THE FACE CARVING

Today’s alleged mugging/face carving of a McCain campaign worker was pretty Jerry Springer.

It immediately reminded me of the time that skinheads jumped the crestfallen talk show host Morton Downey Jr. in an airport bathroom and carved ‘KKK’ into his head.

Publicity stunt, it backfired, never happened. The account from a former Downey Jr. employee below, but that’s what I think when I stare at the front page of the Drudge Report and see a B carved in the campaign worker’s face.

The ‘B’ is pretty neatly drawn for someone who was pinned to the ground and struggling while it was carved into her face. Who knows. . .

And a snippet from this NY Times piece on Morton Downey Jr.. . .in 1989 . . .Morton (Downey Jr.) flew to California for a speaking engagement. The next day, a disturbing rumor began to circulate in the office: Downey was in the hospital. He had been badly beaten by a pack of skinheads, who had abducted him at the San Francisco airport. They had carved ''KKK'' onto his forehead and smeared him with blood. He was unconscious. A national hunt was on.

None of his producers believed the story for a second.

Sure enough, a variation on the rumor soon surfaced: Downey was fine. They hadn't beaten him, they'd only cut his hair (skinhead hairdressers?) -- and it wasn't blood on his face, it was red Magic Marker. We all began to get a sinking feeling. That evening, the production staff huddled around the television as Peter Jennings announced with barely concealed disdain that the San Francisco police were skeptical of Downey's story.