Chesler Chronicles

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October 23rd, 2008 2:30 pm

UPDATE: The Pittsburgh Caper: A Strange Hoax

So, the Pittsburgh Caper appears to have been a total hoax. Mea culpa, mea culpa, for following the blogospheric herd in order to be on top of what seemed to be a breaking story. What can I say? As my readers know, I kept updating the story.

Now, we have a “break” in that story. There is no photographic evidence of a crime at or near that ATM machine. There have been “inconsistencies” in her story. And, now, Texan Ashley Todd has confessed to making up the story.

For all you hard-hearts and women-haters, let me note that this kind of bid for attention, one that includes self-mutilation, does not necessarily mean that nothing happened.

It may mean that nothing happened the night of October 22nd. No, I’m not going to go there. I will in the future but I can’t right now, no time.

Why did she do it? As the author of Women and Madness, you’d think I’d know. I’m not sure that I do. Hot Air tells us that she also told police that she’d been “fondled” by her attacker. She could also now be confessing to making it all up to simply be done with the extraordinary pressure and the attention, and in order to crash and burn.

But many African-American men have been lynched in our country after lying, frightened white women charged them falsely with crimes they did not commit. That is true. But, it is also true that women–women of all colors–in America are being sexually assaulted with alarming frequency.

In the scheme of things, Miss Ashley Todd did not shoot down ten of her classmates and then turn the gun on herself. She did not come into the public sphere with guns a’blazing. She came as a victim–more acceptable for a woman to do. But she did make it harder–much harder–both for women and for McCain supporters to gain a sympathetic hearing for their accounts of being intimidated, bullied, shamed, and also attacked.

McCain Supporter Attacked and Mutilated in Pittsburgh. Is It a Hoax?

I knew things were going to get ugly and so they have. First, journalist Mara Schiffren, and a member of the LiberalHawks listserv group, sent us all to the Drudge Report where we found an unbelievably lurid headline “Shock: McCain Campaign Volunteer Attacked and Mutilated in Pittsburgh.” What? Another woman physically attacked during the campaign? A female McCain sign holder was physically attacked in Manhattan by an irate Obama supporter. She has pressed charges.

Well, I’m not gloating but what did people think I meant when I predicted “civil wars” in America? And when I said that media sexism against Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin was dangerous? The faux-pornographic photos of both female politicians (now sadly joined by presumed naked photos of Senator Obama’s deceased anthropologist mother!) are dangerous to real, living women. For example, to the pro-McCain demonstrator in Manhattan and to the pro-McCain supporter in Pittsburgh. (See below for an incident that took place in Wisconsin in which a pro-Obama woman was physically attacked. )

Back to the story. Some LiberalHawks wisely counseled caution and patience, the Pittsburgh story might be an elaborate hoax or wildly exaggerated. Within minutes, blogger Fausta Wertz confirmed that a woman who had a McCain-Palin bumper sticker was indeed viciously attacked in Pittsburgh. (She still counseled caution though).

According to The Pittsburgh Channel, what began as a $60.00 robbery at an ATM machine turned ugly when the attacker saw the McCain bumper sticker. He then punched and kicked the 20 year old woman and carved a “B” into her face. (Is the “b” for “bi–ch” or for “Barak”?) The newspaper described the robber as a “dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short hair and brown eyes.” Hot Air identified the victim as a College Republican Field Represenative. Her name is Ashley Todd. Her sweet face one eye are badly bruised and there is a large backward “B” engraved on her cheek. Scroll down and see the photo at Hot Air.

An upside-down and backward “B”, which is what we see on her face, could have been carved there by a man who had her on the ground and on her back while she was facing away from him. Could this be an elaborate hoax? And for political gain? Some women–but very few–have, in the past, claimed they were physically attacked when that was not the case. I know this has happened in cases of divorce, especially where custody is involved. We won’t know everything until the police have been all over this with a fine-tooth comb and without a political agenda. Pittsburgh police spokeswoman, Diane Richards, told Channel 4 Action News that Todd had been robbed, attacked and maimed outside of a Citizen’s Bank.

But, before I could catch my breath, Pamela-the-Magnificent of Atlas Shrugs just sent us news from Longwood Florida. A McCain HQ Manager, Roger Coverely’s home has just been shot up. According to Local6.com, “The Republican manager said he is convinced he was targeted because of new McCain signs he added around his home.

‘All I can tell you is this, I have a very good relationship with my neighbors,’ Coverely said. ‘I mow my lawn. The only thing that has changed is I have two McCain signs in my front yard.’

Coverely said he has taken about 300 calls concerning stolen or vandalized McCain signs in the area.

‘It says this campaign is getting vicious,’ Coverely said. ”

Folks: This is not good. American v American in a race war, a class war, a gender war even while jihad has been declared against America?
Forget about all the voting fraud allegations and the chaos at the polls: Do we all have to get guns? Will we need the National Guard to protect us when we vote? Or to walk voters home?

This just in from Atlas Shrugs, “UPDATED: Carl Cameron of FOX is reporting that McCain has called the victim… (who) worked in a McCain phone bank.”

Folks: This is definitely not good. And by the way, I would feel as strongly if physical assaults for poliitical reasons were being perpetrated by McCain supporters. If anyone has such credible stories, please share them with me.

God Bless the Blogosphere! In one second flat, someone commented at the blog. They sent me to a story out of Caledonia, Wisconsin in which a female supporter for Obama was canvassing door-to-door. The “disgruntled male homeowner” started yelling that she, (Nancy Takehara), was “probably with ACORN and he started screaming and raving.” Takehara says that “He grabbed me by the neck…He was pounding on my head and screaming. I was terrified.” The Caledonia police were called.

Within a few hours: A reader who says he’s a plastic surgeon writes that he believes the attack is superficial and may be a hoax. Chillingly, he closes with this line which I’m paraphrasing: “This may be a Tawana Brawley moment for Republicans.” Does anyone–doesn’t everyone–remember this sad case which launched Al Sharpton’s career?

Michelle Malkin thinks it might be a hoax too. She is thinking about people who mutilate themselves, scrawl anti-Semitic or anti-Black graffiti for attention or to prove a political point.

Now, several readers who say they are police officers suggest that the backward “B” is troublesome as is the neatness of it. They also wonder why this woman is not more bruised and battered if she was attacked by a man who was much heavier and taller than she is.

Some readers worry that the racial component to the story is too neat as well.

Well, this story is bad if it’s true and it’s even worse if it’s a hoax.

Hot Air has kept at the story. Here’s their Update VII: I spoke with two executives at the College Republicans on the record about this story. Charlie Smith, the National Chair, and Ethan Eilon, the Executive Director, both say the photo is legitimate and that it came from Ashley Todd, the victim in this case. The attack began at 8:50 pm ET and Ashley called the police at 9:30 PM ET. Initially, she was robbed, ran away after the robbery, and the robber followed her to her car. At that point, he became enraged at the bumper sticker and began beating her and scratched the ‘B’ into her face. Ashley went to the hospital early this morning after initially refusing medical attention last night, and had an MRI and/or a CAT scan. Doctors believe her cheek will heal fully.
Eilon spoke with her personally today about the incident and confirmed the above with me. He first met Ashley in June, when she came to DC for training with the College Republicans. She works for them as a contract employee. She does not work for the McCain campaign. Both Eilon and Smith expressed revulsion over an attack on a young woman just getting involved in politics, but they consider this the act of a lone lunatic.

I’m not going to blame people for keeping a healthy skepticism on this case, but so far, the two media reports appear to check out.

Thus, according to Hot Air the victim did go to the hospital this morning after refusing medical care last night.

Stay tuned right here for Updates.

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223 Comments

1. merge divide:

There’s no excuse for personal violence anytime, anywhere. Have you seen this?

In an exclusive interview with 12 News, 58 year-old Nancy Takehara of Chicago says she was going door-to-door when she came across a disgruntled homeowner.

“The next thing I know he’s telling us we’re not his people, we’re probably with ACORN, and he started screaming and raving,” Takehara said. “He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming. The man terrified me.”

http://www.wisn.com/politics/17754232/detail.html

People are getting out of hand.

Oct 23, 2008 - 2:46 pm 2. Pajamas Media » Female McCain Supporter Attacked in Pittsburgh:

[...] the entire story here [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 2:49 pm 3. RE:

The Obama spirit! Add this to the growing list of violence and vandalism in the name of ‘The One’.

And remember, Obama does not think you have a right to defend yourself against this type of thuggery – even if you are attacked in your own home – just like Europe.

Something evil this way comes.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:03 pm 4. Ed Wallis:

…and, just who told his followers to “get in their faces”?!

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:04 pm 5. OsamaLinBiden:

Pics or it didn’t happen.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:18 pm 6. Jack N.:

Obama’s campaign has long inspired some anti-female imagery (”Bros Before Hoes,” being the mildest). But let’s go slow on this one, get some surveillance video to confirm these strange details…

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:18 pm 7. Boris:

I hope these are isolated incidents.

Someone did mangle my Obama sign, but McCain signs get messed with too. These people need to grow up.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:20 pm 8. Boris:

God, the wingnut morons who post here are a big part of the problem.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:23 pm 9. KBaker:

Here’s a picture:

Anyone notice something odd?

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/261534

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:25 pm 10. 888:

Well, what did you expect? We’re talking about the party and candidate that’s aligned with:

1) ACORN and voter fraud and cheating to win this election
2) socialism and communism for the masses
3) forgiving unrepentant terrorists
4) forgiving racist, anti-Jew, anti-American reverends
5) refusal to release documents that will shed some light and some truth about the candidate’s background
6) alliance with and total support of the violent cousin, Odinga, who killed Kenyan citizens when he lost the election
7) refusal to put his hand on his heart during the playing of our National Anthem
8) refusal to wear a U.S. flag on his lapel because it will offend other countries
9) sitting down with leaders of America-hating, rogue nations without any pre-conditions
10) has as their housing and banking advisors disgraced Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae’s Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson
11) disrespects and insults the Palin daughter when the Democrats are supposed to be champions of feminism and the compassionate and understanding party
12) went to the gym to work out instead of visiting with wounded soldiers at Landstuhl after finding out photographers weren’t allowed to take pictures of the phony candidate using the soldiers for his photo ops.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:26 pm 11. vinny:

This is interesting because everything I hear on network TV news is how the McCain supporters are being out of control. I wonder how MSNBC will spin something like this. Maybe they will accuse his woman of being racist and say that her assailant was a civil rights activist.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:26 pm 12. Kyle:

Any witnesses to the attack on the Obama supporter? I’m guessing not. No doubt the Obama campaign will churn more of these sorts of stories out in order to profile the use of the race card.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:32 pm 13. roxanne:

it’s very upsetting that people resort to violence to settle personal differences. in the case of this woman, though, it seems a bit fishy that the B is carved backwards… maybe she did it herself in a mirror?

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:33 pm 14. KBaker:

It’s sad to see uninformed adults like 888 repeat the lies that were refuted many months ago.

BTW, 888 – maybe you should re-watch the debates and see who really DID wear a flag pin?

And, even more fun for a drinking game: every time someone claims that Obama does not wear a flag pin, watch to see if they are! If they are not, you take a drink.

888 – are YOU wearing a flag pin right now? You must not be from one of those “real” patriotic towns.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:34 pm 15. Salamantis:

It’s a wonder that she didn’t get a C carved in her face, after some Obama supporters started wearing “Palin is a C*nt” t-shirts.

But of course folks who don’t support Obama are racist, and deserve what they get. Just like folks who didn’t support Hillary in the primaries were sexist. Of corse, Palin doesn’t count, because, even though she’s a “c*nt”, she’s nevertheless not a “real woman.”

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:35 pm 16. UPDATED WITH VIDEO - Hope, Change, and Mayhem: McCain Supporter Mutilated! « The Rhetorican:

[...] Instapundit: Phyllis Chesler says “I told you so”.  She’s right. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Why I support Obama: the [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:37 pm 17. Tyler:

These events represent a microcosm of the Obama campaign as a whole(which attracts the dregs of society in record numbers) and tend to represent the general low-brow, anti-intellectual, thuggish behavior of the general Obama supporter

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:42 pm 18. glc:

The B is backwards (as if a person wrote a “B” on their own face by looking into a mirror–and then after it was done, realized they had it backward.

Also, if there was a scuffle and the assailant was putting pressure on the young woman, and using a knife to scrawl a “B” into her face, wouldn’t the “B” be deeper? Harsher? More pronounced? It looks like the “B” hardly breaks the skin and evenly so. As if it were self-inflicted.

I’m appalled at this story. In looking at the photo, it just doesn’t look like an injury that was inflicted by an aggressor with a knife. Knife wounds are violent things. This “B” is not.

I could be wrong. But this is my first impression upon close inspection of the photograph.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:43 pm 19. Doc Holiday:

She scratched that in her face you boneheads.

One things is true, people are morons and bite on anything

a knife?…LOL

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:45 pm 20. Alex:

The “B” is not backward if the thug is over her head and on her left side. Think about it.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:45 pm 21. alcibiades:

Anyone notice something odd?

Not so odd
It depends on where the attacker was relative to her when he was cutting her face.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:46 pm 22. Cato:

“Do we all have to get guns?”

Yes.

Know how to use a gun and be prepared to use it to defend yourself and your family.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:47 pm 23. glc:

Two things I forgot.

If this woman was truly attacked, my heart goes out to her.

Second thought. If this woman is an Obama supporter faking this entire scenario—so that to the world, she presents herself as a McCain supporter attacked by an Obama supporter, and then she is revealed to be a liar. Obama can use this to attack the Republicans and McCain for succumbing to desperate acts just to win. If this woman is a real McCain volunteer who has taken it upon herself to lie, cut her own face, and is eventually ridiculed for attempting to present this fiction, then she again hurts McCain and the Republicans’ chances.

