Flame suit on. I feel sorry for Ashley Todd

[canetoad]

I'll just hoick my asbestos knickers up around my chest and tell you why.

She is a lost soul looking for approval. I bet she has either abusive parents or spent her teen years being made fun of. This terribly badly judged stunt was to gain the approval of the College Repubs, the McManiac campaign - whatever. Somewhere in her sad little psyche she thought she was pleasing someone.

I can speak with some authority here, as one who survived a shockingly abusive upbringing. The need to win approval can make people do things that are irrational and damaging to others. Thankfully I never sunk to Ashley's level.

She may or may not have a psychological problem. Everyone has a need for approval, the degree varies.....

What really did it for me (and yeah, I've been slagging her off, slinging dirt with the rest of you) was seeing her handcuffed, between those two cops. She is small and frightened. I doubt whether she has the capacity to understand the violence that may have been the result of her accusations.

The tragedy is that a small, inept person can incite the violence that led to witch trials, lynchings and worse. Thankfully we are a more sophisticated breed of people these days and this kind of hysteria can be exposed for what it is.

A phrase that is often used on DU when discussing the excesses of fundies is 'What Would Jesus Do.' I'd like you all to put that small sentence in the context of the new USA - the one where Barack Obama is president. When presented with a sad person like Ashley Todd, I ask you WHAT WOULD BARACK DO?

[whistle]

1. You mean this story?

<snip>
Tweets Give Race-Baiting Hoaxster a 'B' for Effort
By Sarah Lai Stirland October 24, 2008 | 4:12:41 PMCategories: Election '08

Thanks to an unattended Twitter widget, a website intended to promote the work of 50 young Republican volunteers became an unwitting showcase for the mockery of one group member Friday, when it emerged that the volunteer faked a macabre attack on herself and tried to pin it on a nonexistent Obama supporter and mugger.

Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old college student and McCain volunteer, admitted on Friday that she made up a widely reported story about being mugged by a so-called big black guy at an ATM in Pittsburgh. She falsely told police this week that her assailant became enraged after seeing a John McCain bumper sticker on her car, and proceeded to scratch a backwards "B" — for "Barack" — on her face. It now appears the mark was self-inflicted, and police say it's expected to heal completely.

Todd was one of the members of a group called 50 College Republicans that has been publicizing its activities through a blog and Twitter feed on a website called Life in the Field. The volunteers' tweets carried the hashtag "#litf08."
<MORE>

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/college-republi.html

[Chimichurri]

53. self-delete for misplacement

sorry.

[Jed Dilligan]

2. You mean in a hypothetical case where he is a judge? Or what?

I have nothing but contempt for her whatever has gone on in her life. Plenty of people rise above their personal problems and become good people.

[canetoad]

3. Feeling sorry for her doesn't mean

I don't find her stunt contemptible.

How do you think this episode will change her outlook?

[Jed Dilligan]

10. It probably won't. There is evidence of racism and sociopathic tendencies,

two things that really don't ever go away.

[canetoad]

14. I disagree with that

as I believe the need for approval overrides most other emotions. I honestly believe she did not think through the consequences.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. You realize she has made up false accusations against black men before.

Don't you?

[canetoad]

19. No I didn't

Can you tell or link to the circumstance?

[Jed Dilligan]

23. 3rd video from the bottom.

She is most likely a sexually-oriented sociopath, like Jeffrey Dahmer.

http://ashleytoddisadouche.blogspot.com/

[canetoad]

30. Thats a long bow Jed

Maybe I watched wrong vid, she was showing how to apply tape?

If that was the correct vid, it reinforced the approval thing to me.

[Jed Dilligan]

36. Sorry--2nd from bottom. 3rd graphic, 2nd vid from bottom.

[DontTreadOnMe]

4. No Flame From Me

I agree with you. I think Ashley did this for attention, and the attention she craves is from her collegues at the McCain Campaign Headquarters.
She wanted to fit in. She wanted to contribute. She wanted to be part of the team winning.

