Clinton and the Waitress
09 November 2007 1:11 pm by Taylor Marsh
** Update below – There is no “oops” **
 |
The
story was all over wingnut radio yesterday, where everything starts with
these fact-challenged folks. In truth, right-wing radio isn’t about dispensing
information or the truth. It’s about revving up the emotion.
That played out
rather interestingly during the BlogWorld panel I was on yesterday, especially with
comments made by Dave Barnett of the Weekly Standard, as well as Hugh Hewitt
from Townhall.com (also on the panel were Dave Nalle, Pam Spaulding and Brad
Friedman, with Professor David Perlmutter leading the discussion). Hugh Hewitt
said something revealing; and I’m not talking about the moment he said “Joe
Wilson is a serial liar,” believing that was civil discourse. He was talking about how he posts on his blog
and what happens when he gets something wrong. You
listen and decide. (One note on the audio: The panel was not about issues,
but about the power of the blogosphere, though at this Pajama Media and conservative Blog
World event, that’s what we kept coming back to, which led Pam Spaulding to
say to me after the panel discussion, “You guys had a hard time keeping
it on the blogs.” Even the moderator said the same thing, which you’ll hear in the audio. They were right for many reasons. I did my best to rebut the spin, but again, the topic wasn’t about left v. right, but about the power of the blogs, but with the audience leaning heavily conservative they loved hearing their people spin and spin they did. This is only one segment of the discussion.)
But this stiffing the waittress tale is just part of how the wingnuts take
rumors and run with them on radio. Or like Dave Barnett did yesterday, once
again bringing up Markos’s comments of four years ago and the private contractors.
Once they’ve got a talking point they stick to it, even when facts are revealed
like what we now know about Blackwater, though because of the focus of the panel it was hard to go into that detail, because it veered well away from the “power of the blogosphere.” The bogus waittress story played right
into the wingnuts’ penchant for pumping up the emotion whether the facts are
correct or not, especially where Hillary Clinton is concerned. Hard working waittress gets stiffed by elitist Clinton! Insert your headline here. Rush
didn’t miss a beat: “Mrs. Clinton Stiffs Iowa Waitress.”
… .. But have you heard the story about Mrs. Clinton and the waitress?
Now, what’s interesting about this is that Mrs. Clinton goes into this greasy
spoon a diner that I guess all presidential candidates go into, and she sat
down at the counter. She had an entourage of people with her. She chats with
the waitress, who is a single mother it turns out, and makes less than minimum
wage. Mrs. Clinton had one of the specialties of the house, the famous loose
meat sandwich. The waitress’ name was Anita Esterday. Then Hillary gets up
and leaves.All of Hillary’s entourage gets up and leaves and they head down to the next
campaign stop, where Mrs. Clinton starts talking about this waitress that
she just stiffed without a tip. The waitress is not happy that Mrs. Clinton
is talking about her without getting her permission, and she’s out there saying
at the next campaign stop that if you vote for me, I’ll make sure that these
waitresses get a better deal. (interruption) I don’t think the loose meat
sandwich is named after Bill, Mr. Snerdley, because I think this place has
been around as an institution probably before Clinton even went to Iowa for
whatever reason. So, anyway, the meal was complimentary, but that’s no excuse.
The Clintons are pointing out, “Hey, the meal was complimentary.”
The other excuse was, “She doesn’t carry money.” Well, somebody
in the entourage carries money. The campaign is now saying that they paid
$157 and left a $100 tip. Now, the waitress is saying, “Nobody got left
a tip.” So the campaign is calling the waitress a liar. What’s new about
that? This poor waitress, I’ll tell you, the point is women, you cross the
Clintons, bimbo eruption city. This is not quite the same kind of bimbo eruption,
but here’s the point of all this, folks.The point is that Mrs. Clinton is just so self-focused, she walks around
and in her own mind she’s regal and she’s royalty. She doesn’t pay for anything,
and certainly doesn’t leave tips. She will be glad to exploit this waitress
at campaign events, telling the story and how she got to know her very well
and listened, great interest to the struggles the waitress faces in her challenging
life, and, “If I am elected president again,” Mrs. Clinton will
say, “then I will fix this waitress’ circumstance.” So we’re wondering,
is this the tip of the iceberg because it may well be because Drudge went
back in the archives and found Hillary did the same thing in 2000, stiffed
a waitress at a diner during her Senate campaign. There is a pattern here.
