Ashley Todd pulled hoax hijinks in Ron Paul campaign, too
When you're too whacked-out for the Ron Paul campaign, you really do have a problem. Snip from an article about previous victim-hallucination hijinks by Ashley "A Giant Black Man Carved A B Into My Face for Barack" Todd:
In March, Ms. Todd was asked to leave a grass-roots group of Ron Paul supporters in Brazos County, Texas, group leader Dustan Costine said. He said Ms. Todd posed as a supporter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and called the local Republican committee seeking information about its campaign strategies.McCain Volunteer Admits to Hoax (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)"She would call the opposing campaign and pretend she was on their campaign to get information," Mr. Costine said last night. "We had to remove her because of the tactics she displayed. After that we had nothing to do with her."
About a month earlier, he said, Ms. Todd sent an e-mail to the Ron Paul group saying her tires were slashed and that campaign paraphernalia had been stolen from her car because she supported Mr. Paul. "She's the type of person who wants to be recognized," Mr. Costine said.
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I never thought I'd say this, but I kinda miss Ron Paul.
well, at least she can't carve an "H" into her own face backwards.
You miss Ron Paul, the creationist anti semite?
Did they stutter?
I've been waiting for an opportunity to post this theory: Do you know how to get a backwards B on your face? You draw it while looking in a mirror.
Not to make light of her mental state or condition, but the last line of the article... I could not have made it up.
I always thought it was a sideways Golden Arches. Apocalyptic Sign of the Mickey-D.
Awesome parody here
I wish VH1 would give Ashely Todd her own reality TV show. I would watch it.
Lucifer - you're so right.
Best part of the linked article, especially the last sentence:
i was reading a forum where a whole bunch of people actually believed the girl's story. pretty funny how people dont even bother to check the fact the the B is BACKWARDS
"She's the type of person who wants to be recognized,"
She's the type of person who is backing McCain/Palin.
There's something very Tonya Harding about her. Maybe it's the battered face.
Though she is from College Station, I don't think she goes to Texas A&M fortunately. She has on a U of Tenn. shirt in the picture and no self-respecting Aggie would wear those two colors together.
MIKELOTUS: I think we've established that she's not self-respecting. ;D
I thought this said Ashley Judd until I clicked on the permalink.
...Hey, can we get Ashley and Tawana Brawley together and see what sort of *real* scam they can pull off?
"'She's the type of person who wants to be recognized,'
She's the type of person who is backing McCain/Palin."
She's the type of person who is a paid McCain / Palin campaign worker (not just some kooky volunteer as they tried to paint it at first.)
I just find this woman pathetic and sad. Court-supervised treatment would seem to be in order. I hope she doesn't end up pushing around a shopping cart full of crap, talking to her imaginary pets.
Todd's history of issues makes this less of a problem about the McCain campaign in general. The campaign's response wasn't great. But the general right-wing blogosphere had a fair bit of skepticism about this. Overall, this should be put more in the category of "one crazy person" and not the category of "general Republican problems".
"The pure products of America go crazy.''
6'4" and 250 pounds makes someone a giant? Cool. I'm a giant. You will all bow down before me before I smite you!
JOSHUAZ: And yet, they won't quit trying to tie William Ayers to Obama. Can you provide examples of this initial skepticism? It seems to me the right-wing echo chamber is all too happy to pounce on all kinds of things that have no connection to the truth and fly it up the flagpole, making Obama racist, socialist, Muslim, a terrorist, and the anti-christ. What stopped them from jumping on her bandwagon 'til the truth came out?
I'm a longtime BoingBoing patron and Ron Paul supporter.. Apparently it's possible to reconcile the two.
And before characterizing his supporters as "whacked-out" please consider that unlike Obama, he voted against every rendition of the Patriot Act, against telecom immunity, the SAFE Act, etc. etc.
He's also been predicting the current economic turmoil for ages.
He's not an Anti-Semite.
I'm surprised BoingBoing gives him no love.. or have they in the past and I missed it?
Anyhow, his presidential campaign is over, but the movement is still alive and well on the internet, which he's done everything to protect from day one...
Am I really the lone Ron Paul guy on here?
:)
@pineapple, it was more of a cheap joke than a thoughtful evaluation. I also found a lot to like in Paul's campaign, and if nothing else, I respected and appreciated something that made the decision more than binary. So, no, we don't hate Ron Paul. And I apologize.
