Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, I checked the conservative blogs to see how they're handling the Ashley Todd hoax. Michelle Malkin, to her credit, stated the obvious, which was that the incident was extremely hard to believe. Ace of Spades, on the other hand, wrote, "It's looking more likely true," and continued, "doubts are mostly gone now that I see the picture."
Today, with the hoax having been admitted by the perpetrator, Ace writes, "I was forced to defend her on the small chance she was on the level." So now he's admitting that he was, essentially, participating in the hoax -- he realized there was only a small chance it was true, but he told his readers that it was likely.
I don't think the actions of one sick volunteer say anything at all about John McCain or his campaign. They do, however, tell us a lot about right-wing yellow journalists, from Drudge on down, who manipulated primitive racial-sexual fears for partisan gain.
--Jonathan Chait