Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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What’s with the campaign hair?

You would think that after watching this,


and all the derision that the candidate‘s hair has generated,

political campaign advisors would avoid the hair issue altogether.

Well, my friends, you would have been wrong.

Consider this:


As Daniel Finkelstein said,

This is a lamentable idea, making a no-hope candidate look ridiculous, diminish his effectiveness as a Senator and reduce the chances of the only hope he has – that he might make VP on someone’s else’s ticket. The campaign strategist is a buffoon.

The damage’s done, but it’s time to get a new strategist.

For an object lesson on how professional men’s magazine editors work up the magazine’s most important page, the cover, click on the link.

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Presidential style

For $12, a guy can get his hair cut at the Great Clips at the Princeton Shopping Center. OK, make that $15 including tip.

For $15, they wash and cut your hair, comb it, and you come out looking like the good Calvin.

For $1250, “I try to make the man handsome, strong, more mature and these are the things, as an expert, that’s what we do.”

Woody, writing at GM Roper‘s blog, has more on the populist Adonis

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Continuing on a theme of politics as a beauty contest,

Another Reason Why Hillary Won’t Run Well (via Larwyn, who’s hot)
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You know that the left is feeling threatened, when they have already started trying to tear down Fred Thompson. And he isn’t even in the race yet….

Analysis: Potential US presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s strength is his style

They describe Thompson as having a laid-back, guy-next-door nature that puts people at ease and makes anyone feel comfortable around him. At the same time, they say he has a commanding presence with his imposing 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter) frame, his unmistakable deep voice and his straight-talking way.

That’s the kind of style I like. (On the hair department, I’m sure Fred’s not spending $1250 to coif whatever little hair he’s got.)

The AP’s out on left field (all puns intended) when they say Fred lacks substance. more on that some other time. But it’s not surprising that AP would say that.

After all, they’re still saying it about Ronald Reagan.

Update, Saturday 7/7/7
Does Susan Saulny qualify as a trophy reporter?

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Another Republican candidate with great style is Duncan Hunter. Solid, manly looks with impeccable suits that don’t look too overstyled.
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Across the world, Wretchard, who also has great style, posts about Sarko’s sport
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Update
To those who emailed asking,

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Did you listen yet? and today’s items

I’ll post more about Venezuela later today, but here’s the morning round-up:

Did you listen yet?
blog radio
Last Monday my guests were Dymphna and Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna and Siggy co-hosted. Listen to a most enjoyable podcast, and tell your friends. If you listened already, go back and listen again.

Soldier’s Family Needs Immediate Help

Victor Davis Hanson writes about The Global Immigration Problem

The moment illegal immigrants arrive, a sort of race begins: Can these newcomers become legal, speak the host language and get educated before they age, get hurt or lose their job? If so, then they assimilate and their children are held up as models of diversity. If not, the end of the story can be welfare or jail.
…
Governments in countries such as Mexico and Morocco usually care far more about their emigrants once they are long gone. Then these poor are no longer volatile proof of their own failures, but victims of some wealthy foreign government’s indifference. And these pawns usually send cash home.

Don’t miss also The Legal Visa Crunch: The Senate bill is worse than current law for skilled immigrants.

And Now…British Academia

Investor’s Business Daily continues its series on Jimmy Carter, Friend of dictators

Via Red State, Sen. Byrd: “Allowing the public to actually see earmark requests…isn’t a good idea”

We beat global warming, and “Al’s the guy!”

Via Larwin, Ace posts that Jon Corzine didn’t think of wearing a seat belt, and zoomed down the turnpike going 90 miles an hour, but he’s going to keep you from getting fat. Maybe Corzine should call Michael Moore for diet tips.

Mitt gets heckled in New Hampshire for being a Mormon. Harry Reid better stay away.

Also from Ace, some fool at Newsweek thinks wussy men are hot. Where is Pullo when we need him?
Here’s a short list of other non-wussies. And the ever-popular Swiss.

Speaking of wusses, Betsy has The humbug that is John Edwards, who, by the way, may have some trouble getting some of the treasure money as Spain sues over shipwreck bonanza

Harry Potter theme park planned in Orlando. It’ll take real magic to duplicate the terrain and the weather, for sure.

