A tale of two faces - McCain Campaign's Fake Hate Crimes while Perpurtrating their own real ones

Update from Greetings: Sunday, October 26
I thought that the Salon article pointed out the distinct issue with those on the far right so ready to use racism to divide the country; with the McCain campaign ready to jump on a false story generated to cause more fear of other races; and with the quiet, steady-handed work of the Pittsburgh police that put truth at the forefront, thus casting light on those who tried to act scurrilously.

I noted the quote from Fox News VP in the article who, while saying that if this were a hoax, it should be the end of John McCain's campaign, his point was that it should cause those who support Obama to rethink that support. My first thought was, if it did happen, I hope they find the person and I hope this woman is alright. My second thought was, "why should it cause anyone to rethink support for Obama?" Although, certainly, I have rethought my support of McCain and Palin because their supporters were shouting such outrageous statements as "Terrorist" and "Kill him" of a U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate who has served honorably, and who might be our future President. This, while, Palin and McCain continued to whip these marginal personalities into a murderous frenzy... personally.

So today I looked up the Fox News (Faux News) website, and thought, "OK... Moody should be talking about what he said... this should be the end of McCain's campaign." But to my feigned surprise, there was no such statement from Moody or Fox.. and there was absolutely no coverage.. even followup coverage. .. of this very dangerous, racist hoax on the part of a McCain supporter.. a hoax which was amplified by McCain's campaign, by Faux News, Drudge, and others. Only reports of "Palin attacks Obama " and other such headlines.

Whoops. We might actually have to do what we said we'd do? Act responsibly? Decry racism in America and race baiting on behalf of one of the candidates?... nahhhhhh

Saturday October 25, 2008 23:29 EDT Salon.com

I was attending the fascinating WebbyConnect conference for a few days, and the campaign got deeply weird while I was gone. Catching up on television Friday I found myself transfixed by wall-to-wall coverage of two female faces suddenly at the center of this presidential race --the expensively made-up visage of Sarah Palin and the sad self-mutilated face of Ashley Todd, the disturbed McCain volunteer in Pennsylvania who claimed she was sexually assaulted by an Obama supporter. In a two-day news environment that was supposed to be a big opportunity for John McCain -- Barack Obama was off the trail with his ailing grandmother --McCain instead faced critical coverage of the shocking sums Palin spent for clothes, hair and makeup, as well as his campaign's role in advancing what turned out to be the totally false tale of a white woman abused by a black male Obama backer.

Should either of these stories be big news? Of course both are a distraction from the big issues of the campaign -- the economy, the environment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I think the strange controversies over these two women matter because they reveal a corruption at the heart of the McCain campaign. The huge sum spent perfecting the already beautiful Palin for the cameras is the less disturbing of the two stories, but I would disagree with some of my Broadsheet colleagues: I think it's a valid topic for reporting, analysis and criticism. It shows the insanely screwy priorities of the McCain campaign.

Sarah Palin didn't need the best clothing and stylists money could buy; she needed tutoring and coaching on the issues. (She also needed more vetting in August, and what she really needed was to stay as the governor of Alaska, but we won't go there.) Then there's the class hypocrisy -- the so-called Wal-Mart mom shopping at Neiman Marcus, spending more on clothes in a few days than most women spend in their adult lifetimes. The fact that the highest paid staffer on the troubled McCain team this month is Palin's makeup person is also ludicrous; you can't make this stuff up. But it proves that the campaign values Palin primarily for her star power. Robert Draper's incredible article in the New York Times Magazine makes the cynical emphasis on artifice clearer, and more damaging to the campaign.

The Ashley Todd hoax is much more disturbing, of course -- and what's worst about it is the role of the McCain campaign and conservative media in validating it. A local McCain communications staffer gave out details of the alleged attack that hadn't been confirmed by police. Both McCain and Palin called to console this lone staffer, again before the details of the attack could be confirmed, increasing its news value. Matt Drudge , of course, hyped the story hard. Fox News V.P. John Moody said the attack could lead some voters to "revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee." (Moody also said that "if the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting." We'll be watching for a Fox "Breaking News " alert declaring the McCain campaign officially "over," now that the hoax has been revealed.) Andrew Sullivan rounded up the conservatives who breathlessly advanced the story here.

Why were so many people on the right so ready to believe such a disturbing tale based on so little evidence? Was the story of a violent 6-foot-4-inch black man -- how tall is Obama? --punishing a white female McCain voter too good not to be true? It's hard not to see the troubled Ashley Todd's story, and its reception on the right, as a result of the climate of fear and demonization that McCain and Palin clearly believe is their only hope to win Nov. 4. Todd needs help, but McCain and Palin need to be criticized for helping to advance this story before the facts were in. It's really one of the most despicable things this awful team has done in a pretty lowlife campaign. There's no doubt in my mind that the anti-Obama slurs ("pallin' around with terrorists") that have come from Sarah Palin's lovely and expensively lacquered mouth helped create a climate that leads a disturbed person like Todd to her drama of victimization.

But while these strangely disturbing female faces -- one gussied up with the best makeup money can buy, the other tough to look at, mutilated by self-hate -- visually dominated the news Friday, a parade of male Republicans endorsing Obama this week was the real story. Charles Fried, Scott McClellan, William Weld, Arne Carlson and of course Colin Powell last Sunday -- each laid out a devastating case for why they had to abandon their party, and most of them focused on McCain's irresponsible pick of Palin as a major factor in their decision. Christopher Hitchens likewise came out for Obama, calling McCain "borderline senile" on "Hardball" Friday. The news was weird this week, but still, it's all bad for McCain-Palin.




-- Joan Walsh