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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/24/mccain-supporter-who-clai_n_137484.html

QUOTE

Still later, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, and some others, grew skeptical. For one thing, the "B" was carved a little too lightly and perfectly -- and backward, as if done using a mirror. Smoking Gun probed a too-pat "Twitter" angle and Gawker and Wonkette looked at her MySpace page.


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A dumb McCain "volunteer," mutiliating herself stupidly in front of a mirror.....she did not want to hurt herself too much though, so she was not entirely dumb!





Police: McCain Volunteer's "Mutilation" Story Made Up
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October 24, 2008 at 01:14 PM



UPDATE:
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.

More of the story from AP:
A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a "B" onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of "inconsistencies" in her story, police said.
Among other things, police said photos and bank card information from an automated teller machine where the college student claimed she was robbed do not show her using the machine at the time, police said.
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard wouldn't release the polygraph results, but said, "we're still looking at some inconsistencies" in the woman's story.
Police said the student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, who is white, told them she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.
Richard said police have not ruled out that the woman was attacked as she claimed, and said inconsistencies deal primarily with how she described the attack.
"We're just trying to judge the validity of some of the information we received from her," Richard said. "We understand when you are under duress that sometimes you can't recollect things. We're just looking at all the angles."
Among the differences in her accounts are whether she lost consciousness, whether she remembers handing over money and how the man assaulted her, police said.
The report of the attack Thursday prompted the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate, Sarah Palin, to call Todd expressing their concern. Barack Obama's campaign also issued a statement wishing Todd well and hoping the attacker would be swiftly brought to justice.
The Associated Press could not immediately locate Todd or her family.
Ethan Eilon, executive director of the College Republican National Committee, told reporters that Todd worked in New York for several months before moving to Pennsylvania two weeks ago to continue working for the group.
Eilon declined to comment on the investigation Friday or to help The Associated Press contact Todd. In a follow-up e-mail, Eilon said, "We think this girl has endured enough and that this is going to be something for her and her family to work through."
Richard, the police spokeswoman, said police have pictures of the victim and her injuries, but are not releasing them. She said they are "more or less" consistent with a picture that has surfaced on the Internet that show a woman with a black eye and a red backward "B" that looks like a welt or scrape on her right cheek.
"It's not like her cheek was carved out," Richard said. "It's more like a scrape or a scratch."
In her initial account, Richard said, Todd attempted to use the ATM when the man approached her from behind, put a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.
Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her "you are going to be a Barack supporter," police said in a statement.
She said he continued to punch and kick her while threatening "to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," police said. She said he then sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched a backward letter "B" into her face using what she believed to be a dull knife.
The woman told police she didn't seek medical attention, but instead went to a friend's apartment nearby and called police about 45 minutes later.
Police have reinterviewed Todd at least once since her initial statement, Richard said.
In the subsequent discussions with investigators, according to the police statement, Todd said she was accosted as she approached the bank and fled her attacker, fell to the ground and the assailant began beating and fondling her.
Police Cmdr. Larry Ross, who is in charge of the police precinct where the attack was first reported, said Todd's story has continued to change.
"I guess she elaborated more when she went down to the bureau headquarters. She added other things to it that
we didn't have at first, that she didn't tell the initial officer," Ross said.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/fox-news-vp-if-mccain-wor_b_137522.html

UPDATE: Police Label McCain Worker 'Mutilation' a Hoax, Fox News VP Suggests McCain Campaign Is 'Over'
It has drawn wide local and national--even political attention, with some of the candidates for president/vice president weighing in or even calling -- but now the Ashley Todd story has fallen apart. Police in Pittsburgh are now charging her with making up a lavish hoax after finding "inconsistencies" in her story -- to say the least -- and gave the worker for John McCain a polygraph. She had claimed that an Obama fan carved a "B" into her face.
Earlier today, John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, had commented on his blog that "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), 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."
He titled his posting: "Moment of Truth." Indeed. Matt Drudge, who had trumpeted the story for nearly 24 hours, quickly added a new link titled "B...or B.S.?"
It started yesterday afternoon with Drudge screaming at the top of his site this afternoon in red type -- but no siren -- that a Pittsburgh campaign worker for McCain, age 20, had been viciously attacked and the letter "B" carved into her face, presumably by a Barack Obama fan. Her name, it soon emerged, was Ashley Todd and she had come to Pittsburgh from College Station, Texas, to help out.
It appeared overblown (Drudge downgraded it to smaller, black type) as the police noted that it seemed to be a robbery ($60) and she did not seek medical attention. But later press reports said she would visit a hospital, Sarah Palin and maybe John McCain had reportedly called her and Obama has condemned the alleged assault, although McCain/Obama angle to story not yet confirmed.
Still later, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, and some others, grew skeptical. For one thing, the "B" was carved a little too lightly and perfectly -- and backward, as if done using a mirror. Smoking Gun probed a too-pat "Twitter" angle and Gawker and Wonkette looked at her MySpace page.
Now police say that evidence from the ATM that she reportedly visited did not match her account. And it turns out she has changed her story, admitting that her assailant did not see a McCain bumper sticker and adding to he raccount a sexual assault and losing consciousness.
Just before the police declared the hoax AP reported "Pittsburgh police say a McCain campaign volunteer who said she was held down by a black man who cut the letter "B" in her face has changed her story. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard says investigators gave the 20-year-old woman a lie-detector test and are "looking at some inconsistencies" in her story.
"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."
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Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher and its hot new blog The E&P Pub. His latest book on Iraq and the media is titled "So Wrong for So Long."

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