Smoking Gun has info on McCain Volunteer mugging (with Twitter info)

[RobertSeattle]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1023083twitter1.html?link=rssfeed

OCTOBER 23--Shortly before a John McCain campaign volunteer was reportedly robbed at knifepoint and had a "B" carved in her face after her assailant noticed that her car carried a McCain bumper sticker, the woman blogged last night that she was "Stubbornly searching for a bank of america to avoid ATM fees" and had somehow ended up "on the wrong side of Pittsburgh." Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old Texas college student, told cops that she was robbed of $60 by a 6' 4" black man who weighed about 200 pounds. Todd claimed that when her assailant noticed the McCain sticker on her vehicle, he punched her in the head and carved the letter on her right cheek (a battered Todd can be seen at right). Shortly before the reported 9pm attack, Todd updated her Twitter page with a post noting that she was, "Stubbornly searching for a bank of america to avoid ATM fees." Soon after she reported, "Pretty sure I'm on the wrong side of Pittsburgh." Three hours after that update, Todd wrote, "Oh the blog I will be making soon...Its been a rough night." A screen grab of Todd's Twitter page--which was linked from her page on a College Republican National Committee web site--can be found below. At about 6 pm tonight, Todd's Twitter page became protected and was no longer publicly available. (1 page)

[AmyCamus]

1. What's 'twitter'?

Pardon me for not knowing.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Twitter is a web service that basically says "This is what I'm doing now"

From their home page:

http://twitter.com/
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

[AmyCamus]

5. thanks!

The tubes of the Interweb continue to astound me.

[lynnertic]

8. blogging for cell phones I think - messages are less than 200 chars. n/t

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Why is it always a big black man?

:::: sigh :::::

Susan Smith must be SO proud of this little dummy.....................

[VeraAgnes]

6. It must be the exact same big black man

from the Susan Smith Case. The MO is identical.:sarcasm:

[XemaSab]

40. My thoughts exactly

I'm sure the brother was REALLY huge and REALLY scary. :sarcasm:

[LiberalHeart]

31. I think she was picturing Obama.

[Fridays Child]

42. Ma'am, we think we know who your assailant is but we need you to pick him out from these mugshots.

[leftofcool]

3. Might have been taken down since it is under investigation

Police might have asked her to take it down or she may have felt she might be attacked again if someone found out who she was via the net.

[drmeow]

7. Why is the B backwards? n/t

[lynnertic]

10. Yeah, why IS the 'B' backwards?

And very shallow.

[speedoo]

21. Doesn't a black eye normally include swollen eyelids that close the eye?

Is this a police photo or did she take it herself?

Lots of questions. I smell bullshit.

[readmoreoften]

33. Not when its made with eye shadow and candle ash. Lets see it when it turns purple and yellow.

[Arctic Dave]

37. Looks like she was on an all night runner.

Then got rolled after trying to score some more.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. Yup. Stood Out Immediately That It Was Done In A Mirror. I Just Posted The Same.

[submerged99]

9. how much gas wasted driving aimlessly?

I wonder how much gas she wasted driving around looking to avoid a 2 dollar fee? She has twitter so she could have gotten someone to send her the addy of a Bank of America.

For her sake (or maybe not) I hope the ATM at least had a camera. If the ATM doesn't have a camera, a skeptic might suggest she was looking for a camera free ATM, doing all that driving to avoid an ATM fee.

[charlie]

11. Her blog

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

[spork123]

27. Twitter times don't add up

According to the twitter posts on her Life in the Field blog:

Stubbornly searching for a bank of america to avoid ATM fees (posted at Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:23:21 +0000)
Pretty sure I'm on the wrong side of pittsburgh (posted at Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:45:59 +0000)

SO, the crime was supposed to take place at 9 p.m., but she twittered about finding a bank at 12:23 a.m. and about being on the wrong side of town at 12:45 a.m.! About three hours later, she twittered about the rough night she had. FISHY.

[XemaSab]

41. I'll say one thing:

that girl spells like a republican. :P

[RainDog]

43. doesn't mean anything, but here's a bit of irony

I took a screenshot of this "what's your secret talent" question that someone - I cannot find it now - had saved. I did the test twice, because the first time I said... huh? that's too weird. and did it again. And I'm a pretzel, and I have no idea where it came up with that one.

edit - sorry, too big. I resized so that it wouldn't bust out of the page.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. Another One Who Did It In The Mirror. Obvious Hoax I'd Say.

