Scroll down for updates…”Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said”…and more below on following her MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook trails…10/24…more fishiness…10/24 3:26pm Eastern….HOAXER CONFESSES

Throughout my career, I’ve covered dozens of fake hate crimes — campus hate crime hoaxes, Muslim hate crime hoaxes, fake noose hangings, etc., etc., etc. Most were perpetrated by liberals, but there have been some shameful ones on our side of the aisle as well.

I’ve reported on the great lengths that warped attention-seekers have gone to in perpetrating fake hate crimes, including beating themselves up, carving swastikas on their dorm room doors and walls, locking themselves in bathroom stalls, and burning down their own houses.

Which is why I’m not jumping up and down with outrage over Drudge-promoted story of a McCain volunteer claiming to have been attacked by a black man whom she accused of carving a “B” in her face after spotting her McCain bumper sticker.

She refused medical treatment after reporting the incident to police. Why on earth would she do that?

Look at her face (photo via Hot Air):

What’s wrong with the “B?”

I share my reader Kathy’s suspicions on this. She writes:

Notice how the “B” is backwards on the right cheek……if you were looking in a mirror and put it on your own face…it would appear backwards and would probably be on your own right cheek (due to most folks are right handed)……she put it on her own face but forgot it would show up backwards. She may have been robbed and beaten but I think she added the “B”…. Take a close look at the picture.

Maaaaybe the alleged robber straddled her upside-down while carving it into her face.

Maybe.

But I’ve got my doubts.

(Update: And yes, as many readers have pointed out, it’s also the neatness and superficiality of that “B” that also raises red flags. See my police officer reader’s e-mail below.)

The woman has been identified as GOP volunteer Ashley Todd of Texas. Her Twitter page is here and I find it, well, odd.

This seems to me to have shades of Paul Mirecki (note that there was a photo in that case, too), Sarah Marshak, and Tawana Brawley all over it.

If I’m wrong, I’ll apologize. If I’m right, will this woman?

It needs to be said — and since it is not said often enough by those on the other side of the political aisle, I’ll say it again:

We have enough low-lifes and thugs in the world running loose and causing campaign chaos and fomenting hatred without having to make them up. I’ve been blowing the whistle on the real, left-wing rage not on the front page and in-your-face tactics throughout the election season.

Hate crimes hoaxes — by anyone, of any political persuasion, and of any color — diminish us all.

Either way, I hope that Todd gets the help she needs, that the whole truth comes out, and that justice is served on the perpetrator.

Whoever he or she may be.

***

Ace weighs in.

And from a reader who is a police officer:

“I’m a cop – 8th year now – and this McCain supporter attack just didn’t pass the “smell test” as soon as I read about it. At this point, I’ll guess the shiner was inflicted either by a friend willingly as part of this hoax or a boyfriend in a domestic dispute. The “B” is far to[o] shallow and clean to be taken seriously. Reminds me of the stab wounds that a “hero” would get when fighting off a phantom attacker – far to[o] superficial to have been done in what is a fairly violent encounter. Either way, I’m voting McCain 😉

***

Update 1am Eastern: Via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review…

A knife-wielding man robbed a McCain-Palin campaign volunteer and etched a “B” into her face after he saw a McCain bumper sticker on her car, the woman told Pittsburgh police. Police planned to administer a polygraph test to Ashley Todd, 20, because her statements about the attack conflict with evidence from the Citizens Bank ATM where she claims the incident occurred, police said.

FYI: Todd’s MySpace page has been turned private, but cached links are here.

Her Facebook profile has been deleted, but the cached front page is here.

Update 9:30am Eastern 10/24: She told police the assailant sat on her chest and pinned her hands down with his knees.

So much for all those thinking the attacker was upside-down with her head between his knees.

Update 3:26pm Eastern: I was right.