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Yesterday, I was pointed to an article that described a young American woman who was allegedly assaulted after withdrawing money from a Bank Machine by a "dark skinned man" who had stolen $60 from her.  Furthermore, the alleged victim claimed that when her assailant noticed a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on her vehicle, he threw her to the ground and began to beat and kick her while screaming anti-McCain epithets and during which he inscribed a backwards letter B into her face with a dull knife.  Presumably representing "Barack".

I had some skepticism toward the account but given that it was forwarded to me by someone who can't exactly be described as an Obama supporter :) but who claims (unconvincingly) that he is "undecided" in this race, I decided to respond:

Charles... I too am sickened by this behaviour if indeed the report is true. But... what we have here though is a hearsay report, that's all. A report made by a woman who self-admittedly works for the McCain / Palin campaign and has claimed that she was assaulted by an "dark skinned man" who happens to have gotten pissed off because he saw a McCain bumper sticker. How should we analyze this report?

There is no other evidence provided for any of these claims other than the woman's account of the incident. We don't really have any other proof to justify the truth of this claim. It could be true, in which case, it would be a reprehensible act and would represent one ignorant person whose actions cannot speak for for an entire group of people. With the McCain supporters, we have video footage of a large number of them in multiple states all showing the same mob mentality.
 
Second, given how dirty the McCain camp has been with the whole "guilty by association" tactic throughout the campaign, we now have a McCain supporter claiming injury by an Obama supporter. Is it beyond the McCain campaign or its supporters to resort to the dirty tactic of a sensational news story to tarnish their opponent's supporter's reputation?

Last night, I thought about this some more and I decided to write a blog entry about it, summing up my argument in a more coherent, logical fashion.  Here is the result of my last night's thoughful deliberations, timestamped at 1:01am:

The entire report is based on hearsay; the word of the alleged victim in question.  Now, if the incident is truly real, then it’s despicable and such heinous acts should be condemned with the full force of our conviction and the perpetrator must be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

However, we cannot dismiss the possibility that this might also be a set up -- and there is good reason to believe that it might be -- to draw some heat away from the deluge of news reports of McCain's racist supporters and toward supporters of Obama and Obama himself (by tenuous association).

Given McCain supporter's runaway fanaticism recently on display on our TV screens, fueled by Sarah Palin’s hate-mongering at McCain Rallies across the country, and given the McCain campaign’s penchant for lying and dirty politicking, we cannot rule this out.

First, there is a conspicuous absence of any corroborating evidence for the report; no eye-witnesses accounts nor any recorded audio or video evidence that can verify the victims claims that she was attacked, much less by a deranged anti-McCain Obama supporter.  A black eye and a facial scratch is not conclusive proof that an attack was carried out by an anti-McCain, Barack Obama supporter.  It is just as plausible that these marks could have been self-inflicted (or inflicted by colleagues) if the victim is herself a deranged McCain fan, or works for / associates with a group of deranged McCain fans.  They have opportunity and demonstrated motive to make this look like an Obama-supporter-related attack.  Further proof for this theory is that the lady is a self-professed supporter of McCain and volunteer for his campaign, and the fact that all fhe following conditions were miraculously met:

- The victims car is parked precisely such that the McCain/Palin bumper sticker would be in the attacker's immediate line of site; and
- That the attacker would have to have the deficiency of focus on the task at hand (the robbery and assault) and the simultaneous presence of mind to be looking around for McCain bumper stickers; and
- Be able to make a definitive determination that a random parked car on the street with a McCain sticker is a car belonging to the victim.

These are a very unlikely set of circumstances to occur as reported by the victim to the police.  It's all a little too convenient, isn't it?

Today, I am vindicated in my early skepticism given that the original article sent to me was updated today with news that the young lady fabricated the whole story.  Here is the article (which is now updated with the new facts): http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17789356/detail.html. 

Another article backing up the story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/national/a141614D31.DTL&tsp=1 

Now, before you ask... no, I cannot see into the future nor can I read minds, but you don't have to be psychic or clairvoyant to figure out how the Republican mind works... you just have to be observant.  This is the pattern by which their simple little minds operate.  They are a collective suffering from a grand delusion and mass case of arrested mental development.  A hick nation on the verge of becoming reasoning primates.  They are a bunch of sore-loser cry-babies who, when they can't win on the facts, have to fabricate lies and spread fear.  The Republican mindset is an abomination to humanity, from the stinking pinnacle of its hierarchical top to the rotten grass roots that feed it.  I spit on their every conviction and crap on their deeply ingrained and unwavering dogmatism.  I would like to really speak my mind on this, but I think I'll hold back for fear of sounding impolite.

I wonder if we shall hear of the London man who was shot in the face for wearing an Obama shirt? http://www.icsouthlondon.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=19976.

The assailant this time is described as "white, in his mid-30s, around 6ft tall with short ginger hair, wearing a grey camouflage jacket and combat trousers". Pretty much describes your typical McCain supporter doesn't it?

Signed,

Pissed off in Canada.