Drudge Puts Dangerous Spin on Mugging, Implies Violence Targeting McCain Volunteers

Yesterday, a horrible incident took place in Pittsburgh: a young woman was robbed; and then, after the assailant noticed that her car had a McCain sticker, he returned to brutalize her, including scratching a backwards 'B' in her cheek with a knife. Although horrible by itself, what makes this story even more shocking is the way right-wing media has tried to twist the coverage with rhetoric suggesting that this ATM mugging was actually a pre-meditated act of political violence aimed at the McCain campaign.

At 4:03pm, today, a WTAE-TV Pittsburgh reported that a 20-year old woman was robbed at an ATM machine, and then subsequently had the letter 'B' scratched into her cheek with a knife--supposedly in response to her assailant seeing a 'McCain' campaign sticker on her car.   This is how WTAE reported the story:

Woman Attacked At ATM, Assailant Carves Letter Into Her Face

Woman Robbed, Attacked With Knife At Bloomfield ATM
POSTED: 4:03 pm EDT October 23, 2008
UPDATED: 4:30 pm EDT October 23, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.

Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank's surveillance cameras.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes. (link)

The crime was horrendous. Anyone who mugs another person, whether it is for $0.60 or $60, is a criminal who deserves punishment.  And to beat someone up--and then scratch a 'B' in their face--supposedly in response to seeing a McCain campaign sticker on a person's car--that is an act that demands immediate criminal prosecution.  The young woman attacked deserves a speedy recovery and quick restitution of her property and dignity by the courts.

The problem with this crime, however, is not just that it happened, but the way that Matt Drudge has obviously tried to spin it into a political watershed for the 2008 Presidential campaign by rewriting the headline and carefully omitting several crucial elements.  The end result is that a mugging punctuated by an odd act of violence has been transformed at the hands of a right-wing media figure to appear like a targeted act of violence against the McCain campaign.

Not long after the original WTAE story, Drudge added the following incendiary headline on The Drudge Report:

SHOCK: MCCAIN VOLUNTEER ATTACKED AND MUTILATED IN PITTSBURGH...

'B' CARVED INTO 20-YEAR OLD WOMAN'S FACE... DEVELOPING...

Note two things that Drudge has strategically left out of this headline: (1) the actual details of the crime (e.g., an ATM robbery, followed by an assault) and (2) the fact that the robber brutalized the young woman after the initial crime had been completed, when the criminal noticed the bumber sticker on her car. The omissions are crucia because they repackage a story of theft and assault into a story of political violence. 

What Drudge has done, in other words, is reframe a report about a mugging to make it seem like the beginning of targeted political violence against the McCain campaign.  Hence, it seems from his headline that there are criminals in the U.S. currently out looking for McCain volunteers with the goal of brutally assaulting them--that someone was looking for McCain volunteers to attack, found one, and beat her.

Now, Matt Drudge's blog is one of the most visited websites on the internet and is well-known for its Republican Party leanings, it's deep connection to right-wing media outlets, and the phenomenal speed with which it can disseminate a story--whether that story is true or false.  It is important, therefore, to consider the grave danger carried Drudge's spinning of this story.

Given Drudge's choice of words, one could imagine the Drudge headline as the basis for right-wing media and the Republican base to conclude that political violence has begun against the McCain campaign--despite this being a false and misleading representation of the events.

Even worse, the immense site traffic at The Drudge Report enjoys, combined with Drudge's implication that this horrible mugging incident in Pittsburgh was in fact targeted political violence against Republicans, could result in widespread panic amongst by McCain supporters mislead by Drudge's manipulative reporting into thinking that they were the target of some kind of organized assault.

If either of those things were to happen, the Drudge headline of the WTAE story could quickly tip the the Presidential election into a dangerous place by heightening the 'us vs. them' tensions already set in motion by the McCain-Palin campaign rhetoric.

Finally, since Pennsylvania is a 'swing' stage--a state that is still too-close-to-call in the Presidential election polls--it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Drudge's deceptive re-framing of this mugging story could result in heightened tensions on the ground, and possibly contribute to outbursts of violence by people who believe they are under 'attack,' as a result of Drudge's rhetoric.

