Disturbed Ashley Todd Apparently Not a Volunteer
The briefly popular but sad story of the McCain Pennsylvania volunteer who claimed to be assaulted by an enraged Obama supporter takes yet another turn. Rather than being just a hapless volunteer prone to cutting herself and trying to dampen Obama’s prospects in the Keystone State, it seems she was actually an employee.
Something was missed in the reporting of the story, however. Though Todd was an employee of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) — as confirmed today to BuzzFlash by a representative there named Ethan Eioln — nearly every report demoted her to the role of volunteer. In fact, she was hired by the CRNC and promised a contract wage of $3,600 from August until Election Day. After she was charged by police for filing a false report, her employment with the CRNC was terminated.
Actually, this still doesn’t cement any sort of smoking gun in terms of proving that Todd was acting under the instructions of others, it does let some of the air out of the tires on the story that she was some random, disturbed individual. The CRNC will have some explaining to do regarding sending a paid employee to work in that area when this was the result. None of this, however, changes my opinion that the young woman needs help and was exhibiting a serious disorder.
UPDATE: I’m correctly informed by e-mail that hotair.com reported the woman as a CNRC employee when the story came out. It was then further noted by one of the astute observers here at Chez Jazz that she may have technically been a volunteer for the McCain campaign while being an employee of the CNRC. I suppose that’s the same as being a volunteer for the Obama campaign while being an employee of the DNC.
Ah, what a tangled web we weave. Oh… wait! It’s still a week until the election, you say? I think I’ll go hit myself on the head with a ball peen hammer for a bit.
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3 Responses to “Disturbed Ashley Todd Apparently Not a Volunteer”
I don't see that this changes anything at all, really. On the other hand I knew she wasn't a volunteer, but a paid employee, very quickly, and so my judgment of the story has always included that. It could help to explain why the McCain spokesman giving the most extreme version of the story had such a detailed account apparently even before police; it's possible that she called headquarters before police, so they could go about the task of politically exploiting the matter.
It's not a smoking gun at all, it isn't even much smoke, really. Thousands of people work for the campaigns and are paid to do so. Both Obama and McCain unfortunately are almost statistically certain to have at least a few wife-beaters, pedophiles, habitual thieves or just general insane people on their payroll.
She's disturbed and I don't think there was a plot by the McCain campaign to instigate this. There should be no reflection on the McCain campaign due to her actions.
However, the McCain campaign moved quickly to take advantage of this and relied upon lies (and made up more of their own) to advance their campaign. They should be ashamed of themselves, except the use of anything to advance McCain is prevalent.
Brother, I have been there for weeks now.
If you figure out how to make it go away, please let us know.