Yesterday (10/24) afternoon at the sushi bar, I told my pal Danny to expect Ashley Todd’s tall (6’4″) tale to implode by the end of the day. Around 8 pm, a fellow on the smoke deck said his Republican pal called with the news that Todd had confessed and quipped, “Welcome to your Barack Obama presidency.” On 10/23, Fox News VP John Moody prophesied similarly in his blog post “Moment of Truth”.
That does not mean that he has erased the mutual distrust between black and white Americans, and this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election.
If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may 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.
If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.
For Pittsburgh, a city that has done so much to shape American history over the centuries, another moment of truth is at hand.
The truth is clearly out there, and you don’t have to be Miss Marple or Fox Mulder to figure out cui bono from this “hoax” (hint: it ain’t McCain’s deliberately doomed campaign nor the good people of Bloomfield). Alas, the Todd case grows more familiar as it grows more bizarre.
Investigators asked Todd to return to the police station today for more questioning and to help them release a composite sketch of the suspect.
When she did, police say she admitted that she made the whole thing up and that it snowballed out of control.
Todd told investigators today that she “just wanted to tell the truth” – adding that she was neither robbed, nor attacked.
“She indicated that she has prior mental problems and that she does not remember how the backward letter B got on her face,” Richard told reporters today.
Todd told police that while she did not remember how the backward “B” got on her face, she may have done it herself since she was the only one in the car.
According to police, Todd said she thought of Barack Obama when she saw the “B” in her rearview mirror.
I’m willing to entertain the notion that Todd is just a messed-up kid (i.e. “lone nut”), creeped out (as am I) by the prospect of an Obama presidency, who made some stuff up in a demented attempt to help in an unhelpable situation. Her story was so transparently bogus that, in an uncharacteristic display of restraint, Pittsburgh police didn’t just nail some random dark-skinned fellow and call it a day. So, you know, props to the cops ‘n’at.
Most folks I spoke with today want to believe that Todd was “put up to it” by McCain’s campaign (have I mentioned I work at Whole Foods?), and perhaps she was. Considering the diaphanousness of her original tale and the rapidity of its high-profile collapse, however, I doubt it.
Let’s say Todd’s alleged amnesia concerning the “B” is not evidence of mind-control programming, but just more ad-libbed ass-covering. Let’s say her dissociated bewilderment is either feigned or attributable to her vague “history of mental problems” and set aside the many historical precedents of such folks’ employment as operatives. The Todd saga might not turn out to be a straight-up PSYOP (linked to ACORN, as has been whispered about, or agents provocateur in the McCain camp or whatever) but there are enough red flags here to make those possibilities worth exploring.
On the other hand, the P-G says Todd waved a Huckabee false flag for Ron Paul and got booted from his doomed campaign back in March.
In March, Ms. Todd was asked to leave a grass-roots group of Ron Paul supporters in Brazos County, Texas, group leader Dustan Costine said. He said Ms. Todd posed as a supporter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and called the local Republican committee seeking information about its campaign strategies.”She would call the opposing campaign and pretend she was on their campaign to get information,” Mr. Costine said last night. “We had to remove her because of the tactics she displayed. After that we had nothing to do with her.”
About a month earlier, he said, Ms. Todd sent an e-mail to the Ron Paul group saying her tires were slashed and that campaign paraphernalia had been stolen from her car because she supported Mr. Paul.
“She’s the type of person who wants to be recognized,” Mr. Costine said.
Sometimes a lone nut is just a lone nut, and that may well be the case with Todd. As pals never tire of reminding me, not everything is a conspiracy.
Conspiracies do abound, though, and as long as folks want to believe in something, they tend to do so. If you want to believe that backing one baloney-spouting shyster instead of another in a rigged election is doing your part, for instance, you’re not likely to ask if your part is a nonspeaking, nonpaying extra role in some megalomaniac’s apocalyptic blockbuster. For election season and ever after, we’d all do well to check our beliefs before they wreck something more valuable.
As for Bloomfield, it’s been my home and thus my favorite place on the planet for the past five years, so it irks me that something this lame drew the nation’s attention here. Aside from the occasional mugging and October Surprise (which you’ll get anywhere), Bloomfield is as peaceful and fun a community as you’re ever likely to find.
In any case, so I want to believe.
UPDATE 10-26
The Busman’s Holiday has compiled some fine stuff on the Todd case, for anyone still following it. Props to Bob Mayo and peace to yinz all.
