Is Ron’s Movember beard catching on? David Haynes of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes about Ron and Speaker Paul Ryan sporting new beards — and the fact that Ron’s is all about raising cancer awareness: 

It’s happened: Beards are no longer the exclusive province of liberal college professors.

I know this because House Speaker Paul Ryan has one.

It’s a good look on Ryan. He’s a blue-eyed, better-looking version of Abe Lincoln without the wart and shaggy hair. He doesn’t split rails but he knows how to split open a deer carcass. And he hunts turkeys, both in the field and in the Capitol.

The look may be catching on: Wisconsin’s senior senator, Ron Johnson, has been wearing hair on his face, too. He recently was wearing a neatly trimmed goatee to raise awareness about prostate cancer.

This is a new look for modern Republicans. Democrats have grown beards in the recent past — former U.S. Rep. David Obey comes to mind — but Republicans have been reluctant to quit shaving. But now, with Ryan and Johnson at the top of the facial hair ticket, I wonder how long it will be until Gov. Scott Walker jumps on the bandwagon. In the interest of follicle balance — and we’re all about balance here — this might be a good look for Walker.

I like facial hair. I am a big fan of Lincoln, especially his stirring rhetoric — most of which wasn’t written until he had whiskers. The Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural — both came after Lincoln, reportedly at the insistence of a little girl, grew hair on his face. I do not believe this is a coincidence.

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