Fox News VP: If true, alleged attack against McCain volunteer could cause voters to "feel they do not know enough about" Obama
In an October 23 blog post on FoxNews.com's The Fox Forum, Fox News executive vice president John Moody wrote of the alleged violent attack against McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd: "It had to happen. Less than two weeks before we vote for a new president, a white woman says a black man attacked her, then scarred her face, and says there was a political motive for it." Moody wrote that the incident involving Todd "could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election," then made the following baseless assertion, with no explanation or elaboration: "If Ms. Todd's allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator [Barack] Obama, not because they are racists ... but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee." That assertion was followed by another baseless claim: "If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator [John] McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
Moody's October 23 FoxNews.com post in its entirety:
It had to happen.
Less than two weeks before we vote for a new president, a white woman says a black man attacked her, then scarred her face, and says there was a political motive for it.
Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old white volunteer for John McCain's presidential campaign, says she was mugged at an ATM machine in Pittsburgh (my hometown) by a big black man. She further says he threw her down, then disfigured her by carving the letter "B" into her face with a sharp implement when he saw that she supported McCain, not Barack Obama.
Part of the appeal of, and the unspoken tension behind, Senator Obama's campaign is his transformational status as the first African-American to win a major party's presidential nomination.
That does not mean that he has erased the mutual distrust between black and white Americans, and this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election.
If Ms. Todd's allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha [D-PA]), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.
If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.
For Pittsburgh, a city that has done so much to shape American history over the centuries, another moment of truth is at hand.
What? How, even remotely, could this be tied back to Obama? It can't. Not even close really. Even if it is true (which I have my doubts, something is just not right about this report), this would be the largest single most biggest stretch by anyone to tie Obama to some common criminal who attacked a woman for her money, and because of a sticker on her car? Really? Seriously? Ridiculous. Fox will stoop to any level no doubt. It's not like Obama told this guy to go out and attack McCain supporters. How about McCain supporters attacking reporters in NC? That must make me not know the honorable John McCain either, but that's ridiculous as well to try and tie McCain to something like that, and Obama to this.
Since they lied about Michelle being caught in tape using the term whitey and without any juicy wars to politicize, maybe this is McCain's October Surprise?
This reeks of Rove.
BREAKING NEWS! ... THE WHOLE THING IS A HOAX, ASHLEY ADMITS TO POLICE.
Even Michelle Maulkin thought it was fake. Why was the "B" backwards? Either the crook was straddling her face or she carved it in while looking in a mirror. Amazing how stupid you have to be to be a mccain supporter...
The thing about the backwards "B" was that it appears the top half is slightly smaller than the bottom half - which is consistent with how it's written normally. So if it was written upside-down, the person would have made the top half larger.
Not a big a clue as "refused medical treatment", but still something that caught my eye as an indicator that she did it in a mirror.
Why was the "B" backwards? Either the crook was straddling her face or she carved it in while looking in a mirror. Amazing how stupid you have to be to be a mccain supporter...
Totally hilarious. BTW, has anyone seen FOX report this hoax story? I haven't yet.
OH, CRAP! The McCain campaign called the press and PUSHED this incident before any FACTS WERE AVAILABLE! HOW DESPERATE!
McCain spokesman hyped attack tale before truth emerged
Long before any facts about the Ashley Todd case had been established, McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director told reporters the alleged attacker had told the woman, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."
The Drudge Report featured a teased story about the incident before any details about it were released. That caused KDKA reporters to contact the spokesman, confirmed as Peter Feldman.
Feldman's presumptuous claims are "significant because it reveals a McCain official pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than the available or confirmed facts permitted at the time," Talking Points Memo reported.
The story could deal a sharp blow to the McCain campaign, which might be seen as having pushed an incendiary story that had no basis in fact and that nearly blew up into a "national incident," said Pittsburgh Police Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant, reported KWTX News.
