McCain volunteer attacked and mutilated in Pittsburg

[C-Hopkins]

That's fucked up. She looks like Kelly Osborne got dragged into a mosh pit at one of her dad's concerts.

I just heard that somebody to do with McCain's house got sprayed up.

Some manager of something or another.

They wrote all kinds of crap on his house too-

AND did you guys know a woman tried to makew a citizens arrest on Karl Rove?

LOL

[klonk]

where's the source of the pic?

Here ya go. It's a Pittsburgh paper. I don't know if the photo is flipped or not. I tend to think not. The black eye on the left side is characteristic of an attack by a right handed man unsophisticated in the use of his fists.

Why is the B backwards? One possible reason is that people of slight literacy sometimes form letters backwards. Another possibility that will fit the particulars of the event: perhaps the attacker was a doper and...a mite confused.

A suspect is being sought.

[nianfong]

missing link?

[nianfong]

you guys notice something else? the black eye in that pick is not swollen. it's just black. the eye size and the bags under her eyes are identical to the other eye.

[klonk]

missing link?

I get called that a lot.

Sorry, here ya go: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_594853.html

[klonk]

you guys notice something else? the black eye in that pick is not swollen. it's just black. the eye size and the bags under her eyes are identical to the other eye.

And yet I think I see some variation in the shape of the eyes, which would be consistent with minor contusion, an inexpert, glancing hit. I've had lots of shiners. Administered a few, as well. This did not stand out to me as inconsistent with my experience.

[nianfong]

seriously, zoom in on it, and check the actual size of the whites of her eyes... they're the same size. you'd expect to see SOME swelling.

[CaliG]

Even Fox is questioning the story.

It's sounds like bull to me.

On the picture on the website the B is backwards too, she should have carved an "O" into her face but I guess that would be less believable.

She should carve a B into her other cheek and just switch sides.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/23 ... rved-face/

A John McCain volunteer says she was robbed at knifepoint Wednesday in Pittsburgh by an attacker who cut a 'B' into her face after noticing a McCain bumper sticker on her car.

The Republican presidential nominee has since called the volunteer, 20-year-old Ashley Todd, and spoken with her and her family. Barack Obama's local campaign team also issued well-wishes to the Texas resident.

However, just hours after the alleged assault was made public, some were raising flags about her account.

"There's just a lot of unanswered questions," one source familiar with the investigation told FOXNews.com. "The story just sounds very bizarre."

Police say Todd initially refused medical attention, though FOX News was later told she went to the hospital Thursday. A photo circulating of her on the Internet shows Todd with a black eye and a backward "B" on her right cheek, though the letter is faint.

Blogs and message boards, including on one of Todd's own Web pages, pointed to those details Thursday in raising skepticism about her account.

According to initial reports, Todd was working at a nearby phone bank before she was apparently attacked near an ATM machine.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richards said the victim was withdrawing money at 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her from behind, put the knife to her neck and demanded money. She said she gave him $60.

She told police the robber then noticed the bumper sticker, punched her in the back of the head, knocked her down and then carved a "B" on the right side of her face.

A source close to the alleged victim told FOX News that during her visit to the police station Thursday night she volunteered to take a polygraph test.

Ethan Eilon, executive director of the College Republicans National Committee, told FOX News Todd was volunteering through his organization and that she had taken a year off to work on the campaign.

He said that her attacker became enraged when he saw she had the McCain bumper sticker, and yelled, "You are one of those McCain people."

A police report does not describe the size or severity of the injury.

Obama's Pittsburgh spokeswoman Allison Price later issued a statement saying "our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

FOX News' Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[cdobe]

wth does the "B" stand for? that's fucked.

Maybe bitch ?

[Ian]

At any rate, that is NOT a mutilation.

I feel cheated.

[DeusTrismegistus]

It may be fake. The attacker also could have been standing over her head so the B is upside down instead of backwards. Last I heard the cops want her to do a lie detector. I must say I expected it to be a lot worse.

[Steve James]

There are only two alternatives: neither one suggests that she was attacked "because" she was a McCain supporter. According to her own account, she was mugged by a 6'4" black man... and then her attacker saw that her car had a McCain sticker and carved a backwards B on her face. Let's assume that her account is true. What can you say? There are nuts everywhere. We can only wish her the best.

Otoh, it'd be much worse if the story were untrue in any way. That's why so many people are skeptical. The police questioned her for 5 hours and are planning to give her a polygraph test. That's unusual, but they also realize this is a special case. I dunno, but after I mugged somebody I would be too busy running away to notice bumpers. Anyway, I don't buy the explanations for the backwards B. It doesn't matter where the attacker was standing. I'll bet there are thousands of people with fake knives looking in the mirror and trying to carve. At any rate, the CSIs will be able to figure out how it was carved.

Either way it turns out, there will be a mentally disturbed person. I think I'd prefer that it was really the black guy. Cause, if this was really a political act, it's truly scary.... but not really unexpected. Most people would love the election to be tomorrow because things are getting more desperate every day.

[Bär]

Here's her blog with Twitter stuff on it. Her comments look lamely suspicious to me. I'm calling fake-to-preposterous.

http://lifeinthefield.com/users/ashley-todd

[Steve James]

Police: McCain volunteer changes ATM attack story

By JOE MANDAK – 24 minutes ago

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A McCain campaign volunteer who reported that a tall black man robbed her and then cut a "B" onto her cheek after seeing a McCain bumper sticker on her car has been given a polygraph test because of "inconsistencies" in her story, police said.

Among other things, police said photos and bank card information from an automated teller machine where the college student claimed she was robbed do not show her using the machine at the time, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard wouldn't release the polygraph results, but said, "we're still looking at some inconsistencies" in the woman's story.

Police said the student, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, who is white, told them she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night.

Richard said police have not ruled out that the woman was attacked as she claimed, and said inconsistencies deal primarily with how she described the attack.

"We're just trying to judge the validity of some of the information we received from her," Richard said. "We understand when you are under duress that sometimes you can't recollect things. We're just looking at all the angles."

Among the differences in her accounts are whether she lost consciousness, whether she remembers handing over money and how the man assaulted her, police said....
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iidr ... QD94106P03

[Darthwing Teorist]

Well, if she's lying, I hope that she gets a real shiner.