This is just disturbing any way you cut it.

I’m thinking this is either real (but I can’t get over the backward B and the shallow neat cuts) or she’s an Obama supporter attempting to make the Republicans look bad.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:47 pm 24. Brian G.:

Truth is, I am still a bit skeptical about her story. Nevertheless, I am happy to know that by this time tomorrow, I will know if she has any outstanding tax liens, unpaid campus parking tickets, and if she is behind on her credit card bills. And, I look forward to hearing about her from ex-boyfriends and college roommates. I hope she didn’t rent American History X at any point.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:50 pm 25. glc:

Okay, I think the wound was self-inflicted.

You can criticize me until the cows come home, but it looks self-inflicted.

So I’m sticking to my theory that she’s an Obama supporter who drank too much koolaid.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:51 pm 26. susan:

Boris do you have evidence that any of us horrible people who post here did something like this act? Evidently no.

Then your moral equivalence is quite stupid. We cannot be more horrible than the people who carried on this act.

If we are so horrible, BTW, why you are here? You are not convicing anybody of your theories and as noted before, you do not add much to the discussion.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:51 pm 27. Scott:

Sounds kinda fishy to me. She left the scene and drove to a friends house, went back to the bank, and then called the police?? huh??

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:52 pm 28. k griffin:

America get use to it…remember Obama said “get in their faces” and “spread the wealth around”….just another Obamanot following orders. Get ready for this type of Chicago street fights if Obama gets elected…welcome to Obamanation!

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:54 pm 29. Alex Bensky:

Meanwhile, according to a story I found on the net this morning, police in a number of cities are planning on being out in force Election Night just in case of possible disturbances.

We can hope the police are just being very cautious, but even so, from whom are they expecting possible disturbances? I mean, I can recall the rioting in 2000 in Jewish areas when Lieberman lost; maybe they’re afraid of moose hunters going amok?

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:56 pm 30. Ron Hardin:

It’s a big country, and the media want eyeballs to sell to advertisers.

So they suppress the population effect, giving : anything that happens, happens in your neighborhood, you must stay tuned.

I don’t know that the attacks are unusual for a country of 300 million.
What’s new is news as a profit center.

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:57 pm 31. Bel Air:

Google the Wisconsin story. No pictures. There was a witness, another O volunteer, but in going to WISN, Huffington, and uppitywis I didn’t see a single quote. Also, this happened last week and no follow ups of someone being charged?

Odd, though, that everyone that touched the Wisconsin story accepted it without question when this story looks like a political argument that got out of hand. I wonder who touched who first? The woman that was told to get in this homeowners face or the homeowner? The woman who had a witness that never seems to get quoted or the homeowner?

Oct 23, 2008 - 3:58 pm 32. Patterico’s Pontifications » McCain Supporter Attacked in Pittsburgh:

[...] Hot Air has continuing updates and Phyllis Chesler has more, including an attack on an Obama [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:00 pm 33. Tony:

Susan

Let boris’s comment go – he can’t hear you. The circus music continually playing in his head prevents it.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:02 pm 34. Roderick Reilly:

I reserve judgement.

There has been a mountain of evidence of thuggish beavior by lower-level Obama supporters, and there was a similar distressing pattern from “Democrats” in 2004. And, I could throw in ACORN, etc., blah, blah, blah . . .

However . . .

This “mutilation” story has a disturbing similarity to too many hoaxes. While Instapundit has stated that the police have confirmed the story, I don’t think we’re really going to know for a couple more days.

Also, this wasn’t really an “Obama supporter” if the story is true. It was an idiot committing another crime who has an ignorant notion about politics as he apparently does about everything else. He added a second crime to his sorry resume by attacking her.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:04 pm 35. KansasGirl:

I’m going to vote early on the fourth, then call it a day. I’ll have to see what’s going on the next day before venturing out. The libs will probably try to drag this out as long as Al Gore did in 2000.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:07 pm 36. Ugly « Buttle’s World:

[...] Probably just an isolated incident. [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:11 pm 37. Boris:

“Boris do you have evidence that any of us horrible people who post here did something like this act? Evidently no.”

Did I write that? RIF.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:13 pm 38. Toads:

Study the history of Germany between 1929 and 1939 to understand the Obama phenomenon, and to see where we are headed next.

There is a reason leftists are so misogynistic. This funny yet troubling picture explains why leftists hate women. It also explains why leftists support that other misogynistic religion : radical Islam.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:16 pm 39. Jude:

The picture was published backwards, morons! Robber was righthanded and it was her right cheek.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:21 pm 40. Geno:

The “backwards” B makes sense if someone has you in a headlock with their arm coming under the chin. If she stood like a good girl in front of him it would not be backwards and more likely on the right side of her face or if he had laid atop her to hold her steady it would also not be backward and would be on the right side of her face. So let’s not blame the victim here. I believe that she was assaulted.
In my town there have been several McCain signs run over, torn down, and vandalized. I don’t think that it’s Ralph Nader’s supporters…But luckily I live in an area in California that is heavily republican so there are still many, many more standing and I don’t think I have to worry about getting “mugged” for my choice.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:24 pm 41. Sarge:

November 5th will be a day to remember. The day AFTER the Election, either way somebody will be unhappy. Id’ stay home if I were you. I remember Cinncinati, Wats etc….

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:24 pm 42. KSM:

I’ve had 12 of my McCain signs, posted on private property, stolen or slit with razor blades so far.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:28 pm 43. Geno:

I meant left side of face, duh.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:29 pm 44. Javelin:

Phylis ,you are doing a good job of fanning the flames of hate and violence; first with your feverish web based visions of civil war, now you and Mr. Black Hand have proof positive of the all the Obama Nazi thugs in action. Grab your guns now, redneck sheep,go kill, your country is under attack!

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:31 pm 45. asdf:

Roderick Said:

“Also, this wasn’t really an “Obama supporter” if the story is true. It was an idiot committing another crime who has an ignorant notion about politics as he apparently does about everything else.”

So no black people with criminal records support Obama?

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:31 pm 46. Javelin:

888
keep repeating the same list of mainly trash accusations against McCain. Sounds like your little mind has been thrown into 411/load by talk show.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:34 pm 47. Percy Dovetonsils:

Personally, my “bs” meter is tingling, but this?

“Do we all have to get guns?”

Yes, I’m starting to think we do.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:37 pm 48. Javelin:

Toads
Your gross generalizations about leftists is more like you projecting your ugliness on others. Calling them migogynistic Nazis is a stupid contemptible lie, the kind of red meat and bones that the right loves to toss out there for all the semiliterate goons to chew on

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:38 pm 49. Ricardo:

I think Obama will be terrible, I think his supporters are terrible and have already documented instances of assault against McCain supporters (in NYC)… BUT
I am a Plastic Surgeon and I have plenty of experience treating facial trauma.
Other than a very neatly “carved”, or carefully scratched at uniform depth, there is NO evidence of facial trauma. The “black eye” has fine wrinkles, intact anatomic landmarks, etc. If anything, one would expect increased trauma the day after such a beating.
This might be a Tawana Brawley moment for us Republicans.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:42 pm 50. Ed Wallis:

More information on this – whether genuine or hoax – over at

Michelle Malkin
Hot Air
Ace of Spades HQ

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:52 pm 51. Toads:

Javelin,

You are projecting. The left is the one that resides in ugliness. This is a simple fact.

The right is far more civil, controlled, and mature. The right is also more intelligent and productive.

That is why the left repels normal people.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:54 pm 52. Ruy Diaz:

Something about the speculation that this is a hoax.

The attack, if there was an attack, was committed near an ATM machine. Could it be that there is footage of the attack? We may know soon enough.

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:58 pm 53. R a Z o R:

Duh …

He did not stand on her chest .

He stood at the top of her body .

Oct 23, 2008 - 4:59 pm 54. Tony:

Ugg the leftie says “every bad story about Democrat lie, every bad story about Republican true”

Ugg admit he is a gullible neanderthal twit with reality issues. Ugg shouldn’t vote because he will destroy everything that good hard-working people have worked for.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:08 pm 55. Paul_Unalaska:

Give this story time. Speculation before the facts are gathered is rushing it. Not to mention ignorant. Real ugliness is avoided when everything gets laid out. If the story’s legit I hope the perpetrator comes forward (a guy can dream right?), case closed. If the story is fabricated, again I hope this resolves with little damage control needed. It’d be nice if THIS is the wake up call to those considering violent behavior. I mean, really. All this because of these 2 empty suits? That said I’m still in McCain’s camp. Though I don’t agree whatsoever with either’s *iss poor record on illegal immigration.. reform!? I’ve read BHO’s books ( though not “Change We Can Believe In”. As for “Dreams..” Can anyone take an autobio as “truth”? I like Johnny Rotten but wil not take his autobio as “truth”, either) and opposing viewpoints books (Corsi’s and David Fredosso’s). Obama, the dude scares me..! Though no one can foretell the future. Unless “Madame Cleo is still around..”!

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:08 pm 56. Christine:

The woman just so happens to be one of McCain’s campaign staffer in Texas. Hmmmmmmmm. What other gimmicks will McCain come up with next just to try to win the election? Have we had enough with these Republican tactics yet?

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:20 pm 57. Wilton Carpet:

How did an attacker manage to carve an initial into her face, without ever breaking the skin? No stitches, not even scabbing from bleeding.

If there’s a logical explanation for that, I’d love to hear it.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:21 pm 58. ineedalife:

Well, there should be some surveillance tapes from the bank and ATM that should settle things.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:27 pm 59. One Disgusted Guy !!!:

Nothing to see here, move along……nothing to see here, move along………Lets see is there any news that is really worth reporting.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:29 pm 60. heather:

The Dems have long operated on the assumption that the 2000 election was stolen from Gore. They are therefore justified in using ‘in your face’ tactics this time round, because it is (to their mind) only fair to cheat and lie in 2008 the way they believe the Republicans did in 2000 and 2004.

I think that Chesler’s fear is that if Obama loses this time, his acolytes’ anger will spill over into mass violence: once again, they have been unfairly cheated out of their rightful place in the universe.

I wonder if Obama understands what he is unleashing with his maundering on about ‘hope you can believe in’?

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:34 pm 61. nlcatter:

I can belevie the drive by

but not ATM robber staying around after getting money?

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:38 pm 62. Paul_Unalaska:

“Republican tactics”. Hmmm, interesting take. I’m glad to see the Democrats are being fair and forthcoming…!
Shame on those who want their questions answered regarding someone who served less than 6 months as a Senator, throwing his hat in for the most powerful job in the world. The nerve…

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:40 pm 63. cfbleachers:

I have handled matters with significant injuries for 30 years. This one goes in the “I’m not so sure” pile.

In fact, I would dump this story for numerous reasons. First, this guy…if he exists…doesn’t represent, well…anything, really.

Secondly, a six foot four inch guy hitting a small girl with his fist in anger…I would expect to see swelling, bruising, …not the kind I see here.

Third, it would take some fairly sophisticated knife work to raise a perfectly formed backward “B”, with no tearing of the skin, even a small pin prick would be expected.

Fourth, the natural human reaction to a knife being applied to the facial skin in an attack…would be to jerk the head…at least once or twice…causing a malformed letter. Not necessarily, people do act differently and might freeze, but it would be more unnatural behavior than natural.

Fifth, a rage so violent that begins with a fist to the face…and then no other punches, but rather…a delicate carving of the face, so as not to pierce the skin, is not consistent with rage, but rather with premeditation. So, this attacker would have more likely KNOWN the victim, in that scenario, than having a spontaneous fit of rage.

Never say never…and if this girl was attacked and it shows up on the video from the ATM, if there was one…well, anything is possible. But, I don’t like this story one bit. It has unnecessary racial undertones, it doesn’t have the look or feel of what I have seen in hundreds of other scenarios where someone was truly injured.

It looks premeditated to me. By whom…well, that’s what I would have waited to find out before I jumped on this story. Sorry.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:50 pm 64. yelraf:

My 25 years of police work make me notice two things: the action took place outside of the area covered by the surveillance camera and more importantly, the “B” is backward, which would immediately make me think it was carved while the “victim” was looking in a mirror. I’m not saying it didn’t happen like she said it did, but those are questions that the police should, and probably will, ask.

If it happened as she said, that’s bad. If it’s a hoax, that’s worse.

Oct 23, 2008 - 5:52 pm 65. Habbie:

OR if the person knocked the woman down, and while standing over her hear scratched it in. It would be backwards then.

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:01 pm 66. Arthur:

she did not call police, she went to a friends, he called…..
she refused medical care….
no bumper stickers on her car….
how would he know which was her car at a walk up ATM?….
the B is backards….
the B is a scratch, not a knife cut….
she was making jokes on her blog 1 hour after it happened….
she refused to be interviewed by investigators today…
no medical report, none….

imho this will be proven as a hoax…sad

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:03 pm 67. McCain Volunteer attacked & maimed? UPDATED | The Anchoress:

[...] back for updates! Phyllis Chesler has information on an Obama volunteer getting roughed up as [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:05 pm 68. momof3:

injuries aren’t always what you’d expect. If it was a hoax, it’ll be proven. I doubt it’s a hoax though. I mean, dont libs always explain the need for abortion by saying rape victims don’t always report it, or seek medical help? Oh, is that sort of understanding only for lib women? I see.

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:28 pm 69. Steely McFreaky:

Even Malkin doesn’t buy this story. This blog has done a good job of picking apart Todd’s web presence, including her MySpace, where she said something about “lying being the most fun” a “girl” could have.

