By Staff
March 20, 2002
While his wife pondered a run for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee last weekend, former Vice President Al Gore pondered shaving cream and a razor. He shaved his beard so he could, he said, be ready if wife Tipper made the race.
Without second-guessing his stated reason for shaving the beard he has worn since a European vacation following the 2000 presidential election, let us just say that cosmetic appearances play way too big a role in U.S. politics.
Did wearing a beard make Gore any more or less liberal? Did it change his approach to life? Did it feel more comfortable? Ah, that may be it. Many men who wear beards say they just don't like shaving, with all the time and irritation, not to mention the expense of shaving cream and razors and blades.
The national media particularly has a tendency to focus, however briefly, on things that really don't matter. About the only thing they haven't told us about Gore's beard is what kind of razor he shaved it with. Truth is, we really don't want to know.