Clinton: Stiffed the waitress? Big tip found

Of course Hillary didn't leave a tip! We all know the extra money goes into a secret fund to pay off laywers when B.J's girlfriends have a bimbo-eruption.

Paulo

Three Questions:

1.Where does Obama like to eat?

He doesn't eat. He gets his energy from the sun.

2.Does he pay for his food?

He doesn't have to, God said it is on the House.

3.Does he leave a tip?

Only when the angels are having a bad sales week.

"This seemed suspicious to us, because we've witnessed Clinton's coterie of aides at these kinds of events, wads of cash or credit cards in hands, literally fighting each other over who gets to shmear the wait staff"

Coterie of aids, wads of cash and credit cards, fighting, to shmear the staff with money. Seems no more suspicious to me than the coterie of journalists, wads of paper, pen, fax machines telephones and computers, fighting to shmear the public with good news about Obama.

Love it.

Seems like Glen is eager to absolve Hillary and her gang.

But to be honest here, I am sure if the waitress was stiffed it was an accidential oversight, not an intentional act.

But then, perhaps the Queen B thought the waitress looked like one of Bill's affairs, hmmmmm?

President Bush came to Chicago after his re-election and left a $20 bill for an $18 tab. Guess he didn't like the burgers or the service.

Glen Thrush and Paulo have a lot in common. Being common.
This contrived story does not deserve space nor repeating.

Just a reminder tips are taxable under the new IRS rules implemented a couple of years ago.

But, my question is why is this news? It's not relevant to anything.

But, my question is why is this news? It's not relevant to anything.

Posted by: Lou | November 8, 2007 12:54 PM

Its part of the Find Any Speck of Dirt Possible on Clinton campaign.

If he's gonna comment about Drudge drudging, Glenn might want to check his facts. According to NPR and ABC, Clinton's campaign claims they paid $157 for the food bill and left a $100 tip.

More stupid stuff from "Don't ask, Don't tell", Matt Drudge.

The flag lapel pin? the price of a haircut? cleavage?
Republicans don't want to talk about the real issues because they've got nothing but their usual fear and smear (swiftboat) tactics to offer America in 08.

More stupid stuff from "Don't ask, Don't tell", Matt Drudge.
Well, actually it's more stupid stuff from Dont' ask, Don't tell NPR and ABC News via Drudge

This is as important an issue as Barack's lapel pins and Edward's haircuts. Forget about the Iraq war, torture, abuse of executive priviledge, the falling dollar, the tanking market, and skyrocketing oil prices. How can the Republican candidates possibly lose as long as they wear lapel pins, leave big tips, and get cheap haircuts?

As a conservative independent who certainly doesn't want Senator Clinton elected President, even I'll say that stories like this are extremely distasteful. They are a destructive, petty, campaign-basement-office tactic that cheapens our civic discourse and draws our attention away from real issues. And worse than the sneak who started the "Clinton stiffs waitress" story are the dopes in the press who give life to such dirty stories by repeating them, even after they acknowledge that such stories are by nature "suspicious"---come on, Trib Washington Bureau, you can do better...

Gee, Mark - a nice snarky piece on Hillary. The next time Brucie complains about how pro-liberal The Swamp is, we can push this garbage piece you wrote in his face.

And since you are supposedly a "reporter", why don't you do a little investigative reporting and answer your own questions???

"...fighting each other over who gets to shmear the wait staff"

You can get a bagel with a shmear (referring to a generous dollop of cream cheese), you can shmear paint on a wall (referring to a sloppy coat done in a hurry), but you can't shmear a wait staff (unless you're covering them in cream cheese or painting them hastily).

If he's gonna comment about Drudge drudging, Glenn might want to check his facts. According to NPR and ABC, Clinton's campaign claims they paid $157 for the food bill and left a $100 tip.

Posted by: jimboster | November 8, 2007 1:29 PM

Jimboster, actually they paid $100 on a $43 bill, making it a $57 tip.