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/insanity_and_politics_mccain_s.php

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:40 pm 70. Arthur:

I know Pittsburgh….
Bloomfield/Liberty Ave. is VERY busy at 9pm, very busy, it’s a college/pub district….
the ATM is directly across from a cop bar…
a huge cop/fire precent is located there also…
it’s a white area, not black, very nice, Italians mostly…

somethings rotten in Denmark…

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:41 pm 71. Arthur:

the location shows up on google maps…pittsburgh/liberty & pearl street, the citizen bank (green trim)…..street view…it’s wide open and busy, in fact it’s a bus stop

Oct 23, 2008 - 6:50 pm 72. BigRepublican:

Why is the B written backwards??? Looking in the mirror and doing it yourself maybe??? Why is it perfectly written, did she stay nice and still so the crazy black man could “carve” it into her face. This is a HOAX people wake up!!! The Klan…uh I mean the Republicans are desperate!

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:02 pm 73. Seerak:

The Dems have long operated on the assumption that the 2000 election was stolen from Gore. They are therefore justified in using ‘in your face’ tactics this time round, because it is (to their mind) only fair to cheat and lie in 2008 the way they believe the Republicans did in 2000 and 2004.

That has always been the Leftist M.O…. when they want license to get away with something, they first accuse whoever the “enemy” is of doing it. Then they proceed to engage in it themselves, ready to declare that everybody does it when they get caught. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:11 pm 74. Tcobb:

Maybe it is a hoax–but as for the B being backwards–dyslexia and Obamamania seem to be–just so connected and close.

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:15 pm 75. Wilton Carpet:

Still waiting for an answer to a perfectly reasonable question. How do you carve – presumably with a knife – a letter into someone’s face without ever breaking the skin? No stitches, not even so much as a pinprick of scabbing from bleeding.

How is that possible?

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:34 pm 76. Truth First:

This was probably a staged incident by McCain’s staff.

They are desperate.

Obama is about to become the first legitimate President of the United States and the Bush Regime will do anything to stop that from happening.

What we do know IS happening is that Obama supporters are being attacked and imprisoned.

Technically, slavery no longer exists in America today. But many Africans in America are still slaves.

There are 2 million Africans who rot today in America’s prisons. Some of them may have done something improper but the vast majority of them are political prisoners who have been sent to prison on trumped-up or on entirely false charges such as with Kwame Kilpatrick.

Racial profiling is the first step in the process. Many white police departments have quotas which require their officers to arrest certain number of Africans per day. African men are often arrested for merely stepping outside of their homes.

Bond is supposed to ensure that a defendant will show up for court hearings. When someone is arrested, he or she appears before a magistrate or judge, who then decides how much money the person must post to get out of jail. Bail isn’t about punishment. Yet, often it is set too high for any African to pay, so they sit in jail. This helps ensure that millions of votes to Democrat leaders are denied so that Republicans can stay in power.

The number of Africans being arrested has increased dramatically since the rise of Barack Obama. White police departments are under increased pressure from the Bush Regime to round up as many Africans as possible so they cannot vote for Senator Obama.

http://truthfirstnow.blogspot.com

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:40 pm 77. Rachel:

you idiots
have y’all ever heard of Innocent Until Proven Guilty? Or was that just a Parker Brothers game to y’all?

Nice to know crime and victims are just a game to some of you.

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:44 pm 78. GayPatriot » Obama’s Thugocracy Strikes In Pittsburgh:

[...] (from Dan): Michelle Malkin is skeptical. Phyllis Chesler is not. Me, well, let me just say, it doesn’t smell right that she refused medical [...]

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:45 pm 79. trangbang68:

Looks suspicious. It looks like another American Idol wannabe looking for her 15 minutes of fame. The insanity of it is she’ll be scorned as a little fool instead of actually doing some good as a serious campaign worker.

Oct 23, 2008 - 7:46 pm 80. Lauren:

Thank you for posting the link to the NYC story. I wasn’t aware of it. I only know my own experiences wearing a McCain button and they aren’t great experiences. I also know that after refuting lies and nasty allegations at work by Obama supporters I suddenly have not been offered any more work, a job I have done for many years and receive work on a week by week basis. Coincidence? I didn’t get into a screaming match, I didn’t call names, I spoke about facts and my distaste for class warfare. Perhaps I should have been smarter and held my tongue but I have no tolerance for lies. I have no problem with an opposing view but lies have no place in my world. Phyllis you are right, this is the begining of a civil war. I said it the other day to the owner of a gas station and fellow McCain supporter and I stand by your assessment today.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:02 pm 81. Amphipolis:

Obama did not attak her. Some freak attacked her, if the story is not a hoax.

These anecdotal stories get far too much attention on both sides. There are plenty of crazy people who are pushed over the edge by the political tension surrounding us today. Let’s keep our heads cool.

Sure, if it was a Republican who did this it would be all over the front page. But is that what we want? No, we want to talk about issues that matter, not the non-issue of crazy people doing crazy things.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:04 pm 82. Annie:

I agree the photo does look suspicious. Most reports say the B was carved with a knife. It should be an open wound or scabbing, not a scratch. I only read the first 32 posts, so I don’t know if anyone else noticed this: That bruise on her eye isn’t swollen, nor is her eye red. I’ve seen plenty of black eyes in my life, and had a couple. None ever looked like those low-budget movie black eyes with no swelling nor broken blood vessels in the eye.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:08 pm 83. Rotwang:

Not even Michelle Malkin is buying this one. In fact, several of the right-wing blogs think this one is an obvious hoax.

I’m a Pittsburgher, and not only is that stretch of Liberty Avenue heavily traveled (as arthur said), but it would have been much more likely for the black guy to be robbed and beaten at that location than a young white woman.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:29 pm 84. Rotwang:

PS: The Pittsburgh Police say they didn’t take any photos of the woman, so God knows where Drudge got his.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:32 pm 85. S:

This entire story reeks of being unlikely. While it’s possible and won’t be proven, I wouldn’t put it past McCain or this girl to stage this. All the girl has to do is scratch a fine B into her face. Then show up after dark at a deserted ATM machine, call the police and claim she was attacked. If she had any previous bruises that would only help to further back it up. But even that wasn’t needed.

Why is the B backwards? Because the girl probably made it while standing in a mirror. Duh, lol. Or was the attacker so smart he made it so she’d see it as a reflection in her mirror later? How poetic. BOY, that attacker sure had a lot of time to plan this out. You’d think most black attackers in the dark would have run off with the $60 cash. Not stand around and draw artwork on someones face.

If this weren’t unlikely enough, it appears on the internet within hours. You can’t say that was accidental. But more unlikely is that someone during a robbery would even think, “wow, I better mark a B on her face because I noticed her bumper sticker is from McCain”. And she happens to work for McCain. Wow, what a coincidence. I NEVER said this didn’t happen to her, but it’s VERY suspicious and points to the fact that she may want media attention.

She could very well be mccains next Joe the plumber media buzz. Only she represents the concept that Obama supporters must be black and hateful. Need proof? 3 out of 4 articles out tonight are already slanted to suggest this very notion. So this is the purpose of this showing up in the media. Possibly to cover up the fact that there are dozens of videos of mccain supporters that are hate filled. And what does mccain always do? Lie and accuse someone else of what he’s guilty of.

So all of this is quite fitting given it’s only 12 days before the election. Just a coincidence? I’ll admit what happened to the girl may be real, but this is the fakest attempt I’ve ever seen.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:34 pm 86. s1times:

Also the little part of the story where they claim the attacker drew the B from behind her is ridiculous as well. It would add one more unlikely event to the long chain of unlikely events. Most attackers are in a rush. They don’t get fancy and draw B’s backwards from behind. Also if done with a knife it would be hard to get it just right. Press too hard and you are cut. Too light and nothing. This was most likely done by the girl in her mirror at home before she set out. And right wingers will claim I’m cruel and it’s unlikely, but facts are facts. The whole story is unlikely.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:38 pm 87. s1times:

s1 = s1times, sorry.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:39 pm 88. ContraJihadi:

Stories of Obama supporters’ barbarism continue to mount. How valid are they? I do not know. Those who report them must do all they can to verify their authenticity.

Let us assume, however, that they are true or nearly true, and that Obama supporters, whether spontaneously or organized and authorized, are visiting violence on McCain supporters. In that case, I would remind the Obaminations that, in the words of their prophet Jeremiah, “chickens” inevitably “come home to roost.”

The audacious zealots of change should think well of possible future scenarios: for example, when Messiah terminates the Iraq War without a clear U.S. victory, angry veterans, very well trained in all the tactics of counter-insurgency, will be coming home in mass frustration. They will not be happy with the new CINC; probably many will resign rather than serve under that ideological son of Ayers. I suggest that today is the day for the Chosen One’s acolytes to renounce their physical enthusiasms, lest at a future date some of those patriotic veterans take a look at the home-scene and decide that it is time to enact the laws of talion.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:40 pm 89. Richie:

This is a blatant hoax. Fear mongering.

Oct 23, 2008 - 8:52 pm 90. Dark Helmet:

It’s time people were put in jail for lying. This person is full of shit.

Oct 23, 2008 - 9:04 pm 91. Natalia:

Ha, that “merge divide” poster has been making the rounds at several blogs, posting links and pretending to give a damn about anyone not fawning for the Dear Leader.

They really do earn their $7 an hour.

OTOH, they could just be whackos in mommy’s basement.

Oct 23, 2008 - 9:06 pm 92. Will:

Hi people! For those of you who were slamming Obama’s campaign, BOO YAH!

Sorry, but the one moral thing you had against us to combat the hateful rhetoric and vicious smear tactics on McCain’s part is gone. Little Ashley here not only lied, she blamed it on a black man. Oh no! Don’t hurt me, big bad scary black man!

This is a Susan Smith redux folks. And the prime example of McCain’s supporters going too far.

Oct 23, 2008 - 9:42 pm 93. Jim:

Looking a bit more like a hoax:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_594939.html

“Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said.”

Oct 23, 2008 - 10:24 pm 94. David Thomson:

My guess is that this young lady is lying. It is merely an attempt to draw attention to herself. Something does not sound right with her story. I am not willing to lie to myself just because it probably helps the McCain/Palin ticket.

Oct 23, 2008 - 10:29 pm 95. vivo:

According to the 92 postings here, there is no conclusion if this really happened or if it is a hoax. Where is the Police report and investigative conclusions? Heard of yellow journalism?

Oct 23, 2008 - 10:39 pm 96. mark in HKG:

I am a republican, don’t really like Obama.. But this has hoax all over it. Who can carve a B like that….

I hope she is okay,,, but no one is not asking questions about this… It is a hoax

Oct 23, 2008 - 11:48 pm 97. Medical Training:

First of all, I do not think McCain or the Republican party had anything at all to do with this. I think this is about one disturbed young girl who desperately wants attention. I’ve worked in medicine for five years, and I have NEVER seen a black eye like that. There is no swelling whatsoever, no redness or discoloration of the eye. If she were punched in the face by a 200-plus pound man who was enraged, as she claims, there should be substantial — not superficial — damage to her face. Looking at the photo, I’d guess the “black eye” is really makeup.

Oct 23, 2008 - 11:50 pm 98. Youngblood:

Have any of the people who are insisting that the ‘B’ is backwards ever been to MySpace or Facebook? When people take their own pictures (and it appears that she did take this picture) they frequently use a mirror. Which would, y’know, render the ‘B’ backwards in the final image. Note that the shadows from the flash in the picture are consistent with this interpretation.

Second, if this is not a hoax and the criminal who did this got up close and personal, the ‘B’ would be shallow and neat. His goal was to humiliate and terrify her, after all. (Make no mistake about it: if this crime isn’t a hoax, it was a crime of humiliation, not unrestrained violence.)

If it’s a hoax, I don’t get why a hoaxster would choose a ‘B’. If someone wanted to manufacture an attack by an Obama supporter, the obvious choice would be an ‘O’. The ‘B’ could stand for ‘Barack’, it could stand for ‘Bitch’, or it could stand for something else. But it seems extremely unlikely to me that someone who wanted to perpetrate a hoax meant to indict Obama supporters of violence would pick the letter.

Oct 23, 2008 - 11:52 pm 99. Wow!:

The only stupider person than this hoaxer is McCain and Palin for falling for it.

Oct 23, 2008 - 11:59 pm 100. Believer:

As shocked and sickened as I was to hear of the story — I’m going to be even more sickened, I think, if it turns out to be a hoax. Really. This young lady will need some serious counseling and time locked up if she’s done this to herself.

I hope McCain continues to follow this and if she’s in any way associated with his campaign – and her story is not true – he takes the lead to warn his supporters that this is gravely bad behavior.

Emotions are running too high. And I think Obama has been derelict in his duty to warn his supporters that anything less than civil behavior will not be tolerated. Police are beefing up for the election and for potential riots in some cities.

Obama has fed this anger and has confused people with his lies and tolerance of fraudulent activity. It’s really sick. I’m convinced he is a sick man. I’d feel sorry for him if he weren’t doing so much damage to our nation.

And we haven’t the press doing it’s job to help reveal what is true and what is false. Instead, we all know they’re completely biased — and equally culpable.

May God get us through this insanity. And give us leaders with character, judgment and integrity.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:22 am 101. JJ:

Republican HQ Manager’s Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs

http://www.local6.com/politics/17784129/detail.html

Hope, Change and Molotov Cocktails

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2008/10/hope-change-and-molotov-cocktails.html

Obama Supporter Assaults Female McCain Volunteer in New York

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-supporter-assaults-female-mccain-volunteer-in-new-york/

Yesterday we asked why the media was reporting a McCain supporter calling Barack Obama an “Arab” and completely ignoring Obama supporters calling Sarah Palin a c*nt, even wearing T-shirts with the phrase “Sarah Palin is a c*nt” on them.

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/10/13/wow-staffers-also-wear-sarah-palin-cnt-t-shirts/

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:39 am 102. Dave Surls:

“I knew things were going to get ugly and so they have.”

Nah, it’s pretty restrained, actually. Anyone who was around in 1968 knows that what’s going on now is a tea party compared to that election.