And last, but not least, The Studied Linguist (a poem)

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The sky may not be falling, after all

Victor Davis Hanson:

our rivals are weaker and America is far stronger than many think.

Take oil. With oil prices at nearly $70 a barrel, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez seem invincible as they rally anti-American feeling.

But if we find alternate energy sources, or reduce slightly our oil hunger, we can defang all three rather quickly. None of their countries have a middle class or a culture of entrepreneurship to discover and disseminate new knowledge.

Russia and Europe are shrinking. China is an aging nation of only children. The only thing the hard-working Chinese fear more than their bankrupt communist dictatorship is getting rid of it.

True, the economies of China and India have made amazing progress. But both have rocky rendezvous ahead with all the social and cultural problems that we long ago addressed in the 20th century.

And European elites can’t blame their problems – a bullying Russia, Islamic terrorists, unassimilated minorities and high unemployment – all on George Bush’s swagger and accent. The recent elections of Angela Merkel in Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy in France suggest that Europe’s cheap anti-Americanism may be ending, and that our practices of more open markets, lower taxes and less state control are preferrable to the European status quo.

In truth, a never-stronger America is being tested as never before. The world is watching whether we win or lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Middle East is either going to reform or remain an oil-rich tribal mess that endangers the entire world.

Read it all.

And there is no evidence for Global Warming in the Southern Hemisphere. Just ask the South Africans.

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Mary Katherine has the Great Cinematic Moments of the Comprehensive Immigration Bill
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John Edwards proves that there is no “War on Terror” (h/t Larwyn).
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From Janette, Gene Simmons gave an interview

Q: I’m guessing you’re not in favor of the Iraq troop withdrawal bills being proposed right now in Congress.

GS: It’s not the policies and the bills; it’s how we treat our military. It’s how we treat our young men or women who go out there, at 18 years old, and risk their lives. There’s no fame, they’re certainly not getting rich, and a lot of them are dying, simply for something they believe. By the way, it’s a volunteer army, all volunteer. The fact that anybody would have a fucking thing to say about that is astonishing. And the VA hospital that Sophie and I went to, it’s about an hour and a half down the road from Malibu. These morons can’t get up off their asses and out of their $10 million homes, get into their SUVs, and drive down to the VA hospital just to say, “Hey, what you do matters.” Doesn’t matter what they think of President Bush. It matters that 18-year-olds are getting out there and risking their lives. I didn’t see a single person there. That’s the most embarrassing thing. I’m furious at Hollywood.

Go read the rest.

More blogging later.

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Gift from the sea, and today’s items

John Edwards continues to find out about poverty: John Edwards Stakes Claim on Pirate Booty

Gifts from the sea, alright.

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Irrational Exuberance — Version 2.0
I’d say that right now would be a good time to take some profits…
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Donald Luskin aks WHAT’S THE ULTIMATE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF ECONOMIC MICRO-MANAGEMENT?
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If China sharply revalued the yuan, as American politicians are demanding, it could actually hurt the United States and help China, says The Economist.
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Via Irwin, Midwest Lutherans Largely Reject Violence
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Via Maria Blanco, TV Liberty has a video tribute to Communism,
Warning: disturbing images

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In the animal kingdom,
The Artic Monkeys are hot, and here are some apes gone wild

More pubescent apes gone wild (h/t Siggy

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Happy anniversary to bRight&Early Blog. He celebrated with a bright and early podcast.

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And now for a change of pace: Haircuts

Since the past few days have been very intense, it’s time to talk about trivial stuff, at least for a moment.

Back when I was a lot younger and prettier I used to get free haircuts at Sassoon’s on 5th Avenue if I agreed to have the chief stylist demonstrate (on me) to the new hires how to do a Sassoon cut. It was a rather odd experience since you are intensely scrutinized while people are not looking at you, but it was a great cut, and much better than getting a free haircut by having the new hires practice on you.

Later on I was invited to have my hair cut at a cosmetics trade show at the Javits Center and that was a similar experience, only in a much larger scale. I was asked to wear black clothes (black turtleneck and black slacks), no jewelry and no make-up (they wanted the make-up to not call attention so they did the make-up once I got there), and to smile brightly after the haircut was finished, all of which I did. That was better than the Sassoon deal because I not only got a great cut, but also got paid for it.

