Edwards Not Comfortable Around Hair Dressers

Bob Shrum, who to my knowledge has never led a winning campaign, has a new book out about his experiences as a campaign manager (he led Kerry's failed effort among others). He doesn't have a lot of good things to say about John Edwards:

In his new memoir, "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner," Shrum recalls asking Edwards at the outset of that campaign, "What is your position, Mr. Edwards, on gay rights?"

"I'm not comfortable around those people," Edwards replied, according to Shrum. He writes that the candidate's wife, Elizabeth, told him: "John, you know that's wrong."

Edwards's pollster, Harrison Hickman, who was in the room during the discussion, says Shrum "is sensationalizing and taking out of context what was an honest discussion about [Edwards's] lack of exposure to these issues and openly gay people. I don't remember anything that expressed any kind of venom or judgment about gay people."

You'd think that after all the time Edwards spends in beauty parlors that by now he'd be pretty comfortable around gay people.