She didn't think through her actions. She just wanted to hang with the popular kids on campus.

Isn't this what the Republican Party is all about. You become a Republican because you want to be part of the "wealthy" crowd.
Republicans are just the better class people. So you don't have to do anything but "join" them, and you will soon be on your way to vast sums of delusional gains.

Joe the Plumber THINKS he will be rich some day... just because is votes Republican.

[canetoad]

16. Spot on mate

She is 20 and I know you can't tell all from a photo, but she is not one of the IN crowd.

[ColbertWatcher]

22. Someone on at Wonkette discovered she used to be a Paultard.

[gatorboy]

35. "Hey, where did Ian Mckellen come from???"

[gkhouston]

46. And in doing something without thinking of the potential harm to others,

doesn't that make her just like the people who are controlling the Republican Party nowadays? Mission accomplished.

[Warpy]

5. I called bullshit the second I read that ridiculous story

I do save my total condemnation for the right wing media that ate it up and for the McCain communications flack in Pa. who spread it around to all the media as though it were gospel written on stone and handed down through the ages. And the race baiters in all the major media bought it, hook, line and black bogeyman sinker.

I am not disgusted by the obviously screwed up Ashley, I'm nauseated by the mass media who reported such an obviously bogus story with all the embellishments a McCain flack could add to it.

That's the real story here, not the attention seeking and ultimately pathetic young woman. The real story is how easily the mass media are played for total CHUMPS when race baiters put out bogus information.

[canetoad]

13. Warpy, you generally make good calls

That aspect didn't come into my OP, but you are right. As an example, I missed the breaking story so went to google news to fill in the background. The words used were 'mutilated', 'carved' etc

Later it was 'scratched'.....

Nothing gets in the way of a good, bloodthirsty story.

[tjwash]

26. Yep...most people did. Those with half a brain at least.

The first mistake, was thinking a black man would rob her with a knife. Ain't happening. The weapon of choice to rob poor innocent white women at the ATM machine, is a hand gun.

Second thing--no self respecting robber would see her at the ATM, and just take the $60 she just took out. He would tell her to take her card and clean out whatever she had in there.

Third--there are cameras that watch the atm machines.

It used to be safe to blame the black man in America, but in the age of 24 hour surveillance cameras, and polygraph tests, it just might not be so easy anymore.

Now prople are saying that poor Ashley needs help, that she might have a mental problem, needs help, yak yak yak...

She's no different than quite a few people in this country. She is an ignorant racist piece of shit. The fact that she acted out her sick demented delusions, only means that she actually thought that she could get away with it.

[Warpy]

34. People at DU have very good bullshit detectors

and yes, this story pinned most of them.

It was great to revisit the threads and see how many people picked up on the nonsense.

[SmokingJacket]

52. Even my 11 yr old son asked, "Why is this a national story?"

"Don't people get mugged all the time?"

Hard to explain the eagerness of the media to devour this fake racist story in order to... to do I don't know what, prop up McCain somehow, make it a horse race, do what they always do and divide the country.

[Trajan]

6. I said much the same last night ...

I see a scared little girl behind those sad and pitiful eyes .... this act reveals a form of self loathing, and a needy desire for attention ...

This girl needs help, and a well deserved stint in the pokey ....

I hope she gets the help she needs ...

[kentuck]

7. She needs professional help...

But she should have to go thru thorough analysis. She has a sickness akin to that of the attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley. They need to be in a safe, but secure, environment until they have shown themselves to be well.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Booster]

9. No flaming here. I feel sorry for her too. A lost soul in really bad

trouble now.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

11. I agree -- this is a young woman who needs a genuine...

...support network rather than an exploitative one. I wish her luck and hope she gets some help.

[doublethink]

12. ........

[Swamp Rat]

17. I hope no black men were harmed in the making of Ashley Todd's drama.

[canetoad]

24. So do I Swampy

with all my heart. We are lucky that the cops did their job and the result was made public.

