Ocasio-Cortez fires back at Washington Times after story on her ‘high-dollar hairdo’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday hit back at conservative outlet The Washington Times for publishing an “exclusive” story about the cost of her haircut.

“40 million Americans live in poverty under today’s extreme inequality, yet the right-wing want you to blame Democratic socialism for their own moral failures,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Our policies, like Medicare for All, advance prosperity for working people.”

“They’re just mad we look good doing it,” she quipped.

40 million Americans live in poverty under today’s extreme inequality, yet the right-wing want you to blame Democratic socialism for their own moral failures.

Our policies, like Medicare for All, advance prosperity for working people.

They’re just mad we look good doing it ‍♀️ https://t.co/l9gKGtyKra

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 10, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez shared a tweet from left-leaning magazine Jacobin slamming the article. {mosads}

“Sad to see democratic socialists like Bernie and @AOC do things like buy winter coats and get haircuts. Don’t they know that real socialists avoid purchasing goods and services?” the magazine’s Twitter account wrote.

The Washington Times on Wednesday published a story on the progressive lawmaker getting her hair done at a salon in downtown Washington, D.C.

The outlet reported from “sources familiar with the salon” that the New York Democrat spent $80 on a haircut and $180 for lowlights last month. The piece also speculated that she would have added roughly $50 to the bill for a tip.

“Her high-dollar hairdo stands in stark contrast to that of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former senator from Alabama who is a regular customer at Senate Hair Care Services in the basement of the Russell Senate Office Building,” the article states. “At that place, open to members of Congress and the public, a men’s cut runs about $20, though men’s haircuts there and everywhere else are cheaper than women’s.”

A staff member at the Last Tangle Salon reportedly said that Ocasio-Cortez was nice and took photos with other customers.

The Washington Times story was criticized by many social media users, including many women who argued that haircuts and coloring treatments were often that expensive.

1) this would obvs never be a story about a man

2) this is not an expensive haircut/color for a public figure who is frequently on TV

3) if her hair was raggedy, that would be the lead story instead

4) https://t.co/CyXaQ860ts

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 10, 2019

so…a normal haircut, then?

socialism doesn’t mean “let’s all squat in the dirt eating worms” it means “no one gets to be a god-king floating atop a billion-dollar raft they can never spend in a thousand lifetimes while people die without medicare or food” pic.twitter.com/7ckCTWEfzb

— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) October 10, 2019

How dare AOC, a young woman with a full head of hair, spend more money on a haircut than Jeff Sessions, a balding old man who still laments the end of slavery? pic.twitter.com/lvx21vXSCS

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) October 10, 2019

$80 for a haircut and $180 for lowlights is literally what those services cost at a mid range salon in DC. Why do you guys have nothing better to do than this. https://t.co/MZBlDBFn9l

— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) October 10, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez followed up on Twitter by suggesting that the conservative outlet look at reports the Vice President Pence used taxpayer funds to travel to President Trump’s golf course.

“I wonder if Republicans care about corruption as much as they care about a woman’s cut & color,” the first-term lawmaker wrote. 

Won’t you look at that: Mike Pence used *taxpayer funds* – not personal ones – to spend several thousand haircuts’ worth of public money on a visit to Trump golf courses.

I wonder if Republicans care about corruption as much as they care about a woman’s cut & color. https://t.co/xBze4obZhv

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 10, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez shared a tweet from watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reporting that Pence’s controversial visit to the Trump Doonbeg resort in Ireland in September cost taxpayers nearly $600,000 in limousine service alone, according to State Department contracts. 

Pence faced intense scrutiny from congressional Democrats over his decision to stay at the resort despite it being located roughly 180 miles away from his scheduled meetings in Dublin.

Ocasio-Cortez, 29, made history during the 2018 midterm race when she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

The self-described democratic socialist has since faced immense scrutiny from conservatives and right-leaning publications.

Eddie Scarry, a reporter with The Washington Examiner, in November faced backlash for tweeting out a picture of Ocasio-Cortez from behind in order to criticize her jacket, which he said looked expensive.

Scarry deleted the tweet but Ocasio-Cortez demanded an apology.

“If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside.

“Dark hates light — that’s why you tune it out. Shine bright & keep it pushing.”

Oh, does @eScarry think he can delete his misogyny without an apology?

I don’t think so. You’re a journalist – readers should know your bias. pic.twitter.com/2KJuiPsUR2

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 16, 2018