Posted on 07/18/2007 7:16:24 AM PDT by CJ Wolf
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards travels the country bemoaning his vision of “two Americas”, one for the rich elite that live in exorbitant mansions and the forgotten class of laid-off Wal Mart workers living on the streets.
While Edwards calls the War on Terror a “bumper sticker” war, it’s not unreasonable to ask if Edward’s “Two Americas” slogan is stuck on the back window of a Maserati. And when Edwards isn’t courtside at the NBA Finals or living the high life at his multi million dollar mansion, you may find him primping, perhaps getting one of his famous $1000 haircuts. One recent report priced an Edwards styling session (including travel costs) at about $2100.
Are all politicians as sincere men of the people as Senator Edwards? You decide – HUMAN EVENTS contacted each 2008 presidential candidate -- Republican and Democrat -- and asked how much they pay for their haircuts. Below is a pricing list for the candidates that responded to our inquires.
Ron Paul -- The Republican/ Libertarian congressman from Texas and M.D. coughs up between 15-20 dollars for a hair cut in his home district of South East Texas. One must assume the good doctor makes sure all shears are properly disinfected before he sits down for a new cut.
Tommy Thompson -- 50 Dollars from his long time hair “person.” Not cheap but not in the John Edward’s range. As a Republican and former Secretary of Health and Human Services, you can’t fault the man for being concerned with his hygiene.
Mike Huckabee -- "We've had a Congress that's spending money like John Edwards at a beauty shop" said Huckabee in one of the Republican primary debates. The folksy former Arkansas Governor (R) pays 15 dollars for a hair cut at a “ town and country barber shop” in Arkansas -- not a beauty salon.
Mike Gravel -- The former Senator (D.-Ak.) pays 25 dollars for a cut at the corner barber. The real question here is, can Gravel tip the barber enough to remember his name?
Sam Brownback -- The Senator (R.- Ks.) pays 12 dollars for his hair cut back in Topeka Kansas. However, when in Washington D.C for extended periods of time the Senator reluctantly pays 18 dollars to get his hair done at the Senate barber shop. The campaign adds that he only pays for the ‘expensive’ D.C cut “ If the Senator has to”. Brownback’s thrift must explain why he has 46 college interns ‘working’ for his campaign in Iowa.
John McCain -- The long-time U.S. Senator (R.-Ariz.) pays between 15- 20 dollars at the ever so popular and extremely reasonable, Senate barber shop. Now if only his campaign was as prudent with their expenditures as the Senator is with his hair, they wouldn’t be looking at a bigger shortfall than a Kevin Costner ‘blockbuster’.
Dennis Kucinich (D-Mass.) -- The Secretary of the Department of Peace wins the award for the most cost effective hair cut on the list. The Congressman pays a paltry four dollars for his hair cut at a barber in his North Eastern Ohio district. Of course maybe if he went to Edward’s stylist he wouldn’t have to ask CNN to host a “Have a Date With Dennis” contest.
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) -- The Connecticut Senator recently paid 12 dollars for a hair cut while campaigning in New Hampshire. However the senator usually pays 20 dollars for a hair cut at his long time beltway area barber. The Senator’s office notes “The 20 dollars includes a tip!” It is refreshing to see at least one Democrat cares about the ‘other’ America.
Mitt Romney -- Former Massachusetts Governor Romney pays 50 dollars for a hair cut in his home state of Massachusetts. The campaign didn’t say if the family man sees a regular barber or a stylist. To be fair to Mr. Romney, a cup of tap water in Massachusetts costs about 10 dollars so the number is probably about as reasonable a cut as anyone could get there. Also when your candidate is as photogenic as Romney, you have to look at the cost of a hair cut as ‘opportunity cost’.
Tom Tancredo -- Congressman Tancredo is the easy winner of this race. Tancredo (R.-Co.) pays about 15 dollars at a barber and carries around a frequent customer card in his wallet so after every five or six hair cuts, he gets a freebee. Tancredo is so proud of his thrift he even filmed a You Tube clip where viewers can see him go in for a haircut at the aforementioned strip mall ‘stylist’. Now that is an example of a fiscal conservative putting his money where his head is.
Senator Obama was probably too busy explaining what exactly the 'audacity of hope' is to respond to our survey.
Senator Clinton’s campaign refused to say how much she pays, so we can only assume with how much her husband makes for a 90 minute speech ( 250,000 -500,000 dollar range ) that she could afford to give Senator Edwards a run for his money in the cost of hair department.
Former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani did not to respond to our questionnaire. We can assume that hair in general is a sore subject the former NYC mayor with an increasingly barren dome.
Rep.Duncan Hunter also did not return HUMAN EVENTS inquires.
LOL!!!
Hey, Rudy has no problem with cosmetic add-ons. Maybe a nice Elvis-style rug would be just the thing...
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Please. We have enough to contend with here in Massachusetts. We don't need Kucinich, too.
ROTFLOL!!!! That is way too funny!!!!
I love that gif.
$10 at Ken’s Barber and Style shop here in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. So there, Mr. Edwards.
I don’t care what they pay for haircuts as long as the money comes from their own pockets.
IMHO, I’ve never seen anything special about John Edwards’ hair. For what he pays, you’d expect to see something that you can’t take your eyes off of. But all he seems to do is prove the old saw that a fool and his money are soon parted.
Hi Bob,
My fiance and I were in your neck of the woods last week - Gatlinburg and Knoxville.
Beautiful country you have down there and awfully nice people.
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LOL! Only if you'll take Kennedy, Kerry, Patrick, Frank... :)
I’ve heard she’s an airhead.
lofl!
It is a good indicator of the hypocrisy of Edwards. Bill Clinton was good at spending big bucks for haircuts too, so I would be willing to bet Hillary's as expensive as well. . .probably why she didn't respond.
It does show his hypocrisy and his being out of touch with how people view this. And I don’t think his $1400 dollars is getting him anything a much smaller amount wouldn’t get him, so this shows me a huge personal vanity that I find hard to stomach in a man. If I were poor, I think the last think I’d want to hear is that a guy from an isolated estate claims to know what my life is like and is going to fix things for me. A look at the history of that kind of talk shows that it has never really panned out. But having said that, if he wants a $1400 hair cut, or Mitt Romney wants a $300 makeup job, let them have them. I would look upon those indulgences with relative indifference if they had the good sense to pay for them out of their own pockets instead of posting them as campaign expenses. That just looks to me like a couple of rich guys who, because of their position in society, expect the privelege of getting lots of stuff for free.
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