However Drudge's headline is interpreted, it has the potential to provide an excuse for actual political violence under the guise of self-defense.

Just to give an idea of how incendiary this story could become, since I began writing this post, the Obama-Biden campaign has already issued the following statement:

"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."

Their response shows the necessary and swift intolerance that any crime of this nature deserves.  Whether or not The Drudge Report will succeed with its dangerous ploy to recast this crime as the beginning of political violence against Republicans remains to be seen.   But at the very least, we can expect Drudge's spin to be the lead on every right-wing media outlet at least to the weekend. 

How mainstream media handles it is another story.  Will news producers at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS refute Drudge's irresponsible flirtation with rhetoric that has the potential to spark widespread panic?   Let's hope so.

***UPDATE (Fri Oct 24, 1:48pm EST): Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate KDKA is just now reporting that the 20 year-old woman in question has recanted her story:

A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed. More details to follow.

I am relieved, in the end, that this young woman was not the victim of a robbery or assault. However, the false accusation of political violence--tinged with racial profiling--raises serious ethical and criminal consequences for this young person. Needless to say, the way right-wing media attempted to transform this story remains an object lesson for this election season and beyond. -- JF

©  2008 Jeffrey Feldman, Frameshop

Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman

Comments

[lindalp]

ok, after reading several opinions and thinking about the backward B I have come to a conclusion. She scratched it on her own face in the mirror, thinking it was done right. In the mirror it would look like a B, but to others it would look backwards. She did this when she drove to her friends house, before returning to the scene of the crime.

I think we can add this one to the book of 'America's dumbest criminals'.

(And, if he hit her on the head, shouldn't she get medical treatment for possible head injury?)

[liberalrebuttal]

The Police don't believe her. Drudge left that out. Even right winger Michelle Malkin doesn't believe her.

[bellabeach]

Something smells like Joe the Plumber!!!

[Pinkmarbles]

That is the smell that NO liberal knows. It is the smell of HARD WORK!!!

[DJS]

WITHIN MINUTES, THE WORD ON THE STREET WAS THAT THE KID MADE THE WHOLE THING UP.....

[nigelthehooligan]

Wow, that's a hell of a shiner she's got!

I haven't seen such an amateurish makeup job since my 6th grade class production of Tom Sawyer.

[Kerris]

Fox News is now reporting the incident as pure fact, with nothing about the police reservations about her story.

McCain has jumped on the bandwagon and called her and her family to personally offer condolences.

Step out of the backdraft, John -- the lie detector test is in the morning.

[Pinkmarbles]

I believe the Obama camp also released a statement. That was a nice thing to do!

[boing007]

Mr. Drudge is busy dredging up more sludge. He loved to play in mud puddles and make mud pies as a child.

[IvyShoots]

This is going to be declared a hoax, mark my words. The police are being quoted saying they have no evidence this took place other than her word. She claims he grabbed her from behind while she was at the ATM, which definitely would be on camera.

She refused medical attention because she had no real bruises but the scratch. That black eye looks totally fake, like a kid who never saw a real black eye would brush on for Halloween. And why is the B backward, unless she did it herself in a mirror? The attacker must have been left-handed to put it on her right cheek; lefties are only 10% of the population, so that's unlikely. And he had the foresight to make it backward so she would see it when she looked in the mirror, but no one else would be able to read it?

[badtimes]

I noticed the backwards B also.
Her whole story stinks. I have a hunch it's a hoax.
Of course, then she can cry about all the negative media attention.

[SandraL]

This is terrible for many reasons.Attacks on women are very serious and if this story turns out to be untrue it makes it harder for real crimes against women to be investigated seriously. What mugger has time to scratch a backwards B, that is from the pictures, very consistent and even? The last time I saw someone punched in the eye, the bruising was uneven, his eye was red and swollen half way shut, and the bruising extended all around his eye and his cheek. I find it hard to believe that she didnt sustain any other injuries to her face if this mugger was punching her in the face. I had 2 black eyes from getting my wisdom teeth pulled that looked more extreme than this. i hope the police get to the bottom of this story. If it is a hoax, it's truly disgusting.

