3 Repub men in the B-girl hoax.

[Waiting For Everyman]

Dan Garcia, the friend who took the pics of Ashley Todd, was the (2007) South Texas Regional Director of the Texas Young Republican Federation.
http://www.tyrf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=54 http://brazosyoungrepublicans.org/bcyr_board.htm
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/10/ashley_todd.php

Todd's boss was Ethan Eilon, the Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL5Cv-xuBT8
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/college-republi.html
http://crncnews.blogspot.com/2007/06/eilon-out-ethan-eilon-resigns-tuesday.html

Peter Feldman is the McC spokesman to the PA reporters on this story
http://www.politickernj.com/tags/peter-feldman
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_aide_gave_reporters_inc.php

A rough time sequence if I understand it right, from various sources,

Garcia says he met Ashley Todd last May at a Young Republican event in TX. What I wonder but haven't found, is when she started working for Eilon. Anyway...

About two weeks ago Feldman announces that McC is pulling out of Michigan, to concentrate more in PA, especially the Pittsburgh area. At about that time, Ashley Todd leaves TX and goes to NY. (Feldman incidentally, was based in NJ.) Todd then stays at Garcia's place last weekend, and then this Wednesday goes back there after she fakes this attack. Garcia takes pictures, takes her somewhere to eat, calls the police, and takes her to a hospital. He gives pictures to the police and Eilon. Drudge gets the story, Todd gets calls from McC/P.

[Thom Servo]

1. Tin foil hats!!

Please. This was a disturbed young woman with mental problems who made a dumb mistake.

[Motown_Johnny]

3. that doesn't mean you can't knock some repugs off their talking points for a news cycle or two

these questions are far more valid than those about Sen. Obama's religion or citizenship

[Cha]

55. Damn Straight! Look at what they wanted to

do..Race Baiting..make everyone mad at Blacks so they'd vote for stupid and more stupid.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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

[Phredicles]

6. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I sure don't share it;

this hit the news and got played up awfully fast to be strictly the work of one sad little nutcase: The College Rethugs and McCain campaign are of course crawling with sad little nutcases.

[blogslut]

7. Someone exploited/leaked this story to Drudge

Before it was given to the local media. Drudge would be the more likely outlet to disseminate this type of story to the masses without fact-checking. All fingers are pointing to College Republicans as the people that leaked to Drudge. Not quite sure why you think this is a tinfoil tale.

[Tarheel_Dem]

12. This is the reason. He's pushing it awfully hard. I haven't seem him comment on

any other stories. What could be his motivation? I want Obama to distance himself from this story, but it's up to the left blogosphere to keep it alive and let people see just who supports John McCain, and just how far they'll go to win an election.

I hope all involved are brought to justice, and publicly disgraced.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7597619&mesg_id=7597619

[blogslut]

16. Yes, I saw that thread

I read some of it when it was first posted. I will give the person the benefit of the doubt because we all want to believe that our friends and acquaintances are honest. However, I do not trust college republicans. This is the organization that produced the likes of Lee Atwater, Karl Rove and other assorted scum. They've been ratfucking since Nixon and have no credibility whatsoever.

[Tarheel_Dem]

18. Couldn't agree more. But my spidey senses tell me that Mr. Servo

could be part & parcel to the College Pubbies, if I'm wrong, I apologize. By the way I love the Obama "pie". :rofl:

[H2O Man]

37. I'm concerned

that you did not read his post #70 on that thread. Let me quote the last line:

"Trust me...this guy was not involved and did not conspire."

Any time a new DUer who focuses almost exclusively on one topic, and asks you to trust him rather than keep an open mind, you really only have two choices: (1) trust him; or (2) be a silly, fully disgraced "tin-foil" paranoid person.

There are no other options. The College Republicans have a long and noble history. We must ignore all of the "dirty tricks" they were caught doing in the past. Likewise, forget how quickly they promoted this story on the internet and in the media. Trust me.

[Tarheel_Dem]

52. Well, Option #1 isn't an "option" as far as I'm concerned, so I must be...

#2 ("tin-foil" paranoid person). Mr. Servo has beat this exclusive drum ever since I was introduced to him on that infamous thread. I'll bet Drudge (Mr. Servo), and the College Repukes would like nothing better than for this story to just go away. I say, too late.