The issue isn’t violence spiraling out of control, the issue here is unfair reporting and the flagrant pro-Democrat cheerleading by the MSM, which is trying to portray McCain/Palin supporters as thugs, with McCain and Palin inciting them to thuggery, which is absolute hogwash.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:45 am 103. Jon:

Once you have the money, you don’t chase the person. Robbery – 101, nor spend 15 minutes drawing on them. If you chase them you don’t make them an art project, you make them dead.

What was he using a butter knife, he didn’t pierce the skin? Not just that but who among us would keep their head perfectly still for them to have such good penmanship? I’m not saying she wasn’t mugged but that’s where the story ends.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:45 am 104. DWMF:

Youngblood – Maybe the attacker was intending to carve ‘O’ on her other cheek.

Has anyone considered that the attacker may have been practically illiterate? He wouldn’t have known a forwards B from a backward one.

This attack must have been quick and vicious. No time for copper-plate calligraphy.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:19 am 105. Aris Katsaris:

“Youngblood”, the photo is not inverted — the scratched B is mentioned in the story to be in her right cheek. The small mark on her left cheek remains consistent with other photos of her. So it’s not inverted.

“If someone wanted to manufacture an attack by an Obama supporter, the obvious choice would be an ‘O’.”

An “O” outside context isn’t immediately identifiable as a letter, it’s seen as a circle. (Obama campaign uses the letter to resemble a sun for example). So whether a real or a hoax attacker, “B” makes more sense than “O”.

I’m leaning towards “hoax” personally. I certainly hope it’s one – I’d rather have a person lying about a barbaric assault rather than someone committing one.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:20 am 106. Jim:

Aris:

Could you supply an URL for the “right cheek” news report detail?

Thanks.

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:15 am 107. dave:

This girl faked it.

Read her ‘twitter’, it’s linked all over. She was actually leaving a trail of ‘thoughts’ leading to this.

IN pittsburgh now, looking for an atm

looks like I’m on the wrong side of town, getting nervous

well it was a hell of a night, more later

This is a trail of breadcrumbs, folks, she KNEW this was coming, meaning she planned it.

THe B is reversed because she did it in a mirror. If a mugger had scratched that on her, he’d have had to be sitting above her head as she lay on the ground. From that position, he COULD NOT RESTRAIN HER.

Likely this black eye is either makeup or inflicted by a boyfriend.

The robbery is all phony, she did this all on purpose.

NOT the kind of person we want on our side. Good Lord, if she’d just waited there would have been ample evidence of the coming violence.. but faking it just derails the efforts of HONEST people to bring these things to light.

Makes me ill.

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:29 am 108. CR:

I can’t say whether or not the attack was real, since I wasn’t there and I’m not privy to the police report or investigation materials. It certainly seems real and I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt until other information is made available.

Two things are certain:

1) Obama did tell his supporters to “get in people’s faces”.
2) The MSM will skewer this woman just like they did with Joe the Plumber, even if the attack is found to be real and a perpetrator is arrested and admits to the attack.

Either way, this is just another example of the craziness surrounding this election. Anyone saying she did this to herself, or that she’s lying, without evidence to support those claims is a certified nutjob. I give people the benefit of the doubt until evidence emerges that makes me believe otherwise.

Oct 24, 2008 - 6:08 am 109. BeBe:

I am for McCain/Palin but I too have my doubts about this. I find this story disturbing either way. If it’s true it’s wrong and if it’s not true it’s wrong as well. If it didn’t happen the way she claims then it hurts the McCain campaign even more.
There is the possibility that she is a B.O. supporter and did it to damage the McCain campaign credibility. But who knows.
Very sad indeed either way.

Oct 24, 2008 - 6:20 am 110. goy:

Can someone please explain to me – based on the rules we’ve been handed so far – how this doesn’t qualify as a “Hate Crime”.

The robbery was “routine”, but the physical violence was grounded in the intent to harm this woman because of her beliefs (i.e., politics). How is that different from attacking a Jew because of her beliefs/politics, or a Wiccan for her beliefs/politics?

Oct 24, 2008 - 6:39 am 111. Ratatosk:

There is the possibility that she is a B.O. supporter and did it to damage the McCain campaign credibility. But who knows.

So she volunteered for the McCain campaign for months, just to cause this harm now?

Have any of the people who are insisting that the ‘B’ is backwards ever been to MySpace or Facebook? When people take their own pictures (and it appears that she did take this picture) they frequently use a mirror. Which would, y’know, render the ‘B’ backwards in the final image. Note that the shadows from the flash in the picture are consistent with this interpretation.

If that were the case, it would be showing on the OTHER side of her face. Even in mirror images, if the B is on the right cheek, the rounded bits would point toward her nose. Since its on her right cheek and the rounded bits point AWAY, then its backward.

The most reasonable explanation is that she did it in a mirror (other people have been caught the same way… there was a star a few years back that did this with a swastika). It is possible that there is another explanation, but the possibility is low, based on the information available.

Oct 24, 2008 - 7:33 am 112. RE:

Increasingly, this incident seems like a hoax.

But the larger issue is still at play. Were it not for all the previous incidents, this story would probably never have grown the legs it did.

My view of the uncivil and violent Left remains unchanged. There are simply too many verified incidents and overy displays of hostility and contempt to ignore the phenomenon.

We are living in an increasingly divided and hostile society. This election will do absolutely nothing to reverse our downward spiral. The coercive nature of the Democrat agenda promises to make things considerably worse.

Oct 24, 2008 - 8:17 am 113. Shootingsparks:

Had i carved that into her face i certainly would have 1: not carved a backwards B, and 2: I am sure i would have actually cut her face had i gone to the insane trouble of pinning this girl on the sidewalk of a busy street…
Points for neatness of the superficial scrape on her face that will surely heal leaving no scars…aside from the fact that it is backward that ‘B’ gets points for neatness…
this looks like the filthiest side of politics, the ‘false flag’ attack…

Oct 24, 2008 - 8:21 am 114. schnargley:

Oh stop whining all you repukes! Scared of a little democracy? You all just want to stifle the enthusiasm of the youth and the minorities, who are just really excited about having a true progressive and a minority race President. This election will either bring hope and change to the world or more war, poverty and racism. What is that to compare with a bit of property damage or somebody getting a little roughed up? Other countries had to have entire revolutions with thousands dead and the nation entirely destroyed to have their change happen. You are getting off light so don’t complain.

Plus we all remember Obama’s teacher saying how he wished he had “done more” back in his time.

Oct 24, 2008 - 8:28 am 115. Mel:

Mugged on a busy intersection, sure. Beaten and taken the amount of time it would to have a perfectly neat (and backwards — oops!) scar? Without attracting any witnesses? While Twittering about it? She’s trying to be the next LonelyGurl, star of her own “reality” show. I feel bad for her that she thinks she has to do this for attention, but even the police are doubting the mixed up details of her story. I call shenanigans.

Oct 24, 2008 - 8:52 am 116. Believer:

I hope Americans are waking up to Chicago politics and Alinsky methodology descending on the entire nation.

A sickness and evil we won’t long survive. “Get in their faces.”

“The end justifies the means.”

God help us all.

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:02 am 117. Botyfltiger:

And by the way, I would feel as strongly if physical assaults for poliitical reasons were being perpetrated by McCain supporters. If anyone has such credible stories, please share them with me.

As you Wish!

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:06 am 118. Botyfltiger:

predicted “civil wars” in America?

Umm you know you sound really proud of predicting people acting out their hatred in this country.

Why would you even wish to gloat on about predicting a civil war? Why do you and others like you who are saying this think this is a good approach with speaking to people, many whom are still very ignorant and still hate people cause of the color of their skin?

I sure do hope you ALL are held responsible for war-baiting and trying to create mayhem and the murder of people cause of a political difference.

I thought this was America not China???

Since you hold the Power of the Pen, why are you not writing, asking people to remain calm and NOT to go out and harm people cause their person lost? Instead of saying look look I predicted harm will come to all people if Obama is elected and see see it is happening already. You seem to be gloating on your misconception of all humans want blood shed when their life isn’t going their way…

This saddens me as an American citizen, that we have come so far only to take 100 giant steps backwards.
Shame on you and other like you who are placing this fear into good humans who most likely do not know any better.

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:27 am 119. Sarah:

This is a horrible story. I feel for the poor girl, these Obama fans are wild. I’m glad apparently she’s not badly hurt. I want this story to be true so to embarrass the Obamites. We don’t want black man to be violating our women. Boy, the shit could hit the fan with this. However, I have a copy of what seems to be her “MySpace page”, and it does not look goood. She posted messages on 10-22-08 $ 10-23-08, after the alleged attack had occured and did not make any mention of it. http://www.truecrimereport.com/atodd1.jpg http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/insanity_and_politics_mccain_s.php

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:29 am 120. Jennifer:

I think most of you are treading too lightly around a touchy subject.

Everything I see on her face I could reproduce using makeup.

I’ve never been hit or carved by anyone but I’ve had a black eye now and then and of course I know what a cut looks like. I’ve fallen off my bike at over 20 MPH. So I know what road rash looks like.

This sad chick painted a sterotype of a black eye onto her face. The backwards “B” was painted on as well. There is no visible cut in her skin.

I don’t know why she did it… a misguided attempt to help McCain that backfired? In any case, she needs serious help and it’s a shame that I and everyone else are giving any time to her sad situation.

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:33 am 121. Vicki Collins:

When I told my husband this story, I advised him that we should wait for all the details to be confirmed by the police. How very true that we don’t need another Al Sharpton deal on our hands.

But I’d like to point out that I have steadfastly refused to put a McCain bumper sticker on my truck because I fully expect my vehicle would be vandalized. I also recently purchased shrill whistles and pepper spray for my husband, a neighbor and myself. Right now I’m searching for a safe place for our truck on election night- (we live in an apartment with no garages). Am I afraid of the current political climate? You’re damned right I am!
Vicki Collins

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:38 am 122. Wilton Carpet:

OH LOOK. SHE’S CHANGED HER STORY:

PITTSBURGH (AP) — 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.

The student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, initially said a black man robbed her at knifepoint Wednesday night and then cut her cheek after seeing a McCain sticker on her car.

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.

No arrests have been made.

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:46 am 123. TeamPlayer:

Yes, the violent left, suggesting the other candidate is a “terroist” who should be killed, or a “communist faggot” or “un-American” probably not from the “pro-America part of America”…Michele Bachmann, Limbaugh, Savage…etc. etc..

The selection of hate speech are plentiful on both sides. While both sides have a history of bad behavior, you guys definitley have the persecution complex down to a science.

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:51 am 124. jb:

I’m not to sure about this too. Is it real? A hoax? A set-up? I will wait till I have more facts to form an opinion. I love how the people here, on both sides, are just pouncing all over each other on this without even knowing the truth. “Oh, I’m an Obama supporter, McCain did it ” – “I’m a McCain supporter – you violent Obama people did it” and NONE of you know what happened! Maybe she was really attacked by some Barr supporting Duke lacrosse player in black face, left for dead and a Cynthia McKinney supporter carved a backwards B to somehow mean Barr not Barack. That’s as good a theory as some posted here.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:09 am 125. mnotaro:

Ut-oh…this looks bad…changing her story, looking uncredible..police finding inconsistencies…this could make lefty illuminati Obama and his team look good.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:09 am 126. Sarah:

What about the timed entry in her “MySpace” page around the time of the attack, any theory?
http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/10/insanity_and_politics_mccain_s.php

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:26 am 127. jb:

If it is a lie, which it looks like to me, then us republicans will say so unlike Al Sharpton and the rest of the loons. Funny how that works. MSM – lie, page one / Truth, bury it.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:28 am 128. Rainy Friday Linkapalooza « Obi’s Sister:

[...] Campaign worker attacked. Or was she? “Well, this story is bad if it’s true and it’s even worse if it’s a hoax.” [...]

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:29 am 129. Peter Hansen:

*disclaimer* I’m a Mccain supporter and have donated to the campaign. This story seems false, and from pictures, I can see the “B” is backwards–meaning she probably did it to herself in a mirror.

In other news, Mccain is running a new attack ad against Obama. Nevermind the two adds (on Healthcare & Bush) that Barak has been running all week against Mccain. Shh, the media can’t say Obama is more negative than Mccain.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:29 am 130. David Thomson:

“Oh, I’m an Obama supporter, McCain did it ” – “I’m a McCain supporter – you violent Obama people did it”

You are obviously not paying attention. A number of McCain supporters like myself are very suspicious of her story. Moreover, conservatives are far more likely to be careful not to jump to invalid conclusions. Anti-intellectualism, contempt for facts, and knee jerking responses are a monopoly of today’s post-modernist leftists.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:31 am 131. jb:

David Thomson, your right I should pointed to a more select group of posters. look at what I said in post #128. Some are better than others at making a point, I will try harder.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:40 am 132. H:

It’s official – she LIED: http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

I’d like to know what all the Obama bashers have to say now…?

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:56 am 133. Lisa:

Come on guys. She’s already confessed to making up the story:

http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:02 am 134. Christine:

People,

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A HOAX THAT THIS WOMAN INFLICTED TO HERSELF TO DRAW UP ANGER!

The fact that the “B” was not only backwards but was carved so neatly and hardly scratched the surface of her skin proofs that it is a hoax. In a real attack, if her face were to be cut in any way, shape, or manner; she would be hysterical and will be moving erratically and the “B” would not be carved this neatly. I rest my point.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:06 am 135. Christine:

THANK YOU GUYS!

133. H:

It’s official – she LIED: http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

I’d like to know what all the Obama bashers have to say now…?

