Parents.com (non) Response to COOKIEGATE

[blogslut]

Each election year, we publish the favorite cookie recipes of the candidates’ spouses and ask you, our readers, to bake, sample and vote for your favorite. And in a few of the prior contests, there was some amount of controversy. This year is no different. In 1992, Barbara Bush submitted an alternate recipe halfway through the contest. It did not help her beat Hillary Clinton. The next two cookie competitions (1996 and 2000) passed without incident.

Fast forward to 2004. Teresa Heinz Kerry claimed on NPR that someone in her camp was “sabotaging” her chances of winning the competition by submitting a recipe that wasn’t hers. This was after the first recipe that we received didn’t pass muster. So now, amidst cries that Cindy McCain plagiarized her submission from a Hershey’s recipe, we are faced with another cookie controversy. Who knew that baked goods could cause such angst? Since we ask for a favorite recipe (not an original one), I am comfortable supporting any of the submissions we received this year. And I have personally baked all three recipes. Numerous times. If we are to be specific, NONE of the recipes are original to the potential First spouses: Bill Clinton’s recipe was created by the family chef; Michelle Obama’s by a good friend, the godmother to her girls; Cindy McCain’s was given to her by a friend. So maybe we all can take a step back and vote with our stomachs (or even along party preference). And with the wonders of the internet, we can even vote often (once per day). Stay tuned to see if the best cookie wins!

link: http://www.parents.com/community/food-diary/?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3aefa1994f-a175-4064-9661-5d2feb5a0bfdPost%3ab8e226bf-f689-4cd9-a45a-03ea13f20de1
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The commenters on the blog aren't buying it.

[Occam Bandage]

1. "Given to her by a friend." Meaning, of course, an intern who copy-pasted it off Hershey's site.

[JuniperLea]

2. "Since we ask for a favorite recipe (not an original one)"

That doesn't excuse anyone. If you submit a favorite that is not your own, you should credit the source!

[Debi]

3. Yep, and if the magazine didn't provide proper credit shame on them too! n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. So what do we know about the Meredith Corporation?

:shrug:

[blogslut]

5. Here's their contact page

http://meredith.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=contacts

[housewolf]

6. I'm okay with that...

I have many "family favorite" recipes that someone gave to me in the past that I call "mine" because I make it time & time again. Did the recipe originate with me? No. It's still "mine" because it's the one I use.

There may be many reasons to criticize Cindy McCain, but the magazine didn't call for original recipes, it just called for "favoite" recipes. If it's something that she and her family love... then that's fine with me, I see no point in creating a "cookie-gate" fuss over this.

In spite of her previous recipe "gaffe", I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on this... it's just as likely that someone gave her the recipe at some point in the past and she had no idea it was on Hershey's web site.

It's not worth getting my panties in a wad over...

[Evergreen Emerald]

7. common sense rises to the top of DU

I wish I could recommend a single post.

[Erin Elizabeth]

8. I'm not wadded over it.

But it's pretty easy to see that "a good friend" is not "the back of a bag of butterscotch chips."

:shrug:

[housewolf]

10. But the "good friend" could have easily gotten if from the back of a bag of chips

or from someone else who got if from the back of a bag a chips, and so on, and so on. People have a bad habit of not always giving credit where credit is due when it comes to recipes. I figure it's "yours" if you made the cookies and gave me the recipe. If I make it and share the cookies, it's "mine."

If you do searches for recipes on the internet, you'll find lots of duplication, same ingredients and quantites, with different people's names on them. If I find it and use it and like it and use it over and over, it becomes "mine" simply because it's the one I use.

[Erin Elizabeth]

12. If I get a recipe off allrecipes.com

I credit that.

She should have asked her friend where she got her recipe. At the VERY least, it would have avoided a bunch of embarrassment over looking like she pinched a recipe from Hershey's.

Also, let's remember we don't really KNOW that there was a "good friend" at all. I tend to believe the theory (I think it's in this thread) that she had an intern find a recipe and they googled and came up with that.

[NeedleCast]

9. I care about this...why?

Really? Cookie-gate? That's where we're at now?

[ErinBerin84]

11. their response should be "We came to our senses and decided that this is a fucking stupid tradition

for us to have every four years!" haha.