think rationally.
Eric, you are a very funny man. And guess what, I will not lay your faults on your gender. I lay it on your personality.
Posted by: Eric Atkinson | October 24, 2008 9:57 PM
Janine. You must not remember about the "group of 88".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_88
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 10:02 PM
This is PZ's crew, my crew are all chickens, and even they know when to shut the cluck up. Which is more than can be said for you. Sniveling git. Does your momma know what you're doing in the basement, or is she upstairs being entertained by Brownian?
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 10:08 PM
"Some feminists think all sex between men and women is rape."
OK short pants, name some.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | October 24, 2008 10:15 PM
Wow Eric! Some faculty members who sighed a petition in support of Mangum. Proves your point. Some women, you just cannot reason with them and they have bad judgment.
Please remind me, what does this have to do with Ashley Todd? Oh yeah, cognitive dissonance. Or some such bullshit.
Still good for a few laughs.
Posted by: flame821 | October 24, 2008 10:18 PM
OT-
Thank you for posting the Family Guy / Surfing Bird link.
Besides making me laugh hysterically, it brought my 11 yo son (who was playing Pirates online) into the office when he heard it. I had to start it all over for him and then hit several online sources to PROVE to him that yes, it was actually a REAL song and had been very popular.
I'm pretty sure the part with Peter convulsing on the floor is what did my son in, the poor boy hasn't laughed that hard in days.
So thank you again.
PS
Did you hear? She made it up....
and 'yo' to the fellow /b/tards and channers who apparently hand out here as well.
Posted by: Feynmaniac | October 24, 2008 10:20 PM
Not enough geekiness on this thread. Let me try to add some with a very memorable DS9 moment,
"IT'S A FAAAAKE"
Posted by: BobbyEarle | October 24, 2008 10:34 PM
Patricia @371 spoke thus:
That will leave a mark.
Posted by: Patricia | October 24, 2008 10:49 PM
Well BobbyEarle - That ol' Brownian does have quite a reputation, and a dapper hat. And on one of the other threads (don't tell) he whipped out his big ol' wand and even some of us soiled doves had to retire to the fainting couch!
Oh no. Gossiping! Now I'm bound for hell.
Posted by: NickG | October 24, 2008 11:01 PM
Carlie @214 "What she did was incredibly serious, incredibly vile, and most probably due to mental illness."
Being a lying attention whoring bitch is a mental illness? What is the DMS-IV code for that?
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | October 24, 2008 11:21 PM
Being a lying attention whoring bitch is a mental illness? What is the DMS-IV code for that?
Munchausen Syndrome, as kermit pointed out in post 232. That is what crossed my mind as soon as I read that she refused medical attention.
The fact that she could have placed some innocent black guys in a potentially dangerous situation (like Susan Smith did back in the day) is despicable.
The only good that will come out of this is the fact that it clearly showed Drudge to be a two-bit hack, and lying repugnican bastard.
Posted by: chgo_liz | October 25, 2008 1:03 AM
Patricia @ #372:
Yes, sadly, it is true. Some well-known feminists have argued that all relations between men and women are subject to societal prejudices and violence against women as a whole and thus no woman can legitimately consent to sex with any man.
Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Robin Morgan, etc.
They've taken legitimate concerns and argued them ad nauseum until they've reached total absurdity.
Posted by: antaresrichard | October 25, 2008 1:12 AM
I can see the ad copy now, and put out by the Republican Senatorial Committee. To borrow loosely from 'Plan 9 from Outer Space':
"This young lady's been mugged - lettered - and someone's REPSONSIBLE!"
Posted by: Kel | October 25, 2008 1:14 AM
Basing feminism off those people though is like basing Christianity from the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. The most extreme views always get the headlines but seldom have any practical application to the real world.
Posted by: Dahan | October 25, 2008 1:28 AM
Eric Asshole,
Just in case you weren't aware of it; you've already made abundantly clear to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit this blog that you are a complete moron. Your work here is done. Go in peace.
Posted by: Rey Fox | October 25, 2008 1:33 AM
"Some feminist think that all sex bewteen men and women is rape.
Some are willing to believe the wildest stories told by women making rape accusations."
And this is relevant...how? Oh yeah, because uppity women that need to be put in their place, gotcha.
Eric A doesn't mean to bust your bubble
But girls of the world ain't nothin' but trouble!
So next time a girl gives you the play
Just remember his rhyme and get the hell away!
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | October 25, 2008 1:54 AM
Young and impulsive, nothing more. Her actions say nothing about McCain, only her. I hope she gets the counseling she needs.
The asshole who assaulted the Obama canvasser? There's someone to be concerned about.