[H2O Man]

92. I agree

with you, completely.

[Warren Stupidity]

86. pass the reynolds wrap

[Essene]

29. it had to be somebody at the Feldman level...

Drudge wouldnt put a front headline story like that out unless somebody high up in the Mccain campaign basically verified it.

Some random dude from the College Republicans wouldn't provide such confidence.

The police were tight lipped. The local media were being cautious and checking with the police, who were skeptical and tight lipped. Meanwhile, we have evidence that around the same time... Feldman (4+ state 'regional spokesman' for the Mccain campaign) got on the phone with all the local press and started not only telling the story in detail... but apparently making up new politically tinged details.

Putting aside the insanity of this woman and her ill conceived story, the Mccain campaign clearly attempted to manipulate the situation and Felman seems to have interfered with it. Instead of pushing wild conspiracy stories, we should be focusing like a laser beam on the outrage those local reporters have expressed.

Felman and the campaign leaked this... spun it... hyped it... and even lied about it.

[FVZA_Colonel]

11. She may have been a disturbed young woman who needs medical help, but these men still exploited her.

[Waiting For Everyman]

40. Yes, they did exploit her - a lot.

More on that in post #39.

[seabeyond]

54. disturbed my ass. no more so than the men that "exploited" her. she doesnt get a pass cause

she is female exploited by male. she lies. and as repug and white thinks she can get away with whatever. as do the three males. she gets to own her part, and anyone who helped her gets to own theirs. to make her out to be "helpless" and "victim" is disgustingly stereotyping females as weak, incapable. she did this wrong all on her part

and i am not buying the mentally ill. i know people with her character and as foriegn as it is for me, saying wtf, people behaving like this, they do it in awareness. they know what they are doing. they just lack in character.

[Waiting For Everyman]

56. I'm saying nothing in defense of her character or a mental health excuse.

I'm more inclined to agree with you than to consider any slack for her at all. But I'm leaving a slight bit of an open mind on that for now. Only for now, until more is known.

What IS clear at the very least, is that one or more of these 3 men definitely exploited what she did, with no regard to acting responsibly about spreading the story to the public, and inflaming it. At least one of them, if not all three of them, did that. And they are the "pros", who should know better.

At worst, it may have been deliberatly planned by the party. Leaving these 3 men's actions out of the picture by either 1) saying she's mentally unstable; or 2) saying she's just vicious - allows them to get a "pass" on any involvement in it. Somebody else was involved, if only in fanning the story. And maybe it was a lot more than that, but that will go unknown unless it's looked into more.

[seabeyond]

57. i refuse the word exploit. that takes ownership from her giving it to another. i refuse exploit

it is so very offensive. she is not weak and incapable. she was quite able. how do you know it wasnt her exploiting the three guys thru lies

whatever investigation brings out is fine. but to lessen her part, making her a victim in any way, .... i refuse.

[Waiting For Everyman]

64. Ok, I agree with your point - it's just a word.

SHE DID an action, which she's responsible for. They "took advantage" of that action, to their own benefit. They "used" it. That's what I mean.

You're right about other possibilities. She knew she was perpetrating a hoax - so she could've gone to Dan Garcia's place just to get him involved in it... or she could've gone there because he WAS involved in helping her with it.

But after that it breaks down. Garcia knew what he saw wasn't plausible, and Eilon should've known, and Feldman certainly knew not to inflame the story before it was checked out. That's at a minimum.

[seabeyond]

67. thanks. but words are important to me. especially on this. women use it.

we like to say feminism, but some women use it. and it weakens ALL women when one is allowed this.

i appreciate

and will let it go.

i have people in my life like this, so i see it too much

[seabeyond]

62. thinking further. why do you think people like this make it to twenties and beyond still

behaving in this manner. lie after lie after lie. it is because when they get caught they are able to bring it to this. the poor pathetic them and they NEVER have to face the repercussion of their choices. i have a brother, still in his forties that behaves like this. i know other people. this is all so typical in behavior. i NEVER let him hand me the bullshit and i always sit in amazement as i watch people buy it. and the actual harm it does him for them to buy it.