Kinda reminds you of another outstanding white christian woman named Susan Smith who claimed a black man carjacked her car with her two precious babies inside, doesn't it?
One again, thanks to SNOOPY for the link to this story.
Don't be so sure. Can Obama prove where he was at the time the crime took place? (This is a joke in case anyone is wondering.)
Mag
Don't you know every African-American is responsible for what every other Arican-American does or says. I thought that was common knowledge. Even if said occurrence didn't actually happen. <snark>
This story is so obviously phony even Michelle Malkin doesn't believe it. She say's she was mugged, which may or not be true, the security footage from the ATM camera will clear that up. But she definitely didn't have the letter "B" carved into her cheek. If you look at the photo the mark on her face is barely a scratch, as if done by someone's fingernail. And the letter "B" is backwards, as if someone had done it while looking in a mirror.
Her story just doesn't add up. She says the incident occurred in a shady neighborhood, but by all accounts of people familiar with that location say it's actually Pittsburgh's "little Italy" and that particular ATM is on the mainstreet which is rather busy at 9pm, the time of the alleged incident. How is no one going to notice a young white girl being mugged and then having her face "carved" with a knife by 6'4" black man?
Not to mention she didn't call the police for at least 30 minutes. She said she drove to her friend's house close by and then had to comeback to that location after driving around looking for it because she's not familiar with part of town. If she wasn't familiar with it how did she know her friend's house was close by? She also refused medical treatment. Now who in the hell would refuse medical treatment after being beaten up and having had their face carved with a knife?
But all that is immaterial, I guess. The MM will run with it anyway.
God this country is full of idiots.
I live a half mile from where she said she was mugged and I believe it's horse-crap. That street is busy all the time- she would have been seen. Also, the 'b' is BACKWARDS, as you pointed out.
Mr.L.. Pittsburghs' finest knew it was a lie from the beginning...P.S. We are virtually neighbors. Bloomfield is "Little Italy", and thems guyz wit da crooked noses won't let dis happen. Youze knows what I mean.
I was gonna go dahntahn an 'at to get me some perogies when I remembered some guy said 'Yinz better go to bloomfeld for them!' Thought I saw Cowher in EastSliberty on my way there...
UPDATE: Ashley Todd has confessed to making the story up.
SHE LIED, Big suprise there. I think the backwards "B" gave it away first, then the fact that she changed her story a few times.
Go to KDKA.com for the story of this liar.
http://kdka.com/politics/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
Here's the link I read . .. This woman's f'n crazy
Maybe this then tells us something about McCain's supporters? Not really, but there was something about her story that just didn't make sense, and the backwards B seemed to indicate to me that she did it to herself, in a mirror, and forgot that the image was going to be reversed.
I'm interested to hear whether she's just a sole loon, or whether she had accomplices in this ingenious enterprise
I am thinking that for this one, she was flying solo. She's a nutter that's for sure.
"That assertion was followed by another baseless claim: "'Ifthe [sic] incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator [John] McCain's quest for thepresidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.'" --MMFA.
I didn't see that one coming.
I guess Media Matters could teach FoxNews something about the words "Fair and Balanced".
Of course, the conservative defense will ignore the Republican political culture that fosters this kind of deception and claim she acted on her own accord.
But honestly, what does the right expect from the rank and file when Republicans nation wide are on the stump and on the airwaves declaring that liberals are the enemy within and must be stopped by all means necessary?
This kind of prank is a symptom of a deep cultural sickness.
AWESOME! Now that FoxNews has put their BUTTS on the line and their credibility, they now need to be held accountable. They now OWN this nut job's FAKE story!
That's what happens when you blindly follow the lead of Drudge on his SHOCK moments that he puts on this page! LOL! Down the toilet bowl they all go ...
Haven't seen them mention this yet. MSNBC, yes.
Using this "logic", we can assume that Grampy McSame killed that bear cub.