[lindalp]

Clearly this is another plant, like Joe the Plummer.

[feo]

Vicky the Victim?

[keyrd]

Excellent!

[Wirehedd]

Anyone old enough to remember Morton Downey and the supposed nazis that attacked him in a bathroom?

He ended up with a "backward" swastika spray painted on his face after he was mugged and "brutalized"

It was all staged to be a publicity stunt. Total BS.

This incident gives me the same sort of bad juju.

I'm almost certain this is a staged attack meant to trigger racism. Why would anyone scratch a backward B on someone's face? They wouldn't. The wound would have been more severe and the B would not have been backward.

The description of the attacker is just generic enough to be worthless to law enforcement but is perfect to intimidate racially motivated voters and all manner of backward racist morons. This is their call to arms.

This stinks and I would be seriously unable to approach this without a HUGE amount of suspicion.

I wonder if the attacker left any forensic evidence? I doubt it.

I feel sorry if it was a genuine attack but I sincerely doubt it was.

[jimme]

That was my first thought when I read the B was backwards.
Yes, the juju is bad.......­..........­I like that line.

And you're right. If the attack actually took place my heart goes out to her, but, if something is amiss here, then we found out just how low they will stoop.

[zombiejesus]

The attack for her cash may have been genuine, but the backwards "b" was not. She did this in the mirror, as an afterthought to create more tension. You notice that this came out after the stories about Obama supporters being harrased and attacked. It will get even worse people, as they get more desperate.

[bub26]

Whenever there's a so-called hate crime, and no witnesses other than the victim/s, then one must always question its authenticity. Faking hate crimes has been vogue since time in mermorial. 9th. Thou shall not bear false witness

[kothian1]

The more I see about this incident, the more convinced I become was that a crime of opportunity was committed, and then a crime of opportunity was committed. I live in Pittsburgh, and the area where it occurred, coupled with the time of attack make any prolonged interaction of this sort highly dubious. I don't doubt that any crook of any color could see a crime of opportunity with a lone white woman standing at an ATM, what I really question is that he would hang around long enough to do the rest. Google 'Liberty Ave and Pearl St, Pittsburgh, PA' on Google maps. That's a pretty well lit and well traveled area at 9pm on a weeknight. I don't wonder at all that the cops are skeptical.

[bub26]

That was my thought. She did get robbed but then added the B on her face herself.

[deebell]

A backwards B?

Wouldn't it have been easier for the guy to carve an O?

[Wirehedd]

scientifically speaking, no, the B would have been simpler due the elasticity of the skin being a obstruction to a quick and clean "O" shape whereas a "B" starts with a straight line stroke for the back line the smaller semicircles would have then been simpler.

The "B" was simple and quick and was screwed up in the mirror where a simple"O" would have been more difficult.

I would really like to see the ATM video of her withdrawal to see if the black eye was there (if real at all).

[arvay]

Drudge and the Republicans are trying to pull off a "Birth of a Nation" scenario, the pure white woman threatened by rapacious black men. Utterly despicable. This time, the Americans are not going to go for the Willie Horton approach, Matt.

[littlebuddylouie]

I just saw this story on CNN's site.
This whole thing seems pretty bogus. The scratch looks fresh, but the black eye looks like it's been there awhile. I thought black eyes usually took a while to turn completely dark like that, the eyeball itself isn't very bloodshot either.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/24/mccain.sticker/index.html

[Decipherer]

Putting aside all of the post hoc analysis or reportage about this incident, who actually knows what the motive of the assailant was in this horrific attack? Other than the victim, who may not know herself, who knows with any certainty what was going on in this guy's head which caused him to return and use the knife on her?

[boing007]

Violent attacks and muggings occur every day in the U. S. A. between Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Undecided voters. They are just not reported in that way.

[Wirehedd]

that scratch is NOT a knife wound. It was done with a fingernail. Look closely.