[FVZA_Colonel]

79. I'm not saying she should get a free pass.

I just meant that even if she is "disturbed," these men were clearly at fault. And I don't buy that she was "disturbed" in such a way as to prevent her from knowing right from wrong at the time she did this.

[Heather MC]

15. Does she have a history of Mental problems. Or did her crazy just appear

I don't buy it, She has mental problems that cause her to attempt to start race riots
Do they have a pill for that mental disease?

[Essene]

30. she claimed to have a history of mental illness...

i havent seen anything confirming it.

either the media has gone into "no longer care" mode, or they are quietly investigating for future follow-ups.

[yardwork]

72. Her history of doing similar tricks in the past didn't stop the College Republicans from hiring her

and putting her in a very high-profile position. She was one of only 50 College Republicans on the twitter network. She was sent to Pennsylvania by the McCain campaign.

This was not some random volunteer.

[krawhitham]

19. It’s Not Paranoia If They’re Really Out To Get You.

[adamuu]

23. Thom Servo that comment doesn't do much for your credibility

considering your previous thread on the matter.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7597619&mesg_id=7597619

Trying to deflect attention, now?

[frickaline]

35. It's funny, I actually didn't think there was any coverup until I saw your post

Now I find myself wondering what your interest is in not having this discussion.

What an amazing response time you have on your one and only issue of interest.

[PA Democrat]

36. And your friend, Garcia admitted to reporters that he doubted her story

Specifically, Garcia is quoted as saying, "I had red flags going up, but I didn't think it was prudent of me to ask the truth. I wanted to make sure she was OK."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08299/922849-53.stm

So despite "red flags" and despite not asking for "the truth" he went ahead and snapped pictures which he gave to Ethan Eilon, the Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee. Did he mention the "red flags" to Eilon because at least one of the 2 of them made the decision to spread and politicize the story despite Garcia's doubts about Todd's truthfulness.

[spanone]

42. it's not a dumb mistake when you accuse a black man of assault....it's a crime

[Cha]

61. I know.."dumb mistake" is what sends

RED FLAGS Up the yin yang!

[RagAss]

43. Get the Fuck out of here !!!!!

You represent the dying farts of the Fucktard Dynasty !

[RetroLounge]

44. Troll Hat for you...

:eyes:

RL

[stillcool]

45. Does that mean all Republicans..

who consistently pull this kind of shit have mental problems?

[glitch]

60. Let me rephrase your question and answer that: Does that mean all Republicans have mental problems?

Yes.

[mitchum]

47. You came in here and tried to do damage control for your buddy yesterday

No one is buying it
He is DIRTY

[Waiting For Everyman]

51. Mr. Servo, where's the tin foil? I didn't draw any conclusions in the OP.

Did I? All I did that is new, is to add your friend's title which he never seemed to mention in any of the stories I read... that last year while at Texas A&M, he was the South Texas Regional Director of the Texas Young Republican Federation (The TYRF).

Why would your friend Dan Garcia leave that detail out of his statements about it, do you think? Wouldn't he be proud of it? Wouldn't his leadership position in the TYRF be relevant to his statements about an incident involving a College Republican worker from Texas? A college worker he knew from one of those events before she ever left Texas, to become involved in this unfortunate situation in Pittsburgh - where he happens to be a law student? Is any of that not factual?

Or should I address you as Cody Dumas? Or are you someone else in their circle?

[IsItJustMe]

58. Yep, with a little help with some other disturbed people. Very Plausible.

[crossroads]

66. Disturbed all right! A sad product of too much Faux Noise...

[jsmirman]

69. Servo - you really do yourself no credit with such a BS response

this story is bigger than that, and no amount of wishin' and hopin' will change that.

I now think that you are a useless Republican plant.

[yardwork]

71. Bye, Thom Servo.

[Jed Dilligan]

78. .

[Warren Stupidity]

81. You should disclose your alleged personal relationship with Garcia

B girl may very well have mental problems, including of course cognitive issues, but Garcia, your friend, appears to perhaps have acted to further a conspiracy to fraudulently report a crime and to exploit that hoax for political purposes. His action of sending the pictures to the CRNC is an act which needs a whole lot of explaining. Tossing insults is not going to diminish or dismiss the facts here.

