Today’s ‘Freak Show’ News

That girl needs some help!

Typical of the McCain campaign :-)

Trust me when I say that a vote for McCain will be a vote for George W. Bush. If you are a George W. Bush Republican like me, you will be voting for John McCain.
I am confident John McCain will keep GW’s tax cuts in play so we can continue building record defecits. Heck we are up to 11 trillion dollars and counting and it hasn’t hurt us yet. Just look how strong the fundamentals of our economy are doing.
John McCain will not negotiate with terrorist nations. He will let Iran build nukes just like George W. Bush let North Korea build nukes. Nothing bad happened out of it…we finally worked it out. See vindication.
John McCain will keep those loyal Bushies in the Department of Justice and keep it as the RNC law firm.
John McCain knows how important it is to spy on Americans so he will help keep my Terrorist Surveillance program in place with AT&T.
John McCain will stay in Iraq 100 years. Why do you think George Bush build the largest military bases in the world in Iraq if we were not gonna stay there 100 maybe a thousand years.
Please help me to put a shine on the George Bush legacy and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Unbelievable — everytime I think the Republicans have hit a new low, they out do themselves! What the h*ll is wrong with these people?

I have been crusing the net reading the early voting reports. Several items of note: (1) minorities are heavily represented as are young people. This is happening in the deep South and all over the USA. (2) The GOP appartus has brought many court actions to challenge thousands of voters. The courts have consistently dismissed all so far. (3) although hard to believe, each succeeding day sets a record over the previous day in many voting precincts.
All of this leads a reasonable person to predict a huge Democratic victory – Presidential, Congressional and on down to the local races. Even McCain has written everybody off but his own candidacy. He is now arguing that he would be all that would stand between a participatory government and complete domination by huge Democratic majority in Congress.

Concerned in OH- So this lady is a McCain supporter while McCain has been calling Obama a terrorist and run a very sleazy campaign denounced by numerous members of his own party and her hoax assault on herself is Obama’s fault?
Please swim back from the deep end.

i voted for kerry; what a mistake. the guy is lame. having learned from my mistake, i am voting for mccain. at least he is a grownup.

Where’s Mack, Bella Star, Obamacrat for McCain who where beating this story into the ground.
KDKA in Pittsburgh reports:
Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.
At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley Todd’s injuries were self-inflicted.
Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.
Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.
Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.
Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.
Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and “the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction.”
This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.

If Obama were 10+ points down nationally and losing every swing state… I would not have done what this women caused herself.
I just wonder who gave her those black eyes?

It is amazing when a republican presidential and vice presidential candidates would not get the facts before personally calling the girl and saying bthey were on her side for a “B” B=Bush just like McCain.
It is interesting how the news media and the republican presidential candidates jumped on Matt Drudge a conservative website story..
What a shame…

I cannot be happier that the American Public has sharply rejected the politics of hate, fear, division and pure stupidity. McCain’s swan song is a tour of PA with “joe the plumber.” It is a perfectly stupid ending to a perfectly stupid campaign.

“McCain has been calling Obama a terrorist”
Please provide quotes or apologize immediately for smearing McCain.
——
Pfft! Does this fit the bill? “McCain has consistently insisted that Obama has extensive ties with terrorists, and has a dark and shady past that probably has something horrible in it, though he won’t go as far as certain other Republicans and flat-out state Obama’s a brainwashed Muslim”.
Truly, it’s no longer possible to smear McCain. He’s so coated in his own muck that you can’t tell.

All McCain has to do was release a statement at the very least and wait a little longer for more details. He and Palin decided to call immediately.
He suspended his campaign again..Loser!

What about the $22,800 Palin spent the first two weeks of October on her make-up artist?