[johnfunk]

69. She personifies Epic Fail -- here's the ATM card she used...

[47of74]

18. Ms. Todd needs some serious professional help

Based on what I've seen, I think that she is in need of some serious professional help. I hope that such help is mandated by the courts when the time comes.

[alittlelark]

20. Messed up R-Wing parents, unattractive, Psy problems

in the past......


I feel sorry for her as well.


I want to see documentaries made on her psycho-pathology.

I want children all over this country to study what made her soooo F*cked up.

[Iggo]

21. I feel sorry for her, too.

But she deserves every bit of this.

[elocs]

25. I agree with you. She is most likely a sad individual who is in need of psychiatric help.

Democrats do not usually want to trash mentally ill people as a result of their condition, but this is different and it's brought out what I think is some really disgusting behavior here and that is in no way excusing what she has done. It has, though, given me a good opportunity to add to my ignore list some posters that I never want to read again.

[Bluebear]

27. What would Barack do? If he fit her made-up profile, get arrested & spend years in jail.

[Laelth]

28. I admit she's pitiful.

But that's no excuse for bearing false witness. People have died because of stunts like that. Yes, we should feel sorry for her, but I feel a lot more sorry for people who died because of some pitiful person's false accusation.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Zookeeper]

29. No flames from me, but so far, I don't feel sorry for her at all.

Lots of people have emotional problems.

I didn't hear about this story until late today, but it seems like the backwards "B" should have been an immediate tip-off.

[kestrel91316]

31. Here's what we do: we let the justice system in Pittsburgh deal with her

as they see fit.

Can't do the time? Don't do the crime.

[donheld]

32. She has mental issues - We all should feel sorry about that

What she did and what the McCain Campaign, and the Media, did is inexcusable.

[-Steph-]

33. It's sad but she needs to be made an example out of.

She's obviously a disturbed young woman and while it's sad, it is not justification.

I'm sure this is something she thought long and hard before doing. It doesn't seem like a spur of the moment type of act.

I think the McCain camp has incited such a fear in people of Obama that it really plays into people like this young lady who is probably off in the head to begin with.

This, in my opinion, is one of the consequencees of the way they've been running their dishonorable campaign. That's how I feel about the situation.

[canetoad]

40. Sorry Steph

She did NOT think long and hard before doing this.She saw a way of getting attention, of garnering the approval of a certain group of people.

It does not help to call anyone 'off their head'. When you have a professional qualification get back to me, until then you are no better than the msm wolves.

[-Steph-]

43. She's not the victim she is the perpetrator.

In my opinion she is obviously off in the head. If you think in saying so that it makes me as bad as the 'MSM wolves' then that is your opinion and you're entitled to it, canetoad.

In my view, you have to be disturbed to do something like that. I said it's sad, but I don't think it's a get out of jail free card.

I didn't personally attack you for your views and I'd appreciate it if you did the same in return.

[Orsino]

64. If she's "obviously" off in the head, then she is a victim.

Or is mental illness a choice now?

[-Steph-]

67. The only thing she's a victim of in this situation is her own stupidity.

Someone said that she was just looking for attention. If that's true then I'm sure she's feeling like she was successful with all this sympathy she's receiving. I mean that's what she was looking for in the first place right? Poor innocent white girl gets attacked by the big bad black obama supporter.

Looks like even after getting caught in her lies she is still able to garner the sympathy she wanted.

[Orsino]

75. And if she is found not competent to stand trial?

Whatever "someone said" on DU is not a diagnosis. I'm still up in the air on this--not knowing whether to hate her or her illness. If she's ill.

[Quantess]

74. Flimsy argument.

Jeffrey Dahmer was "obviously" off in the head, too. Try calling him a "victim" and stay coherent.

[Orsino]

76. I think it's the only important argument at this point.

If she's "just" evil and/or narcissistic, I'll probably join you in the mob. But even then, couldn't we find a scrap of sympathy for someone whose life has so twisted her?

Intent really is important to me, as is her capacity for decision-making. I'm trying not to hate knee-jerk fashion.

