Do you think we might hear something on Palin's parsing of the word "terrorist" as it is applied to anti-abortion domestic terrorists today? Or will you be favoring us with drivel like this article all day?

Maybe we'll get lucky and Alex will actually be up to pretending to be journalist today.

He didn't have a gray van.

And why would you make up that it was a 6'4" black man? There are 8 black people in Pittsburgh, and I'm not sure any of them are over 6'1". Maybe she used Willie Horton's measurements.

There was also a BS story about a guy in FL being shot at for McCain signs, which I heard right before this fake-ass incident. Came out about the same time. In another swing state. Hmmm.

Interesting, huh?

Lets get this straight from the get go. Unprovoked violence is violence no matter who its against. Male, Female, animal, whatever. No excuses. Its unacceptable and those responsible deserve to be apprehended and dealt with appropriately.

Unfortunately, my gut feeling is that theres something very wrong with this story. Why would you refuse medical attention? Any woman I know who had gone thru something violent and traumatic would indeed NOT refuse medical attention but instead make sure she got it so as to make sure nothing was seriously injured or broken.

Also the backwards letter "B" is the nail in this liars coffin.

If it is true, then I'll gladly eat my words, but... I dont think so.

and the names Towanda Brawley and Morton Downey immediately came to mind. This was before I even heard the detail about the backwards "B". I'm surprised even a hack like Drudge would even risk running it. Do you think he'll be as quick to post a retraction?

Hmm... The photo you posted does indeed have a B on her right cheek... but the B is backwards?

Is the photo backwards and the story meant to say left rather than right? Because the B looks like it would as if one is looking in a mirror....

I was furious, did anyone even bother to do a rudimentary investigation?

Here I have a new headline.

"GOP, files police report: Large black male. Stole my country"

I'm sure any minute now she will clarify that it was a dyslexic, tall black man who attacked her, and that's why the B is backwards.

behind her while she was using the ATM, put a knife to her throat and demanded money, and that she gave him $60. But then, Todd says, the robber saw her bumper sticker

The story's a little too tidily arranged for my tastes. I mean, she's at the ATM, gets robbed. Okay. How does the bumper sticker come into it? That is, the robber then stands around and waits for her to get to her car, and then is like "Oh, wait! A McCain supporter!" and then attacks her again?

That doesn't wash. If she'd been smarter, she'd have said she was wearing a McCain/Palin t-shirt or button, and that way the guy could immediately notice her affiliation, lending credence to the attack being supposedly politically motivated.

But the bumper sticker? I don't get that part. Oh, and most ATMs have cameras, right? Bank surveillance stuff? Is there footage of the attack available?

The truth of the story is almost immaterial, when contrasted with its propaganda value -- which'll "justify" "copycat" Republican political violence against Obama supporters. The story will be widely circulated, and away the dogs of culture war will go running.

Are that at enraged armed mugger with a knife who who has beat you and then willing to cut you, would "scratch" out a B on your cheek.

Also, if I was beaten enough to need a Cat Scan (or at all), I would have gone in for the check up, if only to not go home by myself.

If this is true, it's despicable. I hope it's not.

The more I read into it, it seems rather unlikely. (Who refuses medical treatment after being beaten and having your faced carved?) I think we have a case of a disturbed person.

Now, it is up to the McCain campaign, after the polygraph, to make a statement to that effect.

My first reaction on seeing the backward "B" was she did it herself w/ a mirror. And the "black" eye looks like makeup. Plus the story is not believable. When muggers mug you, they just want to take the money and get away, they don't look at bumper stickers.

For someone who is foolish enough to post comments on a social networking site about lying being so much fun, to have this strange event where the pieces do not seem to add up, it sounds to me like case of Munchausen syndrome. If she really was assaulted, a search for the perpetrators should continue so that they can be brought to justice. On the other hand, if it was a stupid racist hoax, Ms Todd may find that she gets more attention than she bargained for when her story unravels.

So many things about this accoutn are dubious. Why would any alleged mugger give a hoot about Obama or McCain? Secondly, why is there no footage of the attack right in front of the ATM. I fully expect this story to be nothing mmore tha the loony ravings of a disgruntled McCain voolunteer. If the police can sarge her with wasting their time, they certainlly should do so.

There's an Ann Tyler novel that features a girl who does something similar--she scratches a musician's initials on her forehead and claims someone else did it. But the initials are backwards, which gives her away.

Any way you slice it, this woman has problems.

I saw the photo of Ashley Todd before I read the story.

This was so obvious to me contrived when I first thought it was bad halloween makeup. I just waited for the reveal and here it is. What an odd thing to stage.

I was very doubtful when I first heard about this. Too nicely arranged to hit a whole bunch of wingnut buttons.

Why didn't she scratch an "O", though? Then it wouldn't have been backwards.