[Nevernose]

84. She's a racist trying to stir up racial tensions

Most people still defending McCain/Palin, by the way, are by definition disturbed and with mental problems.

[TexasObserver]

90. Nope. Sane analysis of the facts. More dirty tricks from the party of dirty tricks.

[Marrah_G]

96. This was not a "mistake" this was a woman purposefully trying to fan the racial divide.

You and the others like you should be ashamed of yourselves and your campaign. Your campaign has been fanning the flames, trying to invoke racial violence before the election so you can pin Obama to ~scary black men who rape and mutilate virginal young republican white women~.

Fuck off.

[NashVegas]

97. You Think These Men Didn't Know What a Black Eye Looks Like?

eh?

[Eric J in MN]

2. Did she refuse medical treatment or not?

"takes her to a hospital"?

[Jackpine Radical]

8. "Take me to a hospital. I want to officially refuse medical reatment."

[napi21]

5. Garcia isn't musch of a law student. Didn't learn much! IMO they

didn't think this through. I'm glad they got caught and shown to be stupid, but smart criminals could have made this story last...just maybe long enough! Thank God for stupid Pubs!

[Cha]

63. Really..thankfully they were too

stupid to make it last.

[TheKentuckian]

9. More is going on here than Ashley the Plant

The McGollum people were pushing hard on this. They got this into the media and were quickly running with it. Tinfoil my ass, this is going on in plain sight.

[mcg]

85. It seems they were all ready for it, I wonder why. nt

[TheDonkey]

10. Can we just please shut the College Republicans down? Arrest all of them? Pretty please???

[Historic NY]

13. Jr. Creeps.......they are complicit in the fabrication

[grantcart]

14. They all deserve bonuses and a promotion

robbed McCain 3 days of news cycles and killed what ever feeble attempt McCain had for a PA comeback.

Well done fellows.

[lligrd]

17. I Think She Did It To Get Attention From The Guy

She probably had a crush on him and did it to get his sympathy. When he reported it to the police it spun out of control on her.

[Essene]

31. very possible

this guy was much older than her. she had stayed with him before. she may have really, really liked him and it sounds like she had a victim complex.

i imagine her being potentially a very unstable girl. i imagine her driving around all these places in the north east, feeling increasingly isolated and increasingly a victim. see her video about being "stalked" by some black janitor in queens. her twitter/blog thing talks shows her being uncomfortable in a bad neighborhood. i can easily see all these things messing with the mind of a 20 year old unstable campaigner who's a long ways from home.

she somehow ended up with this absurd story which was incoherent from the first few questions asked.

i'm convinced this girl did NOT expect this to become a media thing at all. nor did she obviously expect the story to be seriously investigated.

my initial reaction was that she was covering up somebody actually assaulting her, perhaps even this guy. i dont believe that's a real possibility, now.

anyways, trying to impress this guy was probably very much a big factor in this.

[Undercurrent]

20. A set up? A dirty political op?

Your dammed right it was. This whole stunt is reminiscent of Nixon's CRP.

That's it! Nixon has risen from the dead, and this is the night of the living CREEPs!

[rasputin1952]

21. It appears that this young woman has had psychological problems

in the past/current time frames. If this is the situation, she should receive treatment, and the 3 individuals that apparently manipulated her should be held accountable, if not under the law, then certainly by the GOP, (as if that would ever happen). Abusing an individual, whether it be physical or psychological is never a good option, these men have no moral base at all.

It is important to get to the truth of the matter, and the public be advised as to what really occurred. Most importantly though, this shows us the importance of those who need medical/psychological help be able to receive said aid.

[adamuu]

22. bookmarked, k & r n/t

[Quantess]

24. How slimy----I mean, how interesting.

I will read this tomorrow at a decent hour.

[truthisfreedom]

25. So Garcia was sleeping with her, too.

[Essene]

32. i dont think there is evidence of that... and i kinda doubt it

32 year old law student. 20 year old lunatic girl.

he sounds like a very politically active guy who simply allowed her to stay there. she showed up looking like she did, saying she was assaulted... he called the cops and informed her boss.

i do suspect she was romantically into him... as somebody noted above, because it sounds like her main motivation could have been to impress this guy... moreso than to get media attention.