[Raineyb]

82. Her intent was to rustle up the specter of the stereotypical "scary black man"

While trying to damn Obama by proxy by tarring him to a "criminal" supporter. Her intent was malicious and deserves no sympathy whatsoever. I don't understand why people are bending over backwards to find reasons to pity her.

Regards

[Orsino]

87. I don't understand how people can be so sure she was in control.

We know little about her.

[Raineyb]

88. I don't understand how people can justify bending over backwards to make excuses for her

If the races were reversed we wouldn't have so many excuses or calls for understanding being put out there.

Regards

[Orsino]

89. Yeah, you said that.

But it's far too early for excuses or executions, IMO.

[Raineyb]

90. The excuses are already out there unfortunately they can't be taken back.

I'll be happy to see her ass locked up in jail.

Regards

[emilyg]

37. No flame from me.

[tammywammy]

38. I feel a little sad for her

Anyone that makes up a story like this (and I'm including Susan Smith) has problems.

[ikojo]

39. She knew that a story claiming she was robbed by a "big bad black

man" would sell in racist America, so she went with it. Maybe she was trying to gain approval in a campaign not known for compassion or caring. Well, she should choose her associates more wisely.

She may have mental issues but it in no way excuses her racism.

This was done with malice and forethought, it took time to apply makeup and make the backwards 'B' and she should be held responsible.

[canetoad]

41. So you have no pity for her

fair enough. What do you think Barack would do?

[ikojo]

44. No, I do not pity her. Through the centuries

accusations such as that made by Ms Todd have KILLED black men in the US. They have FALSELY incarcerated black men. She KNEW such an accusation of robbery by a "big black man" in the "mean big city" would play well in the McCain campaign and in the media. I am going out of a limb to also suggest whomever put the idea in her head also knew it would play well.

I do not pity people who would try and falsely accuse another just to be the center of attention.

She may need help but she also needs to be held responsible for using valuable resources looking for a non existent suspect.

[malaise]

45. I have no pity for her

None. I hope she gets psychiatric help before she really causes others to die for her attention seeking hoaxes.

[gkhouston]

47. Pitying her won't help her. Neither will reviling her. Hold her accountable for

her actions and steer her towards psychiatric help.

[Raineyb]

73. I'll save my sympathy for someone who truly deserves it

And this overly indulged, racist bitch does not qualify. She didn't just waste the time of the cops who answered her bullshit call she also endangered the lives of any black man in the area who "fit the description" which considering how the police usually behave isn't confined to 6'4" 200lb black men. If her story was slightly more believable there would be black men being hauled in by the police for no damn reason whatsoever and God only knows what could have happened if the cops mistook a candy bar for a gun and shot someone in the street over her lies.

This is way too serious to chalk it up to a pathetic pitiable woman who made a mistake.

The fact that the media was so quick to jump on this story just goes to show how far we've not gotten.

I'll give her the same amount of sympathy she'd get if she were a black woman who'd pulled this stunt. -None whatsoever.

Regards

[FreeState]

42. I agree - I wish her well and hope she gets the help she needs n/t

[bean fidhleir]

48. She's young for her age, and not a very sophisticated thinker

She should get a wrist-slap for the stunt, a good ear-bashing for the racism, and some therapy for maturity issues.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

49. Lost Soul... She's A Nasty Bitch That's Sittin In A Cold Cell Right Now In A Paper Suit!

And I don't mind it one bit.

[JI7]

72. WOW

didn't expect that from you, but i totally agree.

[uppityperson]

50. I don't feel sorry for criminals but for the victims.

I don't care if it was a spur of the moment thing, or planned in advance. Other than the fact I feel sorry for people in general, I feel much sorrier for victims than perpetrators.

As far as your assessment of her psychological state, unless you have read her psych report, or studied her intensively in person, you are assuming. Just because a criminal looks "small and frightened" between 2 cops does not mean she doesn't have capacity to understand, etc.