Posted by: Patricia | October 25, 2008 2:06 AM
chgo liz - Really?
I am surprised. I will look into the writings of those women.
That is going too far. Most women that I know have loving relationships with many men. Their fathers, brothers, grandpas, and many women truly love their husbands and son's. I find that attitude hard to understand.
Thank you for the heads up.
That doesn't mean you aren't an idiot Eric.
Posted by: saurian55 | October 25, 2008 2:36 AM
Latest on this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/24/mccain.sticker/index.html
Posted by: Susan | October 25, 2008 3:16 AM
Highly recommended. I think you'll find them fascinating, and a whole lot more complex than those who like to think about the patriarchy and male privilege in simple terms (or, more likely, don't like to think about them) present the issues explored in their work. Also highly recommended: Twisty's take.
Ahhhh. Killfile list all updated. That was easy!
Posted by: Jeanette | October 25, 2008 5:31 AM
I hope it's not too late to share this take on the story with everyone. It's dated today (25th) and it's 3:25 in the morning here, but these comments seem to be just about dead (entered sniping phase). Anyone still with me?
I'm going to intentionally split this link in half (won't get you all the way there unless you put the rest of it in your browser) because I'm worried about stretching out the page all over the place, because in preview it doesn't truncate. Here:
http://notnews.today.com/2008/10/25/sweet-white-young-republican-volunteer-attacked- by-large-scary-colored-person-gets-a-b-for-effort/
Posted by: Patrick Brennan | October 25, 2008 5:47 AM
It may not be an especially scientific comment but what is the whole deal with the relationship between religion and hate/violence? Has there been any studies? Repression, supressed libidinal energy transformed into aggression. Wilhelm Reich? Any studies? What are all these "Christians" on the Republican side saying about the gun law in the U.S. I recently watched Gus Van Sant's Elephant again and really you guys in the U.S. have to change this ancient outmoded frontier law on gun ownership. Why does religion so often have nothing to say about violence and guns? Is it because the obvious the Old Testament has a violent tyrant smiting people left, right and centre?
Posted by: Carlie | October 25, 2008 7:13 AM
Being a lying attention whoring bitch is a mental illness?
Being a cutter is. Additionally, I think someone who would go to those lengths to get attention probably does have some serious issues. Or do you believe in the existence of actual evil? When I see people being sociopaths, I tend to think mental illness, not the devil.
Posted by: David Gerard | October 25, 2008 8:05 AM
@Jeanette - thanks for the link :-) The tiny url is http://tinyurl.com/4kbxdp .
Posted by: Fatpie42 | October 25, 2008 8:27 AM
I am absolutely shocked at the sexist language being used here and the jokes being made about a poor victim.
Naturally it's not such a big political issue if her story is true. Sometimes strange people do strange things. If someone carved a lightning bolt symbol on her head would we blame Harry Potter? If someone carved a heart symbol on her torso would we blame the 'care bears'?
If further evidence about this case is being sought, I don't really understand why you are rushing to the conclusion that she is lying and I am especially horrified that you would be so abusive in your accusation.
The other option that was mentioned is that she might be mentally disturbed and have done this to herself. I don't think I need to explain why a mentally disturbed woman might deserve sympathy rather than being called a "crazy bitch".
Posted by: Kel | October 25, 2008 8:35 AM
Poor victim?!? She carved a B into her own face then made up a story how it was a black man who beat her up because she supported McCain. The girl is crazy and she pandered to the fear of the black man in an election where race is a huge issue!Posted by: Gramsuil | October 25, 2008 8:37 AM
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
case closed? kinda? ta A x
Posted by: Carlie | October 25, 2008 8:45 AM
Yeah, even I wouldn't describe her as a "poor victim". It's a fine line, but I would say although she deserves pity, she does not deserve sympathy. That for me goes out the window when your actions could seriously harm others. That said, she still doesn't deserve threats of violence and/or namecalling.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 25, 2008 10:44 AM
are you paying attention?
Posted by: khan | October 25, 2008 10:49 AM
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/mackinnon.asp
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 25, 2008 10:51 AM
I can honestly say I've never heard that insult before. i like it.
Oh and have you all heard, she lied.
Posted by: Jeanette | October 25, 2008 11:52 AM
I heard she lied; is that true? (I thought that joke was getting stale last night, but I guess not, if some people still haven't heard.)
David Gerard @ 392: Thank you back. You taught me a new thing today (TinyUrl.com). :o)
Posted by: NickG | October 25, 2008 12:00 PM
Longtime Lurker @379 "Munchausen Syndrome, as kermit pointed out in post 232. That is what crossed my mind as soon as I read that she refused medical attention."
