That's fair for Todd. Clearly she needs help, not imprisonment. But what about the McCain campaign staff who pushed this story for all they hoped it was worth? The Obama campaign could have pushed the story about the canvasser who was assaulted, and pretended all Republicans or McCain supporters were like that, but they didn't. Maybe this really tells us the difference between the candidates.

She should count herself lucky that she's a young woman. Had she been a guy she'd undoubtedly face jail time for a hateful scam right before an election that attempted to stir up racial hatred against a candidate.

"I think what she needed mostly was counseling," Bryant said. "The only one she actually hurt was herself, although there could have been so many other ramifications based on her actions."

This statement can be applied to most McCain supporters. I'm hoping the psychiatric community can come up with some sort of standard treatment for republicans who need counseling to prevent them hurting themselves or others.

But her actions, resulting in no false charges made against any one person or group of persons, were by any objective standard exceedingly mild and unimportant compared to the stripper ("sex worker"?) who made the Duke-rape allegations, and who escaped all criminal liability for her false and defamatory charges which resulted in scandalized academic careers, millions of dollars in legal fees and compensatory damages, the premature end to the season of a top-rated NCAA intercollegiate athletic team, the dismissal, disbarment, and criminal conviction of a county prosecutor... Her name was Crystal Gail Mangum (Alias: Janette Rivers) and she already had a criminal record, and was apparently voluntarily inoxicated at the time...need I go on?

She was not punished.

Likewise, to the best of my knowledge, Tawana Brawley was never prosecuted for her false charges. The Brawley case is so long ago, that one of its chief scoundrels, Al Sharpton, has had a little spare time in which to run for President of the United States. What a world.

I suggest 100 mg of Thorazine every 6 hours until we can develop a medication which makes stupidity painful.

I suggest 100 mg of Thorazine every 6 hours until we can develop a medication which makes stupidity painful.

Not bad, but perhaps that medication should target willful ignorance, because stupidity usually isn't curable.

Last I read, Ashley Todd was a paid organizer, not a volunteer.

What about 'em? Smellin' their own shit 'n fear, the air won't clear up for at least a year.

However 3/4 of Conservatives will send this story over the Internet declaring it is absolutely true.

That is how Conservatives operate: Spread a lie, then ignore the (later) refutation. It is why Conservatives will still insist that Barak Obama attended a Wahabbi Islamic school in Indonesia.

So what exactly is the point that you're trying to make? And why do I get the idea that should this person have been an Obama supporter accusing a McCain supoporter of this same thing, you'd be squalling at the top of your lungs for long term imprisonment and would be blaming Obama's campaign for the entire mess? Oh, I know why...it's because I've read some of your other incredibly illogical posts on this site.

Right now I'm just waiting for JackWOrf to show up and post on this article in an attempt to redeem himself after he made such an incredible fool out of himself on other posts regarding Ahley Todd. Should be another epic failure.

The heretofore oh-so-solicitous McCentury and Cariboo Barbie Traveling Circus give Ms. Todd a call to commiserate about her sentence?

Just askin'...

Tawana Brawley and Crystal Gail Mangum never admitted to making up their accusations so the comparisons fall apart right their. I'm sure had they at some point admitted that they'd made it up they'd have probably been charged. (Note, I'm not saying they weren't lying, just saying they never confessed)

Secondly, since Ashley Todd had attempted to change the course of the election through her actions I would say she belongs in a whole other category of lying sacks of shit.

I'm not sure this tells us a ton about the campaigns but is does give us some surprising insight in my opinion. The conservatives have jumped all over this and tried to milk it for all it's worth and not it comes out that this was a hoax. Sad but true. The surprising thing to me is that the liberal illuminati hasn't taken advantage of this deal. They haven't blown it up and pushed it. To be honest, kinda surprising.

I think the prosecutor is making the right decision here. Ms. Todd is clearly unwell, and filing a false report isn't so serious a charge when there's no victim being falsely accused.

Besides, any instance of measured compassion over knee-jerk vindictiveness is a victory for the modern, humanist theory of justice.

Doesn't this fall within the guidelines of a hate crime? Apparently she was judged by a psychiatric exam to be mentally competent. If so, she deserves to serve time in jail, and/or perform community service (preferably in a rape prevention or counseling environment), and/or to be fined. First-time offender or not, we CANNOT sit by and allow hate crimes to be committed the first time or any time. (And if she was found to be mentally incompetent, she should have been placed in mental health facility for a while with subsequent out-patient program participation until she was deemed to not be a danger to anyone.) What she DOESN'T need to have happen is what did--a slap on the wrist.

Hate crimes should not be tolerated. Nor should crimes like this that affect a presidential candidate and put him in potential danger as a result of her actions.

And to the writer who asked if McCain and Palin called her to comfort her because of the "terrible thing" that supposedly happened to her, yes they did. Now they should both make public statements saying what she did was intolerable and admit they made a major mistake in not checking it out before making those phone calls. But they won't. What she did had its affect of opening up deep-seated racial fear and hatred and that's just where they want things to be right now.