Do you feel sorry for mrbush? Since he obviously doesn't have the capacity to understand the violence that may have been the result of his actions?

What I hope Obama does is increase mental health service funding.

[readmoreoften]

51. Fuck her and her lost soul. She's a racist sociopath POS. Her youth means nothing.

Actually, that insults sociopaths. I feel sorry for all the men of color who got harassed by hate-high freepers the night she perpetrated her bullshit.

[Chimichurri]

54. You shouldn't feel sorry for her. She could have put an innocent man

in prison if she hadn't gotten caught lying.

What she has done is not just a hoax but criminally dangerous.

[1Hippiechick]

55. IBTL. n/t

[RidinMyDonkey]

56. I don't feel anything for her

I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself, and the others in the country that truly need sympathy.

Just because her hoax was busted, doesn't erase the fact that she could have potentially done serious damage to the campaign. I can't forgive her for that. There's too many people counting on this election for one person to go and do something so awful.

If something horrible did happen to her, then I'm sorry that it happened, but I don't feel sorry for her. We're all faced with tough choices everyday, she chose to go through with this stunt, for whatever reason, it was wrong.

[TheKentuckian]

57. A slap on the wrist is disgusting

it tells others that they can pull the same kind of stunts and if they get busted everyone will forgive and forget, not to mention if they do a better job then they probably won't get caught at all.

All those that feel so bad for this lying bigot just encourage and condone this same behavior because they know if they're white then more or less they'll get off from whatever they do due to "having it rough" in someway or another.

Fucking treat Ashley Todd just like anyone else. Lots of young people are having their lives thrown away for far less, in my opinion but never hear cries for mercy.

[RB TexLa]

58. You do know if they had arrested someone she would have testified and tried to send him to prison

[BlooInBloo]

59. I feel sorry for black people that so many racism-defenders exist.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

62. Racism defenders?

Are you suggesting that's what the OP is doing here? Asserting a defense for racism?

[sendero]

60. Peope commit crimes..

.. for all kinds of sad reasons, so what?

Basically, most die-hard repukes are mentally ill, is that an excuse?

Hitler was definitely mentally ill, is that an excuse?

[petronius]

61. So do I - she needs to face the consequences of her actions, but I hope

those consequences include some counseling and psychological support...

[malletgirl02]

63. I feel sorry for her too

I know I'm playing armchair psychologist with this, but I seriously think she has some psychological issues. If the McCain campaign had a connection to this. They should be ashamed of themselves for taking advantage of a mentally unbalance person. Who else would lie about something like about an attack?

[NNN0LHI]

65. Feeling sorry for Republicans is why we lose elections and then they kick our heads in

Who is next Bush?

Don

[Obamanaut]

66. As to the question in the very last line "Send her ass to prison." nt

[JustAnotherGen]

79. See my response -

# 78 - updating it to add the link where I found the Obama/Biden campaign's response . . .

[Lisa0825]

68. I think she is ill and needs help...

help which too many people can't even afford right now, but maybe it will be more available in an Obama Administration.

I hate what she did, but from the beginning I had the feeling it was a hoax perpetrated by someone with some kind of mental illness.

[lame54]

70. I'm with you...

watch her youtube vids - she is emotionally immature and not malicious at all

I believe she was goaded into this and it will come out

she is a a joiner and wants to belong

this is very sad

[Raineyb]

80. What do you mean not malicious?

What part of deliberately tapping into old racist memes while falsely reporting this "incident" which could have resulted in a mass round up of men who "fit the description" or worse someone getting shot, was not malicious?

Regards

[lame54]

81. I'm referring to her youtube vids...

even in the one where she accuses the janitor, the worst she says about him is to call him, in her adolescent voice, mean - there is nothing derogatory there

[Raineyb]

83. I don't give a damn about her pathetic you tube videos.

What she did in this case is malicious as hell. That's enough for me.

Regards

[lame54]

84. then don't answer my reply when I am talking about youtube vids...

