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They Don’t Make Ratfuckers Like They Used To

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I noted yesterday that, with the evidence that the cops may in fact have been the source of the "teach her a lesson" quote given to Pittsburgh’s TV stations (though clearly via the McCain campaign), one big question remained about the McCain team’s involvement in pushing Ashley Todd’s story to the press: who gave Drudge the picture of Todd.

It looks increasingly likely that the College Republicans gave Drudge the photo. We know, at least, that the friend whose house she went to before she called the cops, Dan Garcia, gave a copy of the photo to the College Republicans.

Mr. Garcia, 32, a first-year student at the University of Pittsburgh law school who also is from Texas, met Ms. Todd in May at a gathering of young Republicans in their hometown of College Station. On Wednesday night, she came back to his house, bruised and battered, and told him of the attack. He contacted police.

Mr. Garcia said his immediate response was to tend to the wound on her cheek. A police officer arrived, and Ms. Todd became belligerent when the officer asked where the mugging happened.

[snip]

Mr. Garcia took the widely published picture of Ms. Todd with her injuries. He said he took several photographs with a digital camera to document what had happened. He said he only gave copies of the photos to police and Ms. Todd’s employer, the College Republicans. One photo appeared on The Drudge Report on Thursday, setting off a storm of media attention.

Mind you, I don’t entirely buy Garcia’s story. Why, for example, was there a half-hour or longer lapse before he and Todd called the cops? And when he describes meeting her at a gathering of "Young Republicans" does he mean "College Republicans"?

But I do believe that he gave the photo he took of Todd’s face to the College Republicans. From there, the photo magically landed on the front page of Drudge.

Though it doesn’t take much magic for an incendiary photo to get from the hands of the College Republicans to the front page of Drudge.  

Compare and Contrast: Two Allegations of Campaign Violence

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20081024ashley_todd_160.jpgI spent a good chunk of the day chasing down and then not reporting this story (which was first noted here) and related details about the McCain campaign’s involvement in pushing Ashley Todd’s story. But after chasing the story all day, I think we’d all be better off trying to calm tensions, rather than attacking the McCain campaign (yet) for pushing this story.

First, let’s look carefully at what we know the McCain campaign did (and let me make clear–I’m not ruling out the possibility that they did more than this, I’m just dealing with what we currently have evidence of). First, when called by a local TV station following up on the Drudge story, the campaign told the TV station that the attacker had said, "I’m going to teach you a lesson," and that the letter "B" stood for Barack. In addition, the campaign told the TV station that Palin had called Todd. Note–the station called the campaign, not vice versa. 

John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain’s Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You’re with the McCain campaign? I’m going to teach you a lesson."

Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the "B" stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax.

The KDKA reporter had called McCain’s campaign office for details after seeing the story — sans details — teased on Drudge. [my emphasis]

But let’s be clear: the campaign didn’t come up with the claim that the assailant wanted to "teach her a lesson." Todd did. I found numerous examples–like this one–that attribute precisely those words to the police, not the campaign, describing Todd’s allegations.

"He continued to kick and punch her repeatedly and said he would teach her a lesson for supporting John McCain," said police Chief Nate Harper. [my emphasis]

The cops were reporting that line contemporaneously with the rest of the allegations (this story appears to come from the first batch of story reported and printed in the 4PM to 6PM range). Read more →