Compare and Contrast: Two Allegations of Campaign Violence
I 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 →