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Hillary Clinton Tipping

November 8th, 2007 9 Comments

Oh yay, another b.s. Matt Drudge hit and run job (aided this time by freaking NPR). Sen. Clinton paid $100 in tips on a $157 bill in Iowa.

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9 Responses to “Hillary Clinton Tipping”

  1. z adura says:
    November 8, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    Actually Oliver, the person they interviewed was the waitress who met Hillary. She is the one who reported that nobody left a tip and that she was disappointed by it. I don’t think the lady lied about the tip she received. It is more probable that the manager got the tip but never gave it to the waitress. I can’t hold NPR responsible for that.

  2. Sean D. Martin says:
    November 8, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    NPR’s Correction: ““Editor’s Note: Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton’s campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $157 the day of Clinton’s visit and left $100 in tip money.

    NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left.

    Crawford, who was not in the restaurant at the time, said that he believes a campaign staffer left the money with one of his employees, but “where Hillary was sitting, there was no tip left.”

    Neither Anita Esterday [the waitress interviewed by NPR who said no tip was left] nor the manager on duty that day were available for comment as of noon Thursday.””

    So… nobody actually present during Clinton’s visit could be reached. Only a manager who was not there but “believes” money was left with one of his employees.

    And clearly the waitress who actually served Clinton hasn’t received any tip.

    Good for NPR for trying to actually verify the “facts” posted by the Clinton campaign. But seems to me the question of a whether any tip was left (no doubt destined to be a major campaign issue! (sigh))) is still open. NPR needs to talk to someone who was there.

  3. Sean D. Martin says:
    November 8, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    (Wondered if I’d need to indicate italics for each paragraph. Hope it’s clear in previous comment that first 4 paragraphs are all NPR’s statement.)

  4. Vote for Hillary Online says:
    November 8, 2007 at 9:19 pm

    Even if she hadn’t left a tip, so what? It’s not like it’s required, especially if the service isn’t good.

  5. Roundhead says:
    November 9, 2007 at 12:10 am

    Jay — you were right. NPR is much more committed to the idea of journalism than Keith Olbermann.

  6. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    November 9, 2007 at 10:14 am

    “Jay — you were right. NPR is much more committed to the idea of journalism than Keith Olbermann.”

    I don’t think anyone would deny that. NRP and PBS are the best America has.

  7. Sean D. Martin says:
    November 9, 2007 at 12:07 pm

    NPR did have a follow up today which, given the play this got in the blogs yesterday, sould be expected.

    The reporter who did the story spoke again with the waitress. She again said she’d received no tip. However, she said, a Clinton staffer did show up yesterday and give her $20. The staffer told her that a tip had been left on the original day as part of the credit card payment. When the waitress said their credit card machine didn’t handle tips the staffer then claimed the tip was let as cash. [No idea what the waitress means about the machine not processing tips, but interesting to note the staffer seemed to immediately change their story.]

    The manager who was not there on the day again said a $100 tip had been left to be split amongst the various service staff (as the entourage had occupied several tables and had several waitresses). But couldn’t confirm how the tip would have been split or weather it actually was. The original waitress said she’d worked with the other wait staff for years and can’t imagine them not splitting things up if they had actually gotten something.

    So… waitress still claims she got no tip. Person not there that day says money for tips was left. Clinton staff tries to make amends but does so clumsily. Clinton campaign won’t present anyone who was actually there that day to confirm money was left. Molehill, having achieved foothill status, hopefully grows no further.

  8. Dr. Victor Davis Handjob says:
    November 9, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    The best line from the waitress herself reveals that the “liberal” media is really just a tabloid media:

    “Ms. Esterday said she did not understand what all the commotion was about.

    ‘You people are really nuts,’ she told a reporter during a phone interview. ‘There’s kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now — there’s better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn’t get a tip.’”

  9. Sean D. Martin says:
    November 9, 2007 at 7:47 pm

    Hadn’t seen that particular quote. Source?