“But to say people were wrong for running w/ the story yesterday is illogical. ”
Chairman, I’d agree if it was just the story. But as soon as the photo hit the ‘net… That didn’t look like a fresh black eye, and the precise, curved, superficial “B” (apparently done in the dark, with a knife, by an enraged man on top of a struggling woman) immediately sent up flags all over the place.
I’m not saying this sort of Dem-on-Republican violence doesn’t happen, there’s a very convincing account of a woman getting smacked with her own sign in Manhattan. But in this case, the instant that “carved” letter came into play, journalists should’ve waited for the evidence — which is clearly unusual for the attack described.

HEY JPT
DO YOU HAVE THE QOUTES BY MCCAIN AND CAMP ABOUT THIS GIRL YESTERDAY FOX NEWS HAS SCRUBBED THEM ?
HOW FAR DID THEY GO DO THE NEED TO ISSUE YET ANOTHER APOLOGY ?

It did not matter if they tied it directly to Obama, they were trying to tie it to the scary BLACKMAN! Racial undertones were all over the “stories”

It’s like the dill weed McCain supporter who screamed on MSNBC yesterday that Obama should have taken a commerical flight to Hawaii…like that would keep Obama safe. These people are not concerned with anyone’s safety, only winning this election.

what fox said yesterday:
Fox News VP: If true, alleged attack against McCain volunteer could cause voters to “feel they do not know enough about” Obama
FOX IS SCUM

Was this a set up by team McCain, sure looks like it, they will do anything to win this election. How sad.

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.”

@Concerned in OH
Ok the “quit your job” part was a bit over the top on purpose… but any body using their head who wished to get out of debt would know that the the most sensible solution would be both to increase income AND cut spending.
It’s typical of partisans to be win/lose thinkers and to be so close-minded that they condemn sensible compromises as being extemes.

jeni – “Whatever happened to morals, principals and honor in the GOP and their followers.” We are not sure but think Hannity, Coulter, Fallwell etal have hyjacked the party and they ran over our John McCain with his Straight Talk Bus and replaced him with this “New and Improved Mccain” that emerged about the same time as did Sarah Palin.

Of course there is this curious 1996 newsletter from the Chicago Socialist New Party trumpeting its member Barack Obama’s recent election victory. Seems like it deserves a little investigation in light of his “spread the wealth” comments.
Or not…

“Drudge hasn’t exactly been an Obama hater this year if any of you are paying attention.”
LOL. Are you kidding me? When Obama pics are posted on his site, he is always shown to be about to kiss some white woman (Biden’s wife, etc). The racial overtones in that site are outrageous.
I fervently hope this becomes a lesson for him. Race baiting is evil.

Okay read Kerry’s comment. I don’t care that he made the joke, but it is funny reading him explaining it…I hear Kerry’s voice in my head…
“As a double-entendre, actually, it is pretty funny.”
Heh.

Why do liberals never ever even remotely consider cutting spending?
—————–
So CONCERNED:
Name the last Republican President to cut spending.
Bush II – no
Bush I – no
Reagan – no
Ford – no
Nixon – no
What was your point again?
Oh yes, that Republicans “consider” cutting soending, they just NEVER do it.

judging by this girl you must be mentally disturbed to be a repub—-now he is trying to throw his buddy bush under the bus—mccain mccain how far will you go.what will you say next—he is getting like a cartoon on fast forward.

Concerned -
The last Democrat to cut spending? His name was Bill Clinton. You remember Welfare Reform? And a host of other programs.
Geevil -
If you want to play a semantic game, Obama is not raising taxes, he is proposing not to renew Bush tax cuts that are set to retire. And, actually, as projections have shown with the phony “Joe the Plumber” example, many (like Joe) will actually see reduced taxes under Obama’s plan.
And why did Bush’s tax plan include expiring tax cuts? Because to project them out as permanent tax cuts ruined their budget deficit forecasts. And what do we have now? Record deficits.

Ugh. Reading Republican slurs is embarrassing to all patriotic Americans. Not only are their attacks almost always full of made-up “facts” (that’s political-speak for “lies”) and offensive opinions, their stories are so absurdly false that a complete imbecile would be hard-pressed to believe such nonsense. Don’t these people have any self-respect? Clearly they have no respect for other people or they would not be trying to sway others with such grotesque and obvious lies, but such deceits usually come only from those who have very little respect for themselves. Sad, sad, sad. And very embarrassing for America.