[RetroLounge]

46. "32 year old law student. 20 year old lunatic girl."

and this proves to you they weren't sleeping together?

:eyes:

RL

[Essene]

68. lol

touche

[yardwork]

73. Earlier reports said that she had stayed with him the previous weekend, too.

That made me wonder. If true, I suspect that they did have sex. She might have hoped it would lead to a relationship, but he wasn't interested, so then she pulled this stunt to get his attention and sympathy. However, that would not explain why he so quickly forwarded it to the College Republicans.

Either way, it's a slimy story and the College Republicans and McCain's campaign look terrible.

[MagickMuffin]

26. Ethan Eilon: In the mold of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater who held the position before him

Ethan Eilon currently serves as the Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee where he oversees the grassroots and online activism of over 250,000 students on 1800 campuses. On behalf of the Committee Ethan has revolutionized the organizations information management system and is largely credited with the acclaimed new direction the Committee has taken. In the mold of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater who held the position before him, Ethan humbly hopes to sustain a vibrant future for the Republican Party by engaging young voters and activists across the country.
...
In 2004 Ethan was asked to oversee the 72 Hour program statewide for Victory/Bush Cheney 04 where he would manage the turnout operation for over 2.5 million registered voters.

After 2004, Ethan returned to school at the University of Denver, where he and Charlie Smith would begin to redesign the scope and implementation of youth coalitions across the state. Bolstered by successes in Colorado, Ethan would go on to design and execute the unanimous victory of a New CRNC team to the College Republican National Committee.


****************************************************************

It would seem as though Dan Garcia is lying.



Thursday:
Ms. Todd then went to a friend's house in the 5100 block of Cypress Street, about a mile away, where she reported the incident to police about 45 minutes later. She declined medical treatment at that time.

A friend said Ms. Todd went to an unknown hospital on her own around 1 a.m.


Friday:

The officer asked Ms. Todd if she needed medical attention. She declined. Instead, Mr. Garcia said, they went to eat at Ritter's Diner on Baum Boulevard. He then persuaded her to go to nearby UPMC Shadyside, where he waited for her until 2 a.m.

[davidpdx]

27. Email them and ask them if they are proud of themselves

The Ugly 4:

Garcia: [email protected]
Eilon: [email protected]
Feldman: (need to search for this)
Todd: (need to search for this)

[Essene]

28. SORRY... but all the evidence goes against a conspiracy

At this point.

This Garcia guy did nothing special. A woman he knows came to the door saying she was assaulted. He later said he was a bit skeptical and the police apparently documented his skepticism, as well.

It seems a couple folks on DU think the right response would be to call her a liar. Most of us sane people would have just called the police and made sure she was OK, regardless of suspicions.

He took a photo, called the police... and also updated her employer, the College Republicans. Nothing this Garcia did was particularly bad or suspicious. I can't particularly blame him for contacting the College Republicans and would reserve judgment until i saw the nature of the email itself.

Now... imagine you are the head of the College Republicans... you get an email about how one of your people was allegedly assaulted in PA, and you get this photo of the girl. HERE LIES SOME RESPONSIBILITY. He may or may not have questioned the photo. Regardless, they clearly contacted the campaign.

Somewhere in that mess the main Mccain campaign got into the mix, with the regional spokesman making calls to press and pushing an even more provocative story than was made up by her. HERE LIES PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY. He's likely the one who leaked to Drudge, since Drudge wouldn't likely just run with a story from somebody low on the food chain.

I can completely sympathize with the Garcia guy who simply treated her seriously, took a photo and told authorities.

I can roll my eyes and understand the petty partisanship of the College Republican guy who passed on the story without verifying it.

I cannot forgive the Mccain campaign for not only leaking the story before getting their facts straight, but going ahead and exploiting the story... twisting the facts and adding their own to get the max political impact. The original story is sad, but what the Mccain campaign did is itself a story of abuse of public trust. Not that anybody open minded enough to see this hasn't already swung away from Mccain.

