Conservatives often like to play the victim over imaginary threats (i.e., the left-wing conspiracy to attack Christmas [the so-called "War On Christmas"]), and I find that (for some reason) very very amusing.

Some conservatives, however, let their imagination run away with them:

A Princeton University junior who claimed to have been beaten by two men in black ski caps for his conservative views….

Of course, Nava’s "beating" was Exhibit A throughout the conservative punditry about how craaaazy liberals are.  Brit Hume of Fox News led off his "Grapevine" report with the case (video here).  Instapundit linked to the story, claiming it showed that conservatives were now living under a "climate of fear".

But a few days later, the "victim" of the attack….

…admitted on Monday that he made up the attack, according to Princeton Township police officials.

Francisco Nava, 23, told police that he was attacked on Friday evening, two days after he and three other students belonging to a conservative group, the Anscombe Society, had received threatening e-mail messages, according to the university. The society opposes premarital sex and advocates for a return to more traditional morality in society. A politics professor who serves as an unofficial adviser to the group, Robert P. George, also received e-mail threats.

So much for that meme.

[Note: it’s not the first time a conservative college activitst claimed — falsely — to have been beaten up by "liberal thugs"]