About That Edwards' Haircut

[Me.]

This thread was accidentally deleted so I am reposting it, with permission, again.

Even today I'm seeing snark about it. Here's the deal. He didn't go into the shop and the guy gave him the cut and Edwards plunked down $400. Edwards was on the road, the guy went to him and billed Edwards for his time, time lost at his shop when he would have been making money but couldn't because he was on the road. Edwards paid up, no questions asked. And unlike some who expect grade A service but don't want to pay for it. They expect the person rendering the service to be honored simply by the request and to take the loss. And believe me, there's a lot of that out there. Good for Edwards for not letting the guy take a loss.

Edwards isn't my first choice for pres, though I have no hard feelings about him and think he's being tarred and painted unfairly.

[Me.]

1. Since I Posted The Original Thread

It occurred to me that most of the publican senators are millionaires. Why do we never hear about their big homes? Why aren't they ever dunned about their wealth? And who started this business about the haircut in the first place? Kerry likes French wine, Edwards got a $400. haircut. Are we going to swiftboat our own candidates? Won't the publicans do plenty of that, do they need our help to minimize our own candidates?

[napi21]

2. I actually think the haircut thing started when the media asked

how a guy who's whole campaign is about 2 Americas aand helping the poor actually pay $400 for a haircut? At least that's the way it was portrayed when I heard about it...linked to his campaigning for the poor.

As far a Kerry goes, the French thing was just a lot of BS, but you have to admit he did ask for criticism when he was photographed sailing that time, and the cammo hunting shot just looked stiff. He well may be a hunter, but that day he looked like a stand in actor doing a bad job!

[sneakythomas]

7. I think that's the issue

He can't really make a campaign about two Americas when he's living in the one he says is wrong. I'm glad he compensated the guy for his lost time, but hey, how about doing what about what the rest of us do: take your lunch break and get a haircut.

[gatorboy]

12. Sure he can.

Do you not realize how loaded FDR was? He WAS an aristocrat and still believed in helping the "other" America.

[LostinVA]

26. Excellent analogy!

[edwardsfeingold08]

13. He doesn't say one America is wrong and one is right

He doesn't advocate all Americans being poor and struggling to pay for healthcare, food and shelter. He wants everyone to have the same opportunity he had. The Bush administration is about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Edwards wants to lift up the poor.

As for a lunch break...what lunch break? Presidential candidates campaign during lunch. They meet people. They travel to events. They raise money. If he stopped campaigning to spend an hour at the barber, how much would that cost the campaign? Not to mention, what t.v. personalities roll the dice at some random barbershop before they go on t.v.? None, unless they have a shaved head. They all spend money on hair and makeup or they have it done in the tv studio where someone on salary does it. How much does that cost?

Maybe you should read this. http://mediamatters.org/columns/200705010001

This story is bullshit. Clinton, Edwards and Kerry have all been raked over the coals for haircuts. It's the Republican playbook. I don't know why any democrats are stupid enough to jump on the bashing democrats for haircut bandwagon.

[Rosemary2205]

17. Bull*

Edwards has never said there's anythign wrong with being wealthy. He's said there's somethign wrong with being wealthy and not have any sort of social conscious. He's speaking out against economic and social injustice, irresponsible corporatism and the "I got mine, fuck you" attitude the Republicans obviously have toward the rest of America and the world at large.

[etherealtruth]

18. His idea isn't that we have one IMPOVERISHED America

Anyone that champions the cause of the most disadvantaged is doing a great thing, one not need be impoverished himself.

[Me.]

22. Like That Very Much

Not having an impoverished America

[Beaverhausen]

3. Romney is worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars

How much are his haircuts? His suits? his homes?

[etherealtruth]

20. But he DOESN'T care about the poor

... so it doesn't matter:(

The only time wealth appears to matter is if you champion the plight of the economically disadvantaged ... if you don't care no one cares that you are wealthy

[Beaverhausen]

27. So should we point out often that Romney doesn't care about the poor?

[etherealtruth]

29. Yes, loudly and often

[Buck Rabbit]

4. I agree "Haircut" and "House" no big deal. Using the poor to spin

a $500K gift from a hedge fund sucks. I say gift to be generous as opposed to what I think it really was.

Interns don't get paid 500K for a few hours work. And he claims he was basically an intern. The Hedge Fund claimed he was a senior consultant, but I don't think hedge-funds normally hire senior consultants who have yet to learn the subject they are consulting on.

If he had said, I got a great paying job that fit my schedule and left it at that I would have said "ok". A DLC politician taking money from the super rich is consistent at least. But to spin it off as part of the campaign on poverty is simply an insult to ones intelligence.