[malaise]

16. You might be right

but that would take Sarah Palin type cluelessness. Young Rethug - it's possible.
A very strange knife wound with no cut. I'm not buying it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Another Hint To Me Is The Curves. For A Mugger To Be Able To Do Smooth Curves Like That With A

knife, while not drawing blood, is a hell of a mystery to me.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Someone pointed out that she could have been on the ground and ...

... upside down to the mugger as he so skillfully carved the "B" into her face.

[uppityperson]

22. So why would she lay there and let him "carve" this in her face?

She's on her back, he's kneeling above her head, and she just....lies there? Without moving? And lets him scratch this onto her, going over the lower part (upper part to hiim) of the B twice?

Hoax. She needs help.

[ACTION BASTARD]

29. No, she needs a public humiliation and a few days locked up

Will straighten out her BS real quick. Another mouth-breather that will live the rest of her life as a fraud.

Enjoy the never ending 15 minutes honey.

[spoony]

44. Yeah and that must've been a dull ass "knife"

Because it certainly didn't "carve"!

[NeoTheo]

14. O.K. so what does this prove?

That she was blogging on her computer while she was in the part of town she was assaulted in. So? Many laptops these days have cell cards in them so that you can access the internet from anywhere.

I mean I find it hard to believe that someone did this to her but I would like some evidence that is the case and this story doesn't provide that as far as I can tell. Did I miss something?

[ColbertWatcher]

18. McCain gave her a Blackberry that he invented. n/t

[Beregond2]

15. That's lipstick on her cheek and mascara under her eye.

Can't they at least put a little effort into these things?

[arcadian]

24. She knows McPalin is gonna lose.

She obviously didn't want to take it that far.

[Beregond2]

28. And the B is backward because she drew it while looking in a mirror!

[OKNancy]

17. I thought the twitter page showed that she was blogging about

finding an ATM several hours after the supposed event occured.

[Richard D]

23. Here's a screenshot of her myspace page

Supposed to be here page anyway:
\

[arcadian]

25. That's a joke, right?

She says she likes to lie.

[Luna_C_06]

48. I think they are lyrics to a song.

But I can't remember the name of it

[Fla Dem]

26. I've seen people w/ black eyes before, and usually if it's been hit that hard, the eye ball is

bloodshot. Her's are as clear as can be. This is a hoax.

[readmoreoften]

35. She's done a great job of getting the swelling down too. No "shine" no purple and red.

This is what bruises look like in fantasyland.

[Ediacara]

38. That's my first thought too

(plus, why is the B backwards, why no swelling, &c, &c...)

[RPM]

30. 3 BoA ATMs in all of Metro Pittsburgh

Any side would be the wrong side if a BoA ATM were her criteria.

[eilen]

32. Did she pay for her rape kit?

Honestly, my dh is a seasoned brawler and states this is a fake.---the eye is all makeup.

There is no way he could draw that "B" so neatly with a knife and why would he draw it that neat or care if he drew blood? He also thinks that "criminals" who would do this would not be solitary nor care about politics when they are "mugging" someone for $60--why would he slow down and cut her face? Wouldn't he just take off and pursue his next drug buy?--assuming most muggers mug people for drug money-- if mugging for food money, why take the time and risk of exposure/getting caught? Wouldn't it make more sense to carve the "B" on the car if he was going linger around anyway carving B's backwards and all?

Btw, a 6 foot 4 inch man would find it very difficult to bend and carve a B on a woman's cheek--the top of her head likely lands at his armpit. Too much work.

[lynnertic]

45. She Refused Medical Treatment. Very suspicious. n/t

[LiberalHeart]

34. Too bad the mean mugger didn't use the O in Obama. Impossible to do backwards.

[flvegan]

36. "...explained to a cop that a uturn is my God-given right..."

Hmmm...if she had actually been mugged, maybe her assailant would say the same, eh Todd?

[Orrex]

39. "Volunteer mugging" sounds about right

[TornadoTN]

46. Check out Wonkettes coverage of this

I haven't laughed so hard in my life - especially given the fact that McLiar and Paliar had to go running to this girls rescue and latch onto her story as soon as it broke.

This is the final stand of the McCain campaign and we are witnessing the destruction of the GOP from within.

http://wonkette.com/

[yardwork]

49. LOL! She even admits that she lied while phone banking!

Uh oh, this will cost votes in western PA:


“I called during commercials and pretended I loved the Steelers.”

[LeftinOH]

47. She must have strayed into someplace that isn't the "real America"...n/t