:wtf: :shrug:

[Raineyb]

85. I'm trying to understand why some are so willing to bend over backwards

to give this woman the benefit of the doubt. You claim the woman's not malicious based on her you tube videos? The biggest evidence of her maliciousness is what she did in this case. What the does she have to do to prove she's malicious? Burn a cross in someone's yard? This is not a petty offense. If her story was slightly more believable things would have become a lot more dangerous for black men in the area and in your haste to make excuses for this bitch you seem to gloss over it. I don't get it.

So yes I'm dismissing the you tube videos because they're just not relevant anymore. But I'm still wondering where this "not malicious" stuff is coming from.

Regards

[BlooInBloo]

91. Because white folks always give other white folks the benefit of the doubt....

It helps keep racism going, without them having to be responsible for it.

It's really a wonderful system we've cooked up.

[Raineyb]

93. I know. But I'd like to get them to say it out loud. Or at least type it.

Too many so-called progressives don't get it. I'd like to see the light bulb come on for a change.

Perhaps I expect too much.

Regards

[adamuu]

95. if i were the janitor, i'd consider it pretty effing malicious

putting a video of me, DOING NOTHING, on youtube, without my permission, with a wingnut voiceover
eff that.

[bridgit]

71. Ashley Todd, Ashley Todd...Isn't that Sweeney Todd's little girl how's she doing these days?

[Hannah Bell]

77. i feel the same, seeing her video & the pitiful poster she made, how proud

she was of it - like a child - did it for me.


I'd say save your venom for the folks - like drudge - who publicized it without caring if it was true. they're not stupid.

[JustAnotherGen]

78. What Would Barack Do?

Updated to Add Link: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17789356/detail.html
I'm not going to 're-title' it with the stories title. They are referring it to as a fake 'political attack' - I identify it as a Racial Tinderbox. . .

On Thursday, before police said the story was a fake, both the Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin campaigns released statements about the attack.

"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," the Obama-Biden statement said.

Before you feel too bad for her, I want to direct you to read the following book:
Like Judgment Day - The True Story of the Rosewood Massacre and Its Aftermath by Michael D'Orso

You might be familiar with the fictionalized account of this; the movie "Rosewood" by John Singleton.

Did you know that in Cedar Keys today? People in backwoods watering holes STILL have the body parts of black people that were cut off during that horror stored in mason jars on shelves? (see Chapter 3, page 40 of the book).


I feel the same way about this woman as many people feel about the Duke Rape Case woman . . . She TOO had mental problems - but that doesn't excuse the harm done to those boys. And the extreme potential for harm that Ashley Todd could have caused?

Well- She is the person who perpetrated the crime and SHE has been APPREHENDED and now SHE needs to be brought to JUSTICE!

[uppityperson]

86. Indeed, that was a very good statement by him and I agree. eom

[DS1]

92. She's just a stupid piece of shit

lots of people have approval issues, but to go about it this way is fucking dumb. Fuck her.

[youthere]

94. I'm wondering how far she was willing to go with this. ..

If she had made her story the least bit plausible and somehow convinced the police that she had actually been attacked, how far was she willing to go? if they made an arrest of a suspect that fit her description, would she have "ID'd" an innocent man? I tend to believe she would have.
I have no sympathy for Ashley Todd. She openly admits to having mental problems...then why the HELL was she not seeking help? Sorry but she reminds me too much of the family values repukes that get caught doing something heinous and suddenly need "rehab".
I think she is a pathetic person who did something incredibly stupid, heartless, and self-serving. I could feel some level of sympathy for her if I thought for a moment she was truly sorry for what she'd done..the race baiting, the lying, the wasting of law enforcement time and resources, the betrayal of trust...but she's not the least bit sorry for what she did. She's terribly TERRIBLY sorry she got caught though. She came clean because she had painted herself into a corner NOT because she had a sudden attack of conscience.

[fascisthunter]

96. She Was McCain's Last Hope....

thanks for bringing her back into the spot light. She exposes the right wing for the desperate bigots they are...