The John Edwards haircut saga continues

Well, we knew that as recently as this year John “Man of the people” Edwards spent $400 on haircuts – at least twice – and charged them to his campaign (he later paid his campaign back when word of the news hit the press), but did you know one time during the 2004 campaign that he actually paid $1,250 for one??

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.

“He has nice hair,” the stylist said of Edwards in an interview. “I try to make the man handsome, strong, more mature and these are the things, as an expert, that’s what we do.”

It would take a lot more than $1250 to make John Edwards strong and mature.

Here’s how his campaign responded to this latest haircut revelation:

“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.”

This is so typical. The clueless wonders who run his campaign (not to mention the man himself) react the same as other clueless John Edwards supporters in response to stories about his expensive haircuts: Essentially, they’re saying “BFD!” But the issue, of course, is not so much about the haircuts but instead the fact that Edwards has made ‘fighting poverty’ the centerpiece of his campaign, yet he doesn’t mind spending lavishly on himself and his family, nor does he mind feathering his own nest under the guise of ‘helping others in need.’

And you know what, I can even overlook the guy for spending lavishly on his family with that big home. If you’re successful, you obviously want something to show for it, but what I don’t like is some slick politician who tries to make people feel guilty for ‘not doing more for the poor’ yet he spends hundreds of dollars on haircuts when the average haircut a man (one who wasn’t a metrosexual) can get is around $15 at the barbershop. There just isn’t any excuse for it, outside of the man’s vanity overuling all common sense. Not only that, but I also don’t like how he routinely condemns ‘the rich,’ yet he obviously has no reservations about making a nice little stash not only via evil hedge fund firms but by doing it on the backs of the poor people he claims to want to help.

He tries to pass himself off as some energy conservation paragon, when in actuality that gigantic house proves that he’s not, no matter what he tries to tell you about how he’s conserving energy. When he and his family start living like actor Ed Begley, let me know – then I might believe Edwards is truly green. He also tries to pass himself off as a selfless individual when he’s about as vain and self-absorbed as they come.

The biggest fraud in the race for the nomination on either side of the aisle: Former (thank goodness) Senator from NC John Edwards.

Oh, and no word yet on whether or not he charged the $1250 haircut to the campaign.

Comments are closed.