John Edwards says “they” want to “shut me up” and that’s why “these people” try to distract voters by focusing on “silly” stuff like his not-very-populist habit of getting expensive haircuts.

Jarvis adds: This is a distinct change in tactics. Prior to this, Edwards brushed off the hair jokes like dandruff off his shrugging shoulder; he tried to show that he, too, had a sense of humor about it. Now he’s turning the hair jokes into a vast right-wing conspiracy. Do the polls think he’s just a pretty boy? Do they think an angry Edwards beats a smiling Edwards? Or did he just get up on the wrong side of the blowdrier?