Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wasn’t happy when asked about his unruly head of hair when the nation he hopes to lead faces weightier issues.
In an interview with New York Times Magazine, feminist blogger Ana Marie Cox asked the presidential contender about his views on socialism, Donald Trump — and about the coverage of his and rival Hillary Clinton‘s hair.
“Do you think it’s fair that Hillary’s hair gets a lot more scrutiny than yours does?” Cox asked. In the past months, the media has been covering Sanders’ hair a lot — mostly about how unkempt it is.
“Hillary’s hair gets more scrutiny than my hair? Is that what you’re asking?” Sanders responded. “Ana, I don’t mean to be rude here. I am running for president of the United States on serious issues, OK? Do you have serious questions?”
Attempting to categorize her question as a gender-based one, Sanders cuts her off.
“When the media worries about what Hillary’s hair looks like or what my hair looks like, that’s a real problem,” Sanders said. “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.”
Sanders and Clinton have been head-to-head in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in the presidential primaries, with 73-year-old Sanders recently having made gains on his Democratic opponent.
Nationwide, the former Secretary of State still leads among Democratic primary voters by 19 points (49 percent – 30 percent); however, two weeks ago, Clinton was up by 29 points.