[Ichingcarpenter]

75. To Quote Ronald Reagan:

"There you go again"

[Warren Stupidity]

82. Ah here you are again predictably pushing in the wrong direction.

Garcia sending the pictures to the CRNC is a fact not in dispute. His doing so made him an active participant in the hoax. Had he merely reported the 'crime' to the police he would be clear, but that is not where his involvement ended.

How many times do you intend to be so publicly wrong on this?

[H2O Man]

33. Nominated.

Very important.

[DainBramaged]

34. Young Republican Federation

Is that like the gang that couldn't shoot straight?

[hexola]

38. Has anyone tried to connect Ashley to the McCain office vandalism that happend about the same time?

Anyone try to make a case that Ashley busted up the place just like she did her face?

[mcg]

95. The vandalism near Pittsburg ...

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/politics/17738303/detail.html

PORT VUE, Pa. -- Police are investigating vandalism reported at a McCain-Palin campaign office on Washington Boulevard in Port Vue.

Campaign workers tell police someone threw a brick and a tire through the front plate-glass window of the storefront office in a small shopping center sometime Wednesday night.

---

A tire? Sounds fishy to me.

[Waiting For Everyman]

39. Some additional thoughts...

Expanding on post #11 above...

The very best that can be said of this is - these 3 men DID exploit her, A LOT.

It's hard to imagine professional operatives, as all three of them are, doing what each of them did in good faith. I can see taking pictures of her supposed injuries. But then, seeing that the "B" is backwards? and a little too neat? Wouldn't they instead, no matter how much they may have believed her... wouldn't they instead have waited to publicize this until she and her story were checked out a little more? Isn't that how Dems would react, if we imagine the situation reversed? Wouldn't they want to know, at least for themselves, that their story was solid first? Why was Feldman involved in it so fast?

And how did these 3 men not know each other? or at least *know of* each other? Certainly Garcia and Eilon had to have some acquaintanceship, since both were figures in Young Republican organizations. Also Elion and Feldman had to know of each other to some degree, since both were "national level". When Garcia gave the photos to Eilon, wasn't there any doubt expressed between them about this, or about her, by either one of them? Garcia could see her injuries, and Eilon was her boss. Neither one expressed doubts to the other? Garcia didn't say something didn't look right about it, and Eilon didn't say she's a little unstable? She had already been let go by the Ron Paul organization in TX for questionable behavior/tactics - the RP organization could see something wrong about her, but not Garcia or Eilon? even in this kind of strange scenario?

I'm not "on her side". I wouldn't even read the story until a day after it broke because right away, from the first paragraph, it sounded to me like something Repubs would do, not Dems - I wasn't interested, or sympathetic, just angry at Todd for doing it. And I wasn't at all surprised, then, that it turned out to be a hoax. But when I did eventually read the details, what first caught my attention was mention of the fact that she was "estranged from her mother".

This girl was isolated from family, a perfect patsy choice. The next thing is, Garcia and Todd met back in TX in her home town. And yet, he happens to be there in Pittsburgh for her to run to on this night? He happens to be the one there she knows to call?

And she just happens to be working for the NCRC? I think Garcia either referred her to this job, or recruited her. I think this was either planned in advance, or encouraged on the spur of the moment. The Repubs were getting flack for how violent their supporters are at Palin rallies. This looks to me like their idea of a reverse story - to show "how violent Dems are". (Of course we know that isn't so. Their supporters are angry as a rule, whereas if a Dem ever did this kind of thing, it would have to be a rare fluke.)

I'm not a lawyer, but I can imagine a pretty good defense for Todd. Taking her side of it as a lawyer would do, I could see Rohypnol, the date rape drug, explaining most of it. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it's a plausible defense for her. And it could've happened.

The key fact for me, is the job positions of these 3 men, within the Repub party.


* edit for name spelling.

[Waiting For Everyman]

41. A Freeper footnote about Dan Garcia...

When I first googled his name, this is the first article I found, about a road-trip of sorts which he took with three TX buddies to the Iowa Repub straw poll, as "Fred Heads".

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/make-way-for-the-fred-heads/

Ken Emanuelson, Jeff Mitchell, Cody Dumas, and Dan Garcia. An email from Emanuelson recounting the story was posted on FR, and also came up in the google search...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1881107/posts

These names don't mean anything to me, but maybe they do to some of you, so I'm just adding this sidenote for what it's worth. I saw that Emanuelson is also an attorney, but beyond that, I didn't pursue it.