[ChiciB1]

5. Thanks For The Post... I AM Supporting Edwards Now....

I realize he's not perfect, but I have my reasons! Some that may not be understood by many here at DU, but there ISN'T any politician who's perfect.

For that matter very few people are perfect, I know I haven't gotten my "perfect" or even "close to perfect" button yet. November 2008 is still in the future and given the way things are going now, The Idiot may even "figure" out some way to re-write history and stay in office for a THIRD TERM!

Hey, I don't TRUST these people FOR NOTHING! One reason why I think the Democrats would do much better with more UNITY rather than Back-Biting!

FWIW!

[gatorboy]

6. Didn't he use election donations for the haircut? That makes a huge difference in my opinion.

(Unless I read that incorrectly, then I apologize.). The man's loaded. I could care less how he spends his own money. But people aren't sending him donations to blow on haircuts.

[napi21]

8. He said the barber sent the bill to the campaign and they paid it.

That was wrong, and they have been reimbursed. I actually can believe that. I'm fairly sure there are some rather low level clerks reviewing all the bills that come in and processing the payments. It makes sense to me that they would see a bill for a haircut, know it was done in the city where John was that day, and just pay it.

[Me.]

10. As I Understand It, It Was Billed To The Campaign

Though it was reported as being erroneously so. I understand where people who are upset with him are coming from, especially from one who claims to be a populist. But I don't think you have to be poor to be one, though I think it helps if you remember where you came from. I don't know enough about the hedge fund issue to be able to speak to it. I will say this though, even though I'm hoping a different person will be president. I really appreciated Edwards on CNN the other day when he stood up for getting us out of Iraq and not giving * a pass.

[TahitiNut]

9. He should have had it cut by an illegal alien and paid less than the union rate, right?

After all, that's what a Republican would do, right? :eyes:

[edwardsfeingold08]

14. To be fair, the Republican would multitask

He'd also be chatting up an underage boy on the internet while the illegal immigrant cut his hair.

[JNelson6563]

21. haha!! Touche!

:toast:

[badgerpup]

30. Or maybe stiffed the barber, poor working class schmuck that he is?

I suppose that would have been better...:sarcasm:


FWIW...I think charging somebody $400 for a haircut is just a tad on the outrageous side...but the guy was a professional, and apparently business IS business. :shrug:

[BuyingThyme]

11. I don't care. Had it been a bottle of wine,

nobody would have said a thing.

Had it been shoes, nobody would have said a thing.

Hat it been a set of spinnin' rims nobody would have said a thing.

Had he been a woman, nobody would have said a thing.

Well, maybe with the spinnin' rims.

[mitchtv]

15. So he paid tourist prices in Beverly Hills

BFD Welcome to LA

[Me.]

16. Aah

Didn't realize he was in BH. $400. was a bargain.

[H2O Man]

19. Though I oppose haircuts

in general, and prefer to think that Edwards paid that price for a trim, it seemed to me that there were some silly people trying to use the trim for purely political reasons.

[Me.]

23. I Wish Monty Python Was Still Around

They could probably do something with trims

[Czolgosz]

24. You will never be able to educate the haircut police (but I admire your efforts in that regard).

There is one further factor to consider:

Of course you are right that Edwards didn't pay $400 for a haircut; he paid some fraction of $400 for a haircut and paid the great majority of the $400 for the barber's time and cost associated with traveling to Edwards in order to accommodate Edwards's schedule. The barber had to travel both ways in Los Angeles traffic so I suspect that the barber probably could have seen three in-shop clients in the time it took him to travel to Edwards and set up for the cut, and three more clients in the time it took him to clean up after cutting Edwards's hair and travel back to his shop. The barber probably could have seen 7 clients in-shop during the time he committed to Edwards.

If Edwards DIDN'T pay the barber for his time, I'd think Edwards was a dick so I have no problem with Edwards paying a barber for his time. Plus, I bet Edwards is the sort of person who gives a nice tip. If the barber gets $50 bucks for a haircut and he could have seen 7 in-shop clients during the time he saw Edwards, and if Edwards tipped him appropriately for the barber's extra effort, I'd expect the tab to be about $400.

Here's the part that some people are overlooking - during the time when Edwards was getting his $400 haircut, he, and Obama, and Hillary, and Romney were hitting fund-raising goals of $1,000,000-per-day. I have done political fund-raising, and I promise that you don't have more than 10 hours of effective fund-raising time in a day. If you are trying to raise $1,000,000 during a 10 hour day, you need to set a goal of raising $100,000 an hour. This is a goal which Obama, Hillary, Edwards, and Romney often met. If Edwards spent $400 dollars to pay a barber for his time, and this freed up just an hour of Edwards's fund-raising time, that hour of Edwards's fund-raising time was worth about $100,000 to the campaign where a couple of hours of the barber's time which freed up Edwards cost only $400. Once you understand this, only an idiot would insist that the campaign should have wasted Edwards's time in traffic going to and from the barbershop when Edwards better used that time raising campaign funds.

