The Breck Girl's Hair in the News Again
Once again, anti-poverty-crusader John Edwards is in the news for his largesse on his locks...this time having spent as much as $1,250 for a single cut:
For four decades, Joseph Torrenueva has cut the hair of Hollywood celebrities, from Marlon Brando to Bob Barker, so when a friend told him in 2003 that a presidential candidate needed grooming advice, he agreed to help.
The Beverly Hills hairstylist, a Democrat, said he hit it off with then-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina at a meeting in Los Angeles that brought several fashion experts together to advise the candidate on his appearance. Since then, Torrenueva has cut Edwards's hair at least 16 times.
At first, the haircuts were free. But because Torrenueva often had to fly somewhere on the campaign trail to meet his client, he began charging $300 to $500 for each cut, plus the cost of airfare and hotels when he had to travel outside California.
Torrenueva said one haircut during the 2004 presidential race cost $1,250 because he traveled to Atlanta and lost two days of work.
The most obnoxious part of the whole haircut thing is Edwards' steadfast refusal to accept any responsibility for making decisions that seem rather incongruous for someone who's claimed eliminating poverty as one of his main campaign themes. For example, there's this from the story:
Asked for a comment, the Edwards campaign said this week that Edwards had arranged for the stylist to give him numerous cuts over the past four years. But it said that a personal assistant handled paying for the haircuts and that Edwards didn't realize how much they cost.
"Breaking news -- John Edwards got some expensive haircuts and probably didn't pay enough attention to the bills," said spokeswoman Colleen Murray. "He didn't lie about weapons of mass destruction or spring Scooter Libby; he just got some expensive haircuts."
So it's someone else's fault that the campaign spent enough on Edwards' hair to feed several families for a year? Please. Part of the reason that there's as much political fallout over this is because of statements like the above, which demonstrate that Edwards has no desire to accept responsibility for even small embarrassments...given that, why would anyone trust him with the responsibility of the Presidency?
Seems to me that Edwards could get a lot of mileage out of a few appearances at Hair Cuttery, or better yet, he should just show up at the local barber shop wherever he is when he needs a trim. Heck, it might even make him seem a bit more manly, using a barber instead of a stylist.
Splitting Hairs, Edwards's Stylist Tells His Side of Story - washingtonpost.com