Raising taxes on the wealthy – McCain said it back in 2000. On October 12, 2000, on the Hardball College Tour, at a stop at Michigan State University, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defended progressive taxation from the charge of Socialism. It’s really quite a remarkable clip; he sounds like Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Just another fact the McCain campaign is trying to hide. HE said it- very clearly and now that Obama says it “he is a socialist!
Why there are more nut jobs in the GOP than ever – starting with another new star – the soon to be ex-chairwoman of the Otero County Republican Party – Marcia Stirman,who says ”I believe war is a fact of life and we should always win.” coupled with fact that Obama is a ”a Muslim socialist.”
She said of Muslims: ”I don’t trust them at all. They’ve sworn across the world that they are our enemies. Why we’re trying to elect one is beside me.” This lady fits in nicely with Palin, McCain and Rush Limbaugh! Way to go idiots – you’ll lose this election on your own merits!

Jake, a false police report — which is a crime — is not something to be lumped in with these other stories. They are in no way equivalent.
I want to know who gave the story, complete with photo, to Drudge, Fox, and the McCain campaign. The police say they found her story suspect from the beginning, so it seems highly unlikely that they gave the story to anyone. Or did an individual within the police department send it out? Can you try and find out?
It matters. It matters because this young woman AND the people disseminating the story tried to Willie-Hortonize Obama. Only in this case, the Scary Black Man becomes the candidate himself.
In this political climate, in an election during which people yell “Kill him” in the presence of presidential and vice presidential candidates, that’s an extremely dangerous thing to do.
The AP was unable to find the young woman to interview her. How did the McCain campaign find her?

Here’s more from TPM:
John McCain’s Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established — and even told reporters outright that the “B” carved into the victim’s cheek stood for “Barack,” according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

Already Voted, I had not read or heard that until now. It’s exactly what connecting the dots seemed to lead to, though.
If anyone in the McCain campaign was behind this, or complicit in any way, criminal charges should be brought against them. My hope would be that the Secret Service might be interested, considering the apparent goal.
Jake, once again, this is much more than a freak show.

is that a real black eye?

Jake, the Pittsburgh hoax is by far the more important story here, if only for the simple fact that the McCain campaign trumpeted the fake event for the world to see, hoping to stir up a racial firestorm.
Yet for some obscure reason, you decide to lead your post with a minor non-story about another one of John Kerry’s stupid attempts at humor that nobody with any lick of sense is paying any attention to.
Why?

Mara: “… but I do not believe that John McCain would ever have approved of the hoax. Ever. He has sunk into gutter politics – but I just can’t believe that he would ever do something so squalid – or so stupid.”
Of course not, dear. That’s what dimwitted underlings are for.

McCain AND Palin personally called the hate crime hoaxer? Just before she confessed?
I was thinking their ticket resembled something from a Christopher Guest movie.
Now I’m thinking John Waters.
I’d hate to think what’s beyond that threshold.

Jake, MSNBC reported that the McCain communications director in PA was the one who pimped the Ashley Todd story to Drudge.
Such actions deserve critical attention, if you ask me. From (political) journalists, in particular.
It means that the McCain campaign has tried to make a big scandal out of this; plus it explains why the racist lunatic Todd in no time was on the phone with both McCain and Palin.

I heard about this latest effort by the “dupe squad” (McCain/Palin/GOP), and I was beyond sickened. Why all the tricks scared GOP folks?
Obama/Biden 08!