Anyway, Loons, the drudgereport.com is largely links to various news sites, ranging from the AP, MSNBC, CNN, newspapers, Fox News, local TV stations, etc.

Drudge did not publish the wrong news, it was NPR that originally reported the wrong story.

What is interesting, though, is the Lefties who saw the story as no big deal before it was corrected. I'd be willing to bet the $57 that if it was a Republican who did this, you Loons would be having orgasms over it, even if it was proven to be incorrect like this one.

I hate hillary, but come on, this is stupid.

Let's dissect this story from Glenn Thrush. One paragraph says this:
"But now NPR has confirmed the tip with an editor's note: "Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton's campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $100 the day of Clinton's visit and left $57 in tip money. NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left."

Another paragraph says this:
"But Clinton's counterattacker Phil Singer seems to have come up with a pretty compelling case that the senator actually gave the Maid-Rite staff a 57 percent tip (!) -- claiming the staff shelled out $157 on a $100 food bill."

So, within the same story written by Glenn Thrush are two completely contradictory statements. Which is it Glenn? And Clinton campaign, which paragraph is true. One paragraph says the Clinton people claim a $57 tip was left and another paragraph says the Clinton campaign says a $100 was left. One says the bill was $43 and another says the bill was $57.
And the DNC-bought-and-paid-for-lapdogs at the Tribune buy both stories without question.

I also find it interesting that Glenn says "enemies POUNCED on the story," citing Drudge in particular. Yet, Glenn and the Swamp did note the story and the NPR report. So, if Drudge included a link to the original NPR story, how is that "POUNCING" on the story? Didn't Glenn and the Tribune "POUNCE" on the story too?
And, once again, I would be willing to bet my Murano that is the story was changed to Guiliani short-shrifting a waitress, that the Tribune would have "POUNCED" on the story and more than likely not run the correction.

Folks, here is today's lesson in how journalists are so biased to the Democrats, it ain't even funny.

Folks, here is today's lesson in how journalists are so biased to the Democrats, it ain't even funny.

Posted by: John D | November 8, 2007 2:43 PM

What's funny is that you take a fact-challenged hit-piece AGAINST a Democrat as an example of bias TOWARDS Democrats.

A liberal is one in search of truth, a conservative thinks they have already found it.

Johnny:

The second paragraph you note was from the original story BEFORE Glenn corrected it. He just did not remove that paragraph.

And Drudge DID pounce on the story - he immediately put it on his blog for his right wing friends like Bill O., Rush, Sean and the like to quote. Again, will he correct the story like Glenn did? Or just leave it out there, like he normally does??

And how do you know what would have happened if this was a Rudy story?? It probably would not have been a big deal, since most Republicans are cheap tippers anyway - it is probably standard tactics to stiff the waitress (see the $2 tip on the $18 bill from Georgie - see Jethro's post).

Thanks to Glenn Thrush to providing a piece today that JohnD could really sink his teeth into. Perhaps the Swamp plans this...throwing in a tabloid puff piece (slightly decayed) to give him something to chew on.

I don't think this was as good as the lapel pin though.

A little perspective r.e. the "why is this news" question:

I happened to hear the NPR report this morning. Its intent was to go back and talk with a couple of ordinary people who had been caught in "photo moments" with candidates on the campaign trail, to see what effect, if any, those moments had on them. In Clinton's case, she made reference in a speech to a single mom who had waited on her in Iowa. The reporter was talking with the lady in question about her impression of her meeting with Clinton, what effect if any it had on her, etc. The "tip story" was just a small part of the greater story and the reporter didn't make a deal out of it (Esterday brought it up as a reason why she was disappointed with Clinton) but of course, it was noticable due to its singularity.

So, folks - the story was not about the tip. But a lot of people ignored the story and pulled out that one bit because it's, well, catchy. And I'm sure it threw someone in the Clinton campaign into a panic ("my god, did we really stiff a single working mom?!?!"), leading to the fact checking and hence the retraction.

So relax - you can restore your faith in "what constitutes news."

