She played upon every western Pennsylvanian's fears, but where could she have thought up this dastardly plot?
We all know about Ashley Todd’s pathetic attempt to bring sympathy to the McCain campaign by telling Pittsburgh authorities that she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man/Obama activist Wednesday night.
After allegedly robbing her, the big, scary black man threatened “to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter,” 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.
After conflicting stories by this “plumber’s helper,” she was subjected to a polygraph, and subsequently confessed that she made the whole thing up.
My burning question over the last few days was where had I seen this before; Tawana Brawley? Susan Smith? Morton Downey Jr?
Justin Zatkoff-The originator of the student victim of liberal hatecrime. Truly, a man ahead of his time.
The answer comes from two years ago. Back in 2006, a Michigan College Republican named Justin Zatkoff claimed to have been beaten senseless by blacks and/or violent homosexuals. His photo showed a nasty black eye and he was certain the culprits were either militant blacks or militant gays. He just couldn’t remember which ones did it. Surprise, surprise. The Ann Arbor police finally revealed, that Zatkoff was just beaten up by his high school buddies. Insert gasps of shock and disbelief.
That answers it folks. Here is Ashley Todd’s mentor and inspiration. A note to any copycats thinking about pulling another stunt like this; if it didn’t work the first two times, chances are, it won’t work a third time. So knock it off young Republicans!
Over the last month or so, McCain and especially Palin have been on the offensive to showcase Barack Obama’s “guilt by association” to Ayers, ACORN, and anything else that they could find. In addition, the GOP candidates have highlighted the differences between “real America,” and “fake America.”
The following are two videos of a recent GOP rally in the Henderson section of Las Vegas. Notice those poor “real Americans” for McCain being forced to shout those epithets at the mean “fake Americans” for Obama. I mean, they really didn’t want to shout “Anti-Americans!” or “Communists!,” but what are McCainiacs to do when they see Obama supporters? Those brave, brave real McCain Americans had to defend themselves, you know. Here you are America. Here is “real America” as McCain and Palin see it:
The people in this Vegas suburb are indicative of this hateful insurrection that is festering throughout the US thanks to the incendiary campaigning by both McCain and Palin. Their rhetoric has had an opposite effect on me. Sorry folks, but I can’t take hate speech.
Earlier this year, I was actually leaning toward McCain after the Democratic Primaries were over. I initially thought that this was the John McCain that I remembered from 2000 when he ran against George W. Bush. My leanings are moderate, very moderate. Although I’m a registered Democrat and like to stay just left of center, I do have the ability to reach across party lines if for example, a moderate like Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania was running. I was under the childlike belief last summer that the John McCain of 2008 resembled the John McCain of 2000.
What a difference eight years makes. As opposed to the campaign of 2000, McCain’s campaign this year is just plain mean. Both he and his VP pick, as well as their surrogates have been playing into “real-America’s” most primal fears, perpetuating the myth that Obama and his supporters are “Socialist,” “Communist,” and “Anti-American.” Thanks to the campaign of pointing out the opponent’s “otherness,” the right-wing weirdos, wackos, nuts, and conspiracy-theorists have come out of the woodwork to sing to the chorus of intolerance. If there is any guilt by association, it would be McCain and Palin associating themselves with the worst of intolerant people. Oh John McCain, what happened? Did you honestly think that pandering to the most extreme base while ignoring and shutting out everyone else would get you the electoral votes that you desperately need?
I only need to look at those who are supporting McCain and Palin to know that I have made the right decision in supporting Obama and Biden. When I looked at thoughtful, intelligent people like Christopher Buckley and Colin Powell crossing over to support Obama, I really knew that I was backing what I feel is the best candidate for the job. As a good friend of mine can attest to, it was not an easy decision in the beginning. After a deliberate process of fact-finding and thought, I chose my candidate. The people supporting each candidate served only to validate my decision.
To be fair, I am just as turned off by those in the far-left as I am to those on the far-right. Extremism on either side of the political spectrum is never a good thing. Thankfully, Obama and Biden’s campaign have been more inclusive. These are guys who believe as I do that there is no “pro-America” or anti-America,” but simply America. From the biggest cities to the tiniest town, like it or not, we are in this together.
Sadly, McCain’s campaign has yet to figure this out.
Ashley Todd shows off her wounds from an alleged attacker/Leonardo da Vinci Impersonator. Now it might be time for her to truly take her lumps.
Pittsburgh Police said student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, who is white, told them she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.
Admittedly, that story in and of itself is unremarkable. The details of her story however, had me suspicious. As a result, I held off on writing about it until the facts came out.
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard divulged the woman’s account to the media.
From The Huffington Post:
In Todd’s initial account, she 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.
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.
The 20 year old McCain campaigner subsequently failed a polygraph test, then confessed to making up the story, telling investigators today that she “was not robbed and there was no 6’4″ black male attacker.”
This “October Surprise” leaves me shaking my head and wondering what is wrong with people this election season. It has me asking, “Is this what this election has come to?”
Has this heated Presidential race left certain McCain/Palin supporters so desperate to want their candidate to win that they would do whatever it takes in a sort of twisted Machiavellian philosophy that the ends justify the means? I’m not implying that very many McCain supporters would go to this extreme, but following the smears, innuendo, and subsequent yells of “Terrorist!” and “Kill Him!,” I suppose that this misguided attempt to bring sympathy to the McCain campaign was almost the inevitable next step by a twisted supporter.
