Glenn Reynolds punked by fake "political hate crime."

Take a look at this.

MCCAIN VOLUNTEER ATTACKED AND MUTILATED IN PITTSBURGH:

A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said. . . .

Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

This is so serious that I predict it will get almost one-tenth as much national coverage as something some guy may have yelled at a Palin rally once.

UPDATE: Phyllis Chesler: "I knew things were going to get ugly and so they have." Like me, Chesler had some initial doubts, but the police seem to have confirmed this story. Stay tuned.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Questions from Michelle Malkin and Ed Driscoll.

MORE: A big roundup at Hot Air, plus this: "I’m not going to blame people for keeping a healthy skepticism on this case, but so far, the two media reports appear to check out."

STILL MORE: The Anchoress says I'm half right, above: "Glenn Reynolds has it half-right. If the story checks out and is deemed credible, it will quickly be buried. If, however, this young lady has perpetrated a political hoax? The press will milk it nonstop; it will be all you’ll hear and read about, 24/7, for the next two weeks." Yeah, it's like there's an agenda or something.

MORE STILL: Ann Althouse joins the crowd suspecting a hoax, and adds: "And even if it did happen, what would it mean? There are violent attacks all the time, for all sorts of reasons, and if you want to assert that they say something about anybody other than the attacker, you'll need to prove that too. Bottom line: This is the stupidest distraction in the whole history of this crazy campaign season."

A commenter agrees, but adds: "But, were it a black woman with an 'M' carved in her cheek, we'd be getting 24/7 coverage."

Now this.