The New York Times Magazine has a short interview out with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. In it, journalist Ana Marie Cox gives him a good platform for an “elevator pitch for socialism,” and asks him about the #BernieSoBlack Twitter hashtag. But nothing riles him up more than when she asks, “Do you think it’s fair that Hillary’s hair gets a lot more scrutiny than yours does?”
Sanders responds first with some bewilderment, “Hillary’s hair gets more scrutiny than my hair?” When Cox confirms yes, he says: “O.K., Ana, I don’t mean to be rude here. I am running for president of the United States on serious issues, O.K.? Do you have serious questions?”
Imagine if Hillary Clinton herself answered a question about her hair (or her pantsuit) in that way. Actually, you don’t have to, because she’s taken journalists to task before for asking about her favorite clothing designers. Anyway, when Cox explains why her question is a serious one, Sanders interrupts her to add:
When the media worries about what Hillary’s hair looks like or what my hair looks like, that’s a real problem. We have millions of people who are struggling to keep their heads above water, who want to know what candidates can do to improve their lives, and the media will very often spend more time worrying about hair than the fact that we’re the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people.
Way to bring that less-frivolous-than-it-seems question back to the issues, Bernie! That’s not all, though. He mildly agrees that Cox has a point (“That may be, and it’s absolutely wrong”), when she replies with: “It’s also true that the media pays more attention to what female candidates look like than it does to what male candidates look like.”
Here are some reactions to this line of questioning on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Unfather/status/633421266469318656
This is @berniesanders' secret weapon for keeping his hair straight: His wife. https://t.co/tIz9coy7eL
— Chris Moody (@moody) August 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/DiversityEric/status/633319236828557312
And some insight from Cox herself:
OK. I was wrong. I should have asked if Bernie *had any tips for Hillary,* seeing as how his hair gets even more attention than hers.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) August 17, 2015
What's hilarious is that the hair q was totally spontaneous. I had gotten to the end of my questions, I had a little more time so…
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) August 17, 2015
If I had actually thought out the hair q, it probably would have reflected the huge following Bernie's hair has. My bad, guys.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) August 17, 2015