Fox News VP: If McCain Worker Story is a Hoax His Campaign is 'Over'

It has drawn wide local and national--even political attention, with some of the candidates for president/vice president weighing in or even calling -- but now the Ashley Todd story seems to be falling apart. Police in Pittsburgh are relating "inconsistencies" in her story -- to say the least -- and have given the worker for John McCain a polygraph. She had claimed that an Obama fan carved a "B" into her face.

And now John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, has commented on his blog that "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."

He titles his posting: "Moment of Truth." Indeed. Matt Drudge, who had trumpeted the story for nearly 24 hours, just added a new link titled "B...or B.S.?"

It started yesterday afternoon with Drudge screaming at the top of his site this afternoon in red type -- but no siren -- that a Pittsburgh campaign worker for McCain, age 20, had been viciously attacked and the letter "B" carved into her face, presumably by a Barack Obama fan. Her name, it soon emerged, was Ashley Todd and she had come to Pittsburgh from College Station, Texas, to help out.

It started to appear overblown (Drudge downgraded it to smaller, black type) as the police noted that it seemed to be a robbery ($60) and she did not seek medical attention. But later press reports said she would visit a hospital, Sarah Palin and maybe John McCain had reportedly called her and Obama has condemned the alleged assault, although McCain/Obama angle to story not yet confirmed.

Still later, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, and some others, grew skeptical. For one thing, the "B" was carved a little too lightly and perfectly -- and backward, as if done using a mirror. Smoking Gun probed a too-pat "Twitter" angle and Gawker and Wonkette looked at her MySpace page.

Now police say that evidence from the ATM that she reportedly visited did not match her account. And it turns out she has changed her story, admitting that her assailant did not see a McCain bumper sticker and adding to he raccount a sexual assault and losing consciousness.

UPDATE from AP: "Pittsburgh police say a McCain campaign volunteer who said she was held down by a black man who cut the letter "B" in her face has changed her story. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard says investigators gave the 20-year-old woman a lie-detector test and are "looking at some inconsistencies" in her story.

"Police say bank surveillance footage doesn't show her at an ATM where she says she was attacked. Todd, who is white, now says she was knocked unconscious and doesn't remember being cut. She now says she only discovered the wound later."


UPDATE!!!!

Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.


At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley Todd's injuries were self-inflicted.

Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.

Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.

Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.

Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and "the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction."

This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.

Todd told investigators that she didn't remember what happened.

Police say they do not believe any other people were involved; and her friends believed the story about the attack.

McCain supporter robbed, assaulted yea right!!!!!!!!!

ok a man at the ATM is only going to take $60, that she gave him and she walked away and then he saw her McCain sticker got mad and hit her in the back of the head. well how did her eye get blk? and why did she refuse medical attention if you had a knife carve in your face? wouldn't you be worried about a infection?? yea right and we also read that popo didn't even take pictures of her face! but I see matt druge has one NOW. the whole story is bullcrap if you ask us!.I can't wait for the surveillance camera photos. Also if you look at the letter "B" its craved backwards so that would mean it was done in a mirror. can some say (trying to start shit)




A knife-wielding man robbed a McCain-Palin campaign volunteer and etched a “B” into her face after he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the woman’s car, Pittsburgh police said.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street in Bloomfield just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her, put a knife to her throat and demanded $60, police said.

Todd handed the man $60 she had in her pocket and stepped away from him, investigators said. The man then noticed the bumper sticker on the woman's car, which was parked in front of the ATM. The man became very angry, made comments to Todd about John McCain and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, police said.

"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.

The man then carved the "B" into Todd's right cheek. Todd, who isn't familiar with the area, drove to a friend's house nearby and told her friend she wasn't sure of the exact location where the robbery took place but remembered a green sign above the ATM. The friend called police and the officer met them on Cypress Street in Bloomfield, police said.

Todd's friend offered to drive her back in the direction she came from to look at ATMs until she found the right one, police said. A police officer followed until Todd pointed out a Citizens Bank ATM at Liberty and Pearl, police said.

She declined medical treatment at the scene and said she would go to a hospital today.

Todd declined to comment.

"She is a volunteer for the McCain-Palin campaign," said campaign spokesman Peter Feldman. "Sen. McCain has reached out to her via telephone and has spoken to her and her family,” as has McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Feldman said. “Out of respect for her privacy we're not going to comment further."

Democrat Barack Obama's campaign released a statement saying: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice."

Police described the suspect as black, about 6-foot-4, and said he was wearing dark-colored jeans and a black undershirt.

The ATM has a security camera and investigators are trying to watch the video, police said.