Shenanigans

So this Ashley Todd business is sort of a big deal here in town since she claimed to be a TAMU student. Turns out she wasn't. She's actually a Blinn student. Yet another lie in her layer cake of asshatery.

What gets me though is how quickly the media and various political blogs took to this story without, you know, vetting it properly. Look, I'm usually one to believe victims, but I have to say my bullshit meter goes bugnuts whenever someone claims that a big, scary black man attacked them. Puh-leez. How friggin' cliche!

Within, like, ten minutes of hearing about this breaking story, I was able to use my Google-fu to snuff out the facts. First, I found Ashley Todd's Myspace page. Her shout-out to a Panic at the Disco song lyric, "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her cloths [sic] off but its [sic] better if you do," had me raising my eyebrows. First off, for her inability to spell "clothes" or to understand the difference between "its" and "it's." Secondly, um, well, read the quote.

Next, I found her Twitter page. Holy hell. Right before the alleged crime occurred, she Twittered the following. "Stubbornly searching for a Bank of America to avoid ATM fees," and "Pretty sure I'm on the wrong side of Pittsburgh." Uh-huh. Because when I'm driving around a strange city, alone, at night, I always have time to Twitter at red lights. This reads like a crappy setup in some badly written mystery novel. Give me a break!

Oh, and then there was her Youtube video I found of the "Mean Janitor" who just happened to be a big, black man. Right...

Throw all that together and it's really hard for me not to roll my eyes in disbelief. When the photo came out, I laughed. Backwards B. Black eye that looks like a mascara job. Oh, dear.

And then, suddenly, I felt really sad. This girl has no idea what kind of shitstorm she created by making up this unbelievable lie. She not only wasted community resources but she stirred up such ugly feelings. You should see some of the comments on blogs and online newspapers. I can't tell you how many comments I read that made me shake my head in disbelief that such hateful, ignorant people still exist.

Even if the story had been true, even if a big, scary black man had scratched the letter B in her face, it wouldn't have been a reflection on Obama's campaign any more than this girl's idiocy should be a reflection on the McCain campaign. Lord knows I don't care for John McCain or Sarah Palin but that doesn't mean I hold them personally responsible for this girl's asshatery. Could you argue that some of Palin's incendiary remarks might have spurred this girl's desperate actions? Maybe. Then again, some people are just sickos.

I do, however, think the Pennsylvania McCain camp representative who fed the story to the media should be fired. He not only made himself look foolish, but his candidates too. As for Ashley Todd, well, it's a good thing she was too much of a coward to do a believable number on her face. Otherwise, she'd be forever branded with a scarlet B. At least now she might be able get some help--which she seriously needs--and fade away into obscurity.