Okay, I'm kind of fuming right now. Via, TPM, I just learned that Peter Feldman, John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director , had been pushing the now-discredited story about the "mugging and mutilation" of Ashley Todd, one of McCain's volunteers.
Here is the gist of what we now know:
John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the "B" carved into the victim's cheek stood for "Barack," according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson."
Verrilli also told TPM that the McCain spokesperson had claimed that the "B" stood for Barack. According to Verrilli, the spokesperson also told KDKA that Sarah Palin had called the victim of the alleged attack, who has since admitted the story was a hoax.
As we all know, that is complete bullshit. Todd made it up. That's on her; but the McCain's campaign in PA pushed it, and that's definitely on them (though it's worth noting that McCain's national campaign appears to not have been involved in spreading the story). The McCain campaign needs to pay for pushing this hateful fear-mongering. The do-anything, say-anything depths that some in the McCain camp will stoop to is the real story here, and it needs to be reported just as heavily as the bullshit story was. Please, let's make sure that people find out about this.
Update: I've updated the story to include some more details. Thanks to GN1927 and davidkc for the helpful suggestions. As you can probably tell, I don't diary too often. :)
Update II: DaveV draws some sobering historical links to our not-so-distant past in another diary on this topic. Check it out!
Update III: First TPM. Now Andrew Sullivan is getting the word out. Next, MSM? Please?
Update IV (last update): Hey everbody, DaveV's diary that I linked to above is also on the rec list. Since his has some more original content than mine, would you be so kind as to un-rec this one, and rec DaveV's instead? I think we only need one story about this on the rec list. Thanks!