"Hi, my name is Travis Bickle. I'd like to help you with your campaign."
On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody.
@xeni, you could edit it and remove the line. It certainly gave me what I hope is the wrong impression.
He's not an Anti-Semite.
Actually, there is good reason to think he is.
The dark side of the 'Paul Phenomenon'
...the far right, however, opposes the war because it's perceived to be fought on behalf of Israel and the Jews -- which is why, when you hear them talk about "neocons", you know that they are in fact using it as a code word for "Jew." So the association, such as it is (it seems largely to occur at Paul events) is purely coincidental, accidental, a nonsequitur, and largely irrelevant (though it hopefully gives antiwar liberals pause about the way they talk about Israeli influence in the matter).
However, the fact that they do so in the name of supporting Ron Paul is neither merely accidental nor irrelevant. After all, Paul himself is inclined to rail against "the Israel lobby" and "the neocons".
Games within games. This is an example of the kind of thinking displayed by the far right extremists who support Ron Paul. Looks like you've been played pineapple:
If we can get them to defend their race without them actively thinking they are doing so in those terms-through mainstream anti-immigration groups like NumbersUSA or Ron Paul activism for example. After all, how many foot soldiers of the jewish/communist takeover actively thought of themselves as communists or whatever?
Phikus, sure I can provide examples. See for example:
http://mchllmlkn.cm/2008/10/23/why-tht-mccn-vlntrs-mtltn-stry-smlls-wflly-wrd/ whr Mchll Mlkn sys sh thnks t s hx.
Joshua,
Sorry, but we don't allow links to partisan blogs and certainly not hate-mongers like her, even for illustrative purposes.
@ Antinous:
Correction: no links to partisan blogs aside from BoingBoing. I kid. The world would be a much safer place without the likes of Malkin.
The world would be a much safer place without the likes of Malkin.
It would, the woman is stark raving mad, but this PC crap is getting out of hand.
JOSHUAZ: One instance does not make a consensus of the "general right-wing blogosphere" in any case. Nice try.
@Antinous: That's unfortunate, because it doesn't seem, in my very limited understanding of such things, to be the intended purpose of the restriction, though thankfully just disemvoweling the link does allow for the point to still be made while not being an actual link. Why, however, is the rest of the remark disemvoweled? And as much as I hate to bring it up and further damage the discussion, is there not a link to a partisan blog in the preceding comment as well, albeit to a seemingly more sane individual?
@Noen: One can certainly be opposed to the Israeli government without being anti-Semitic. And while I happen to think that Ron Paul is a loony, it's quite probable that he isn't anti-Semitic. However, criticizing Israel in a campaign probably attracts anti-Semitic supporters, which can make the candidate, seem to have views that he doesn't actually have. Of course, it's very possible that this isn't the case, but it is worth noting.
@NOEN
Is it not possible for Ron Paul to disagree with certain lobbyists without being branded anti-semitic?
He clearly is not a friend to lobbyists of any creed ($435 nonwithstanding):
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.php?cycle=2008
And:
(the second response in the comments page of your article)
I know you've spent your life exposing these circles, but you do need to do better research of libertarian thought and specifically of where Ron Paul gets his ideological pedigree. As Reason points out today, the man is a devotee of Murray Rothbard (a Jew). As I'm pointing out right now, the man named his son after an atheist of Jewish ethnicity (Ayn Rand). He has pictures of two Nazi-era Austrian exiles in his office (Hayek and Mises).
David Weigel of Reason was actually at the rally, and has plenty of candid shots of his own- which show pretty sizable portions of the crowd (rather than a couple cherry-picked individuals). I don't see a single skinhead, neo-Nazi, etc. among them:
His report on the rally- which came out well before yours points out that:
The not-fit-for-primetime contingent was small, dwarfed by thousands of ordinary conservatives, anti-war teenagers, and a small clutch of veterans (to whom most of the speeches before Paul were dedicated).
"When you're too whacked-out for the Ron Paul campaign, you really do have a problem."
Thanks for the insult Xeni.
Is it not possible for Ron Paul to disagree with certain lobbyists without being branded anti-semitic?
Yes it's possible but apparently you didn't read the article or understand it. BTW I'm not David Neiwert and he specifically addresses the "guilt by association" charge in the article. Ron Paul has deep affiliations with the extreme right wing including white supremacists. His association with these people is more than incidental, like Sara Palin he has spoken before them and written for their publications. The white supremacists with whom Ron Paul associates often cloak their antisemitism in coded language. So David is suggesting that because he has close ties with these people, that increases the likely hood that RP shares their views.
