Here is zoebrain’s Comment of the Day on the post, “Wednesday Ethics, 9/2/2020: Faking Here, Faking There, Faking, Faking Everywhere!,” regarding #3, which discussed the Nancy Pelosi hair salon debacle:
Pelosi demonstrates arrogant dishonesty. Again.
I wish she *had* been set up. The more politicians are compelled to be on their best behaviour 100% of the time lest their true colours be shown in public, the better.
Right now, the bar has been set so low the DNC can get away with anything, and still look and be “better” than their opponents. That is unutterably wrong, and the greatest damage caused by this Presidency. The normalising of the unacceptable.
But that’s Trump. This is Pelosi, and she shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it if we are to remedy the damage. When they go low, we have to go high. That is obviously not happening. It’s gotta stop.
***
I jumped zoebrain’s comment over two idling COTD, for several reasons. Yes, it’s short, but zoe is usually admirably concise. I was preparing a longer post about the Pelosi incident, and this comment provides a perfect opening. It also harkens back to my 2015 post, “A Nation of Assholes.” What I did not foresee was that the Trump “lowering of the bar” for the culture’s civility, integrity and ethics generally would be exploited so thoroughly by adults: I assumed that it would be the rising generations that would be corrupted. But no, unfortunately. As the follow-up posts to that one quickly acknowledged, it was every other part of the culture, in particular Democrats and the “resistance.”
This has been, of course, a disaster for them as well as for the country. Given an opportunity to truly “go high,” they went lower than low, shredding all norms of political decorum, fairness and decency while simultaneously exploring the outer reaches of hypocrisy by calling the President’s defiance of democratic norms a threat to democracy.
Pelosi hasn’t been the only or even the worst culprit in this doomed strategy (or perhaps they couldn’t help themselves), but she is certainly the most visible and powerful. Is it normal to tear up the text of the State of the Union Message on TV?
The arrogance and hypocrisy of Democrats–members of the party Pelosi leads—regarding the pandemic has been striking from the beginning, but the mainstream media, as usual with news stories that cut against their agenda, tried to tamp it all down. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) made the argument that her hair is more important than your hair. New York’s train wreck of a mayor, Bill de Blasio worked out at a gym after telling the rest of New York City that they must not. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was photographed dining indoors in a Maryland restaurant after he banned indoor dining in Philadelphia as too dangerous.
The Right’s conspiracy theory that the Axis of Unethical Conduct (The Democrats/”resistance” and mainstrem media) was deliberately using the Wuhan virus as a way to crash the economy to defeat President Trump initially seemed absurd to me, and at a gut level, it still does. Surely no American politicians could be that ruthless. Yet Pelosi’s actions can only be described as a smoking gun; the question is whether it is proof positive of malice, or stupidity—yes, it’s Hanlon’s Razor again.
Initially it looked like Pelosi was trying to convince us she was stupid, huminahumina-ing that she didn’t know she was doing anything wrong. That didn’t work, because she had lectured the public about the importance of wearing masks. She then tried this excuse:
“I don’t wear a mask when I’m washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you’re washing your hair?I always have a mask. I always have a mask, for me, for the people I’m encountering, but for my family as well. But I don’t wear it when I’m getting my hair washed. And that picture is when I just came out of the bowl of getting my hair wet.”
Fellow hair-washer (what IS this hair they speak of?) Ann Althouse called that one out:
“I don’t wear a mask when I’m alone in my bathroom washing my hair, but when I went to the salon to have my hair done, I wore a mask the entire time I was inside, including when my hair was washed. And I did not have a choice in the matter.”
Then there is the inconvenient truth that hair salons in California have been closed by government order, by California Governor Newsom—Pelosi’s nephew. A normal citizen obviously can’t call up a salon and make them open and defy the law, but that’s exactly what the Speaker did. That’s what made her next excuse particularly despicable, and signature significance for a member of the ruling elite. She actually defaulted to the Marion Barry defense, “The bitch set me up!,” except Nancy didn’t say “bitch.” Riiiight, by doing what she was asked to do by the most powerful woman in the nation, the salon owner “set up” Pelosi.