Jake, there’s MUCH more to the Ashley Todd story of course than that it would be “freak show news”. Of course the girl is a freak, but both McCain and Palin have been on the line with that freak. WHY? There’s were we expect journalists to come up with answers.
Please note that John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain’s Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a DETAILED VERSION of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, “You’re with the McCain campaign? I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
Verrilli also told TPM that is the McCain spokesperson who had claimed that the “B” stood for Barack.
So, ths is not simply about some very freaky girl, this is about desperate campaign tactics in the final hours. The same McCain Communications Director gave the story to Drudge where it was posted earlier than anywhere else on the web.
So the McCain campaign was recklessly playing with fire… very dangerous fire. It was all about race-baiting, racism, tying African Americans to crime, cruelty and violence, and above that: tying all that to that B of Barack Obama.
Ans let’s not forget: presidential candidate John McCain PERSONALLY called the hoax-merchant, the racist freak herself. Again, WHY exactly? The police had only just begun to investigate the girl’s incredible and weird story.
Is McCain’s call the kind of judgment you want in a president?

Jill – I have to admit, Eskew will do absolutely anything to win. Anything. Before Lee Atwater died of a brain tumor, he spent the last months of his life trying to make amends to all the people he had lied about or harmed. Couldn’t do it. There were too many. Eskew? How do you make amends to an entire country? The man is sewage. How could McCain have hired him? What happened to that man?

Jake, PLEASE take some time to look BEHIND the Ashley Todd story. There is politics behind it: GOP politics. Racist politics. Whu doesn’t that bother you?! I’m sure it bothers millions in this country.
Here’s for instance what Greg Sargent (TalkingPointsMemo) ALREADY found out:
John McCain’s Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established — and even told reporters outright that the “B” carved into the victim’s cheek stood for “Barack,” according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain’s Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, “You’re with the McCain campaign? I’m going to teach you a lesson.”
Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the “B” stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax.
The KDKA reporter had called McCain’s campaign office for details after seeing the story — sans details — teased on Drudge.
The McCain spokesperson’s claims — which came in the midst of extraordinary and heated conversations late yesterday between the McCain campaign, local TV stations, and the Obama camp, as the early version of the story rocketed around the political world — is 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.
The claims to KDKA from the McCain campaign were included in an early story that ran late yesterday on KDKA’s Web site. The paragraphs containing these assertions were quickly removed from the story after the Obama campaign privately complained that KDKA was letting the McCain campaign spin a racially-charged version of the story before the facts had been established, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The story with the removed grafs is still right here. We preserved the three missing grafs from yesterday: (see the TalkingPointsMemo site)
A source familiar with what happened yesterday confirmed that the unnamed spokesperson was communications director Peter Feldman. Feldman was also quoted yesterday making virtually identical assertions on the Web site of another local TV station, WPXI. But those quotes, which we also preserved here, are also no longer available on WPXI’s site, for reasons that are unclear.
This is problematic because the McCain campaign doesn’t want to have been perceived as pushing an incendiary story that not only turned out to be a hoax but which police officials said today risked blowing up into a “national incident” and has local police preparing to file charges against the hoaxster.
There’s no evidence that anyone from McCain national headquarters put out a version of events like this.
After the story appeared on KDKA’s site and this and other pieces in the local press started flying around the political world, an Obama spokesperson in the state angrily insisted to KDKA that it was irresponsible for the station to air the McCain spokesperson’s incendiary version of events before the facts were fully known, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
After that, KDKA went back to McCain’s Pennsylvania spokesperson, Feldman, and asked if he stood by the story as he’d earlier told it, but he started backing off the story, a source familiar with the talks says. That prompted KDKA to remove the grafs.
Feldman couldn’t immediately be reached, and a McCain HQ spokesperson declined to comment.

This is not the first time a false claim against a black man has been made and sure not be the last,it is a shame that this girl is so desperate for attention from the McCain camp that she prepetrated such a despicable act.She must have been tired of hearing about Joe that she decided to take matters in to her own hands to change the message from McCain and Palin,but this the lowest and hopefully the McCain camp had nothing to do with this.If it is they are dirtier than I thought.This is not a hoax this is still trying to make Obama supporters look like they are terrorist like they try to portray Obama.We don’t stoop so low.I’m glad she has been arrested.

Ashley Todd says-”I see 6ft4 Black Men”
media says- “I see a lying crazy girl with a fake black eye”