Actually, I have to say the Ron Paul campaign comes off WAY better than the McCain campaign here -- the Paulists acted correctly and swiftly to recognize she had problems and canned her before she gave them, you know, bad national publicity!
I only overlap with Paul on select issues, but enough that I wished he'd done better in the primaries; he certainly seems to have a committed campaign and supporters.
WA,
The answers are:
- partial dv'ing involves cutting and pasting and, if I'm in a hurry, it isn't always tidy.
- I didn't notice the other link.
HA! . . . this PROVES she was a DEM plant: only the DEMs could be so stupid as to assume they'd be running against Ron Paul in November, and sneak a spy into the Ron Paul campaign!
Oh. . . I'll bet you have a better explanation, huh!?
Phikus, you asked for an example and I gave it. I didn't claim that there was a "consensus" in the right-wing end of the blogosphere but simply that there were prominent right-wing bloggers who were skeptical. There are other examples of that as well (which I cannot link to per above). And even if one looks at right-wing blogs which did repeat it uncritically many contained skeptical comments.
"He's not an Anti-Semite.
Actually, there is good reason to think he is."
Anti-Zionist != Anti-Semite
Michael, true but in this case they happen to overlap.
I did read David's article and am compelled to believe I grasped it.
Ultimately, it's a judgment call.
And everything I've learned about Ron Paul leads me to conclude that the man, like myself, is not an anti-semite.
Unlike most politicians who pander to the majority, Ron Paul has always thought outside the box, fearlessly championing his many unorthodox convictions. After being fed political pablum from day one, many find this uncomfortable and it leaves him open to many accusations and attacks... And makes him a beacon for the rabid support of many undesirables as well.
Taken as a whole, I find his platform to be honest, sensible, non-discriminatory and forward-thinking. It addresses with tact and valor what I believe to be the most pressing issues of the day, including:
A free and open internet, foreign non-interventionism, abolishing racist drug laws, and eliminating the failed economic machinery of today...
Maybe I'm a crazy person, but this is the first politician I've ever encountered who I trust, believe in and will take the time to defend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Ron_Paul
There's plenty of evidence pointing towards the possibility that Ron Paul is a bigot, and not just an anti-semite. The guy used to publish an extreme-right newsletter that had hateful articles about jews, GLBTs, African Americans, et al. And while he now claims he didn't write them, in an interview in 1996 he said he did but they were "taken out of context."
The New Republic had a series of articles on this controversy:
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=74978161-f730-43a2-91c3-de262573a129
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=54586159-12be-442c-810d-020982d8becb
And he seems to really have it in for gay people. Just look at his "We the People Act", a bill that was supposed to reverse Lawrence v. Texas (amongst other things, though his speech before Congress on it emphasized his hate for gay people) for the sake of "states' rights" (that old slogan that white supremacists love so much).
JOSHUAZ: You continue to say many and have provided but one example. I see now the inner workings of the right wing echo chamber, where one or a few equals many. No wonder the pundits are waging a war vs. science if you can't seem to comprehend simple math. This is how you get 2+2=5, or in this case, 1+0=many, just like Faux News uses "Some people say..." to inject the Rove talking points of the day. Thanks again for trying, but your repetition of the same thing over and over is not adding weight to your argument. (1 x 1 is still 1.)
Phikus, if you noticed above the mods have decided that linking to such right-wing blogs isn't acceptable. So it is a bit hard to give other examples directly, but if you want I'll be happy to say indirectly where you will find others:
Free Republic: about 1/3rd of the initial comments were skeptical.
On Hotair.com the comments were initially pro-Todd but gradually shifted as the evidence came out. Well before it was officially declared a hoax the consensus there was leaning towards a hoax.
Inquisitr which is pretty right-wing also suggested it was a hoax (mainly copying off of Malkin's remarks).
Chosethehero noted that there was "skepticism on the right" and linked to a variety of blogs skeptical of it.
Many lesser right-wing blogs such as Mike Wilson's also linked to the Malkin matter and made their own comments.
