Posted on 11/08/2007 7:08:28 AM PST by mware
Covering a presidential campaign can feel like this: Stop in one town, watch a candidate talk and shake a few hands, then move along to the town up the road.
There went Toledo, Iowa.
So that was Independence, Iowa?
The crowd back in Cedar Rapids sure was big.
It can be easy to see these scenes as photographs passed in a gallery, or a set of props neatly arranged for a candidate to make a pitch.
The reality is, these scenes are full of people with a story to tell — not only of whom they may vote for, but of what drew them to a political event, or how a candidate may have touched them in a fleeting conversation.
On a recent trip to Iowa, I came across two women who clearly had stories to tell. One had a chance encounter with Hillary Clinton. The other sought out Barack Obama.
A Chance Encounter with Clinton
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. 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.
The way Clinton eased the waitress into her rhetoric is something repeated day after day, by all the campaigns. But in the process, people like the waitress don't always have their stories told.
'Nobody Got Left a Tip'
"I wished I would have been asked first," the waitress, Anita Esterday, said of Clinton's decision to insert her in a speech, adding, "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?"
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.
Esterday does not think Clinton got it. "I don't think she understood at all what I was saying," Esterday said, adding, "I mean, nobody got left a tip that day."
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."
Turns out the visit hurt Esterday in another way. 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.
Now, Esterday is looking for a different second job. Still, she said she's not upset that Clinton visited the restaurant.
"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."
But as far as the attention she's received? "It hasn't helped me. It's made things worse."
Still, Esterday doesn't blame Clinton; she says she may even vote for the former first lady. She's also considering voting for Barack Obama.
Seeking Out Obama
Obama, in fact, passed through Iowa around the same time as Clinton. At an event in Independence, he asked if anyone had questions. A woman in the front row named Geri Punteney stood up. She said her brother was dying of cancer. When Punteney began to sob, Obama walked over to comfort her.
"I know what this feels like," Obama said.
Punteney recalled how her brother, who has stage 3 lymphoma and leukemia, had to work to keep his health insurance. Obama sympathized with the unfairness of the situation. All Americans, he said, should have access to health insurance — something he said he's committed to doing as president.
"Tell your brother we're thinking of him," Obama said. "Maybe I'll write him a note before you leave today."
Esterday's encounter with Clinton was by chance; Punteney's with Obama, by choice. Yet both women considered these moments – which observers may have dismissed as simply part of a busy campaign day — to be complex and meaningful.
'He Just Seemed Sincere'
Punteney has faced much tragedy. One of her brothers was burned as a boy in a Fourth of July fireworks accident and later died. Her brother, as she told Obama, has late-stage cancer. Her father died recently. Her mother has not been well. Punteney said she cries a lot.
A few weeks ago, at the home in Oelwein, Iowa, she shares with her mother, Punteney said she'd been inspired to see Obama when he came to the area.
"I'd seen the commercials," she said. "And he just seemed sincere, like he's for people like my mom, my brother and me."
Many people feel politicians may not be the first place to turn when in dire need of help. But Punteney said she was confident Obama could do something to make her feel better.
"I never had anyone pay attention to me and my needs — and he held my hand," she said.
I brought a tape recorder to Punteney's house and played her moment with Obama back for her — and his suggestion that he'd write her brother a note. He never did.
"He didn't have time, I guess," she said. "I understand. You know, he was bombarded by so many people. But just knowing he knows — that's more important than a note."
Indeed, Punteney seemed to get just what she wanted from Obama. She got noticed.
The RATs have been "courting" these voters for years. All the "nanny state dependent on the government's teat" voters that were created by the RAT party and kept there for one reason - "You can't make it without our help".
But as far as the attention she's received? "It hasn't helped me. It's made things worse."
You think it's bad now Anita, wait until this [D]evil gets elected. You will never be seeing her again and nothing she does will help you.
From what I can tell, this campaign stop was in Toledo, Iowa... this is the address and phone number for the Maid-Rite in Toledo, Iowa:
Highway 63 & Highway 30
Toledo, IA 52342
(641) 484-3720
Any enterprising Iowa Freepers want to go confirm this?
Turns out the visit hurt Esterday in another way. 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.
I thought this was very interesting. Hillary eats free, stiffs the waitress, uses her "story" as a prop and the still Clinton-bedazzled woman gets screwed over at work.
The waitress, of course, blames her nursing home supervisor, but good googly-moogly, I've been watching these Clinton toads since Billy Jeff droned on at the '88 Dem convention and I say anyone, anyone who associates with these duplicitous bastards always, always takes it in the tookis one way or another.
The most telling sentence in the article. "They" is exactly that. Not one of us, but rather a made up ruling class.
As someone who has worked for tips in the past, stiffing this waitress is an outrage! One would think Hillary would have learned her lesson in the past but apparently not, which only means that she really is clueless .... and cheap. And here I thought she was the smartest woman in the world.
And if she stiffed this waitress, I’m sure she’s stiffing all of them.
This really makes me mad! Come on, Freepers, let’s get outraged! If nothing else, maybe we can get her to start parting with some of her moldy money and teach her that you DON’T STIFF YOUR SERVER! Especially if you’re running for President of the United States. What an idiot!
These people need to be shamed.
And to add to the outrage, when she was at another place they sent a tip to the chef but stiffed the servers? This is just NOT DONE! What is wrong with these people?
If anyone can figure out where to send this lady her tip, please ping me and hubby and I will join in.
And I’m happy to start the Freeper outrage.
Anita Esterday
c/o Big T Maid-Rite
Highway 63 & Highway 30
Toledo, IA 52342
Imagine a Republican doing this, twice! “Out of touch!” “Rich, white man!”
For example:
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/bushscan.asp
So do you have a sob story that fits the agenda?
If so, get it out to the Dimmies and we will send you mucho $$s!
I’ve got to go to work right now. Can anyone on this thread start a new thread with an appropriate title? Something like:
HILLARY STIFF’S WAITRESS AGAIN
HILLARY IS CHEAP
...OR...
something along those lines. The title of this thread doesn’t really speak about what seems to be the most telling subject of the article.
Admin Mod? Could you add something to the title of this thread to indicate that Hillary is cheap, stupid, a stiff?
Sad. “I feel your pain” all over again.
People just don’t grasp why our government even exists.
A hint to them, it is not to “pay attention” to them or “feel their pain”, or to be a surrogate mother or father.
The phrases “protect and defend the Constitution” and “limited government”, just don’t have a lot of relevance any more.
Oops, I see it’s already in the title.
You may return to your regularly scheduled activities. ; - )
You are great! How do you do this so fast? Thanks for posting this. My tip will be on the way today.
Send your tips to:
Anita Esterday
c/o Big T Maid-Rite
Highway 63 & Highway 30
Toledo, IA 52342
ping
Hey, might as well send me one US dollar....if just to make up for idiot Super Models who don’t want them....(chuckle)
I’ll accept pay pal, btw!
Liberals in my experience are lousy tippers. I suppose they think everybody was born with a trust fund....
Thanks for the address. What would be an appropriate comment? I mean, shouldn’t there be a post-it note stuck on the dollar to let her know that it isn’t from a Hillary fan that just wanted to tidy up after her?
” Because she doesn’t understand the way most people live, and have lived for a long time.”
Good point, another form of inaccurate imagery that the Dems and media use election after election.
‘So do you have a sob story that fits the agenda?’
Sure do.
I’m a Conservative in the year 2007....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.