It does sort of remind me of Segretti and the Ratfuckers for CREEP. And this hoax is like a Little-Watergate (just like place names such as "Little Tokyo" or "Little Italy"? That isn't "a point" or anything relevant, just my sense of humor.)

[sabra]

48. Dan Garcia

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_595166.html


Dan Garcia of Bloomfield met Ashley Todd among Republican circles at Texas A&M University, where he graduated in May. Garcia called 911 for Todd, who stopped at his home after the incident. "I believed she was telling the truth," Garcia said.
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review

<snip>

Garcia said he met Todd among Republican circles in College Station. They were not close friends but had been virtual friends on the Internet site Facebook. Traveling around New York and Pennsylvania to campaign for the McCain-Palin ticket, she had spent the previous Friday and Saturday nights at his house, but Garcia said he had not seen her since then.

Todd called Garcia's cell phone at 8:56 p.m. Wednesday and asked if she could come over. When she arrived, Garcia thought the etched "B" looked like it could have come from the pin of a campaign button.

Garcia said he accepted her story, partly because Todd told him that she was a student at Texas A&M, where he had graduated in May. It was important, he said, to get out the message to other alumni and Republicans.

A Texas A&M official said Todd has never been a student at the school. People who knew Todd from Texas said they believe she has attended Blinn College, a community college in Bryan, Texas. A woman in the Blinn registrar's office said it would be "completely against the law" for her to release, confirm or provide any information about a student's status at the college.

Garcia said he only started to fully doubt the details of the story when police brought them in for questioning Thursday evening, and the session lasted more than five hours.

[Ilsa]

49. Ashley is guilty of the hoax, but where is her

family to defend her? She isn't old enough to drink, and if she has mental issues, I would think her family would speak up for her, and appeal to her supposed friends about bailing her out of jail. I wonder what else is going on with this woman and if she is really mentally ill or just hateful?

[Willo]

50. K&R nt

[asdjrocky]

53. Really good work here.

That's evident by the tin foil hat comment at the top of the thread. You've clearly hit a nerve.

[Waiting For Everyman]

74. Thanks!

That first response was fast, wasn't it?

[Overseas]

59. These 3 guys are Loyal Modern Republicans

They understand and operate within the Modern Republican ethical guidelines--

THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS !

[Cha]

65. And their "means" is getting so beyond the pale

that their "end" is Guaranteed.

[Overseas]

76. Hope so.

They've crossed so many ethical boundaries.

[Genevieve]

70. Pizza has formally been delivered for Thom Servo. lol!

nt

[Cha]

77. Thom..we hardly knew ye.

But, the skeptics on DU knew enough. I was tempted to defend him on his OP but something stopped me.

[Starry Messenger]

80. More on Dan Garcia via Rumproast.

http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/ugly_reflections/

"That Garcia was deeply hurt by the girl is believable, and that had there been a conspiracy, they would have done it better, is plausible. Even when it comes to the notion that Dan Garcia is “a standup guy,” there’s a temptation to believe it.

It seems that a couple of years ago down in Brazos County, Texas, the apparently naive Garcia got himself into a little pickle. As an organizer for the Brazos County Young Republicans, he’d invited a fringe element called the Texas Minutemen to attend one of their meetings. The plan quickly went awry:

'When the Minutemen’s quirky leader started rambling about a secret plan to “merge Canada and Mexico with the United States,” the good Republicans in the home of the George Bush Presidential Library started squirming in their chairs behind half-eaten barbecue plates.'"

More at link

[CJCRANE]

88. I disagree with

"had there been a conspiracy, they would have done it better".

Prisons are full of people who could have "done it better". That's just part of the criminal mentality to think you can get away with it.

[Starry Messenger]

93. I was just posting the link.

Opinions are not mine.

[mcg]

83. Takes pics, they eat, THEN calls the police, takes her to a hospital.

"Garcia takes pictures, takes her somewhere to eat, calls the police, and takes her to a hospital. He gives pictures to the police and Eilon. Drudge gets the story, Todd gets calls from McC/P."

