McCain/Palin Volunteer Admits Attack Hoax, Race-Baiting Attempt Exposed

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McCain/Palin campaign volunteer Ashley Todd of College Station, Texas, has admitted to police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that her report of a mutilation attack there by an Obama supporter was a hoax. In an apparent attempt at race-baiting to draw white voters away from Obama, Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM the night of Oct. 22 by a tall black man who became enraged, beat her, and carved a "B" into her cheek after seeing a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on her car. Todd said the man told her he was going to teach her a lesson for supporting McCain, and that now she was going to be a "Barack supporter."

Police later said, however, that details of Todd's story kept changing, prompting them to give her a polygraph test. Other problem in Todd's story included the fact that the "B" scratched onto her cheek was reversed as though done in a mirror by Todd herself, and the absence of any video surveillance or bank records verifying her claim of having carried out an ATM transaction immediately prior to the alleged attack. Finally today (Oct. 24), Todd confessed to police that the attack never happened, indicating that her wounds were self-inflicted. Todd is now facing charges for filing a false report to police (see AP, KDKA, Huffington Post).

An incident such as this is exactly what I would have expected from the grotesque circus the McCain campaign has become particularly since the arrival of Sarah Palin. McCain/Palin rallies, and particularly Palin rallies, have turned into festivals of hate as attendees shout "Terrorist!" and "Kill Him!" at each mention of Obama's name and vent their rage at the media by attacking reporters. An obvious wingnut, willing to use racist tactics in a sick attempt to make white voters nervous about Obama, Ashley Todd is precisely the type of personality I would expect to be drawn to Palin. Indeed it isn't hard to imagine the 20-year-old Todd as a younger, less fortunate mirror image of Palin herself, and I wouldn't be surprised if Todd identified personally with Palin in ways a psychoanalyst would find fascinating. Her willingnes to mutilate herself suggests anything but good mental health, and the pathological feelings about African Americans her actions reveal put her in good company with the other crazies we have seen turning up at Palin events.

Fox News executive vice-president John Moody wrote hopefully in his blog earlier today that "if Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists..., but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee." On the other hand, Moody observes not so hopefully, "if the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."

Unfortunately for Mr. Moody and Sen. McCain, the latter would seem to be the case.