Obviously this isn't true completely. As I mentioned earlier most of the Freepers took it for granted as truth (and some of the comments there are downright scary. Of course it is Free Republic so that's par for the course) as did most other right-wing blogs. Moreover, finding which took it as true isn't easy because while some added updates others such as the Nobama blog simply dropped the posts into their memory holes and pretended that they never had existed. However, the above remarks should make the general point clear: many people in the right-wing blogosphere were skeptical of this claim almost immediately and many more became skeptical well before Todd confessed.
JOSHUAZ: Ok, I'll look into that. That is refreshing to hear, if true. Thanks for your more thorough response this time.
I'd love to see her and Monica Lewinsky in a knife fight. Go for it!
"Anti-Semite" - it is useful to note that the majority of criticisms of Ron Paul start and stop with base, derogatory terms.
He is so far outside the mainstream thinking, the false "left/right" paradigm, that the average person doesn't want to look into why he inspired such passion or the unique issues he has brought up that no one else has mentioned. They simply look for some flag that allows them to conveniently fit him in to some preconceived political stereotype.
So, he wants to stop giving guns and money to Israel, he must be an anti-semite, right? I'll tell you something - when the history books are written, the state of Israel, as it has been created and developed, will be the second worst thing to ever happen to Jewish people in history. Built through violence on stolen land, that had been promised to others by a cruel colonial power, and maintained through violence. A land granted the birthright of violence, agony, and hatred, because of how and where it was founded. Some gift. Thanks, Britain. If Jews are still persecuted a thousand years from now, it will be done in the name of the crimes of Israel. Is being against Israel, as it is currently conceived, being against Jews?
I guess you would call these guys anti-semites too:
www.nkusa.org
(note that this is not Ron Paul's view..just mine.) But, I assume that wanting to cut off foreign aid to Israel is the reason you make that comment? Or is it just because of the fringe groups who gravitated to his movement? Having spent a fair amount of time around Ron paul gatherings, I didn't meet any people who seemed to have even vaguely racist leanings. White supremacists might be deluded idiots, but they have the right to desire freedom the same as anyone else.
OK, I know this is a bit off topic, but..I sure as hell hope he runs again in 2012, because it is extremely rare to have someone so consistent and frank running for office. I have studied Taoism for a long time, and I truly believe that sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing, and let nature sort out it's own affairs.
Nothing Obama or McCain could possibly do could help Americans as much as just eliminating the following Federal agencies, all of which Paul advocated axing:
The FDA: Here in Korea, where I've been living for half a year, I just got a terribly painful and nasty cough. So, I went down to the outdoor market, went to the old guy who sells herbs, make some coughing motions, and he set to work on his fifty or so styrofoam bins putting me together a conconction to brew into tea. Two cups of the stuff, my cough was totally gone and I was able to go to work the next day. Total cost? About $4. And I had enough tea to share with 2 friends who were sick, and still have a bunch left over. In America, this man would be prosecuted by the FDA for practicing medicine without a license and shut down. In the FDA's America, anything beneficial is a "drug", which has to be approved and regulated. The FDA is primarly in the business of censoring free speech. It is important for liberals to realize that it does not act as a restraint on the rotten pharmaceutical corps, but on the contrary acts as their enforcement arm, trying to give dangerous pharmaceutical medicine a monopoly on health care in this country. The American health care system is fundamentally broken and dangerous- the answer is nutrition, not more federal money going to big pharma and more rules. The FDA is obsolete - we have the Internet, allowed independent accreditation organization free access to the public to take it's place.
The IRS: Doesn't it seem odd that we in America have to report every dime we make to the government? And that to survive in this country you have to be complicit in murder, you have to pay for bombs that kill innocents? The IRS is an abomination. Part of the reason I left America is because I can't morally justify being an accomplice to killing innocent children-but it was a painful decision. And don't just look at Bush, Clinton was killing innocents too, as will Obama (at a reduced rate). It is important to remember the violence of the IRS - every letter they send out is backed by the implicit threat of physical violence.
The DEA: Well, I shouldn't have to explain this one to BoingBoingers. But it is important to note that, whatever he may have written in the past, Ron Paul would help Black Americans far more than Barack Obama, just by ending the war on drugs.
The Dept. of Education: An organization that shackles schools and makes them all compliant with Federal mandates, that squelches innovation, and allows bad ideas to be implemented nationally, instead of locally. Personally, I don't give a hoot if Alabama teaches creationism or whatever, just as long as they don't try to force it or other awful ideas in Chicago. Do you think "No Child Left Behind" could have been implemented with the Dept. of Ed.?
