Drudge Reported This Story Before It was Published. That's the Key

[berni_mccoy]

This is the bug that comes back and bites McCain in the ass.

Drudge reported the story before any news organization. That is his claim to fame. He knows stories are about to break and he often has the ear of the MSM. He's been quoted by the MSM before and has been pointed to as the news breaker.

90% of the time, he's not getting fed his stories by the actual breaking news organization. He get's the story from the source usually. No doubt, Drudge has a great nose for stories that will take.

But this time, this little fact and key characteristic of Drudge will come back and bite him.

It's highly unlikely that the Pittsburgh Tribune reporters (the ones who actually broke this story) gave Drudge this story. Why should they blow their own story?

It's far more likely that the McCain campaign gave Drudge the tip. And they've done this in the past. So how did they know about it? Did they call Drudge between the time the Tribune contacted them for their statement and the time the story was released? Possibly. But Drudge had the headline up hours before the Tribune published online and before a single paper was printed. It's far more likely that the McCain campaign directly contacted Drudge.

And if that is the case, they are complicit in a crime. They perpetrated a false story that could have led to false arrests and worse, incited racial tensions to an extreme. Don't believe that? Just read the comments from posters at FreeRepublic.com who were talking about loading their carried guns or having a bullet chambered. This story was created by the McCain campaign for one reason and one reason only: divide the people of Pennsylvania using race and violence.

[KingFlorez]

1. I find that very suspect too

[stolivodka]

2. This is why McCrap thought he would win PA.

They would break this story, get massive sympathy votes, win PA, and then have a shot at winning the EC.

I wish that there would be an investigation, but I'm not holding my breath. Just when you think Repukes can't get any lower, they blow your expectations out of the water.

[Curtland1015]

3. Look, I'd LOVE to believe that this whole "Todd" deal came straight from the top.

But I just don't see it. Sure they're run a bad campaign, but even they wouldn't be that stupid.

Much more likely (IMO) is that one of the College Republicans she was a member of shot it out to Drudge. I wouldn't doubt they're all big Sludge fans to begin with. It was probably (in their eyes) the best way to get it out to all the other Repigs out there.

[berni_mccoy]

6. Not That Stupid?? One word for you: Snipergate.

[Curtland1015]

12. IF the McCain camp wanted to pull something like this off...

...they certainly could have found some nut job supporter willing to take a real beating over it. Not just splash on some make up.

They also would have given her a better time and place for her "attack" to happen.

Sorry, this just screams "young, stupid, jerk wants attention", not "major campaign smear job".

[ogneopasno]

14. I totally agree with you. I see a bunch of young Republicans

sitting around and thinking this is hilarious. Anything higher, and you're right, they would have made it a major beating. This is just some stupid, probably drunk young woman hoping to impress the guy in charge of phone banking for her precinct so he'll sleep with her. Pathetic, really.

[crossroads]

24. Yep... you betcha!

[Butch350]

19. Don't forget the back-assward B.

[silverweb]

22. Agreed.

I watched her YouTube video about the "right way" to make a poster and recognized her "type" right away. You said it well: "young, stupid jerk wants attention."

[tekisui]

7. I doubt it came from the top,

but I think it came from somewhere in the middle. Maybe a staffer thought it up, the volunteer did it. Then, the local staffer sent it to Drudge and mcPOW at the same time.

[John Q. Citizen]

25. Yep.

[my2sense]

4. ITA - K & R

:kick:

[Disturbed]

10. Most likely from her RWing Group.

She probably called them & they called Drudge. Phone records need to be investigate, now.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. He is tied to the Bush regime and the GOP

I would love to see him discredited really badly by this.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. It's not a crime to be a race-baiting asshole

[EFerrari]

29. It can be, depending on the consequences of the behavior. n/t

[grantcart]

9. excellent point

although I am guessing it was the college republicans acting on their own.

[berni_mccoy]

11. I'm guessing Drudge would not be as likely to buy a story from the College Republicans

as he would from the McCain campaign.

[Marsala]

30. Drudge is desperate lately, though

Who knows what he would stoop to now?

[WeDidIt]

13. Plus, the McCain campaign itself had inside information to the story

The woman's friends, who are cited as believing her story, work for the McCain camapign. They would have reported it to the staffers who then would have fed the info up the chain of command. They saw "little white girl attacked by big black man because she supports McCain". The "B" was icing on their cake. They obviously saw no photos but saw no reason not to beleive the story. They wanted something nasty, dirty, and quick.

Somebody i the McCain campaign is responsible for the Drudge leak because they knew the only way to inject teh story into the national narrative would be via a boost from Drudge.

