Meet Nancy Takehara: An Obama campaign worker who was *actually* attacked.

It broke earlier this week that Nancy Takehara, 58, was canvassing for the Obama campaign in Wisconsin, when a man, now identified as 71 year-old Ronald Goetsch, accused her of working for ACORN, grabbed her hair, and struck her.  

At first glance it may sound similar to the Todd case, but in this instance we have an actual confession from the attacker.

Obama spoke directly to Nancy to check on her health, although the campaign has not released any official statement, other than to say that they take the safety of their campaign staff very seriously.

Brian Williams and Keith Olbermann reporting on McCain camp’s involvement.

Here’s Brian:

And here’s Keith:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27367575#27367575

(sorry the link, Keith. WordPress doesn’t like msnbc’s embedded video)

[from Huffington Post]

Details coming in about McCain campaign pushing Ashley’s bogus story

This epic post at talkingpointsmemo.com details how the Mccain camp was pushing this obviously false Ashley Todd attack, in an effort to incite race-based fear in Pennsylvania.  

According to the post, Mccain communications director Peter Feldman was providing a very inflated and incendiary version of Ashley’s story, citing facts far beyond  what police had been able to concern.

It is clear that the campaign pounced on this opportunity to stoke racial fears in hopes of stealing this election.  Besides pushing this false story prematurely, they released an incendiary press release, and managed to have both candidates call Ashley Todd and her family.  That sort of stuff does not happen without the blessing of campaign managers.

So much for the “honorable” campaign John McCain promised to run.

Quick pat on the back…

Ashleyislying is the fastest growing blog on WordPress. It won’t be updated much longer, of course, but I’m happy to have provided a reference for people trying to get a minute-by-minute account of how this story unfolded.

12,000+ views in the critical 24 hours during which people were busy trying to tell fact from fiction.

Now – back to searching for information about the McCain campaign’s involvement.

John Moody, FOX News VP predicts “McCain’s quest for presidency is over”

Read his blog post here

When there was still some doubt (in the minds of some), Moody predicted that McCain’s campaign would be irretreivably tied to race-baiting if this turned out to be a hoax.  

Well, it’s a hoax.

BREAKING NEWS: ASHLEY TODD HAS CONFESSED TO HER LIES!!!

Update: Link to full confession story

Thanks to all the tipsters who sent me information, including “c” for the news that she confessed.

The job isn’t done yet.   I want to see how early the Mccain campaign was involved in this mess.  I’m hearing reports that Todd called the Mccain campaign BEFORE calling the police.  Still looking for a source on that – any help?

In about 16 hours – this blog got well over 10,000 views and dozens of comments from fellow thinkers around the web.  Together, the blogosphere did what the mainstream media refuses to do, and debunked this story before it got too far.  

Thanks again – I’ll continue posting for a little while as this fizzles out.

Ashley now adding sexual assault to her list of false claims.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the first paper to break the story.  Ashley now claims the attacker, after chasing her down and beating her, also groped her under her blouse.  Ashley now claims she then lost consciousness, and only discovered the backwards ‘B’ when she got to her friend’s house later.

McCain campaign beginning to back off the story.

After initially jumping at this too-good-to-be-true storyline, and after both McCain and Palin personally called Ashley Todd, and after they issued a statement expressing how terribly shaken up they were…

The McCain campaign is now refraining from comment on this story.

Perhaps they smell the lies in the water.

More news coming in about the College Republican National Committee.

It is already clear, from Ashley’s twitter feed leading up to the “attack”, that this whole charade was pre-meditated. 

Given the speed with which this was politicized by the Mccain campaign, it’s now worth noting that the organization Ashley Todd works for, the College Republican National Committee, is a former home to a veritable who’s-who of high-powered right-wing political operatives.

These include Karl Rove, Rick Santorum, Lee Atwater, and several current Mccain campaign advisors.

[thanks to an anonymous tipster]

MAJOR CHANGES TO ASHLEY’S STORY POST-POLYGRAPH.

Ashley Todd was administered a polygraph test late Thursday or early Friday, according to a story by Fox News, of all places.  Ashley is now…

• No longer sure she was even mugged.  She’s only certain that $60 is missing.
• Now claiming she was unconscious during much of the attack.
• Less definitive about the motives behind the attack.

Fox News had the decency to finally take her picture off their home page.  I have to give them credit for printing these new facts as they come in.

Let’s call this the second nail in the coffin.

The Ashley Todd story made it across the Atlantic.

However, The UK Telegraph is a little more prudent, and casts a reasonable amount of doubt on Ashley’s story, unlike foxnews which continues to imply her story is likely true.

Fox News on the bandwagon. On air reporting the “attack” as fact.

Here’s the video.  Shameful.

Pittsburgh police to administer polygraph test in the morning.

As reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Pittsburgh police are planning to administer a polygraph to Ashley Todd Friday morning.  

