Hillary’s Tip-gate
Hold on, if you think this is an already-debunked urban legend. Just read …
Most blog-readers know this much:
Anita Esterday, a waitress at the Maid-Rite in Toledo, Iowa, told NPR’s David Greene in a report that aired on Morning Edition Thursday that “nobody got left a tip” on Oct. 8, when Clinton sat … Esterday served Clinton, chatted with her and later ended up as an example of a hard-working single mom in Clinton’s stump speech. She told NPR she’s considering voting for Clinton, but was disappointed the senator and her staff didn’t make sure she got a tip for her labor.
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer wrote to NPR in an e-mail: “The campaign spent $157 and left a $100 tip at the Maid-Rite Restaurant. Wish you had checked in with us beforehand.”
Many Progressive blogs thereupon pounced, slammed down their cyber-gavels, and judged this to be a non-story, solely focusing on the waitress’ “you’re all nuts” remark.
Not quite …
On Thursday, Esterday was sticking by her story.
“Why would I lie about not getting a tip?” she told NPR. She also maintained that her co-workers at the restaurant had not received tips. …
The tip was supposed to have been paid in cash, and the campaign insisted such a payment was made but has declined to make available a staff member who was present at Maid-Rite and left tip money. …
“Two others that had worked with me that day turned around and said, ‘We didn’t know about any $100 tip,’ because they both turned around and said ‘We didn’t get a part of it.’ And they didn’t. So, it’s like ‘OK, where did it go?’ That’s the mystery question: Where did it go? …”
“The ladies that were working that day have been working there for years — some of them for 30 years, some of them for 25 years,” Esterday said. “And I’ve known a lot of these ladies most of my life living here, too. And I can’t imagine them pocketing it.”
Both excerpts are from NPR’s site, dated Nov. 8. There is more there. Personally, I found the second part of the story a little confusing, but, unless I’m wrong, there’s no evidence (there I go again … sometimes I can’t even stand myself) that the Clinton campaign left the $100.
Again, I might have misread it, but at one time the Clinton staff said the $100 was on the credit card bill. At another time, claimed it had been left in cash. (That seems to be the latest version.) Perhaps that’s a minor discrepancy, but when you have the world’s latest and greatest political Rapid Response website, a veritable “Shock and Awe” on the internet, wouldn’t you be really, really careful when responding in such a situation?
So … did the Clinton campaign really leave the $100? Not leaving a tip may be no big deal, but like Nixon said, “What really hurts is if you try to cover it up.” Blue Crab Boulevard agrees.
Jason Steck, in The War Room is Back « The Van Der Galiën Gazette, writes:
What may be more important [than the tip itself], however, is the frantic nature of the Clinton response. Bill Clinton was famed during 1992 for the concept of the “perpetual campaign” featuring a “war room” that existed for no other purpose than to instantly mount scathing and often personal and petulant counterattacks to any incoming challenge or criticism. The rumor always was that Hillary Clinton was the driving force behind this escalation in standardized political tactics. This rumor now appears to be true, as the Hillary Clinton campaign appears to be taking it to another level with this incident and, previously, with accusations that challenging questions directed towards Ms. Clinton during a debate were unfair acts of boys “ganging up” on a defenseless girl.
Question for commenters: Where did the $100 go?
Update: The Great Orange Satan reports this the same way I did.
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