Nah, with Munchausen Syndrome the secondary gain is the attention one gets in the patient role in the health care system. She didn't even agree to go to the ER to be seen and there is a definite secondary gain external to that patient role; namely 'helping' one's picks for the POTUS and attention from friends and co-workers in the campaign.
Though there certainly is a DSM-IV diagnosis... just not Munchausen's: 301.83 - Personality disorder, borderline type.
Carlie @391 "Being a cutter is. Additionally, I think someone who would go to those lengths to get attention probably does have some serious issues."
She's not a cutter either. This behavior was not to produce physical pain as a coping mechanism to deal with psychological pain. Saying this is cutting is like saying that me skipping breakfast is anorexia. While both involve depriving the body of food (and her behavior and a cutters both involve injury to the skin), its the psychological underpinning that makes it a disorder.
Though you were more on the money with the term sociopath. That's not the politically correct term any more, its personality disorder (which she exhibited many of the hallmarks of in her observed behaviors.) And no I don't believe she's evil. I believe she's a lying attention whoring bitch... er I mean person with PD borderline type.
And while I agree with you that she's mentally ill, I don't agree that we can or should excuse behaviors with this. If you engage in destructive and manipulative behaviors despite an awareness of the fact that you are placing others in clear danger (by the racial consequences that we've discussed, by taking police officers off the street overnight and this delaying the call response time to real crimes, etc.) You certainly are mentally ill. You are also a manipulative bitch who cares only that you get the attention that you want while disregarding the welfare and rights of others. Those two are not mutually exclusive descriptors. Hell, for that matter crazy often precedes the term manipulative bitch.
Posted by: Carlie | October 25, 2008 1:23 PM
She may well not be a cutter, but to even think of it I wonder if she hasn't displayed those kinds of symptoms before. As per your example, most people don't normally think of skipping a meal as a good way to protest something if they don't already have some weird ideas about food.
I don't agree that we can or should excuse behaviors with this.
I never said that we should excuse behaviors. She absolutely needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I was responding to a comment above that if someone beat her up, she deserved it.
Manipulative bitch, however, is a way to tar all women.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | October 25, 2008 1:44 PM
Eric Atkinson's insecurity masked as bravado is amusing.
Posted by: NickG | October 25, 2008 2:45 PM
"Manipulative bitch, however, is a way to tar all women."
Are you high? So you don't think her behavior is both highly manipulative and bitchy? If you don't what would you call it? If you do, why is it a way to cast aspersions toward all women simply because I describe her as she obviously is?
In a similar vein I can't tell my partner he's being lazy if he doesn't take the garbage out because that is a racial stereotype that casts racial minorities in a bad light?
Posted by: John Atkeson | October 25, 2008 2:59 PM
Full story, she confessed it was a lie, and she's under arrest for filing a false police report:
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
John
Posted by: thalarctos | October 25, 2008 3:02 PM
You haven't supplied enough information to answer the question; it depends what terminology you choose to phrase it in.
Did you want to say, "Hey, X, you're being lazy for not taking the garbage out", or "Hey, X, you're a lazy {nigger | kike | wetback | other minority-linked epithet of your choice} for not taking the garbage out".
The answer is not the same for both cases, and you haven't supplied enough information to indicate which you meant.
Posted by: shaxanth27 | October 25, 2008 3:05 PM
Well, that's one McCain campaigner found to be mentally ill. Keeping count now.
Posted by: SC | October 25, 2008 3:11 PM
So you don't think her behavior is both highly manipulative and bitchy?
Under what definition of "bitchy"?
Posted by: Carlie | October 25, 2008 3:50 PM
What thalarctos said. Extra points if the minority in question has a history of being described as lazy.
Posted by: NickG | October 25, 2008 11:36 PM
"You haven't supplied enough information to answer the question; it depends what terminology you choose to phrase it in.
Did you want to say, "Hey, X, you're being lazy for not taking the garbage out", or "Hey, X, you're a lazy {nigger | kike | wetback | other minority-linked epithet of your choice} for not taking the garbage out"."
Hey Dan, you are a lazy bastard for playing WOW instead of taking the garbage out. Hey Ashley, you are a manipulative bitch for making a false claim, playing the blood libel card, and trying to manipulate who is elected POTUS, etc.
"What thalarctos said. Extra points if the minority in question has a history of being described as lazy."
He's mixed race (white, African, Latino.) So yes, African Americans have been described as lazy. However, if he's lazy and doesn't do his set of chores around the house because he's playing video games... he's lazy regardless of the color of his skin.