You see, if Pelosi claimed the owner contacted her and invited her for a snip an blow, that would be a set-up. So in addition to exemplifying the principle flagrantly paraded by both parties, “Laws are for the little people,” Pelosi also relied upon what has seemed to me to be their most crucial misconception over the past four years: “the public is stupid, and will believe anything.”
Not all of the public, you arrogant fool. Not enough of the public, either.
Ethics Alarms 
Democrats and hair. Hah! My personal favorite was Bill Clinton holding up traffic at LAX to get a haircut by some tonsorial artist to the stars because he had hair that was “difficult.” Sounds reasonable to me, Hillary!
Here’s a hilarious defense of Nan’s wash and blow out in yesterday’s LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-02/pelosi-salon-mask?ocid=uxbndlbing
Maybe someone can catalogue the bogus rationalizations.
John Edwards was the Champion of Hair.
Then Hillary is the Championette of Hair. And sun glasses.
Sheesh, even in tiny Hurley, WI (2010 pop. 1542) and tinier three [3] chairs/no waiting Headlines (my go-to Northwoods…um…stylist), both customer and employee are masked throughout.
Heck, even coiffeuse extraordinaire Mary K. wears a PPE face shield.
I’m going to say it one more time: This virus over reaction is going to go down as the largest economic policy and public health policy screw up of my life time, and perhaps the largest screw up of my life time. Clearly, the virus seeks out and kills already severely sickly people. Once it’s finished doing that, it will go the way of other viruses. How many Spanish flu deaths have been reported since, oh, say, 1920? Where do I go to get my Spanish flu shot? What long term effects is Chris Cuomo suffering from after having the dread disease? I suspect there are so many diagnosed cases in the U.S. because there’s been so much testing and the test is overly sensitive and detects cases that are not strong enough to be capable of passing the virus on. There have been so many deaths because our health care system and nursing homes keep frail people alive well beyond any point that would occur in most other countries. Plus, facilities are incentivized to call a death a virus death, resulting in widespread fraud throughout the industry that should be prosecuted in due course. What was the single problem the Dems had with Trump’s record? A vibrant economy! And what strolled into DNC headquarters this spring? A miraculous, unprecedented, unnecessary means to demolish the economy!
From today’s New York Post (you know, the paper NYTs readers scoff at:
https://nypost.com/2020/09/02/numbers-show-lockdowns-didnt-help-contain-covid-19-opening-up-didnt-boost-it/
Consequentialism! The lockdown was politically and rationally unavoidable. The fact that the virus didn’t turn out like “The Stand” is just moral luck. Nobody knew what we were facing….we’re not even sure now.
But was “DO SOMETHING!” rational and effective leadership? At the time, I thought the actions being taken were absolute panic. Maybe doing nothing would have been prudent. “Let’s wait and see,” was an option. I still think almost everything that was done was a near fatal over-reaction. How is it moral luck that the virus turned out to be a fairly normal virus? Perhaps the virus simply took its course the way viruses do? “Let’s crater the economy and triple the national debt because we have to DO SOMETHING?”
It was politically impossible to do anything else. This is why the duel (and contradictory) “Trump’s responsible for the virus deaths!” and “Trump is the cause of the economy crash!” tropes are so dishonest (and failing.) Outside of a few dumb remarks, he did the only things he could have done. I compared it to climate change, and that’s still a good analogy—the difference is that climate change is even more amorphous.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=animal+house+this+calls+for+something+really+stupid&docid=608052435868454702&mid=7CDA25766D23E16364E77CDA25766D23E16364E7&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
I appreciate the COTD’s use of “Presidency” rather than “Trump”, exemplifying a higher standard of respect in criticism.