But it’s the attitude, folks, it’s the out-of-touch, not even thinking. I’ve
told you many times, you can always determine the character of someone by
observing how they treat people who can’t do anything for them.A waitress who makes less than minimum wage can’t do anything for Mrs. Clinton,
and so how did she treat her? The waitress is not happy. It’s not just the
tip. It’s that Mrs. Clinton is out there using her. By the way, ABC has written
about this. It’s all over NPR. The Drive-Bys, it’s in a lot of places, and
they’ve gone back and gotten this story from February 2000 off Albion, New
York: “Maybe it’s no big deal elsewhere, but it’s all the buzz in Albion.
Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped into the Village House, a favorite diner in
this upstate farming town, and ordered two orders of scrambled eggs, home
fries and rye toast. So far, so good. The locals appreciate a hearty appetite.
Her breakfast was on the house, and when she left the waitress, a single mom,
found not a penny at her plate. The locals have been talking about little
else since Tuesday, when she stopped for breakfast after making a speech about
how New York’s farmers ‘are really hurting these days.’”Then she goes in there and stiffs the waitress. … ..
CarpetbaggerReport
has more, but here’s the money quote:
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.”
That’s it in a, well, nutshell. You. People. Are. Nuts.
The truth is that Clinton
left a tip of $100 on a $157 bill. But it quickly became “the
tale of the tip.” It’s also the tale of how wingnut radio takes issues,
especially about candidates, but particularly about Clinton, and runs with it
whether the story is true or false. The wingnut blogs are filing in the rest.
UPDATE: The Clinton campaign confirms that there was a $100
tip left. Again, there is absolutely no truth or “oops” to what happened
at the restaurant. Markos is flat out wrong on this one. As for whether the
waitress Ms. Esterday received a portion of the tip, that’s something else.
But the tip was left, which the Clinton campaign confirmed to me. I can’t explain
why anyone would blast a post saying otherwise.
I linked to it in my post, but here it is again. The
waitress told NPR, “Why would I lie about not getting a tip?”
Okay, so the waitress didn’t get a tip, but that doesn’t mean one wasn’t
left. Another thing that jumped out at me was that NPR seems to one minute apologize
for the error of reporting the Clinton team didn’t leave a tip, then the next
minute say the waitress stands by her statement. This “regret”
by NPR is just odd.
Esterday said “nobody got tipped that day,” and NPR should have
checked with the Clinton campaign before the story aired to see if any tip
was left and how it was done. We regret that this was not done. On Thursday,
Esterday was sticking by her story.
Okay, so Esterday didn’t get a tip and sticks by that fact, but it still doesn’t
mean the Clinton camp didn’t leave one.
This is the type of stuff that makes my job a living nightmare. Because if
I don’t rebut it on it lives. But when I do point out glaring mistakes being
whipped up I get accused of something else. However, I will not let this nonsense stand, especially since this is the type of negative
narrative when blasted on a huge blog has the potential to scream loudly on
the local front, in Iowa or another small town as it’s picked up.
Reporters talk to campaigns. You either trust the campaign or not. Readers
either trust the blogger they’re reading or they do not. I have not been lied
to by the Clinton camp. There was a tip of $100 left. Period. Who got
that tip? I don’t know, but that’s hardly the issue now is it?
The mud being slung on the Democratic side is reaching new heights. Somebody wants
to keep this story alive, which paints Clinton as not caring about a waitress,
then stiffing her, while also keeping a story going that hits Clinton, but has
no basis in fact, truth or reality. It’s classic dirty politics,
straight from the right wing playbook, straight out of Rush. Unfortunately it’s Democrats using it against other Democrats, which is one
thing, but it’s choosing to spin lies instead of accepting the truth that has also been verified, which is
flat out wrong.