But that's my point: you can have the stereotypic attributes of whatever minority group you belong to. I can be effeminate. My partner can be lazy. Ashley is certainly bitchy. You can also have the stereotypic attributes of other minority groups. But when you say that one cannot use descriptors because of the status of an individual as a minority that is BS.
"Under what definition of "bitchy"?"
She's not a puppy or a complaint. She's a a person (usually but not necessarily a woman) who is thoroughly disliked (princeton wordnet).
Posted by: thalarctos | October 26, 2008 12:19 AM
You moved the goalposts there by changing terminology, so I'm not quite sure what you're saying. Forget about "bastard", because that's neither gender- nor ethnic-specific.
Are you saying you'd call Dan a lazy nigger or lazy wetback and Ashley a manipulative bitch, so you're equally ok with all those slurs?
Or are you saying that "nigger" and "wetback" are not cool, but "bitch" is? In that case, I'd appreciate it if you could explain the difference--thx!
Posted by: Fatpie42 | October 26, 2008 7:23 AM
"Poor victim?!? She carved a B into her own face then made up a story how it was a black man who beat her up because she supported McCain. The girl is crazy."
So being crazy doesn't make you a victim? I mean let's face it, if you carve a B into your own face, you need serious help...
Gramsuil, thankyou for your link:
>
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Khan, what was this link meant to show?:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/mackinnon.asp
(MacKinnon's most controversial claim was that pornography was violence against women, not that all sex is rape. Her group actually included a gay kiss amongst the pornographic images they wanted to ban!) I really don't see the relevance of this to the topic at hand...
"she still doesn't deserve threats of violence and/or namecalling"
That was my main point.
Posted by: Kel | October 26, 2008 7:39 AM
I thought republicans were all about personal responsibility for actions. Personally, I agree. She does need some help. But her actions still have social consequences and thus she is socially responsible for what she did. Her actions highlighted the general "fear of the black man" that still exists in the community.Posted by: thalarctos | October 26, 2008 11:04 AM
Kel is exactly right. After Charles Stuart and Susan Smith falsely accused black men for crimes they committed themselves, innocent black men were rounded up for police questioning.
Whatever this poor, sad, attention-seeking girl's motivation for her actions were, I hope she finds the help she needs. But in no way does that change the fact that she was playing with fire, and I am very glad the Pittsburgh PD was professional enough not to be taken in with her lies and go out on a witch-hunt for a non-existent black male assailant.
Posted by: NickG | October 26, 2008 2:34 PM
Thalarctos @ 411: "Are you saying you'd call Dan a lazy nigger or lazy wetback and Ashley a manipulative bitch, so you're equally ok with all those slurs? "
Would you have been OK with me then saying Dan is a lazy bitch for playing WOW rather than taking out the garbage (and then being bitchy when I asked him had he done it)? I certainly wouldn't have a problem calling him that (if indeed he was being a lazy bitch as described.) Are you saying that its 'manipulative bitch' or simply 'bitch' or 'manipulative' that can't be used to describe Ashley without insulting the entire female gender? So then in that case, is it OK to use 'bitch' (or whichever one you object to) to describe a male but not a female?
Hell by that reasoning, as someone whose parents were not married when he was born, I should then be offended at the term bastard. And I sure as hell need to get rid of my 'that's doctor faggot to you, asshole' tee-shirt. Not because of my self reference as a faggot (theoretically OK???) but because the entirety of the population without a colostomy should be offended at my derogatory use of the term asshole.
You seriously need to watch a little more Carlos Mencia.
Posted by: thalarctos | October 26, 2008 3:24 PM
Wow, Nick sure gets emotional when you try to rationally explore the entailments of his essentialism.
Still dodging my specific question, I see, Nick. That's ok. We can get to what I think after we've dealt with the question that's still in your court.
And I admit to a great deal of curiosity about what the diagnostic differential is for "bitch"; I am eager to know what salient medical information--other than, of course, the reaction of the practitioner--that "bitch" adds to your medical charts.
Well, if you do want to get rid of it, which I don't see any reason to do, I'll pass it on to a doctor friend of mine. He'll wear it when we go out drinking.
But I am curious about whether you wear that shirt on rounds? I suspect that rather than no holds barred anywhere, you actually do have a sense about what terminology is appropriate among what audiences in what context; you're just choosing not to listen to preferences this particular audience here. Which is certainly your right, as it's other people's right to call you on it.
Sure, cf. Bitch, PhD.
Been there, done that. He's really not as profound as you may think.
Posted by: thalarctos | October 26, 2008 3:28 PM
Oops, left out a word there.
Let this be an object lesson to all of you about what happens when you comment while sober.