The NPR segment in question included a similar report on Obama and his response to an Iowa woman who attended one of his nonsensical "forums" to draw attention to the plight of her terminally ill brother. The report contained an audio recording of the woman's statement and Obama's response.

It was obvious that the woman was somewhat distraught and overly emotional. His response to her included the statement he would send the woman's brother a card. The woman's brother never received the card and was very gracious (as was the waitress allegedly stiffed by Hilary and company) in justifying Obama's rudeness.

The intended message of this story appeared to be to illustrate the heartless manner in which these egomaniacal presidential candidates manipulate honest Americans as props in their campaigns. In my opinion the conduct and lies of one are no different from any of the others, republicans, democrats or otherwise.

Hillary Clinton is only ineterested in winning. She could care less about a poor waitress.
As to NPR we the taxpayers are paying $400 million a year of federal money to finance Sesame Street and Camp Wobegon and Jim Lehrera's liberal news cast every evening with all the cable stations we don't need NPR or NPTV spouting liberal garbage.Jerry White, Springfield, IL

I'm not exactly sure where Glenn got his journalism degree, but he probably wasn't paying attention in a few of his classes. His update still has the incorrect facts about the amount of the bill and the tip (according to Fox, NPR, ABC and the AP). And Glenn claims NPR retracted it's initial report, which doesn't actually appear to be true.
NPR's "initial report" now includes an editor's note (which Glenn obviously hasn't read) which features the Clinton campaign's side of the story, as well as a somewhat vague confirmation by a manager who wasn't present at the time of Clinton's visit. The editor's note is also quite clear about the fact the waitress and the manager who was actually on duty at the time, have not yet been reached for comment on the new information.
Oddly enough, Glenn appears to be the one pouncing.

Did Obama tip Rezko?

Hillary Clinton is only ineterested in winning. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Posted by: Jerry White | November 8, 2007 3:47 PM

Crazy Jerry from Springfield,

All the Presidential candidates on both sides of the isle are only interested in winning.

Now go back and finish listening to the Rush science-fiction AM radio show, Jerry.

Uh, any idea how Hillary intends to end the war in Iraq? In other words, any way we can get back to how she (and the other candidates, for that matter) would actually govern?

Obama will never win. This country is not ready for a minority president. Just vote Republican.

Um... $100 is 64% of $157 not 57%.

"Just vote Republican."

Yeah, right. I used to like some Republicans back in the old days when they were fiscal conservatives, strong defenders of the US Constitution, and seemingly less corrupt than the Democrats who controlled Congress at that time. I won't EVER vote for the new Republicans, who favor unchecked presidential power, unlawful domestic surveillance, torture, wasteful spending, and who took government corruption to a whole new level. Vote Republican? No.

Obama will never win. This country is not ready for a minority president. Just vote Republican.

Posted by: Ted G | November 8, 2007 5:02 PM

Teddy,
No, you're wrong, this country can not survive another Republican President.

Isn't this the Hillary campaign's word against that of the waitress? Why does the reporter assume the waitress was mistaken?

So they paid the restaurant, that still doesn't mean she received a tip....

Well, looks like the right wing has more red meat for it's base.

Let's see, Clinton tipped at 57%!!

'These kinds of Liberal handouts are what make poor people lazy!!'

What do ya think Swampies?

This is so dumb.

It's not like Hillary would be sitting there looking at a bill and calculating a tip. Her staff would.

Hey Paulo, maybe Hillary's kust saving her money so that she can send her grandchildren to a "madrassa school" over in Indonesia - just like the one you claim Barack Obama went to and have been UNABLE TO PROVE SINCE YOU POSTED IT LAST FEBRUARY!

This just goes to show what Hillary does with other peoples money (her political money shouldn't be their private stash). A 57% tip?

ust think what she will do with your tax money.

I can't believe that her campaign staff was so inept as to allow this to happen. I think she should ignore Barack and Edwards, run as the presumptive nominee, and attack W. and Rudy. Bush is more hated than any king since Ivan the Terrible. h.c. should focus.