Oct 24, 2008 – 10:56 am

134. Lisa:

Come on guys. She’s already confessed to making up the story:

http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

Oct 24, 2008 – 11:02 am

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:19 am 136. roger Wilson:

Oh please…this is a cry for help. She made it up. I guarantee it.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:20 am 137. vpb:

I truly wonder how some of you make it through a day with such misinformation. Do those of you who call Barack Obama a socialist or a communist understand the principles of those political theories? Democrats and Republicans are both capitalist parties with capitalist views. The minor questions in the big political sphere is just how much they support corporations. Stop being silly about the socialist stuff.
As for criticizing current practices, don’t you think that the constitution of the United States of America ENCOURAGES free speech and the right to say that there are problems in the US that need to change – that could be better? Is it Anti-American to challenge economic priorities?

Ashley Todd has embarrassed the party and based on many of the early reactions in articles and blogs we are sadly reminded that institutionalized racist thinking is a harsh reality.

Also… Sarah Palin called herself an intellectual in a recent interview. Preposterous.
As for her claim that she is a maverick – perhaps she can produce an academic paper where she redefines it since the “original” meaning does not jive with what she and mccain are saying.
http://www.realoriginalmaverick.com/

Vote smart in November – ask your accountant or banker who the best choice is for you based on your income. Ask yourself about the integrity of each politician – their family values, their vision for the country and your community, and what they hold most precious.

Be nice to each other – the country’s broke financially and morally – fix it together.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:22 am 138. Christine:

HOORAY FOR THE GREAT REPORTING OF A LIE FROM PAJAMASMEDIA!

AWESOME REPORTING AND IMPARTIALNESS! HAHAHA

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:23 am 139. Matt Drudge:

It’s False! hahaahhaaahahahhaaahh.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:27 am 140. jb:

H
“I’d like to know what all the Obama bashers have to say now…?”
This does not change the fact that Obama is a socialist and is not fit to be President.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:29 am 141. jb:

As David Thomson #131 points out. Most of the republican posters said it sounded like it might be a hoax and would wait for more info before deciding. So please take a breath and get hold of yourselves.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:34 am 142. OsamaLinBiden:

ha ha ha :)

I’m sure Jesus will forgive her for her sins.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:35 am 143. glc:

I was right.

I wrote yesterday that this was fishy and looked cooked up.

Throw the book at this idiot girl.

What possessed her to think she could pull this off? And why?

Misguided?

Stupid?

What an idiot.

She just hurt McCain’s campaign.

Now Obama’s surrogates will have another soundbite as to how “desperate” McCain folks are…..

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:37 am 144. Anne:

This is Ashley Todd channeling Susan Smith and blaming the big black man that does NOT exist. She’s admitted she LIED.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD has been resurrected.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:38 am 145. glc:

Note to other commenters:

This girl was an idiot. Clearly, an idiot.

However, Obama is a socialist. And yes, I know what socialism is. And I know what Communism is. And I don’t want Obama as President. I do not trust him. He is a socialist.

So don’t tie this girl’s criminal acts with Obama’s socialism.

Vote McCain.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:39 am 146. jb:

Christine, did you even read the story? The author points out it sounded like a hoax then went on to write about how this whole election could and is getting out of hand. Even Michelle Malkin thought it might be a hoax. So it looks like PAJAMASMEDIA was again ahead of the story. Calm down.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:42 am 147. jb:

143. OsamaLinBiden:
“ha ha ha
I’m sure Jesus will forgive her for her sins.”

Your right all she has to do is ask HIM into her heart and she is forgiven.
P.S. That goes for you too.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:45 am 148. Rotwang:

Cue muted cornet music sting: Wah-wah-wah-wah-WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Thanks to conservatives here who didn’t jump on the “all Obama supporters are subhuman thugs” bandwagon.

As for all those who DID take the opportunity to parade your pinheaded fears, primitive bias and “antipathy for those not like you”…well, please know that I am enjoying the HELL out of this.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:51 am 149. Rotwang:

My guess is that a black eye and a lipstick “B” on the cheek will be Pittsburgh’s #1 Halloween costume this year.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:53 am 150. TeamPlayer:

1. I hope the woman gets some help in addition to some punitive damage.
2. Where have we gone with identity politics that a looming loss or the prospect of the big gov’t dems has driven someone to commit this sort of crime.

This was a sad day, not for Republicans or McCain (well a little, but not really) but for the state of “politicking” in America.

Oct 24, 2008 - 11:55 am 151. jb:

Rotwang, What would have happened if the shoe were on the other foot? If she was black and said a McCain supporter did it. Would it have been pushed harder by you or the MSM? A lot of republicans said it didn’t pass the smell test. Would you have said the same thing? Or would you have jumped on the bandwagon? I’m not trying to be sarcastic I really am interested in hearing your opinion on that.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:05 pm 152. DumbRepublicans:

My God this is a sad day for America when stuff like this happens. If you can’t win fair and square you have to cheat, lie, and steal? Is that what the Republican party is about? All this name calling..Socialist, Terrorist, etc. by McCain/Palin…what are they doing? What is there solution to the real problems facing this country? Sad, very sad!

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:10 pm 153. Boris:

A rightwing nutjob?!?!?!?!? But this site claims those don’t exist, even though every third post is an example.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:10 pm 154. Steve P.:

RACIST HOAX!

Thanks, Republicans. As if I didn’t need ANOTHER reason to vote Obama. Sick, sick, sick.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:12 pm 155. jb:

DumbRepublicans: I don’t know let’s ask the good folks at ACORN.

Boris, people stopped reading your posts a long time ago.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:16 pm 156. TeamPlayer:

DR, don’t go associating Republicans with this event. It’s the same fallacy that most of the people use here against Democrats and liberals. Look at this in isolation, feel some pity for this woman, fire the media people who were foaming at the mouth on this and then move on.

Boris, PJ has some real wackjobs, but it is largely populated by people with legit libertarian-leaning concerns that need to be heard. You want wackjobs, visit FreeRepublic or some of the ultra-religious sites.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:16 pm 157. CR:

She admitted that she lied about the whole thing, so NOW is the time to jump on the bandwagon for name-calling and such.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/24/mccain-campaign-volunteer-admits-alleged-attack-hoax/

Perhaps she just wanted some attention, or maybe she’s a little crazy. Either way, it was a hoax and she’s in big trouble now.

Oct 24, 2008 - 12:22 pm 158. Rachel:

I said it before, and I’ll say it again,
There has been quite a lot of hoopla of a supposed political mugging in Pittsburgh. It could have happened or a hoax; no one knows at the moment. However there has been a frightening “blame the victim first” reaction that sickens me to the core.

Has everyone forgotten that Innocent Until Proven Guilty works for both parties? It seems sympathy has warped into suspicion. What if that was your little girl?

Oct 24, 2008 - 1:08 pm 159. Pam:

I am of the opinion that a lot of people, both left and right, suspected this was a hoax. And…..for the same reasons: the backward, very neat B; the black eye that looked more like smudged make up than a real black eye as it had no bloodshot appearance or swelling; and the idea that someone could be attacked by someone so much larger and be in such good shape. I checked the threads at Lucianne.com, a conservative politcal site, and most everyone there thought it was a hoax.

This has nothing to do with either John McCain or Barack Obama. It has to do with a young woman who chose, for whatever reason, to make this up. I am of the opinion she needs to be held legally accountable and that she needs psychological treatment. She reminds me of the Runaway Bride, Jennifer Whateverhername is. Remember her?

Oct 24, 2008 - 1:32 pm 160. rocketeer:

This kind of junk makes me really mad, and it makes actual crimes like this much less believable. These people are roundly condemned by all from both sides and it needs to stop now before it gets out of hand.

Oct 24, 2008 - 1:40 pm 161. Ratatosk:

Just as Obama is not responsible for the actions of crazy people, neither is McCain.

However, those of you who believed… maybe you should step back, relax and turn your brains back on. I know they are there, I know you can use them… but in the heat of politics, sometimes we accidentally hit the off switch. There are Good and Legitimate arguments that can be made for both candidates between now and Nov. Will they be arguments about birth certificates, midnight calls from Michelle Obama and “Who has the most evil followers?” OR will the be arguments about how much control the government should have in our lives, how much taxes we should pay and what stance is probably best on foreign affairs?

It should be clear to everyone by now, that IF you want McCain elected, the ONLY chance is real substantive discussion of issues… not bulls&*t. If however, you want to keep on about Odinga, Birth Certificates and Bill Ayers… thats cool, but we’ll be sure to see the Dems in full control of the House, Senate and 1600 Penn Ave come ‘08.

It’s really that simple at this stage of the game.

Oct 24, 2008 - 1:51 pm 162. Wilton Carpet:

Pam #160, thank for your reasoned and reasonable response. But there are lot of people who come out of this hoax with no credit to their name, primarily the media.

The source that breathed life into the story was The Drudge Report. Highly influential and – you’d think – with a position of responsibility. The right wing blogs devoured it, but then most of them just wolf down the red meat that Drudge throws them anyway. Fox News also would do well to review its story-checking, especially with such an incendiary story. They didn’t. There’s an interesting quote from yesterday from John Moody, Fox News’ executive vice president: “If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.”

And that’s why this story is so disgusting. With the unmistakable racial theme running through it, the media had a duty of responsibility to discharge, which they failed completely. It’s odd as well that the story should take place in Pennsylvania, where most agree McCain’s sole remaining road to the presidency runs right through.

Which brings us to the McCain campaign itself. They pushed this story all day yesterday. Not as a possible hoax, but as an actual, undisputed event. Think about it. They were willing to stoke racial fears and antagonism to fever pitch in their must-win state. Sorry, but that kind of behavior isn’t just unacceptable, it’s reprehensible.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:00 pm 163. Will Sharpe:

It’s just sad that America flocks to stories such as these… when will we learn–whether or not she was attacked by an Obama supporter–it has nothing to do whatsoever with the election at hand or the candidates. All a story like this does is add fuel to the fire (see inital comments to this post). Side note: people who continue to surmise that riots will break out on the 4th (whichever party wins) under-estimate the apathy that plagues this country; it causes us to be drawn to stories like these because of their fanciful nature of which we’re completely detached.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:01 pm 164. glc:

Good luck for Pumpkin Girl getting any medical or psychiatric help under Obama’s healthcare plan.

She’ll have to wait for years…..

(Only…well…I hope she’s locked up for awhile for this sick stunt.)

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:05 pm 165. Northern Light:

I thought this was a stupid story to begin with and I really hope we don’t get more garbage like this.

First, there is only a limited amount of bandwidth in the universe. You are having an election. Talk about the debt, talk about Social Security, talk about the fact the economy is in BIG trouble, talk about the environment, or, if you see this as a horse race, talk about battleground states and voting groups. Enough on dancing Obamas, Palin’s wardrobe, and nuts who fake assault and blame a candidate.

I do just want to say I noticed that many conservative posters here called this for the hoax it was before it was confirmed. As a sign of my respect for those of you who didn’t join in on the Obama bashing I will omit was I was planning to say.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:07 pm 166. Lauren:

One crazy woman who makes up a story does not negate all the horrible truthful facts about Obama. I saw more “this seems to be fake” thoughts listed from those on the left and right than I did for standing behind it so quickly and I am clearly on the right on this election and visit those sites and boards frequently. Perhaps those on the left were louder about it being a hoax simply because of the “takes on to know one” syndrome. Whereas those that stand firmly for McCain as I do have strong values in FACTS and honor and want to be cautious no matter who is the accuser. I’m still concerned about the incident in NYC as that is where I reside and I were my McCain/Palin button proudly and sadly alone.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:09 pm 167. Arthur:

well, well, well…

she seemed ‘kooky’from the git go…now we see she was…
she is a rabid republican, she did this to smear obama, period

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:16 pm 168. malibu08:

How pathetic is this……another Susan Smith wannabe…….a White woman supposedly a crime victim, when no crime was actually committed, and then blaming a Black man for it!!

When I saw her pic, I knew she was lying; the worst makeup job I’ve ever seen……

Isn’t it a shame that the fact that a Black candidate could actually be so close to running the USA, that it has White folks loosin’ their damn minds?

This whole scenario could be funny if it weren’t so damn sad & pitiful!!

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:29 pm 169. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Okay….

Ashley Todd, who says she is a McCain campaign volunteer, told police she was mugged…. — Fox News

…the questions that come to my mind are as follows:

[1] What is her voter registration affiliation?
[2] What McCain campaign organization was she volunteering for?
[3] Is she a Democrat ’sleeper’?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....]

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:39 pm 170. Arthur:

I don’t know who’s crazier….the folks who believed this to be ‘true’ or the ones who are now saying she is a democratic plant?!…
if your mind really works this way, seek help…paranoia is no laughing matter…by the way, people aren’t laughiung at you, it’s all in your head ;)

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:42 pm 171. Red Blooded American:

My fellow American and other interested parties. Let us put this whole episode behind us. It shows the error of drawing broad conclusions based on isolated incidents, regardless of how the story had played out. Violence against women, and crime of all sorts, should be taken very seriously by all Americans, regardless of what side of the political divide you fall on. Those that try to propagandize isolated incidents to whip up political support are the ones you have to watch. And both parties have been guilty of this. Remember, we are all Americans and we have a right to expect that our elected officials serve the public good. Democrats have a right to this expectations under Republican administrations and Republicans have a right to expect this under Democratic ones. What we must not accept is propaganda and demagoguery. And before you smear my thoughts by saying, “Candidate X is guilty of this” or “Party Y is guilty of that” remember that it is each of our responsibilities to recognize propaganda and demagoguery for what it is, and to not be swayed by it. It’s asking a lot. What I hope is that everyone reading this votes according to his or her conscience and reasoned judgement, and not based on propaganda, stereotypes, fears or fear-mongering or any of the other diseases to thinking that infect so many minds. Vote your conscience. That is the freedom you have. And then work with the other side to achieve a better future, regardless of who wins the election. There will be other elections. But you may not have a chance to redeem your dignity once you have gone down the road of indignity.