That was right down the road from me. The kids who got busted for doing that said they were only pulling a "prank" and that the Obama signs were just coincidental because they didn't want to get bear blood on their truck (funny how those said same sings were stapled to the poor bear cub's face). They're going to be charged with something, don't know what yet. Poaching for one thing. And it would just go on from there I hope.
Drudge, Fox News, etc. should be thoroughly embarrassed now. Should be, but they're shameless, so --
http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/its_probably_a_good_idea.php
Ashley Todd has confessed to making it all up. She will face charges.
Too bad she recanted so quickly. It would've been great if McCain had issued some sort of statement first. Of course Palin is still dumb enough to bring it up at a campaign rally even after it's been shown to be a lie so there's hope yet.
I'd check out what brand of stove she has in her house, and see if it has a "B" in the brand name. Looks like she just passed out on a hot surface.
Col., she's from texas. I bet it was a branding iron...
Could it have been a curling iron? The B maybe stands for B.S.
Snoop, that crossed my mind, that she maybe got drunk on a cattle ranch, but the B's backward. It could have been the "Backward B Ranch", I guess, or she may have somehow got the back side of the iron. A lot of possibilities.
When I was a kid (late 60s/early 70s) I remember hearing the occasional story about a kid coming home stoned, and telling his parents that some mad hippies had forced him to smoke weed.First I thought it was scary, but then it seemed pretty screwy. Why would those hippies be wasting their precious "Mary Jane" on some kid they didn't know?
Then in the late 70s, the papers liked to write about the mad punk rockers. Sure enough, some kid would come home with an Anarchy symbol scratched in their arm, and tell their parents it was the crazy punks.
I'm not sure what current boogeyman group fancies branding backward letters on their faces. Maybe there isn't one, the "victim" here possibly couldn't think of one. Being a McCain supporter, I guess "Obama supporter" was an obvious choice.
You do have to truss a cow and throw it on it's side before you brand its @ss, so I guess its possible they thought they had the right end...
If Todd had thought about this just a tiny little bit, she would have realized that "O" is a better symbol for Obama, considering it's the basis of his logo. Plus, the letter "O" is the same reflected on either a horizontal or vertical axis, so there's no way to make it backwards.
And I wonder if the ATM she was at had a camera, as I think nearly all do. She claimed that he held her up while she was at the ATM. If it had a camera, then that's just another layer of stupidity, since the obvious purpose of the camera is to discourage such robbery attempts.
Ed Morrissey will probably claim she's an agent for Obama, since he was so gung-ho about her woeful tale of assault by the big black man.
The wingnut noise machine is so desperate they're reduced to this??!!!!...
You gotta be kidding me. Hopefully, this election will be the end of the conservative party as we know it.
What freakin' idiots! I read this story in the New York Daily News on my morning train to work and the second my eyes came across "she declined medical treatment" I knew something was a amiss. Desperate Fox News fools.
Fox News executive vice president John Moody wrote:
"If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator [John] McCain's quest for thepresidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
There are lots and lots of things that you can call Faux on, most of them archived on this site, but you have to admit that Moody may be correct on this one. Maybe Nancy Pfotenhauer or Tucker Bounds (still the DUMBEST name of anyone involved in this, or any election) could go on Hardball and explain how one of their supporters can do something so stupid. This campaign by McCain/Palin has to be the worst that l have ever seen in a major election, and i've seen some bad ones. I'm beginning to think they know something and are throwing this deliberatly!!
She was actually working for the McCain campaign wasn't she?
Well, that's a distinct possibility. Every time I hear the financial news, I'm more and more convinced that we may have a depression coming our way. Our manufacturing base is gone, and the house of cards that Wall Street has built is collapsing a little bit every day. Naturally, whoever is President will get most of the blame for it. I imagine that President Numbnuts is scrambling now to just hold it off until he leaves office.
They won't be asked and if they are they'll just say it's an isolated incident and has nothing to do with the campaign. Which is probably true.
