Blago’s hair

Spencer Warren writes:

Blagojevich proves once again the accuracy of my hair-style test for politicians—the more elaborate it is, the shallower the man. This is how I was on to Clinton before he became president. Kerry met the test. Blago’s hair is more extreme than either, so much so it actually is laughable. I’ve yet to be proved wrong with my test!

Jack Kemp also meets the test.

LA replies:

I would only disagree somewhat on Clinton: his hair was abundant, but not ridiculously so. The hair of Kemp, Kerry, and, most of all, Blago are ridiculous—men in high public positions, of middle and mature years, looking as though they belonged in a discoteque circa 1975.

Spencer Warren replies:

Please let me clarify my point. I have in mind not so much the amount of hair (though Blago is almost “off the chart”) but the styling of the hair, such as Blago’s blow dry and setting it so low over his forehead. John Edwards is another obvious example (even apart from his $400 hair trims).

What tipped me off about Clinton was the unusual styling. I thought anyone who cared so much about his hair probably was an empty suit. (Remember Clinton’s appointment with a special barber on Air Force One?)

Retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel’s hair is styled in a way similar to Clinton’s. I believe he goes to the same Georgetown hair dresser as Kerry.

LA replies:

In the cases of Blago, Kerry, and even Kemp, I can’t see any distinction between the amount of hair and its style. Kerry’s absurd “helmet” look—showing how completely frozen he is in his youthful rebellious image of himself—is purely a function of the amount of hair. During the 2004 campaign, he was criticized for the silly ’70s look and cut his hair shorter for a while, and looked much better, but then reverted to the usual. It wasn’t any change of style, just of the amount, i.e., the length, that made the difference.

As for Hagel, his hair, unlike Clinton’s, goes down over his forehead, making him look as though he has no forehead. In fact, I don’t think Hagel has a forehead. I think he is a genuine Neanderthal, that’s the way I’ve always seen him.

In the frightful lack of any sign of intelligence in his eyes, and in the blank, brutal, unthinking expression of his face, the Neanderthal-like Hagel reminds me of “that insolent fiend Robert Artisson,” as portrayed in the final, nightmarish stanza of Yeats’s “Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen”:

… thereupon
There lurches past, his great eyes without thought
Under the shadow of stupid straw-pale locks,…

Mary B. writes:

There’s also the ridiculously high hair Ohio Democratic Representative James Traficant who was indicted in 2002 on federal corruption charges for taking campaign funds for personal use.

LA replies:

I liked Traficant, was sorry to see him go down.

December 13

LA writes:

I said: “In the cases of Blago, Kerry, and even Kemp, I can’t see any distinction between the amount of hair and its style.”

That comment is obviously incorrect as regards Blago. His hair is styled to cover his forehead, almost Beatles-like.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 11, 2008 11:52 AM | Send