Oct 24, 2008 - 2:54 pm 172. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: What’s the Matter, Artie?

I don’t know who’s crazier….the folks who believed this to be ‘true’ or the ones who are now saying she is a democratic plant?!… — Arthur

Never heard of an agent provocateur?

How naive can you be. After all, we had that one report about someone claiming they heard someone shout “Kill Him” at a Palin rally. So don’t go believing that Democrats don’t lie about things..

Or. Can you please show us her voter registration record data? Or maybe identify which McCain campaign activity she was volunteering for?

I kind of doubt it. Therefore claiming that people are crazy because they want more information is crazy talk.

Which, I guess is something of an indication that you’re ‘projecting’ about that ‘crazy’ business.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Hatred is the cowards response to being intimidated.]

Oct 24, 2008 - 3:03 pm 173. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: What If She IS a Republican

I’ll wager you dollars to donuts that if she IS registered as a Republican where she votes, the media will find out and broadcast it to the world. After all, voter registration is part of the public record, so it should be easy enough to find out for the press.

On the other hand, if she is NOT registered as a Republican or better yet, she’s registered as a Democrat, this story will be quickly swept under the rung by the so-called major media.

In the military, we look for these sorts of ‘indicators’.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[A healthy sense of paranoia keeps a soldier alive on the field of battle.]

Oct 24, 2008 - 3:07 pm 174. Rotwang:

152. jb — My standard rule is to be instantly suspicious of ANY news story that confirms what I already believe or WANT to believe. The more I WISH a story could be true, the harder I look for sources to disprove it. The biggest mistake we all make (especially in this election cycle) is to spaz out over every half-baked Internet rumor or anonymous “leak” that seems to validate whatever our particular bias happens to be.

The inverse applies to stories I hope will be “wrong.” That’s why I didn’t go to KOS or Josh Marshall in search of a comforting take on the beating/mutilation. I went to FreeRepublic first, which led me to Malkin, Ace of Spades, et al.

Meanwhile, over at PUMApac, they embraced the story immediately and generated 900 indignant, Obama-hating, gun-buying, bastard-misogynist-coward-thug-Democrat, touch-me-and-I’ll-kill-your-whole-family hysteria posts. And, today, Darragh Murphy and her Legion of Lost Typists look like a bunch of racist idiots. Same thing with J. B. Williams, the world’s most easily duped blogger-in-a-beard-and-ballcap.

My master rule in life: Never, EVER act like Darragh Murphy or J. B. Williams. You’ll never live it down. Calm down and get the facts.

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:02 pm 175. Rotwang:

Chuck Pelto: Check out her Twitter posts and FaceBook page like the rest of us did. College Republican volunteer, big Ron Paul fan.

Really. Do a little research. You’ll be less of an embarrassment to your friends.

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:04 pm 176. Pam:

I’ve always found it to be helpful to check an entire quote from some candidate or other so I you have the context. Without context absolutely nothing makes sense.

It is also a very bad practice to monsterize ordinary American politicians with whom you disagree. When you do this it trivializes the monsters and renders you unable to recognize a true monster (such as Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot) when you actually encounter one. People who go about calling George Bush “Hitler” are either hysterical, delusional, or appallingly ignorant of just what and who Hitler was. I have many and severe disagreements with Bush, but I do not think he is a monster. I disagree with McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden on many things, but I do not think any of them are monsters. I do, however, think Joe Biden should shut up until he brushes up on his history. He makes himself sound like an uneducated windbag, and I do not think that he is uneducated at all.

There is no shortage of random loons, from both parties, in this country. There is also no shortage of misogynists, racists, anti-Semites, and misandrists in both parties. The fact that the occasional random loon does something foolish and/or violent should hardly come as a surprise to anyone. The nuts are in plentiful supply. Why would anyone think they would turn into nice ladies and gentlemen in the midst of a political campaign.

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:26 pm 177. Arthur:

chuckie:
skipped your meds? lotta hate and paranoia going on in there…

she has worked for the republican for several years now, and is only 20…deep cover, quit school and worked for the mccain campaign/college repubs so she could infiltrate and sabatoge…errr, right…

she’s as crazy as a shyte-house rat, and apparently not alone…
she needs help…it’s the ‘party’ and the indoctrination that warped her…

she originally supported ron paul btw…

I was in the military too, 1st/75th and 82nd…but I was never trained to look for race baiting, anti-American chubby chicks with mental issues…guess my grade (O-3) wasn’t cleared for such information …

Oct 24, 2008 - 4:40 pm 178. Dark Helmett:

And yet once more, the Dark Helmet nails it.

You may all kiss the helmet now.

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:35 pm 179. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Arthur’s Projection & Intimidation

skipped your meds? — Arthur

See what I mean, folks?

He has no facts. All he has is the third option of the Lawyer’s Rule….call the other side name.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Lawyers Rule:

[1] If the Law is against you, argue the facts.
[2] If the facts are against you, argue the Law.
[3] If the Law and the facts are against you, call the other side names.

The Official Rules: A Compendium of Truths and Laws for Living]

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:37 pm 180. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: Bro???!?!

I was in the military too, 1st/75th and 82nd…guess my grade (O-3) wasn’t cleared for such information … — Arthur

Really? Interesting.

Which batt in the 82d Airborne Division….if that’s what you meant. And when?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[God is alive....and airborne-ranger qualified. And so am I.]

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:39 pm 181. Sonequa:

ha ha it was hoax. now what do you mccain supporters have to say.

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:39 pm 182. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Rotwang
RE: Her FaceBook

Check out her Twitter posts and FaceBook page like the rest of us did — Rotwang

Got a URL you’d care to share? I’d appreciate it.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way. -- Franklin P. Adams]

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:41 pm 183. Dark Helmett:

Oh, I forgot to add to that , obammy mammy is a traitor and any who supports him is a complete IDIOT

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:42 pm 184. Chuck Pelto:

P.S. I’d like to remind you that a FaceBook page is not as acceptable as the county clerk/recorder where she is registered to vote has her party affiliation.

After all, if she’s lying to the police, why wouldn’t she lie to everyone else? Or do you trust her to tell YOU the truth?

If so…why?

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:43 pm 185. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: A Mind of Rot…

You’ll be less of an embarrassment to your friends. — Rotwang

…wang.

I think it’s an interesting indicator of a rotten mind that they think asking questions is an embarrassment to anyone. I guess they doesn’t ask questions at all, based on that remark.

Probably one of the most foolish approaches to life I’ve seen in quite some time. And we see a LOT of foolishness around here; nick, Javelin, etc., etc., etc.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions. - Charles Steinmetz]

Oct 24, 2008 - 5:51 pm 186. Arthur:

chuck boy:
“How naive can you be.”
“Which, I guess is something of an indication that you’re ‘projecting’ about that ‘crazy’ business.”
if you are going to sling crap, don’t cry foul…

she’s a loon, a repub loon, who race baited…period…accept it, embrace it, revel in it…

1 people are raving about dem tactics, and this was ‘bound to happen…
2 it’s discovered she’s a fraud of the worse kind
3 ’she’s a plant’

come on! that IS crazy talk…
obama has been the only one fighting th good fight, look at public opinion polls on who’s the negative one…

to the rational: do your Country a favor, vote obama

another conservative (big time) defects…

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/10/24/reagan-appointee-and-recent-mccain-adviser-charles-fried-supports-obama.aspx

Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.

This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision “is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis.”

Fried is exceptionally thoughtful and principled; his vote for Obama is especially noteworthy.

2/505th, late 70’s early 80’s

Oct 24, 2008 - 6:35 pm 187. Tom:

I’m a medical worker and I thought immediately that her wounds looked suspicious because:
Her “black eye”, the coloring was too even and there was no swelling of the tissue, for a blow powerful enough to blacken both sides. Bruises are usually have more shades of purple, green, yellow, etc.
The “B” was just a red mark; a knife would have cut very deeply and left her permanently mutilated.
That being said, I have personally seen a car with a bumper sticker about Islam where someone had scratched a large and angry “BUSH” into the paint.
The Liberals, or Neo Marxists, are clearly more at fault in the “Hate Wars”. Republicans know that such behavior is wrong where as Neo Marxists don’t believe in any ultimate moral absolutes and thus feel the ends justify the means. It’s the liberals who use whipping up hatred and diviseness as a primary tactic. It’s liberals who have whipped up racial, class, and political divisions.
We are headed for civil war and mass violence if we don’t stop and turn back to God and higher values of some sort.

Oct 24, 2008 - 6:53 pm 188. Rotwang:

Chuck Pelto:

Looks like the Twitter posts have been scrubbed, and I don’t feel like sifting through FreeRepublic to find the FaceBook link. Oh, well — that’s the downside of waiting for Obama supporters to do your research for you.

As for her voter registration, who cares? I’m a registered Republican, and God knows how many Pubbies registered as Democrats at the behest of Maha Rushie during “Operation Chaos.”

And as for “asking questions,” I’m all for it. I just have a problem with lazy asses who won’t trouble themselves to find the answers, but are perfectly comfortable using military service as an excuse for ignorance.

Oct 24, 2008 - 7:10 pm 189. Javelin:

It’s a hoax, she admits it, but still Chesler irresponsibly stokes the fires of rage!

Oct 24, 2008 - 7:52 pm 190. Another View:

glc:

Two things I forgot.

If this woman was truly attacked, my heart goes out to her.

Second thought. If this woman is an Obama supporter faking this entire scenario—so that to the world, she presents herself as a McCain supporter attacked by an Obama supporter, and then she is revealed to be a liar. Obama can use this to attack the Republicans and McCain for succumbing to desperate acts just to win. If this woman is a real McCain volunteer who has taken it upon herself to lie, cut her own face, and is eventually ridiculed for attempting to present this fiction, then she again hurts McCain and the Republicans’ chances.

This is just disturbing any way you cut it.

I’m thinking this is either real (but I can’t get over the backward B and the shallow neat cuts) or she’s an Obama supporter attempting to make the Republicans look bad.
Oct 23, 2008 – 3:47 pm

I expected you idiots to blame the Dems and believe that girl but to say she is a Obama plant shows how if Obama gave you everything you can imagine you would still spit in his face. The issues don’t matter to you people. ” He. He is a Arab” Bite me.

Chuck I have torn you a new a$$hole already. So I’ll keep it simple… You don’t think the 2000 election was stolen but the “pig” is a plant?

Oct 24, 2008 - 9:19 pm 191. Another View:

Next she will be on “Hannitys America” and “Huckabee”. Claiming she is being attacked by the media.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:04 pm 192. Another View:

Thank you Pittsburgh police. Job well done.

Oct 24, 2008 - 10:05 pm 193. vivo:

169. Chuck Pelto:

You probably agreed with OJ’s jury in LA . . .

Re “188. Rotwang: Chuck Pelto:

And as for “asking questions,” I’m all for it. I just have a problem with lazy asses who won’t trouble themselves to find the answers, but are perfectly comfortable using military service as an excuse for ignorance.”

Amen.

Your militaristic mind will defend the Reps no matter how wrong they are. That’s what soldiers are trained to do. Well, this is NOT a military thing. Get over it and open your mind.

Oct 25, 2008 - 3:45 am 194. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: 2/505, Eh?

2/505th, late 70’s early 80’s — Arthur

I was 1/508.

What happened to Colonel Stang?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Red Devil!]

Oct 25, 2008 - 7:19 am 195. Arthur:

please stop ridiculing the military mindset…
it can be as objective as any other…
prior service does not make you better than others, nor does it make you less…
not all solidiers are ‘gung ho’, some are reluctant and serve their country out of a sense of duty or to better their personal life, most times both…

she is no ‘plant’…she is a disturbed young girl who subcumbed to the ‘message’…desperate men resort to desperate measures, and mccain is desperate…he is NOT the man he was 2 years ago…and I blame bush for the change…he brutalized mccain in 2000, demeaned him, and he’s been changed ever since…the fact that he embraced the ‘rovian’ machine this election boggles…you reap what you sow…

I only hope we can get together after the smoke clears…if not, we all lose…we need to start the healing NOW, and embrace either outcome.

to those predicting civil war, riots, etc., no way…Americans are better than that…there will be exceptions, but not the rule…
having sworn an oath to defed against enemies ‘domestic & foreign’ I will do so…

Oct 25, 2008 - 7:20 am 196. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: [OT] Near Recognition Signals

2/505th, late 70’s early 80’s — Arthur

I was 1-508 August 1976 thru December 1979.

So…..

….answer me this….

Who was Colonel Stang, what duty positions did he hold in the 82d during the time you were there and what happened to him in his last position?

Nothing personal, but I’ve encountered a LOT of people who claim to be former military on the web. Just want to make sure of your veracity.

RE: My Questions

I find it interesting that people who claim to stand up for liberty take simple words and twist them around.

For instance, I asked the following about this person:

[1] What is her voter registration affiliation?
[2] What McCain campaign organization was she volunteering for?
[3] Is she a Democrat ’sleeper’?
— Chuck Pelto @ item 169 (above)

And YOU, along with several others twist those simple questions from LITERAL questions into what YOU and they perceive as statements of FACT.

Here’s how you rephrased my questions:

1 people are raving about dem tactics, and this was ‘bound to happen…
2 it’s discovered she’s a fraud of the worse kind
3 ’she’s a plant’
— Arthur @ item #186 (above)

The key points being you:

• replied in the same format as my questions
• used three points
• didn’t answer ANY of my simple questions
• stated, in single-quotes “she’s a plant”

Did you get through the CGSC? Even CAS3? What do you recall of IPB and how to interpret other people’s actions? As the Army staff puke axiom goes….

Things are never as bad nor as good as first reported. — learned as the principle staff officer for logistics in 2d Brigade, 4ID(M), in the mid-1980s

Based on that learning, I tend not to rush to [mis]judgement. I prefer to ask simple questions to gather additional information.

