Haircuts in the other America

Richard Reeves:

Three weeks after I wrote that I thought John Edwards might be going someplace in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, I found out where he was heading: to the barber shop.

The candidate, who has been looking pretty and pretty impressive in defining "Two Americas" -- one for the rich and privileged, a lesser place for everyone else -- came up with a wonderful device to show us all what he meant. His campaign spending reports, required by the Federal Election Commission, revealed that he has been paying $400 for haircuts by a Beverly Hills cutter named Joseph Torrenueva. The guy must be good, because Edwards' hair sure looks good. So does the rest of him, helped along by a $250 shaping at the Designworks Salon in Dubuque, Iowa, and $225 at the Pink Sapphire spa in Manchester, N.H.

Well, the man has great hair. My barber tells me I do, too, and he only charges 20 bucks.

That's $20 of my own money. Edwards, who has a couple of thousand times as much money as I do, pays for his tonsorial needs from campaign funds. He travels the country asking concerned citizens for money so he can get haircuts and body polishing. Where I come from that is called a real sense of entitlement.

...

Edwards' hair spree has brought him back to where he was before his wife's cancer changed the subject about his vanity. I guess he can't help it. He probably thinks a bad haircut could cost him an election. No doubt he will have better hair than Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson but he sure does not look as smart at this point.