That's a very strange sequence of events. If a friend of mine had just been mugged, beaten, and mutilated, I would NOT take pictures (the police do that) or take her to eat. A small woman gets beaten by a 6'4" man and treatment can wait? She's in good enough shape to go eat?

Let's see, a friend tells me "I've just been mugged, beaten, and mutilated, I think I want to go eat." I say "Oh, ok, but let's take pictures first, treatment can wait, because the police will need them, they don't take pictures." Oh yes, right. Everyone knows the police take pictures. Why take pictures? To send them to the press, and hope/assume that the police won't do their job and actually investigate whether the attack actually happened.

A few weeks ago my mother got hurt. We didn't take pictures and eat, we went to the clinic. (She's healing fine.)

It appears that the black eye was from already there before the nonexistent attack (see H2OMan's post). What/who caused the black eye. Did Garcia see it?

I can see why Garcia got himself a lawyer. It seems obvious to me that Todd is not the only guilty party in perpetrating this fraud. It seems he was involved in planning it.

[Waiting For Everyman]

89. Bingo! A very good point.

Their lack of urgency in seeking help hit me right away. But I don't have personal knowledge of the police procedure as you do. Is it right to say the police pics would not have been released to the public?

So the pics they took were only to have some for reporters to put in the story.

No wonder then, they didn't stop to question whether they should run with it or not, so fast, since taking their own pics SHOWS that was already their intention. Hmm... That makes it look a whole lot guiltier to me.

You know what though? They would've been better off if the public had not seen the pics, because they didn't even look real. Without seeing that, more people would've believed it longer.

(I'm very sorry your mom was hurt. :hug:)

[mcg]

94. I don't think police always release photos to the public,

I think they only do that when they deem it warranted and helpful to a case.
What if the police have great doubts about the authenticity of a reported attack?
I doubt that they would release photos in that case. I think this was going
through the republican perps' minds. It seems that he knew it was fake.

Regarding my mom being hurt ...

My mom got hurt in a ladder accident. I was on the ladder. The accident
happened several weeks ago.

What I learned: Never for a split second take being on a ladder lightly,
no matter how high up you are, check the integrity of the ladder first,
and use a good ladder.

It was my mom's shin, the skin was cut by a ladder that I was on. She was behind the ladder. I don't know exactly what happened. I was getting down and the ladder seemed to suddenly collapse under me, or maybe I just got off balance. I hit my thigh on the ladder. I moved off the ladder, checked if I had a broken bone - no - looked over and saw my mother on the ground. That was one of the worst moments of my life. Then I saw blood on her shin, which was bad, but also good because I realized she didn't have a broken hip, which could have been life threatening. I looked at the ladder and saw that the bottom cross piece opposite the bottom rung was bent a lot. Either it bent when I hit or it bent and caused the accident. We went inside and put bandages on the wounds. She didn't want to go to the clinic but I insisted. They did a good job cleaning the cuts and putting ointment and dressing on them. They took an x-ray, no bone breaks.

Her cuts are healing well. My thigh is almost totally healed (it was a huge bruise). My skin still hurts a little if I pinch it. This was from a fall of only a couple feet or so.

[renate]

87. do we actually have any reason to think that Thom Servo is guilty of more than believing his friend?

This is all so confusing and tangled.

If I had a friend who told me something, especially if they seemed to have information about a news story, my tendency would be to believe him. Human nature. And my tendency would also be to come here to tell my DU friends about it. Again, human nature.

:shrug:

[Waiting For Everyman]

91. What if...

Your friend was the Southern Regional Director of the Texas Young Republican Federation while the two of you were at Texas A&M last year? Would you still be so sure he wasn't involved in this - an incident about a young College Republican? Would you be 100% sure of that?

Did Thom Servo not know about his friend's position in the TYRF? That seems unlikely. But if he didn't know that until I posted it, wouldn't he get on the phone and ask his friend if that was true... instead of watching and being ready to post "tin foil hats" (post #1) within ONE MINUTE of this thread going up?

TS seemed to be just as you're saying for a while in his own thread about it (linked in post #12 near the top), but his response to this thread was a giveaway.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it... why he cared so much what we think or discuss here?