The point being, here, that the Democrats around here seem to go ballistic when people ask simple questions. I mean look at Javelin and vivo and Another View. Each of them are literally slobbering on their monitors. Over SIMPLE QUESTIONS. And I take that as an interesting indicator; an IPB thinkie.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Please don’t mis-interpret this to mean I condone people lying about other people. Even the ‘imaginary’ form. The concept is anathema to my christian ethic. Something to do about a ban on ‘bearing false witness’ against thy neighbor.

[Neighbor, n., One christians are required to love, but do their best to make us disobedient.]

Oct 25, 2008 - 8:47 am 197. Chuck Pelto:

P.P.S. Looking over the vitriol and stupidity being spewed forth at me by some of the Democrats here because I ask some simple questions, I’m reminded of an old Air Force axiom….

You know you’re getting close to the target, because they start throwing more flak at you.

Oct 25, 2008 - 10:27 am 198. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: Never Mind….

please stop ridiculing the military mindset… — Arthur

….vivo and his ilk. Their pejorative mentality is nigh impossible to overcome. Indeed. Now that they know your background, they’ll likely damn YOU as a mindless knuckle-dragging baby-killer, should you ever dare to disagree with them.

By the way, they’re only ‘projecting’ their own malfunctions.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Know your enemy and know yourself and you shall never be defeated. -- Sun Tzu]

Oct 25, 2008 - 11:22 am 199. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthure
RE: Desperate Measures

she is no ‘plant’…she is a disturbed young girl who subcumbed to the ‘message’ — Arthure

She could well be. But any good staff puke will tell you that it’s always a good idea to ‘ask the next question’, until you’ve eliminated reasonable doubt.

What staff positions did you hold?

I was a battalion motor officer in a mech-infantry battalion. The battalion loggie-doggie during a REFORGER deployment. The brigade loggie-doggie during an NTC rotation. The Division Program Budget Officer for P2-Mission Funds and Division Deep-Targeting Officer in the tactical environment.

…desperate men resort to desperate measures, and mccain is desperate… — Arthur

Seriously, compadre…..

….how ‘desperate’ can a politician be? Especially if he faced torture and death at the hands of sadistic enemies in a face-to-face/life-and-death situation?

If McCain could stand up to the hell the North Vietnamese put him through. What leads you to believe he can’t bear the possibility of political defeat?

If there’s any desperation, it’s on account of this country and what may well happen to it if Obama achieves his objective.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[You haven't LIVED until you've almost DIED.]

P.S. Been there on several occasions. It’s ‘interesting’. And that’s why I tend to think so ‘little’ of the likes of vivo and his ilk.

P.P.S. You mentioned your desire to honor the oath of office we both took in our younger years.

How far are you willing to go with that if the worst-case scenario of an Obama presidency come to pass? What will YOU do if you get the door of your house kicked in in the middle of the night because you disagreed with The One?

Oct 25, 2008 - 11:37 am 200. Arthur:

chuck, you’ve used a lot of fancy verbage, but have said nothing…
much like palin, although she’s not quite as eloquent…

he was the commander for the 3rd Brigade…eventually 82nd chief of staff…we share the first name also…

btw: some of the worse leaders I have encountered have been military trained…they barely function in the competetive world of business…
they need structure and routine, not usually good at ‘thinking outside the box, or innovation…

but my ‘veracity’ is not in question…the soundness of your position is…the nutcase is not a ‘plant’, and only the most blindly loyal, stubborn ’sheeple’ would take that approach…

honestly, I doubt you ever served, you seem of limited intellect and inable to comprehend the information presented to you…

your questions were answered by myself and others:
1 republican, look it up, it’s ll over
2 college republicans/mccain national committee, every news article
3 no…she’s been a life long, ardent repub, in fact she’s made similar lies before…she said her car was damaged re: ron paul sticker

she quit school to work for mccain

you need to evaluate your view of reality…seriously, it’s too paranoid…

this is a simple situation:
she’s a repub operative
she went bonkers and made up a crazy story, structured most likely by her blind loyalty, hate for blacks and need to satiate her fragile ego…

was mccain involved? hell no
did some of the campaign sieze on it, appears so…
but not the the real managers, just low level grunts…
the higher ups were smart enough to keep quiet because they smelled BS

Oct 25, 2008 - 11:39 am 201. Arthur:

chuck:

you have good military and bad…just like a cross-section of society…
I suspect some opinions of you have been formed not becasue of your prior service but your positions…narrow mined and strident…
me, I don’t care…I see my mug in the mirror, not yours…
I’m sure you’re looking out for youself, and vice versa…

these forums bring out the worse in people, I’m no exception, you shouldn’t expect to be one…I’m sorry for some of the vitrole and sarcasm I’ve proffered…

if you served, good for you, and thanks, becuase it’s a thankless job…
repubs and dems alike only invoke the military when to their advantage…neither really give a shyte…

the military taught me very little useful in the ‘real world’…
but the one thing I do miss is the internal loyalty practiced there…
I don’t expect it in my civie life, but a bit of it would be nice from my co-workers…several I hired are ex-mil, a disabled engineer, 18th corps and a retired CWO3 (transportation)…I can’t say they are model employees though, but far from the bottom…

Oct 25, 2008 - 11:49 am 202. Arthur:

I’ll add one more rambling…before I chuck this bookmark into the electronic ether..

guilt: I feel a tad…why?
because things are going so good for me, and seemily to hell in handbag for many others…so paying a bit more in taxes seems reasonable…

I was recently made president of a 105 year old engineering firm, the 4th in it’s history…and my team has increase profits substantially in the last 6 months, a company record…unlike ‘joe the plumber’ I make less than 200k/yr, so may not see any increase…

we bought a new house, the time was right for us…devalued properties and low interest (5.125% for 15 yrs fixed!), me I lived in an 8×10 cabin in AK for 2 years, doesn’t matter to me, it’s for my wife, she deserves it (putting up with me and living with MS for 12 years now, a single level was a good choice)

I feel good about the countries prospects, despite the fact that my 2001 BMW M3 grenaded yesterday…threw a rod clean through the block!!! and I pampered that car, 145k miles…but I’m not as upset as I should be…I was planning on a new car next spring anyways, just moved it up (made a bid on a yellow Audi RS4, I know yellow, but for it’s price range it’s a deal, only 8k miles, the others ~ the same $, 35 to 45k miles)
my wife says I’m in shock…lol

to all of you, sorry if I offended, but let’s try and work together after the election to get us back on the right track…
to those that think they have me ‘figured out’, well how about sharing… ;)

Oct 25, 2008 - 12:02 pm 203. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: Near Recognition

he was the commander for the 3rd Brigade…eventually 82nd chief of staff…we share the first name also… — Arthur

Close enough. He also died in his chair in Division HQ after his daily lunchtime racketball game. Some heart disorder. Probably like mine. But I discovered mine before the scheduled ‘check-out’ time.

RE: [OT] The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

you have good military and bad…just like a cross-section of society… — Arthur

Been there. Seen it. And all I got to show for it is some old fatigues and a couple of pairs of beat-up boots.

RE: Positions

My position is the same as I swore to in 1975, when I set aside my sergeant stripes and took on my lieutenant bars.

But s—. Here you come saying I’m off my ‘meds’ just because I look for additional information before jumping to a conclusion.

I trust the major media as far as I can throw a 120mm mortar round. Actually less than that. So….what’s wrong with asking questions?

RE: Lessons Learned

the military taught me very little useful in the ‘real world’… — Arthur

Sorry to hear that. And maybe it DOES have to do with grade. I didn’t learn about IPB until I went to CAS3, after a ’successful’ company command, i.e., not being ‘relieved for cause’.

I’ve found that one can apply a LOT of IPB to just about ANY aspect of Life. Especially when people are not telling you everything you need to know in order to make good decisions. And that relates to a latter-military-career encounter with an old colonel who taught me how to execise ‘power’…..

As an old colonel once told this, then young, captain….

There are two ways to exercise power.

The first is to make decisions for people who would be better off making them for themselves. The second is to withhold information from people that would allow them to make better decisions for themselves. — CBPelto

I’ve seen it played oh-so-well over the last 25 years. And of late the so-called major media is the best player of them all.

Hence, my continual questioning of information.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Red Devil!]

P.S. What the HECK did the “H-minus”, mean?

P.P.S. Were you at that Dining-In where I stood up and accused the 505s of violating the rules of the mess?

Oct 25, 2008 - 12:12 pm 204. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: [OT] Doubts

honestly, I doubt you ever served, you seem of limited intellect and inable to comprehend the information presented to you… — Arthur

Let’s see…..

[1] Military Service….

• Where were you in November 1979? I was with 1-508 as a rifle company XO at a JCSX in Eglin AFB against 7ID(M).
• Where’s the key to Area J?
• Where’s Iron Mike?
• Where is Brave Bruce?
• What can occasionally be found glued into Brave Bruce’s hand?
• Where’s Gobbler Woods?
• What does Gobbler Woods have to do with what is glued into Brave Bruce’s hand?

Getting a ‘clue’ here?

[2] Intellect….

Click on my name, Artie. Then show me YOUR membership ID number.

Hope that helps….

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Oct 25, 2008 - 12:33 pm 205. Chuck Pelto:

P.S. ERRATA…

Click on my name NOW!

We had a power failure last night that blew my “remember personal info” info.

I’ve corrected that now.

Sorry about that…..

Oct 25, 2008 - 12:35 pm 206. Arthur:

Chuck:
PS1: H-hour = initiate attack, h-minus, inserted before the attack, ie, fist in…

PS2: missed that one, went over well I’m sure…

I’m sick of the division in OUR Country…as we tread water, others take advantage of our stagnation…our educational system falters, and it is our only hope…

honestly, we need a ‘movement’, much like our mindset all but eleinated discrimination, but on a ‘political’ or ideological basis…dems & repubs need to heal the rift…it’s like 2 guys pulling on a rope in opposite directions…no net work performed, energy wasted and lots of tension…each at the mercy of the other, all one has to do is let go, and the other falls…

call me sentimental, a liberal or a pu$$y, I don’t care…but I do sense a spirit of hope, which imho hasn’t been present since the late 40’s or the early 60’s…or dare I say, the 90’s…

these are opinions, they can’t be proven ‘wrong’, because I do not assert they are ‘right’, only that they are mine…

Oct 25, 2008 - 1:02 pm 207. Arthur:

Chuck
we can play games all day…
where on a mil post have you seen a quote by Ben Franklin?

mensa is for people who aren’t sure they are smart, or trying to show others they are…psuedo intellectuals…I know several members, none impressed me, they worked for ME…

I’m a bit > average, I/Q ~140, MSEE from a school known for engineering, etc., SAT’s ~1350, college gpa ~3.4 overall, 3.8 major…

brains ain’t shyte without heart…
theory is one thing, application is EVERYTHING ;)

Oct 25, 2008 - 5:12 pm 208. lgkick:

Well well well! There is the 24 hour rule that you guys completely ignored: don’t get too excited about a news that sounds too good to be true until 24 hours passes. And now look at you guys, you sound silly with all the comments you made against Obama. Do you consider apologizing for your quick judgment. Is this the kind of judgment you have used to oppose Obama all along? Time to reflect!

Oct 25, 2008 - 7:05 pm 209. James:

I couldn’t agree with comment 208 more. And the way that you’ve turned the original story into an anti-women rant is just another sad, desperate attempt to justify how badly you guys are losing…everything. Now go and buy your womenfolk a $150,000 dollar wardrobe and get on with cooking up nasty stories – after all, that’s all Republicans are good at, these days.

Oct 26, 2008 - 12:32 am 210. anon:

Oct 26, 2008 - 12:32 am 211. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Arthur
RE: [OT] The Post-Scripts

PS1: H-hour = initiate attack, h-minus, inserted before the attack, ie, fist in… — Arthur

Okay. Sounds ‘logical’, albeit, obtuse. Especially to the regular rifleman.

PS2: missed that one, went over well I’m sure… — Arthur

It was a hoot. The 505s started ‘shooting’ at each other, as if they couldn’t recognized who threw the first grenade. They turned on each other, 1st and 2d battalions, like rabid dogs.

My battalion CO was glaring daggers at me and told my company commander to put a muzzle on me, as well as a tight leash. However, for the rest of the evening, all my battalion did was eat our dinner enjoy the ‘show’. Hardly anyone from 1-508 had to make a trip to the ‘punch bowl’.

Sibling rivalries are always the most ‘entertaining’. Don’t you think?

RE: Division & Such

I’m sick of the division in OUR Country… — Arthur

You’re always going to have ‘division’ in any TRUE democracy. Get used to it. It ain’t the military. Nor a dictatorship….yet.

It may become the latter in due time. Give The One a chance. [Note: If you doubt my honest observation, look at what The One has done with those people who asked Biden REAL questions.]

as we tread water, others take advantage of our stagnation… — Arthur

We’re not ‘treading water’ yet. We’re on the offensive. And, if you’re any reasonable sort of student of military and world history, which as an officer in the 82d Airborne, you should have been, you’ll know that the best defense is a good offense. Think…the ‘Surge’.

our educational system falters, and it is our only hope… — Arthur

True. The vaunted American public education system is a mess. And who is to blame?

I’m a judge of high school forensic meets, i.e., debate tournaments in my state. I’ve been doing it for YEARS. I started as a competitor for my high school in 1967.

Indeed, next Saturday is the first tournament of the season. My judging goes all the way to state championships and qualification rounds for national-level competition.

I’ve not been impressed with a LOT of what I’ve witnessed. Not just in the rounds with student v. student, where the students have little grasp of the real world and, for the most part, spout politically-correct sound bytes as if they were gospel, but also in the coaches and judges lounge between rounds. The talk I hear from the coaches/teachers is most appalling.

