We wrote yesterday about Nancy Pelosi’s blatant act of hypocrisy, in scheduling a hair appointment for herself at a salon that is closed to the public, as all salons are in San Francisco. But laws are for the little people, so Mrs. Pelosi, who constantly hectors the rest of us about COVID, took advantage of her wealth and power to ignore the law. The woman who owns the salon (the person who actually tended to Mrs. Pelosi’s hair was an independent contractor) blew the whistle, in part because she was outraged that she and countless other small business owners have been driven to the brink of bankruptcy.
The story was circulated widely, along with video of Mrs. Pelosi inside the salon, maskless. Today Pelosi responded unapologetically, in a series of tweets:
Pelosi addresses Monday’s salon incident:
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to…many times…It was a set up, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
“I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up”— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) September 2, 2020
As for the short clip showing her mask around her neck: “I just had my hair washed. 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 wear a mask … And that picture is when I just came out of the bowl.”
— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) September 2, 2020
Pelosi’s defense can only be described as brazen. Her claim that she was “set up” is nonsensical. Is she saying she was tricked into getting her hair done against her will? And her “taking responsibility for falling for a setup” is an insult to our intelligence.
Pelosi simply ignores the reason for the outrage, which is her pulling rank and getting her own hair done when the salons are closed to everyone else–everyone who lacks wealth and political connections, that is. Instead she focuses on the relatively trivial fact that she wasn’t wearing a mask–also, no doubt, an instance of hypocrisy, but a relatively minor one.
Pelosi’s shameless response highlights one of the central facts of our public life: Democrats know that they can say anything, no matter how preposterous, without being called out by our lapdog press.
