Adam Nagourney didn't have time to do any writing or research for a column in today's NY Times. So rather than not see his name in print, he grabbed whatever came over on the fax and made it his own. Bad timing, it appears. The only communication Adam received appears to be GOP talking points sent out for lazy reporters and right-wing talk radio hosts.
Thus, this headline:In the Beverly Hills Style: Candidate’s $400 Coiffure
The unimportant foofery of this column is obvious before one has read further than the caption on the accompanying photo. It means nothing, except to offer Rove-approved framing of the GOP meme on Edwards. Narourney follows mindlessly. Always refer to John Edwards as "pretty" or as a girl, thus he cannot be seen as manly enough to wear the codpiece of the Commander in Chief.
Mr. Edwards was disparaged as "the Breck Girl" by Republicans when he ran for president in 2004.
As noted by this great diary today, it is also necessary to pretend that Edwards cannot be concerned with econonomic fairness because he has money to spend. Thus we read
Mr. Edwards has presented himself in the Democratic field as an advocate of working-class Americans
paired with this
High-priced Beverly Hill haircuts for the candidate.
Adam faithfully relays the meme that one cannot have money (thus being a viable candidate) while also being concerned about those in need. Edwards just "presents himself" as an advocate for the working-class. Wink, wink. And notice that its not enough to repeat the pricetag, he must also note that the stylist has a business in "Beverly Hills".
Lastly, completely devoid of any original thought or research, Nagourney reaches for whatever old columns he could lay hands on to re-hash. And we get this tired, old, disproven bit of GOP flim-flam:
When Bill Clinton was president, he once summoned a Los Angeles hair stylist to Air Force One to cut his hair while the plane sat on the tarmac in Los Angeles.
Whaaa? There's still somebody who buys that story? Oh yeah. And he gets paid by the NY Times. Perhaps Adam should subscribe to the LA Times. There he would learn things like this from July 1993:
The day after that, Glenn Kessler of this newspaper filed a Freedom of Information request for information about delays. Some five weeks later, he got his answer, which revealed that in fact there had been none (delayed flights). In the meantime, however, the story of the haircut, including the misinformation regarding delays, was winging its way around the world.
But who needs to look for news or facts when Karl Rove is willing to do the work for you? And the Times will print it.