They Don’t Make Ratfuckers Like They Used To
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.