Hey, the racist email mayor resigned! Though he still won't admit to, you know, racism. AND: there is news on Ol' B-Face!

Ashley Todd is the moronic young college Republican who thought it would be a fantastic idea to, while volunteering for the McCain campaign in Pittsburgh, stage her mugging and facial mutilation by a large black Obama supporter. She drew a B on her face, backwards, because she did it in the mirror, and the rest is history. She is an American Hero. Paraded before the press in handcuffs, a faint B still visible on her face, we all knew no jail could hold Ol' B-Face. And we were right! Todd has been released from jail and will be "required to undergo mental health treatment." Then her record will be expunged, so she can still act as campaign manager for Bristol Palin's historic 2036 presidential campaign.

Politico's Ben Smith is eating a massive helping of crow from Obama supporters angry he and Matt Drudge posted the race-baiting attack falsely described by McCain supporter Ashley Todd in a most uncritical fashion. His lame apologia isn't helping the situation, and Politico GOP blogger Jonathan Martin adds noxiously that it "seems like McCain just can't catch a break." What went wrong here?Texas student Ms. Todd faked a backwards 'B' on her face and alleged a black Obama supporter had attacked her, as you no doubt know by now, causing Politico's comments section to launch into a feeding frenzy over editor Ben Smith's backpedaling. The elephant in the room is Drudge, of course, and critics are equally peeved at him. Since Todd herself has already been discarded by the media, it's time for Obama supporters and Ben Smith fans to express their anguish to the other folks who reported it as fact. In his follow-up to the story, Smith never admits he should have been more skeptical of the story and his colleague is downright depressed the girl wasn't telling the truth. As Smith puts it:

[Update: The hoax has been confirmed.] So poor Ashley Todd, right? She's the woman who says she was mugged in Pittsburgh Wednesday night (the wrong part of the Pittsburgh, with the Italians) by a black man. And the black man became incensed when he saw her McCain bumper sticker, on her car, and he carved a "B" into her cheek. What a terrible story! Oh but the police have re-interviewed Ms. Todd, and now the story is a little bit different, in that the car and bumper sticker part is out. After the jump, the new story of this terrible hate crime, and also, because we are assholes, selections from Ms. Todd's MySpace page! You will not like her very much, we're guessing.