When I was a Senior in High School our gym teacher, Mrs. Johnston, stabbed herself in the stomach and blamed some "black kids" in an elaborate faked gym vending machine robbery hoax to try and get her medical coverage expanded to include treatment of a blood condition. Mrs. Johnston was, in a word, crazy. I thought about her yesterday when I read about Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign volunteer who claimed she was robbed and had a "B" carved in her face by rabid Barack Obama thug supporters in Pittsburgh. It turns out that Mrs. Johnston has a friend in Pennsylvania: Todd was making it all up. 

A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed. More details to follow.

So ... this one is too strange to attribute back to the McCain campaign or Sarah Palin, even for us. But what the fuck? Can you imagine actually carving the letter B into your face as an elaborate hoax to turn a media narrative about angry supporters into something that could help John McCain? To recap: 

Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her "you are going to be a Barack supporter," police said in a statement.

Whoa. Stirling and I know a thing or two about branding, and I'll tell you this. When we decamp to the closest swing state, stalk a McCain volunteer and steal their money at a cash machine we're carving "BHO" into that volunteer's face, not just a "B." That "B" could be anything. Seriously though, the question isn't whether or not Ashley, like Mrs. Johnston, needs help. But did the McCain campaign push this to the media? Who turned this story into something bigger than it was? If they fanned the flames, this will go from bad to worse.