HOAX!!!!! HOAX!!!!!
Nevertheless, some how in some way one of them will try to blame this on Obama. Just you watch. If they could smear Colin Powell, they'll find a way to twist this into some kind of evil conspiracy nonsense as well.
Well dang, this story got busted right quick. Back to phony outrage about other stuff. Meanwhile, it's the economy, stupid.
I'm of the opinion that all the "We don't know enough about Obama" coments translates as"We don't trust him, never have, never will, and you the concerned citizen shouldn't either."
Funny thing is, what has he done to not earn their trust? Nothing... How can he be both untrustworthy, and have done nothing during his tenure at the same time? Sort of like how can he be a radical Muslim in disguise, and also a member of some sort of black christian separatist movement?
My head is dizzy from the spin that republicans have been putting on Obama since he took the primary.
I had a great deal of symphathy for this women when I first heard about this story. However, since finding out that she lied about her attack, I just feel sick to my stomach. This woman needs to be in a psych ward.
It just amazes me the amount of sickly fanaticism that is being displayed by supporters for both candidates. We are fortunate enough to have the right to vote but some of us lack the maturity and mental well-being to possess this power.
I DON'T BLAME THIS YOUNG WOMEN!!! I BLAME THE HATE SHE IS LISTING TOO. PEOPLE LIKE ALL THESE RIGHTWINGERS ON THE RADIO AND FOXNEWS. THE HATE THEY PUT OUT THERE IS VERY SCAREY!!! AND MCCAIN AND PALIN HAVE LET IT COME INTO THIS ELECTION. ALSO SHAME ON THE MEDIA FOR JUMPING ON THIS STORY BEFORE ALL THE FACTS HAD CAME OUT. AND YOU KNOW WHICH TWO STATION JUMPED ON IT FIRST FOX AND CNN. CNN SHOULD HAD LEARN IT'S LESSON WITH THAT PHONEY JACKSON STORY, BUT THEY WHAT MCCAIN TOO WIN SO BAD THEY WILL PUT UP ANYTHING TO MAKE OBAMA LOOK BAD.
I don't blame her either. She probably was disoriented from reading people's all-cap posts.
Brabantio be nice!!!!!!HAHAHA!!!
DESPERATION'S IN THE AIR (Snoopy!)
Desperation's in the air
Everywhere I look around
Desperation's in the air
Every sight and every sound
And the right wing is being foolish
Don't know how to move past lies
But their grip on the white house is crumbln'
And it's there when I look in your eyes
Desperation's in the air
In the polls that track this race!
Desperation's in the air
See the graphs at FiveThirtyEight!
And I don't know if McCain's just dreaming
Don't know why they're so insane
But it's clear if you don't offer a platform,
It won't help pickin' a dingbatty dame
(Chorus)
Desperation's in the air
Desperation's in the air
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Desperation's in the air
In the rising of the sun
Desperation's in the air
When the day is nearly done
Palin's a fake illusion
Upon inspection you see through
But right wingers must believe in
their toy Barbie caribou
Desperation's in the air
All the racists rally 'round,
McCain is just being foolish
Sayin' Barack just pals around!
But his chances are borderline desperate!
You can see it in ol' geezer's eyes!
He's got no chance now to beat it,
Not even with Palin's fat thighs!
Hey, SNOOP! Do you have a chart for this? (In case you may not know what a "chart" is, it's a melody line with chord changes for guitar or piano.) I would like your permission to sing it at my next gig. By the way, words ending in "en" and "em", "one" and "un" do not technically rhyme, but several songsmiths have gotten away with it.
No chart, honestly, I just took the words to "love is in the air" and changed them to fit my needs! But you don't need my permission, but if you run with it I'd sure like to hear a recording!
To the GOP... hello race-baiting. I am watching Reper's backpedal now, where yesterday they were calling for Obama to give up his run for the Presidency.
Aren't you all proud. Should McCain bow out now?