True Colors

Imagine the scene:

I followed Clinton during a recent bus tour across Iowa, when she and her entourage pulled into a Maid-Rite, a greasy spoon famous for its loose-meat sandwich. Clinton settled into a red stool at the counter, ate a sandwich, chatted with her waitress and then was on her way.

The scene gave Clinton perfect fodder for her next few stump speeches. It turns out her waitress was a single, working mom — just the kind of voter Democrats are courting aggressively this year.

Clinton recalled the meeting for an audience up the road in Boone. "The woman waiting on us — it was her first day," she said, adding, "She was a little nervous. Single mom, raised two boys, works at a nursing home and always has a second job."

If she's elected president, Clinton promised, people like her waitress will have it better….

Hillary Clinton, defender of the little guy, savior of the poor, friend to women... not so much.

Enter Exhibit A: It would seem that neither Hillary or anyone in her entourage believes in tipping.



As was surprisingly reported by NPR reporter David Greene neither Hillary nor anyone else in the entourage left a tip. The waitress that waited on and spoke with Hillary said, "I don't think she understood at all what I was saying. I mean, nobody got left a tip that day."

That's not the worst of it either. Hillary's exploitation caused the waitress even more problems than the work without pay.

The local paper ran photos of her with Clinton. She said her supervisor at the nursing home isn't a big Hillary Clinton fan and she thinks that may be related to why her hours were almost totally cut.

Because of the lost hours she has had to get yet another job. (Just like all of us "rich" people will have to if Hillary gets to tax us like she would like to.) She went on to say, "I wished I would have been asked first. I wish she would have asked if she could talk about me later. I didn't like it when someone called me up and said Hillary Clinton is talking about you. It's like, what'd I do now? What's she saying?"

Since this story aired the Clinton camp vehemently denies its veracity:

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."

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.

"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.

A Clinton campaign staffer called on Esterday at the restaurant Thursday after the story aired. The staff member apologized to her and gave her a $20 bill, according to Esterday. The Clinton campaign confirmed that visit. The campaign also produced photocopies of receipts showing $157.46 was paid to Maid-Rite on a VISA card on Oct. 8 for meals consumed by the candidate's entourage. 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.

I bet they do wish they had checked beforehand. This whole thing smells like last week's fish. #1 Why would someone who admitted to liking Clinton in her interview claim that she hadn't been tipped? #2 Why, if they HAD actually tipped Ms. Esterday did someone from the Clinton camp return and give her a $20?

Clinton's claim would be a whole lot more plausible if it hadn't happened before. Enter Exhibit B:

February 11, 2000
It's all the buzz in Albion: Hillary stiffs a single mom
By Barbara J. Saffir
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

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."

I rest my case.

The thing that gets me is that in both of these stories the people who were stiffed were still willing to vote for this fraud. No wonder we have so many bad politicians. There are a lot of stupid people out there voting.