Cross-posted at HillarysBloggers.com
There’s a new web-site out there folks and it’s tailor-made for political news junkies / rapid responders like me. I’m probably not alone here when I say that I’m chompin’ at the bit for the latest news about the primary races, or the latest polls out of Iowa (and hey let’s face it – "chompin’ at the bit" is a huge understatement). Well now there’s a new website that gives us information to help us set the record straight 24/7.
It’s an offshoot of HillaryHub.com and it’s called...
(wait for it)
The Fact Hub - The Straight Scoop on Election ’08 (Think Media Matters here).
First story up is an update to something that NPR reported this morning on Morning Edition and got totally wrong. Make the jump cos’ there’s more...
Now I’m sure someone’s posted a "Woot! Hillary’s a cheapskate and didn’t leave a tip!" diary here by now (which probably made it up on to the Rec List in fairly short order), but they would’ a jumped on this a tad bit too soon.
Ya see... NPR got the story wrong. They relied on the word of someone who didn’t have all the facts, didn’t bother to check their story when they figured they got the story the whole story & nothin’ but the story – and ran with something that wasn’t quite true.
Here’s what the original NPR story reported about a waitress at the Maid-Rite in Iowa who thinks Hillary forgot to leave her a tip...
When I returned to the Maid-Rite a few weeks later, Esterday said the senator had caught her off guard. But once they got talking, she was honest with Clinton about her need to work two to three jobs.
"I've been doing it all my life. Why should it change now that I'm old," Esterday said.
snip
Clinton may have decided not to tip. She was also never given a bill — her meal was on the house. Still, Esterday said Clinton might have left her something: "Maybe they don't carry money. I don't know."
Now as I said, NPR ran with this story without checking to make sure the lady had all the facts. Here’s what they said in an update later...
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 nor the manager on duty that day were available for comment as of noon Thursday.
(emphasis mine)
Get that? They got a bill for $157 and they left a tip of $100. That’s like (getting out calculator here... ahh hell, who am I kidding? I don’t know how that’d work out even with a calculator so let’s just call it) a 75% tip right?
SO rather than being the cheapskate she was accused of being, she and her staff left a more than generous tip.
On NPR’s contacting the manager of the Maid-Rite...? You’d THINK they would have done that before airing the story in the first place. Sadly, even NPR falls in to the trap of rushing through the steps to get something on the air before the other guys pick it up. Still... that’s hardly an excuse for sloppy reporting.
As for Ms. Esterday, she had this to say...
"I got my 15 minutes of fame out of the world," Esterday said. "There you go. I got her autograph. That's something I'll treasure forever."
She went on to say she may even vote for the former First Lady.
At any rate, this is the kind of thing you’ll find at this new site guys.
BTW – They’ve also got some great video footage on the site...
So check it out – and check back often. For those of you looking for ideas on what you might write on blogs like this – it’s a mighty fine place to start if you wanna help set the record straight!
And don’t forget to check out HillarysBloggers.com while you’re at it.
Peace
U P D A T E
Ok ok - I got that tip percentage wrong - it was a shade over 63% but stilll... that's hardly the tip of a cheapskate!
BTW - I just noticed they've added a new bit over at The Fact Hub.
CHECK IT OUT!
.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming ;o)
UPDATE 2
We're on the Rec List guys! WOOT!
YEAH baby!
Now don't forget to check out the new website THE FACT HUB
.
UPDATE 3
Hat tip to MyOwnClone for reminding us of this one. Seems this whole "Hillary Won't Tip" story is an old one. They trotted this out in 2000 when she was running for the Senate.
I think this one falls in to the "things that make ya go HMMMMMM" category.