How can John Edwards claim to care about poverty when he spends $400 for a haircut and lives in a mansion???

Question

I saw his "poverty tour" and think it's funny that this guy claims to care about poverty and spends $400.00 for a haircut and lives in a 40 room mansion.

Answer 1

Isn't it amazing how you are hard pressed to find a single liberal who will agree that it is absurdly hypocritical? They will defend any position one of their own takes on any issue. If they are called on it, they will just point the finger at everyone else or start calling everyone names.

As a conservative I have no problem with Edwards having an enormous mansion or huge piles of money. But it is pretty funny that this guy is going on a tour to highlight poverty. Typical liberalism. I remember when the actor/activist Martin Sheen slept on a subway grating on a cold night to show solidarity with the homeless.

How many of them did he move into his enormous estate in Malibu? None. These liberals are actually quite funny as long as they are not in power. Once a liberal gets elected president, it will cost you a lot of money. They love to take other peoples' money, redistribute it and then accept laurels for their generosity.

Your typical rich liberal will donate nearly nothing to charity, take every possible tax deduction and set up all kinds of trusts and other tax shelters to avoid paying taxes. But boy, oh boy, do they love to tax the poor working guy who has no such deductions or shelters.
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Answer 2

Every presidential candidate for 2008 is wealthy and can't fully understand working Americans or poverty because they are so far removed from it. Sure, they talk about working people and poverty but that's just for votes because they don't understand. Edwards grew up in a working class family but has been rich for so long he doesn't remember because I pay $8 for a haircut and he pays 50 times that. Anyone who can spend $400 on a haircut is out of touch with working Americans, many who make less than that per week. I wonder what Hillary pays for a perm. Has anyone found that out yet? Edwards would probably do best to go to a barber and make sure the press covers it. If he returns to his roots I think Americans will support him.

Answer 3

I'm not on John Edwards side or anything but just because you can afford a 400 dollar haircut doesn't mean you also can't have concerns for the poor.

If you were rich, would you live in the ghetto? If you were rich would you drive a clunker? If you were rich would you never dine out at a 5 star restaurant? If you had to go out of town would you ride the greyhound bus? Would you stay at a roach motel? Would you only shop at thrift stores for your clothing?

There are however some people that just claim to care about the poor but do nothing or if they do something, it isn't because they actually care but somehow it benefits them and their priorities revolve around what's in it for them.

My question would revolve more around not what Edwards is buying for himself, but what has Edwards done for the poor?

Donating to charities is nice and all but sometimes charities don't shell out much of your contribution to their cause but instead pocket the money and use it to keep up with advertising.

Answer 4

This is the typical GOP talking point to try to discredit anyone who has any interest in helping the poor.

It is NOT hypocritical to be rich and care fro the poor. In fact, since it's pretty safe to assume that every presidential candidate from now on will be rich, then the GOP reasoning is that no one in office could possible care about the poor. In their mind it probably makes sense since they stopped caring a long time ago.

A better question is, "Why are neo-cons so cowardly as to have to bombard Y!A with inane questions trying to discredit Democrats with anything other than what they actually stand for?" All you see here is questions about Edward's haircut or Obama's middle name or did Hillary steal silverware from the White House, etc...."

It's gotta be because the GOP track record is such an abysmal failure for the last six years, talking about anything else is all the neo-cons have left.

Answer 5

Is it a requirement now that you have to be poverty stricken in order to express concern about the poor?

In any case, Edwards did not grow up rich. His father was a mill worker. Edwards is a self-made multi-millionaire.

Answer 6

John Edwards came from a very poor North Carolina family. His story is truly rags to riches. He did not rely on his family to pay his way through college. He worked at a farm to pay his way through college. He later got into law school based on his grades. His goals to reduce poverty are commendable. What better advocate for the plight of the poor than a person that was very poor and overcame adversity to become wealthy. Why should he be criticized for being rich now? He made his wealth and he wants to use his influence to influence policy. You can't expect a person of wealth to donate all of their money. They too must enjoy their wealth. If he didn't want nice things, he would not have bothered to work hard in order to achieve his goals.

Answer 7

Because having and using wealth does not equate to not caring about poverty. Do you KNOW how much money he gives to charitable organizations? Probably not. Do you KNOW how much he pays in taxes every year? Again probably not.

If you are going to make accusations, back them up with facts. Otherwise, it's just another useless troll that fails to accomplish anything.

Baseless accusations tend to make the accuser look foolish.

Answer 8

Who's your preferred candidate? Do you think they get the mid-week, ten dollar special down at SuperCuts?

I don't like John Edwards, but everyone latching on to that just looks hypocritical and, quite honestly, pathetic. Yeah, there are better ways he could be spending his money, but if it's Republicans attacking him, aren't you the ones all for GETTING TO CHOOSE HOW YOU SPEND THE MONEY YOU EARN?

Or am I missing the point?

Answer 9

Well JFK, Robert Kennedy and Ted all said they cared and they had no idea what poverty was.Their father made his big money in illegal liquor. Remember Camelot?One that has always been rich cannot said I know how the poor feel as did the Kennedy's. It is impossible unless you have been there.

Answer 10

I wonder why you think that in order to care about the poor, you must be poor yourself. I'm not an Edwards fan by any means, but I don't believe that he must be poor to care about poor people. That doesn't make the least bit of sense. Seems to me he worked pretty hard to make his own fortune, he wasn't a rich kid who inherited his money.