Reality seems to have little to do with logic, as taught in the vaunted American public education system, today.

RE: Movement

honestly, we need a ‘movement’, much like our mindset all but eleinated discrimination, but on a ‘political’ or ideological basis… — Arthur

You want a movement? What form of mis-rule are you intending to implement? Most movements I’ve read about in history and witnessed in my 57 year sojourn in this venue don’t play very well. They’re just excuses to kill, literally, any opposition.

dems & repubs need to heal the rift…it’s like 2 guys pulling on a rope in opposite directions…no net work performed, energy wasted and lots of tension…each at the mercy of the other, all one has to do is let go, and the other falls… — Arthur

call me sentimental, a liberal or a pu$$y, I don’t care…but I do sense a spirit of hope, which imho hasn’t been present since the late 40’s or the early 60’s…or dare I say, the 90’s… — Arthur

Lots of people can be mislead by a charismatic figure. I’m remembering such people as Pol Pot, Mao, Che, Hitler. They provided people who couldn’t think straight for themselves with a ‘spirit of hope’. Too bad millions of people died as a result of that ‘spirit of hope’, eh?

these are opinions, they can’t be proven ‘wrong’, because I do not assert they are ‘right’, only that they are mine… — Arthur

Right or wrong, you’ll have to account for your actions, based on your opinions….when the time comes. And believe me, it WILL come.

And I’ll have to account for mine as well….when I stand before the ultimate Judge.

RE: The Playing of ‘Games’

we can play games all day…
where on a mil post have you seen a quote by Ben Franklin?
— Arthur

First off, I don’t consider communications and serious discussion as a form of ‘game’.

Secondly, I found my quotations of Franklin and Paine and Washington and Lincoln and Sherman and such in the books I read.

Inspired by the occasional general officer who came to speak to the assembled classes at the Infantry School (building 4), I got the books they recommended. [Note: I’ll pass on to you the one most of them recommended to my class, This Kind of War: A Study In Unpreparedness by T. R. Fehrenbach.]

Professionals study their craft and its history. And I’m a voracious reader. I devour books. And the good ones, I’ve read several times. Each time, I learn even more.

RE: Mensa v. Intellectually ‘Challenged’

mensa is for people who aren’t sure they are smart, or trying to show others they are…psuedo intellectuals…I know several members, none impressed me, they worked for ME… — Arthur

Wrong. Mensa is for people who other people don’t accept because of they do not conform to their particular ‘group think’ mentality. Most of the M’s I know, think Denver Chapter, are pretty much low-key people who think for themselves. Shunned by their contemporaries in high school years, because they didn’t ‘run with the crowd’, they are pretty much free-thinkers of the true form. I know a junk-yard [owner-operator] dog there. He is the coordinator for the Best Bars and Derelicts SIG. Their claim to fame is having been thrown out of all the better bars in Denver. I think I helped in one incident where I caught someone stealing tips off of the tables we were departing. I had them head-down in a pool of beer on a table in an arm-lock. The owner of the establishment, while he appreciated our interest in paying his staff, asked us not to return. [Note: Group think that ‘violence’ is ‘bad’, even when it’s done for the good of good people.] I guess he’d rather be stolen blind than do the right thing.

Along with people put the F18 up in the air. The guy who introduced me to single malt scotch was a professor of geology at Colorado School of Mimes and is now interned in Arlington for some things he did during Nam. His wife was the governor’s advisor on how we were doing away with the plutonium from Rocky Flats, as it was being deactivated. Then there’s a chief of pathology at a major Denver hospital and I used to sit in the back of the general meeting and trade quips about the guest speaker, like those guys in the balcony seats, Simon and Schuster, in the Muppets. One night we ripped a professor of Constitutional Law from Denver University a new orifice for her failure to consider the SCOTUS Dredd Scott decision in a discussion of human rights.

We did the same to the rep from the Hemlock Society.

I’m a bit > average, I/Q ~140, MSEE from a school known for engineering, etc., SAT’s ~1350, college gpa ~3.4 overall, 3.8 major… — Arthur

You could well qualify. Maybe we’ll meet at the next Annual Gathering.

As for those who were ‘unimpressive’….could it be a case of ‘envy’?

You seem to have issues with certain thinks. Your military experience and apparent distain for those who’ve served with you and now this business about ‘Mensa’.

brains ain’t shyte without heart…theory is one thing, application is EVERYTHING ;) — Arthur

I agree. It takes a holistic approach to live and function in Life.

RE: The Mensa Thing

As I recall, you challenged my veracity on a couple of points.

[1] You doubted my service. I provided you ample proof of my veracity in my comments to you.

[2] You denigrated my intelligence. I showed you that you were mistaken there as well.

Are you EVER going to ‘learn’?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[A closed mind gathers no intelligence.]

Oct 26, 2008 - 10:43 am 212. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Postings

My last post here was, according to this site, 1043 hrs.

It is NOW 1542 hrs. And that post is still listed as ‘pending’.

How very ‘odd’.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Oct 26, 2008 - 2:42 pm 213. Jesus St. Jesus:

News report:

Lemming conservative whacko bloggers lurch into another pile of feces in their frenzied limbaugh/savage/falwell Myna bird zeal.

No news here, and no swift boat on the horizon….

9 more days until daylight dawns again in America…

Oct 26, 2008 - 3:47 pm 214. Arthur:

pelto:
comparing obama to pol pot or hitler? that is exactly the kind of BS I’m talking about…accomplishes nothing, but divides us more…
perhaps bush would be a better standard for hitler or stalin…

division vs debate…one is a stalemate, one promotes advance…
1/2 the country hates the other 1/2, not good..
‘movement’ away from this…good
the ’surge’, I guess when you pay both sides off, you’ll have ‘peace’…until you stop paying…then one side will exterminate the other…now THAT will be a day of reckoning…

as far as ‘my time’ coming, I’m not sure what that means…are you one of those ‘gawds gonna get you guys’? If you mean I’ll have a rush of ‘regrets’ as I slip into the void…I’ll keep my shoes, you keep yours…lol

re: mensa, it wasn’t envy, it was their lack of performance…they could not perform meaningful work, they felt being ’smart’ was enough…

it’s the intellectual equivilent of hair plugs or a gold plated chain…
if you are secure in your intellect, you don’t need the validation of a ‘club’…to each their own…

I’ve ‘learned’ one thing…why the folks around here consider you an ‘ass’ ;) it probably has to do with your tendency to play jr. shrink, which is very telling unto itself…
‘kook, heal thyself’…I wouldn’t worry to much about others, you have plenty to focus on…or perhaps that’s the problem, introspection is too painful…see a ‘real doc’, they have pills for that I hear

Oct 26, 2008 - 4:16 pm 215. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Artie
RE: Too Bad….

comparing obama to pol pot or hitler? that is exactly the kind of BS I’m talking about…accomplishes nothing, but divides us more… — Arthur

…but everyone is eligible for compare and contrast evaluation.

It’s all part of ‘debate’. And I just saw a commercial from The One saying something similar about McCain….i.e., that US can’t afford McCain. Albeit, he didn’t offer anywhere near as much information about ‘compare and contrast’.

In the long run US all lose with shoddy logic. And you, and The One, offer US only shoddy logic.

Sorry if you can’t quite grasp that. REALLY sorry.

As for consideration that I’m an ‘ass’, you’re welcome to your opinion. And I regret having to drag this out, but…

….any officer who is sent to XVIII Airborne Corps from the 82d Airborne Division had to REALLY tromp on their wank in order to be sent to THAT limbo. I know because I saw one officer from 1-508 sent to that dead-end after he was picked up for a DUI.

It took us two days to find him after he became one of the ‘disappeared’.

So you wound up in XVIII Airborne Corps?

What on EARTH did you screw up to end up there?

And you expect ME to believe that YOU have a solid grip on reality? Without ‘prejudice’?

More tomorrow….

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....]

P.S. As I said earlier, I suspected you had ‘issues’. Now you drag them out into the open for public review.

And, if YOU support The One, I can only point to you as an example of why that is the most stupid think in the world for US to do.

Oct 26, 2008 - 5:09 pm 216. Arthur:

chuck:
reading comprehension is not your forte..
I never said I was in the 18th, I said an employee of mine was…
nice way to degrade your comrades though…
the guy in question was disabled in a jump…he’s my construction manager…

I don’t expect you to believe anything that opposes the world inside your head, ie, don’t let reality intrude into your fine mania/delusion…

you seem angry and lonely…hell bent on impressing a bunch of internet phantoms…sad, yet pathetic…

so everyone who supports ‘the one’, as you put it, is a ‘loser’?
that does not seem like the position of a ‘winner’…so be it…

now, I’ll return to watching ‘red belt’ (pretty good so far) with the lovely Jamie, who is cleaning out stuff from the recent move…she just showed me a program/ticket stub from a jazz concert we went to on 11/14/92…headlined G washington jr., F hubbard, art farmer, and others..amazing show, we’re going to the last of the series next sat., hate to see it end after 30 years or so…all things must pass…

enjoy the little corner of hell you’ve constructed for yourself…
I’m sure it will only heat up after 11/4/08…the day ‘the one’ ascends to his rightful position…wacko

Oct 26, 2008 - 5:43 pm 217. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Artie
RE: XVIII Experience

reading comprehension is not your forte..
I never said I was in the 18th, I said an employee of mine was…
nice way to degrade your comrades though…
— Artie

Could well be. It’s been a hell of a week here.

[Note: A long story involving a battle to the—possible forthcoming— death of my Mother-In-Law; very aggressive squamous carcinoma of the neck and mouth.

We thought we had the upper hand in the fight, but the last few days have seen a turn for the worse.

Imagine a 155mm round impacting in the company CP. And YES, one can get a bit 'angry' about losing a fight for someone's life. Sorry for venting against you.]

I sincerely apologize for my reading failures.

[Note: Additionally, I doubt if The One can raise the dead. Nor can he even fix the medical care industry problem. It's considerably more complex than most politicians are willing to admit to. And it has SERIOUS problems in the realm of the hospitals and doctors themselves. Not to forget the priesthood of the AMA having a monopoly on who gets to practice medicine. It's akin to the Spanish Inquisition. But that's a discussion for another thread.]

RE: The One

so everyone who supports ‘the one’, as you put it, is a ‘loser’? — Artie

Maybe. Rather, I see it as history repeating itself. Something to do with the Roman Republic and how it became the Roman Empire. Sorry about that, but I’m currently reading Livy’s account of early Roman history, and I see a lot of parallels between what happened then and what’s happening now.

RE: Living in Hell

enjoy the little corner of hell you’ve constructed for yourself…I’m sure it will only heat up after 11/4/08…the day ‘the one’ ascends to his rightful position…wacko — Artie

You know….

….you almost had me ‘fooled’ with your righteous talk about hating the ‘divisions’ in this country. But here you go, proving that you’re not the solution. Rather, you’re the proverbial problem.

So now I’m dehumanized as “wacko”. How the hell do YOU expect to ‘bridge’ the divide using THAT sort of talk? Eh?

’nuff said.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Win, lose or draw, every people gets the governance it deserves.]

Oct 28, 2008 - 4:15 am 218. Ratatosk:

There is a difference between skepticism and pseudo-skepticism.

Chuck, you should go investigate that difference.

Oct 28, 2008 - 1:24 pm 219. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Ratatosk
RE: [OT] Yeah?

There is a difference between skepticism and pseudo-skepticism.

Chuck, you should go investigate that difference. — Ratatosk

In what context?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The natural cause of the human mind is certainly from credulity to skepticism. -- Thomas Jefferson]

P.S. Actually, in many ways, I think I’m beyond both.

Oct 28, 2008 - 9:27 pm 220. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Ratatosk
RE: [OT] Psuedoskepticism

“a variety of pseudoscience: the behavior of highly biased ’sneering scoffers’ who try to legitimize their prejudice by donning the mantle of science and proper skepticism. They claim to support reason/logic while in fact filling their arguments with plenty of ad-hominems, straw-man, poisoning-the-well, and numerous other emotion-enflaming fallacies and debating tactics.” — Steven B. Krivit, The Rebirth of Cold Fusion: Real Science, Real Hope, Real Energy, ISBN-13: 978-0976054580, Pacific Oaks Press (October 1, 2004) p.143

An interesting concept. It correlates well with another batch of ‘Flat-Earthers’ I’ve been contending with of late. Their position being that the AMA is ‘all’ and no logic or proofs, even those they can prove themselves in the safety-of-their-own-home, will sway them.

Thanks!

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Science is 'Truth'. Do not be mislead by facts.]

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:18 am 221. Chuck Pelto:

P.S. I’m well aware of numerous ‘debate tactics’, as I’ve judged high school debate for years. Cross-X is SO much ‘fun’ these days. Much more fun then when I was a contender, as the ‘tactics’ have devoloved into hystrionics and legalese as opposed to logic and facts.

One could almost do a ‘reality’ television series based on it, if it weren’t for that ever-present business of trotting out ‘Global Thermonuclear War’ if we—the US—don’t support efforts providing push-up bras to women who refuse breast augmentation in Pango-Pango.

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:26 am 222. AlanNYC:

A friend of a friend of a friend just told me that some Obama supporters kidnapped a group of 9-year old school children in Brooklyn, disguised them as adults, and forced them to register as Democrats. They said that if they didn’t register to vote then they would take the kids’ milk money. Obama must be stopped!

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:34 pm 223. Chesler Chronicles » Fonda Is Weeping, Jong Is In Spasm–All Because Of Pre-Election Madness.:

[...] are free of all weird and tragic behaviors. Au contraire. A week ago today, I wrote about the young woman (a McCain supporter) who’d claimed she’d been attacked and mutilated by an angry, [...]

Oct 31, 2008 - 12:11 pm

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