Earlier this summer, the Washington Post ran a profile of Joseph Torrenueva, a Beverly Hills Democrat better known these days as John Edwards’ barber. The article, which led the paper’s “style” section, has achieved minor infamy for the author’s solemn assertion, “It is some kind of commentary on the state of American politics that [John Edwards’] hair seems to have attracted as much attention as, say, his position on healthcare.”…. Has it now? The truth is nobody knew anything about Joe Torrenueva before the Post article appeared. Miniscandals about politicians’ haircuts are more like Chia pets than human heads of hair. They don’t grow on their own. They require reporters to pursue and water them with investigations into the practices and prices of high-end barbers; only then is national attention focused on who and what presidential candidates pay for their monthly snips. The Torrenueva profile didn’t offer “some kind of commentary” on the state of American politics so much as it offered insight into the peculiar priorities of its author, Post money and politics reporter John Solomon.
Welcome to the journalistic equivalent of a whispering campaign. I suppose when you can’t take a candidate down because of his stance on the issues, what better than to create a controversy out of whole cloth? Start a whispering campaign, and before you know it, the American sheeple are discussing an “issue” of absolutely no import as if it were a window into the darkest corners of a candidate’s soul. Keeping beating the drums of faux miscreance, and before you know it, people are wondering what sort of out-of-touch, clueless elitist is out there asking for our support. (OHMIGOD…what’s next? That he enjoys the company of young, naked boys??)
Except that John Edwards is anything but an out-of-touch, clueless elitist, and the only reason people are beginning to suspect that he might be is because John Solomon has apparently taken on the elf-appointed mission of knocking Edwards down a peg or six. Solomon is doing this not because of Edwards’ stance on a particular issue, but because it’s easier to start a whispering campaign than it is to engage in an honest and forthright debate. This is what the Right does when they’ve determined that they cannot defeat a Democrat by legitimate means. When it’s all about winning, anything goes- no matter how dastardly, underhanded, or just plain rotten.
Honestly, who (&^%$#@ cares what Edwards pays for a haircut or where and by whom he gets it done? Does that say anything at all about his position on poverty, the war in Iraq, health care, education…or any of the myriad other pressing issues this country faces? What could Solomon have been hoping to accomplish besides smearing the name of a man who has devoted much of his adult life in public service to helping those less fortunate? Apparently Solomon can’t find anything relevant to assault Edwards with, so he’s left with innuendo and character assassination.
Lee Atwater lives…and Americans who expect decency and honesty from one of this nation’s newspapers of record (like me, f’rinstance) are sickened. Why does this DUMB@$$ even have a job? Why is he allow to submit this umitigated, unsubstantiated trash for publication?
Perhaps because the Post’s editors recognize the power of propaganda? Or perhaps because they’re secretly pleased with and supportive of Solomon’s “journalistic” endeavors? Clearly, Solomon is not the only DUMB@$$ at work at the Washington Post.