However, how has this Presidency lowered standards? What I see most often is not the President but the media.
Who has forced, by authority and power, the media to misquote/misrepresent/deceive etc ad nauseam?
Assertion: The standards have been revealed to be nothing more than a hair’s breath above the least bad word/action necessary to maintain the highest media ratings for my side and make the other side look bad.
I appreciate the COTD’s use of “Presidency” rather than “Trump”, exemplifying a higher standard of respect in criticism.
My thanks.
It saddens me that you feel it necessary to express your appreciation, though I am grateful for it.
It saddens me because it’s a bit like a gracious host thanking me for not taking a dump on the carpet, because we’re in an environment where so many guests do.
I will try to up my game, to balance things. Examples matter.
Regarding the Presidential Incumbent lowering standards – I adduce as exhibit A the record of Presidential tweets. Not the only evidence, nor the main evidence, but adequate to refute the idea that it’s the Media’s fault.
Yes, Nancy, I wore a mask through my whole hair appointment yesterday, including the shampoo. It’s not like they’re spraying you in the face. Her comments are from someone who hasn’t actually washed her own hair in decades.
Incidentally, that was the first time I went to the salon in over six months. Most women under 70 (with non-textured hair) only go every month or two in normal times. A style like Senator Pelosi’s has to be maintained every week.
Also, no one would have blinked if Lori Lightfoot let her hair do its own thing and adopted a headwrap, as she advised other women in Chicago to do when our roots started to show. In fact, I think it would have endeared her to people, to black women especially.
This has been my thoughts on politicians, the hair situation and me. As a side note, I don’t begrudge Pelosi the $120 worth of ice cream in her freezer. My surviving grandparents are a few years older than her. Old people need their calories.
“The Right’s conspiracy theory that the Axis of Unethical Conduct (The Democrats/”resistance” and mainstrem media) was deliberately using the Wuhan virus as a way to crash the economy to defeat President Trump initially seemed absurd to me, and at a gut level, it still does. Surely no American politicians could be that ruthless.”
I would say you are wrong. Democrats actually ADVOCATED for this some years ago. Why would you think they care about this country and the people in it. Why did Cuomo put the ill people in the nursing homes? The CDC guidelines clearly stated that such an action would cause increased deaths. Did he feel ideology trumped the deaths or did he see his budget deficit and realize that he could reduce Medicaid spending by getting rid of a bunch of elderly people who require a lot of healthcare money? Democrats previously have undermined the family to make people dependent on government handouts and become a captive voting bloc. Democrats have destroyed public education, limiting hundreds of millions of Americans in their academic achievement and putting the nation at risk due to a lack of competency. How is this any different? Look at what they have done to cities like Detroit. They spent $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars to transform Detroit from a city of 2 million people with the HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY IN THE COUNTRY to the 400,000 person third-world city it is today with a massive human toll along the way. They dared call that program the “Model Cities” program. THAT is ruthless. They have flirted or actively conspired to promote Communism and Communist ideas in our schools and society. Look at what happens in Communist countries. Look at it in Seattle, Portland, Kenosha, etc. There is no difficulty seeing that they are this ruthless. The difficulty is finding examples where they actually care about the public.
I would suggest that Pelosi’s conduct toward the small business person is signature significance. She has shown her abject dismissal of ” little people “. None of her talk of “empathy” can be taken seriously
Exactly. Pelosi demonstrated that she is not subject to the rules, and when it blew up in her face, she hammered a small business owner for “setting her up” and doubling down that the salon owed HER an apology. It is arrogance pure and simple. The whole mask part is simply a distraction from the real issue: Newsome closed down beauty salons in the entire state. Pelosi had them cut her hair when she needed it cut. The rules don’t apply to her.
As for the salon releasing the video, good on them – that is civil disobedience. Pelosi deserves to have her face rubbed because she is a hypocrite.
jvb