By now, you've no doubt heard about how Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old Texas A&M student working on John McCain's campaign in Pittsburgh, took a page from Tawana Brawley's playbook, claiming she was the victim of a phantom assailant's racially-motivated assault. Only Todd added that the nonextistent "6-foot-4 black man" was also an Obama supporter and grew enraged while robbing her because he spotted a "McCain/Palin" bumper sticker on her car.
Fox News -- surprise -- was the first TV network to jump on the story. Only its anchor, Bill O'Reilly, much to his great credit, remained skeptical in reporting it. But the network's executive news director, Tom Moody, fired off an editorial, suggesting that the alleged attack might steer white voters away from voting for Barack Obama, as if there was some connection between an African-American candidate for the presidency and a phantom criminal. It speaks volumes for Moody's character, worldview and indeed the orientation of that network's news coverage.
The real question is not why Todd perpetrated this crime -- Pittsburgh police say she'll be charged with making a false police report -- but if higher-ups in the McCain campaign encouraged her to go through with it.
From the time the story first aired last night, Todd's claim reeked of fishiness, considering the timing. Just last week, a Democratic Congressman from wetsern Pennsylvnia warned that Obama would have trouble winning in that area because citizens were inherently racist and the McCain campaign's stated goal is trying to win the state from Obama's grasp.
Check out the coverage, from CNN, Pittsburgh TV stations KDKA, WTAE and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Finally, there's the knee-jerk letter from the Fox network executive.
cnn.com
kdka.com
postgazette.com
thepittsburghchannel.com
foxnews.com
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