After that, I’ve been lucky to have good hairdressers who have done a very capable job (except for a couple of hair-raising exceptions) at a moderate price. For a long time I’ve worn shoulder-length hair, but in my school days wore my hair really long.

So there’s always the question of how long to wear my hair.

Never fear: Barcepundit found an economist who quantified how short should your barber or hairdresser cut your hair.

Eric at Classical Values has been pondering the issue in his post, hair raising economic schemes, and he not only has figured out a way to minimize hair disutility but also how to get an installanche. Not quite as good as getting paid for a great haircut, but close.

Not that I would succumb to link-pandering schemes, but if it helps, here’s a good view of Glenn Reynolds’s haircut: he sports what I call your basic “regular-guy cut”:

and definitely not a tupee.

Captain Ed started his hair post by saying, “I’m the last person who should talk about hair“; I post, you decide:

I believe all of this got started over how the Edwards campaign picks up the tab for pricey haircuts, and how Edwards pays $400 for haircuts.

For $400, I can park downtown, stop for a cup of coffee at Halo Pub (which is an ice cream parlor, not a pub), get a haircut at La Jolie (ask for Luyba), and have spare change for a David Yurman bracelet from Hamilton Jewelers.

And this is what my hair looks like,

It seems to me, I’m getting a better deal than Edwards.

But then, I don’t have campaign funds to play with.

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A few thoughts on the Marcotte/Edwards story

[Warning: the language in some of the links is definitely not appropriate for work]

While I find her remarks about Catholicism deeply offensive, starting with her interpretation of the virgin birth as a “super-patriarcal event” (a totally clueless statement which, as The Anchoress says, God can handle, thanks), and I firmly believe that she was “fired-not fired so she could quit”, what amazes me is that the Edwards campaign thought that anyone who routinely expresses herself, day in and day out, in that kind of language could possibly appeal to the general public.

Mind you, I’ve worked with guys whose moms forgot to bring out the Lifebuoy soap, and who told me some really funny and profoundly vulgar jokes. Guys whose language could curdle milk and peel wallpaper off the walls, and proudly so. However, those guys were not in the business of marketing a presidential candidate to the masses.

Yes, I swear, and I can swear intentionally and in mixed company when I want to make a point. However, a little swearing goes a long way. Beyond a certain point you stop making a point and simply debase yourself and your audience. And that’s what Marcotte does.

There is no denying that Marcotte is a successful blogger. But blogging is one thing. Conveying a presidential candidate’s image is something else, entirely different.

My question is, how could a lawyer, who has made millions out of using the right words to his intended audience (the jurors), not know this would matter?

Or is this just another attention-grabbing scheme that will be spun down the line as “the upcoming theocracy trying to end free speech” by Edwards?

Update: The Anchoress drops the f-bomb. A lot.
Update 2 Obi’s Sister is right when she says, “it’s pretty obvious. John Edwards doesn’t REALLY read blogs.”

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The Libby trial, and other items

The Libby trial
Russert on the Hot Seat

One of the differences between reading live blogging of the Libby Trial and reading or hearing news accounts, is that we have it in real time. Even the most skillful of reporters in the court like Matt Apuzzo have filing deadlines which usually means that they get the direct testimony but not the cross examination in their first stories. But in this case the cross examination is the story.

The Daily Howler is on the story like white on rice: ALL IN THE FAMILY (PART 3)! It seems that Russert is never wrong—if you ask Russert, that is

Grilling Russert to a Fine Turn

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Belmont Club comments on those two bloggers John Edwards fired:

The underlying problem was that Edwards wanted the Netroots crowd on his campaign but didn’t want them to represent themselves. He probably wanted the Netroots people to stand silently on his stage against a backdrop of bunting and vaguely patriotic organ music while he declaimed solemnly in the foreground.

Or maybe he wanted them to stand silently on that second stage he built in his entertainment building.

The Edwards campaign just released statements from Edwards and the two bloggers in the thick of the controversy, and it looks as if the two won’t be fired.
Special thanks to Larwyn for the links.

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Terrorism Awareness Project
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Via Rich
[WARNING: Disturbing images of women being executed]

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When first class is not good enough: Pelosi’s hard landing

And don’t forget the Chevy Tahoe.

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Little Miss Attila will be attending CPAC, but needs help with finances. Go to her blog to help her out.

I’ll be at CPAC, too.

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