In the often unstable and uncertain world of politics, I won’t dare make any predictions about who’s going to win this upcoming election. But you can tell folks are getting nervous when they start fabricating horrible stories about being physically attacked for supporting McCain.
Hats off to Rick Sanchez from CNN for calling out the agents in the media who ran with this story before doing any fact checking:
What other nonsense will pop up before next Tuesday?
– ACL
The Unmitigated Word 
Ummm…yeah…Ashley? Really?
Next time, your story might be a little more credible if the “B” isn’t backwards.
I guess this rules out any possibilities for “Ashley the Volunteer” being added to the McCain/Palin platform.
Wow! The Susan Smith of politics. Blame it on the black man.
I just read that now they’re trying to tie this to mental disturbance. You simply can NOT make this stuff up. Well, maybe Ashley Todd could. LOL!
“I just read that now they’re trying to tie this to mental disturbance”
KC, it’s funny you say that. I saw that also. She’s claiming that she doesn’t remember anything. Yet she had a vivid enough memory to “recall” how tall the black man was who ‘pinned her down’ and mugged her. What a lying idiot. There is NO WAY a black person could have ever pulled the “mental illness” card.
Cynthia,
As this story continues to unfold (if, that is, the media decides this is still news worthy. Apparently, only blacks make good criminals), don’t be suprised to see Dr. Phil types trying to psychoanalyze this idiot. Stories about her repressed childhood, her troubled teenage years, stress associated with volunteering for McCain, blah, blah, blah.
KC/Cynthia: I TOTALLY agree with you both. There’s no way a black person could have come out with a lie like this without getting the book thrown at them. On top of that, there are deeply historic anxieties about black men being around/assaulting white women. Todd clearly played on those fears. That’s just as atrocious as her playing on the fears McCain-inites have with Obama supporters. This is shame all around.
I’m as shocked and appalled as the next person. But you have to believe that anybody who would come up with that kind of lie and do things to herself to carry out that lie can’t be completely well. She should be punished for what she did, no doubt. But she should also get some serious help.
Ellena, she planned it. She did it. Case closed.
Megan,
I don’t claim to be a psychiatrist. But her knowing what was doing doesn’t make her any less sick mentally. Examining mental issues is not an exact science. But giving her the benefit of the doubt may help in addressing whatever caused her to do thiose horrible things.
Ashley Todd better hope that there are more people like you in this world. Beceause I have ZERO sympathy for her. She deliberately made up a lie that added racial turmoil to an already heated campaign. Imagine the outcomes that could have come out this. Not only would black people obviously stand to become victims of responsive attacks, but so could Obama supporters. Her lies represent some of the most vile aspects of this campaign season and I wouldn’t shed a single tear if they threw the book at her.
This young lady is definitely emotionally unstable. There are many of her types out there who need lots of help. That doesn’t mean she did not know what she was doing. She did. It’s just that the part of her brain telling her how wrong this was wasn’t clicking.
Getting her mental help isn’t an admission that she’s not wrong or accountable. It just means that we recognize that there was something mental driving her poor choices.
Not to interrupt this engaging debate, but did you guys read what some people on the right are saying? As if this story couldn’t get any more ridiculous, they are now saying that the Obama camp hired this girl to do something stupid enough to hurt McCain. WOW!
Hey Andre, I thought you’d be curious to know that Todd only got probation. Sigh. White privilege is definitely not a myth. 🙂