Polygraphs really don’t have much legal meaning these days.  I’m guessing that they know she’s full of male cow poop and are trying to encourage her to come clean.

1st nail in the coffin: The ATM data is inconsistent with Ashley’s story.

Perhaps she thought that Banks didn’t bother keeping track of who withdraws money, and when. 

The original reporting news agency has printed an update.

[Thanks, lj]

Foxnews.com has promoted Ashley’s story to the front page.

See for yourself: http://www.foxnews.com/

Does anyone else need convincing that this story is getting really political, really quickly?

The lie needs to be crushed before it spreads further.

Ashley’s ‘B’ wound consistent with self-injury

Posters with forensic experience are cropping up around the web to point this out.   Ashley’s wound shows several characteristics consistent with self-injury including:

• The wounds are in an easily self-accessible location
• The wounds are relatively clean 
• The wounds are non-linear (most violent carving happens in straight lines, not careful curved ones)
• The wounds are superficial (there are no puncture wounds)
• The wounds are not accompanied by any sign of struggle.  

The damning evidence continues to roll in.  Hopefully everyone who reported Ashley as a victim will print the coming retractions.

Here’s the picture again:

Ashley Todd original report came from right-wing paper.

The story was originally broken by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Review is owned by a well-known right-wing political operative, and billionaire, named Richard Mellon Scaife.

The paper last received national attention for attacking Teresa Heinz Kerry as unamerican.

Ashley’s Myspace Page: “The most fun a girl can have is lying”

Ashley has password-protected her page, but you can see the cached version here:

http://ub0.cc/2m/1f

Ashley was supposedly looking for a Bank of America. There aren’t any in Pittsburgh.

Ashley was able to Twitter from her phone while driving around, so she had access to the internet.  

According to her Twitter feed, she was randomly driving around looking for a Bank of America.

Why didn’t she just use the internet to do a quick search at bankofamerica.com to find that there are literally no Bank of America branches within 100 miles?

According to Todd, her attacker wore only jeans and a black undershirt. In Pittsburgh. In Late October.

Only an undershirt?

Here’s hourly temperature data for Pittburgh on Wednesday, Oct 22, the date the Todd was allegedly attacked.  Check out the entry for 8:53, about the time Ashley Todd claims she was attacked.  43 degrees.  

According to Ashley, her attacker wore only a black undershirt.

Local Pittsburgh video showing the alledged attack location:

The video.

Check out the google street map if you want to look around.

Palin and Mccain already expressing their “disgust”, contacted Todd.

http://kdka.com/politics/McCain.Campaign.Worker.2.847449.html

Let’s see how long it takes for Todd to be mentioned alongside Joe the Plumber.

The Ashley Todd story has been picked up by the AP.

Expect to see this on air tonight and tomorrow.

AP link

Fox news has officially joined the fray.

So now you KNOW it’s true:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/23/mccain-volunteer-says-mugged-b-carved-face/

Skepticism is mounting.

Michele Malkin has some experience covering fake hate crimes.  And her bells are ringing.  

Read Michele’s take

Update: Over at TMZ, they’re calling hoax.

Ashley refused medical attention after allegedly being beaten

After being punched, kicked, and scratched with a knife, she decided she would get around to medical attention after she blogged a little bit.

According to the original reporting news agency, she initially refused attention.

Ashley’s Twitter feed leading up the alleged attack

Check out Ashley’s Twitter feed in the moments before and after her alleged attack.

Rather foreboding I have to say. Here are some quotes: 

– “Stubbornly searching for a bank of america to avoid ATM fees.”

Which led to…

– “Pretty sure I’m on the wrong side of pittsburgh”

– “Oh the blog I will be making soon… Its been a rough night”

 

Just to recap.  She was allegedly held down, kicked, beaten, robbed, and scarred with a knife in the middle of a busy intersection.  Her first thoughts?  Not medical attention.  Blogging.

Google Streetview Map of the location where Ashley was allegedly attacked

 

View the corner where the alleged attack happened.

Ashley claims that someone attacked her, held her down, beat her, pulled out a knife, carved a perfect backwards “B” into her cheek and escaped.

If you pan around, you can also see that the Citizens Bank has some security cameras outside. In addition to the one on the ATM, there is one on the side of the bank’s building, several on the church across Liberty Ave, and doubtless several cameras inside the bank facing the entrances.

We’ll be interested in seeing if there is any footage of this attack on camera.

Welcome to AshleyIsLying.

I made this site because the attack is just too convenient to the Mccain/Palin ticket to go unscrutinized.

I will attempt to gather what evidence comes out as quickly as possible at this site.

I am especially offended by the racial tone of the alleged attack: 1 6’4″ 200 pound black man dressed in all black attacking a young, white, female Texan. There really could be no better way to stoke racial fears.

And in Western PA.