It certainly wasn't from somebody in the police department because they knew it was a phony story and were working in that direction.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

15. That would be sweet. nt

[Happyhippychick]

16. Are you suggesting that Obama might win, the House will gain seats, the Senate might get a

filibuster-proof majority and Drudge's credibility might be so shot that he has to find a new line of work.

Just stop it now. Just stop it. I can't take any more good news.

[goodboy]

17. Ms. Todd is the new Joe the plumber (nt)

[kenny blankenship]

21. Ashley the Cutter?

[crossroads]

23. Her 15 mins of infamy... Todd the dumber vs Joe the plumber?

[Ozma]

18. To be sure, the Pittburgh police did NOT feed him the story! n/t

[KittyWampus]

33. how do we know this?

[yourguide]

20. I concur.

Only this time it bites them in the ass!

[crankychatter]

26. The Police Assistant Chief's Press Conference, she stated unequivicolly

"This could've escalated into a grave, national event"

[dave123williams]

27. I believe the Trib is owned by Richard Melon Scaife?

Tell me I'm wrong...

[dave123williams]

31. In fact, it IS owned by Scaife - here's a bio on this complete whackjob:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mellon_Scaife

Primary funder of the Heritage Foundation, 1st class right-wing nut case, and heir to the Mellon fortune.

[robertpaulsen]

28. Good hypothesis. Todd might just be the little Don Segretti in a bag of dirty tricks.

I guess the bigger question is did this come the College Republicans or the McCain campaign proper. Palin's immediate response leads me to believe the latter.

[pdxmom]

32. Looks like TPM is on it. Seems someone inside the campaign may

well have been involved:

"John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the "B" carved into the victim's cheek stood for "Barack," according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_aide_gave_reporters_inc.php

[Rosco T.]

34. let's do alittle simple logic shall we?

- B-Girl was a paid(?? college republicans TERMINATED her contract I read? Paid?) McCain operative.
- Drudge gets the story before any other news organization
- Palin 'called her' last night (If I read correctly)
- McCain Campaign had a Press Release at the ready it seems
- Shammanity was railing on it last night, but no one else


Therefore - THIS WAS A MCCAIN BACKED, if not PLANNED event.

At this point I don't care if it was or not.. BUT I PLAN TO MAKE SURE THE ABOVE IS THE MEME I SPREAD

[janx]

35. Non sequitur, and here's why:

Yes, she was a College Republican, on its payroll. Her job was to go where the organization wanted her to go to recruit more young republicans.

Drudge is Drudge, and he often posts crap without researching anything or verifying sources. (He could have vetted Palin, for instance, but he didn't because he needed her to get the horny old man vote and the fundy vote.)

Palin and McCain may well have been reacting to the situation; they certainly took advantage of it without--you guessed it, researching anything or verifying sources.

Shammanity is like Drudge and the rest of the right-wing insane.

Now I'm not saying that this wasn't politically motivated, but it could have been a group of the College Republicans who got very much out of control. It does not necessarily mean that the McCain campaign orchestrated it, but it's very obvious that the McCain campaign took advantage of it.

I could be wrong, but until there's further evidence that the McCain campaign orchestrated this thing, I'm just assuming that it happened within the realm of the College Republicans and that the McCain campaign took full advantage of the race baiting--which is in itself one of the vilest things I've ever seen in politics.

[starroute]

36. In a case like this, it comes from both ends

I'm absolutely certain that the McCain campaign had put the word out to the College Republicans and all the other young GOP trouble-makers, "Be on the lookout for incidents. Anything inflammatory. Anything we can use to defame the Obama campaign."

And that word being spread to people like Todd was what gave her the idea of concocting this incident. She wouldn't have done it randomly in the hopes of getting attention. She did it because she *knew* the McCain campaign was in the market for something like that.

And for the same reasons, the channels were there to speed the story to the very top once it got into the hands of the College Republicans. They were all primed for this and just waiting for an opportunity.

So saying the McCain campaign didn't do it themselves doesn't count for much -- if they asked for it, created the conditions for it, and then expedited its dissemination. And I am morally certain they did all those things.

[berni_mccoy]

37. HA! MSNBC IS REPORTING A CONNECTION DIRECTLY FROM THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

38. The people who live and die by refreshing Drudge don't give a shit about his credibility.

He can get a thousand stories like this wrong and they just won't care.

Remember "Obama/Bayh"? Yeah, that was Drudge, too.

Because the Drudgebots don't hold him to any standards of journalistic accuracy.

[Cybergata]

39. I've never figured why anyone takes Drudge seriously?

I still remember him when he first began and wrote that Joey Lawrence makes "girls lactate," and his ode to babe the pig. Why does anyone bother with him? His second of fame should have passed by years ago.

[Laelth]

40. Chances are, you're right. Can we prove it?

More importantly, can we get the media to investigate and report it? I hope so.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth