I don’t want to diminish the significance of someone’s pain or to excuse a crime, if it took place, or the criminal…
BUT… I was listening to Dennis Prager just this morning, listening to the Republican talking points turning to “If Obama loses, his supporters will get violent.”
And lo and behold, a 20-year-old white woman who works a phone bank for the McCain campaign in Pittsburgh was allegedly attacked by a black man in PA
amit on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
Christian on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
YancySkancy on: Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Hcat on: Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
movieman on: I Should Be Doing Box Office
Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
see all »
[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
This reeks. Why? If for no other reason than the obvious, why, in the midst of an assault would you take the time to carefully carve a “B” for Barack instead of the simpler “O” for Obama (which is what everyone calls him)? Bulls**t.
There’s nothing wrong with getting a suspicious vibe about the incident. Most anything is possible. But the amount of thought you’ve put into it and the suggestion that this incident was orchestrated by the McCain camp is borderline OCD, and as scary as the notion of someone attacking another over politics.
Obama will probably get over 60 million votes. There’s bound to be some unstable people who are using a passionate election as an outlet for their psychosis (I’m talking about the attacker, not you).
I’ve seen political disagreements devolve into fisticuffs. And when people get preachy my hands clench into fists. I can see throwing a punch, but the carving aspect of it is reprehensible.
It does seem suspicious given the timing. It also seems suspicious that the B on her cheek looks backwards (as if someone did it in a mirror). My condolences if she really was attacked.
Dennis Prager is the biggest snake-oil tool on the AM radio.
I advise him and others to go read the comments at Townhall.com where lots of white rage is a’brewing and threats of 300 million GOP members ready with guns to fight off the negro socialist threat.
It’s not liberals with guns who are rabid.
The B being backwards and appearing neater than my own handwriting when I’m not struggling for my life, in addition to all of your reasons, makes me smell something odd. Just sayin’.
The “B” looks like it was done with some sort of heated utensil to me. My condolences to her if she was attacked or, if it turns out to be bullshit, that the GOP has to deal with another Texan idiot.
The B is backwards as if done in a mirror.
Bullshit. Total bullshit, and I agree with Nick on this one. It looks more like a BRAND, then anything with a knife. Be prepared for this woman to break under the same spotlight as Joe the Plumber. You simply cannot pull this shit off in the 21st century without the world turning against you in suspicion.
Wow, that’s amazing. The B is backwards for sure. And that’s the neatest looking knife scraping/??cutting I’ve ever seen But I suppose he could have held her down with her torso in the opposite direction and carefully made that B while she was kicking and struggling …… NAH!!! Also, as an eye doctor, I can tell you that that black eye looks a little funny as well. I would expect to see a bit more swelling of lids and possibly some blood or at least more redness of the sclera (white part of the eyeball), but who knows? Also odd that she did not seek medical attention right after it happened. Very, very strange. I know I would. Can’t wait to hear more from the hospital where she is supposedly going. However, I’m not sure we will. And, of course, if it is real, I hope she will be okay.
As long as we’re floating conspiracy theories, Dave could’ve flipped the photo to make it seem that the “B” was self-inflicted. 🙂
Round and round we go. I have no problem believing the worst on either side. Whatever really happened, it’s a shame.
Re: timing, just to play devil’s advocate – is the last couple of weeks before an election not the time when emotions are going to be running the highest?
I wonder if this poor woman ever read — or saw the film version of — A Slipping-Down Life?
It is a coincidence especially when the McCain campaign has made Pennsylvania their top priority as a state they need to win.
The funny thing is no one would even question if they were involved if their entire campaign hasn’t been a daily parade of cheap, ugly stunts.
Added a flipped version of the image, which came directly from Drudge – as there was no place else I could find with an image – above for you, Yancy.
Perhaps she took her own pic on a laptop camera? My Dell laptop reverses the image.
I guess there are Dell laptops at the McCain HQ…
Did I say borderline OCD?
Morton Downey Jr-esque…dunno. If I were in Prager’s shoes, I sure as hell wouldn’t run off a cliff with this story until I got confirmed from A to Z. Don’t wanna hitch my wagon to a star and find out it was just a chunk of Boeing bung.
This article says the B was on the right side of her face. http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/23/mccain-volunteer-says-mugged-b-carved-face/
Nice call, Hallick. Downey was the first thing that popped into my mind as well. Not to mention Tawana Brawley.
Check out her incredibly-convincing-and-not-at-all-suspicious liveblog of her search for the ATM. It sure is lucky she decided to do that!
If it looks like bullshit, and it smells like bullshit, it’s probably bullshit. Sorry, I don’t buy her story for a minute. Not that I don’t believe that there are people who would get that incensed over a bumper sticker; I have a Republican friend here in Seattle whose car was vandalized twice in during the last election when she had a Bush bumper sticker, so she won’t have a McCain sticker or yard sign here.
But the details around this one stink to high heaven. The first thing I thought when I read this story was that it reminds me a great deal of the Susan Smith case (remember her story about a mysterious black man carjacking her with her two sons in the car?)
Her refusal to get medical treatment is a major red flag. Why would you not seek medical treatment, at least to corroborate your claim and legitimize your supposed injuries? I’m not an eye doctor, but I do theatrical makeup design on the side, and that black eye looks makeup enhanced, at the very least. There’s no visible swelling or redness at all, which you would expect to see with a punch hard enough to blacken the eye that much.
And the “B” supposedly carved with a knife — which, supposedly, this mysterious, tall, angry black man accomplished with incredible neatness and care, given that she must have been fighting to avoid having her face cut as he brought the knife to it. I’d love to see a medical report on that “wound,” because it looks more like it was done by a fingernail scrape than a knife. Do I think the McCain was stupid enough to actually be involved in staging something like this? Probably not, though given the sheer amount of stupidity they’ve shown, anything’s possible.
More likely: 20-year-old girl sustains a mild injury in some other fashion — maybe a small car wreck, or a boyfriend smacks her, whatever, and wants to cover up how it really happened with her parents or other authority figure. Or nothing happened to begin with and she gave herself a mild black eye to gain attention or sympathy. So she makes up this story, adds the “B” with her fingernail, maybe enhances the eye with a little smudged black eyeliner. It’s not that hard, I can make bruises that look more realistic than that one that look great on stage. But of course, if those bruises were examined in a hospital, it would be obvious fairly straight away that they weren’t caused by actual injuries. Perhaps she wanted to wait to go to the hospital to buy herself time to make the injury more legit, when she realized it was getting bigger than she’d planned.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven; I’ll bet right now that it’s a matter of time before the real story comes out, because you can bet Obama’s camp is going to be all over wanting her injuries verified.
And already, her story starts to unravel …
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081024/ap_on_re_us/attack_mccain_sticker;_ylt=AndXTmK8kpeB_AvruOXobDms0NUE
Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin has her doubts, too.
My guess is that if this is something that was self-inflicted by Ashley (and a few friends) that McCain’s people were not involved. She probably thought she could get on the news and maybe change a few minds in Pennsylvania. That is all. I don’t think real hate crimes done in the spur of the moment are quite this pretty.
Also, the fact that she twittered her search for an ATM and that she ended up in a bad part of Pittsburgh is just strange. Especially compared to the items she Twittered about prior to that. Next time I end up in a bad part of town the last I’m going to be doing is Twittering the experience.
http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html
She made it up.
Hmmm…..very funny. I knew that eye injury was just plain baloney and the backwards B, unless of course the phoney attacker was dyslexic.
Let’s hear that dimwit Prager’s mea culpa today with his snakey voice:
“My friends, it doesn’t mean this couldn’t happen. I’ve always said I prefer truth over clarity…”
worst make-up job ever. that silly girl must take the term ‘black eye’ literally (everyone knows it should really be ‘blue/purple eye’)