B is for Brat

Ashley Todd does seemingly have some serious issues. I admit being pretty wrapped up in the election drama, myself, but this is absolutely stunning. For those few folks who never heard, Todd is the McCain-Palin volunteer who mutilated herself and claimed a male 6'4" black Obama supporter did it - later to also add she was sexually assaulted, to add more fuel to the fire and to play on the very worst of America's racial fears. (OMG - elect a black president, and the white women gonna get raped!!!) This is one of the most disgusting events of this campaign, even over-shadowing the repugnant lynched Obama ghost in Ohio.

The thing that really gets me - more, even, then how quick some people were to believe something that stunk of lies even from the beginning - is that as many people will likely not hear the retraction as clearly as they heard the accusation. (Let's not forget the flip side, either, as every false rape/abuse story muddies the water for the next real victim.) Since this tale keys into the very nastiest of stereotypes, I fear that the attack story will stick more readily than the confession of one sick, white college girl who clearly wanted to live up to her hero McCain's torture legacy.

Well, Ms Todd, what if some trigger happy NRA supporter, some angry white male who decides he must save white women from the black bogeyman, were to assassinate Obama? How exactly would that serve the democratic process? What would that do to the country? Would it then become less of a summer camp game than it is to you now? 

Racial hatred in some people reaches the level of psychosis. Lies like this have permanent and horrific consequences. The lie will out live the truth, largely because the Obama campaign would never, ever use this for publicity the same way that the GOP would. (Not necessarily McCain himself, but his underlings who revel in the dirty work.) In the end, if Obama wins, there will be many a Good Ol' Boy talking about the rapist they got in the White House, thanks to this tawdry tale.

Don't play with matches. They burn.