The Federal Reserve: The elimination of which is, of course, the core of Ron Paul's message. I won't get into it - but suffice to say, historically when governments can print money on their own without having to upset people by raising the tax rate, it makes the chance of war much more likely. Not to mention the fact that the Fed is responsible more than any other entity for the current economic crash (the bubble/crash cycle).
Wow, I'm sorry, this turned into a really long post. I guess I was really frustrated by BoingBoing never mentioning Ron Paul at all when it mattered - search BB, and it only looks like 3 headlines total (including this one) mentioning him ever. How many did Obama get? Especially when it has always seemed one mission of BB to illuminate trends on the Internet.
It is important for liberals who oppose the corporatization of everything to realize that the corporate controlled government does not, cannot, act as a restriction on the corporations, it never has and it never will for any length of time(although it has pretended to sometimes.) Any shackles placed around corporations by government soon become a chain that they use to beat back people trying to create an alternative. The best way to reduce the power of corporations in America today is to neuter their hatchet man, Uncle Sam.
Zyodei, I'm not going to address the political claims because they are so far afield of what is relevant. The bottom line is that Paul is an anti-Semite. TNR's Jamie Kirchick has an excellent piece on this a while back:
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca
This piece showed that Paul was a general racist and anti-Semite. Paul's newsletters contained such gems as talking about the 1992 LA riots ""Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began."
Moreover, the claims that Paul is "anti-Israel" but not an anti-Semite is ridiculous. Paul's "anti-Israel" stance is not confined to policies of the country but rather to directed at anything remotely connected to Israel. One needs only look at the newsletter which said ""tens of thousands of well-placed friends of Israel in all countries" who work for Israeli intelligence. There's no way to interpret that sentence except as a general anti-Jewish remark.
The only defense of Paul possible is the defense made that he didn't know what was being written with his name on the headline even though his name is on the byline of multiple pieces over multiple years. One is thus left with either an incredibly incompetent individual or an incredibly bigoted, racist, homophobic man. Your choice.
Those last two comments are way off topic.
@52 Antinous - you're right, they're way off topic. I guess it was all the pent up commenting I have wanted to do on BoingBoing, which has been my favorite blog, but wasn't able to.
Particularly the part about Israel was way off topic..but damnit, being part Jewish myself, and having many Jewish friends, who are some of the most humane, compassionate, good humored people I know, it kills me how far the actions of the state of Israel have fallen from the personality traits of any Jews I know personally.
@51 Joshuaz - OK, I won't be long here. Just because the New Republic (which after 9/11 has done it's best to ape the Weekly Standard) says something, doesn't mean it's true. I won't get into that article, only your comments.
"tens of thousands of well-placed friends of Israel in all countries"
Here are a list of dual citizens of Israel and the U.S. who hold top positions in the Bush Administration. As you can see, it's just about everybody.
http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/interesting-list-people-with-dual-israelius-citizenship/
Here's a report from the GAO about domestic spying. According to this report,
http://www.hanford.gov/oci/maindocs/ci_r_docs/gao96ee.pdf
"According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of Country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any U.S. ally." [Country A being Israel]
So, stating verifiable fact make him a racist or anti-semite? He wasn't talking about Jews, but Israeli agents. It is a sign of just how skewed the media dialogue is in America that it is considered a fringe belief to state the Israel dictates the foreign policy of the U.S. to an astonishing extent. But this is a certainty. Ron Paul is not a racist or anti-semite, he simply says things which have been forbidden by boths sides of the American dialogue.
Criticizing Israel is not criticizing Judaism.
Trying to put this slightly back more on topic: claims that Boing Boing has a problem with Ron Paul are apparently supported by Randall Munroe:
http://xkcd.com/497/
Boing Boing wins!
"Sir, maybe if we dropped all this gold!"
Haha, that's hilarious. Nah, forget it man, we're ireversibly off topic. That's a funny cartoon though. I never could figure out why BB refused to at least show some interest in RP. Certainly, he represents the most real and fundamental strucutral change in this country of any candidate other than Nader/Kucinich/Gravel- and is far better on surveillance and domestic spying issues than any of the democrats.
The fact that the only dirt that can be dished on him are words written in his name 20 years ago speaks well of him, honestly. It only highlights the fact that pretty much every word that passes through his lips rings true.
Tron Paul 2012 ;)