What happened to good old fashioned American political discourse? This is the ninth Presidential election that I have been witness to, (I first became interested during Ford/Carter ’76) and I have never seen ugliness that nearly matches what I have seen in the last few months. From the top down in the GOP, the brazen racism, anger, smears, and fear-mongering are unprecedented. So much for the promises of American unity after the tragedy of September 11.
So where do we go from here as a nation? The immediate priority is for Americans to stop this Tawana Brawley, Susan Smith style of race-baiting, and agree that although Democrats and Republicans have fundamental differences with regard to this country, each platform is valid and must be respected. Case in point: I’m not a huge fan of George Will. I disagree with almost everything he says, yet I respect him as a thoughtful, conservative journalist. A person may even disagree with a member of his or her family, but there is no plank in either platform that says that person should not agree to disagree. After all, this is America.
Instilling hatred and fear in the electorate is an unhealthy recipe.
What we need right now as Americans is the opportunity to be united as a country. The last thing we need is race-baited fear-mongering.
Over the last week, I learned something extraordinary about John McCain. His campaign showed me in no uncertain terms that if you aren’t able to actually debate the issues, attack, attack, attack.
And attack they did. With Palin as the pitbull hopped up on Maybelline, the Vice-Presidential hopeful followed the McCain playbook and even added a few plays of her own.
Last week in Strongsville Ohio, Palin decided to ignore the economic crisis and the two wars that are going on, to go after Obama’s character:
“Our opponent … is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” she said, referring to a co-founder of the 1960s-era Weather Underground, an organization the FBI labeled as a domestic terrorist group.
“This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America,” she said. “We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. If we can be that beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy and can live in a country that would allow intolerance in the equal rights that again our military men and women fight for and die for for all of us.”
To be fair, Palin’s rallies weren’t the only ones targeting Obama’s association with Ayers, John McCain brought the theme up at his own Obama political “lynchin’ rallies.”
Rabid attendees in the crowd of both McCain and Palin rallies shouted epithets of “Treason!,” Terrorist!” and “Kill Him!” Although Palin and McCain ignored these remarks, Secret Service is still investigating to find out who yelled the “Kill Him” comment.
“As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign,” Lewis said in a statement. “Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.”
McCain/Palin are playing with fire in these stump speeches, and most reasonable people recognize that. The Obama campaign responded in kind:
“…John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’ As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.”
Since the backlash, McCain has been trying to tone down the rabid attendees at his stump speeches.
From the Huffington Post:
McCain was responding to a town hall attendee who claimed he was concerned about raising a child under a president who “cohorts with domestic terrorists such as [Bill] Ayers.” Despite the fact that McCain and his campaign have repeatedly used Ayers to hammer Obama in recent days, the Arizona Senator tried to calm the man.
“Senator Obama is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States,” he said, before adding: “If I didn’t think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn’t be running.”
The crowd groaned with disapproval.
Later, McCain was again pressed about Obama’s “other-ness” and again he refused to play ball. “I don’t trust Obama,” a woman said. “I have read about him. He’s an Arab.”
“No, ma’am,” McCain said several times, shaking his head in disagreement. “He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
Too bad McCain. You reap what you sow.
I noticed that nobody in the Obama camp mentioned that Palin was “palling around” with secessionists who hate our flag:
And then there’s John McCain who had served on the advisory board for “The U.S. Council for World Freedom,” an international organization created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub that is linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. They were heavily involved in the Iran-Contra affair, and are anti-Semitic.
The Obama campaign could have brought this up and played the guilt by association game, but oh yeah. There are those darned real issues to deal with.
Those who live in glass houses, McCain, Palin . . .
Well done Palin. If nothing else, you demonstrated to us that you truly are a pitbull wearing lipstick. You and John McCain showed Americans this week that it is indeed possible to go even lower than Karl Rove and George Bush in smearing and character assassination. Both of you must be very proud of the high discourse in your campaign. This “guilt by association” ploy smacks of McCarthyism. After your amateurish job of serving as Governor of Alaska, (I’m referring to the wonderful way you handled the State Troopers) you’ve brought your shameless, Machiavellian “small-town” politicking to a national audience. I don’t know how they play politics up in Alaska sweetheart, but that’s not how we do things here on the national stage. Kathleen Parker of the “National Review” was right; you are clearly out of your league. You said in one of your speeches, “Who is Barack Obama?” What? We first heard of you five weeks ago. Who the hell are you? God willing, you and McCain will lose Nov. 4, and you can go back to the farthest state in the Union where we will never hear from you again.
And Kudos to you John McCain. Apparently, you listened to your pitbull, let her off of her leash, and was surprised by the carnage. Whatever your record is in the military or the Senate, you have conducted the most disgraceful and dishonerable campaign in recent history sir. I never thought I’d say that Karl Rove never even went this low. I think your pitbull ultimately wound up biting you in the ass.
Since you’ve resorted to this sort of neo-McCarthyism, I’d like to quote that famous quote from Joseph Welch to Senator McCarthy:
“You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
So what’s next for your stump speeches? Is this what we have to look forward to?
