This brings to mind other cases in recent years in which a fabricated black man was made a scapegoat for a crime, such as the Susan Smith or Charles Stuart case: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=...
This time the ploy is being used not to justify a crime, but specifically to make us fear the "black man", and make us doubt voting for Barack Obama as President, even though he is clearly the best choice.
"Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve," - George Bernard Shaw.