If you think $400 for a haircut is expensive, you should see how much more it costs to fly private over commercial. But why do all the top tier candidates and even many second tier candidates fly private? Because it allows them to schedule more events per day and, even though private air travel is MUCH, MUCH more expensive than commercial, the money raised during the extra fund-raisers you can schedule more than makes up for the extra travel cost. The $400 haircut is a product of the same time=money campaign math so if you want to bitch about Edwards's haircut, you ought to first check what similarly large expenses your preferred candidate is incurring in order to meet his or her fund-raising schedule. I don't have to worry about that because my candidate ain't raising much money and, frankly, he'd could probably stand to spend a little bit more on his haircuts.

[Me.]

25. Points Well Made

& appreciated

[BlooInBloo]

28. I HATE RICH PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!

[Jed Dilligan]

31. I was wondering what happened!

Seemed like a harmless OP to begin with.

Let me restate my deleted thoughts:

I am poor. I am currently just at the gates of middle class, but I have been extremely poor (homeless).

I don't know where this idea came from that the rich are somehow being nice to the poor when they deny themselves luxury.

To the poor, this seems like insanity.

If Edwards wants to court middle class WASP liberals who empathize with the poor, he should wear a hair shirt, grow his beard out, and possibly flagellate himself in public. If, on the other hand, he actually wants the poor to come out of hiding and vote, he should have all the haircuts and suits he wants. He should be MORE flamboyant, if anything.

It worked for Bill Clinton...

[Me.]

I'm So Glad You Came Back

The OP was accidentally deleted and while Skinner could give me that to repost, the others posts were lost.

I really liked your post, especially this part, "I don't know where this idea came from that the rich are somehow being nice to the poor when they deny themselves luxury. To the poor, this seems like insanity."

Thanks for reposting

[Me.]

34. I Think This Thread Is Jinxed

First the thread is deleted by accident, then, my response was meant to be to your post yet it says 'original message' but I'm pretty sure you got the point.

[Jed Dilligan]

35. Poverty threads sink at DU, I'm afraid

Jinxed or not. The new problems are more exciting than the old ones, I guess.

on edit: Your OP was not explicitly about poverty, but I think that's the frame you're dealing with: "Edwards can't speak for the poor because he spends a lot on his hair."

[Me.]

39. That Was Part Of It

Along with the unfairness of him being scalped for something that was done for a good reason. As was said upthread he did/does not promise an impoverished America.

[DU GrovelBot]

32. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.0
==================



This week is our second quarter 2007 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend on donations
from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for your support.

[Jed Dilligan]

33. Sorry GB...

No one here but us poor folks!

[autorank]

36. K*R You are dangerous, Me. You use logic and common sense.

This was one of the dumbest stories I ever heard. In a league with Gore's energy bills, it is a mini hit piece to achieve irrelevance by 1000 cuts.

Shame on the originators of this type of trash.

Excellent!

[Me.]

37. Takes One To Know One

I'm rubber and you're glue, or whatever, you get my point.

[autorank]

40. :)

Estragon: "Look, it's Me on DU!"
Pozzo: "You're on DU?"
Estragon: "No, its Me, just look."
Pozzo"Well, I'm glad you're on DU, you seem to enjoy it.
Could you pass the salt."

[Me.]

41. I'm Waiting

"The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh."

[autorank]

42. Wait no more, or forever...it's up to you.

Lucky: (aren’t we)

Given the existence … of a personal God … outside time without extension … it is established beyond all …that man in short that man in brief … fades away … and considering what is more much more grave that … for reasons unknown … …abandoned left unfinished. . . unfinished . . .

[Cha]

38. Good post..it had to be pointed out since

it wasn't that obvious to some..who would rather knee jerk about a stupid haircut!

ENough of this nit cluckin' picking.

I care about the War On Iraq stance..RIGHT NOW.

[illinoisprogressive]

43. dems don't care about the haircut except it hurting him. The gop is still gonna

bash him if not for his hair, then something else. it will be a joke for awhile no matter the true story.
Just keep supporting him and he will recover from his missteps. Dems don't care and they like the guy.

[eridani]

44. It would be more helpful--

--to find out how much Repubs pay for haircuts, and publicize that widely.