With Ruth Ann, it was the bogus Pelosi/Plane story. Does she still believe what no one else in the country believes?
With Commando Kelly, well, the most recent incident involved the phrase "slow bleed."
I haven't see the story of Senator Clinton's supposedly faked "southern drawl" yet on the pages of the P-G, so let me take the opportunity to let everyone know it's already been debunked.
It begain, like a lot of fake news, with the drudgereport. Drudge posted this audio a few days ago to show the world the depth of Hillary's pandering: While she's speaking she's adopting a southern drawl in a southern church! She's faking the accent and the southern grammar!
Ah, but if the Devil can be found in the details, Drudge (and large chunks of the right side of the blogosphere) leave out a huge detail. According to Greg Sargent, Clinton was quoting a hymn by James Cleveland:
See? The words (and therefore the grammar) aren't hers. It changes the story a scosh, huh?I don't feel no ways tired,
I've come too far from where I started from.
Nobody told me that the road would be easy,
I don't believe He brought me this far to leave me.
And when was she ever in the south? I mean, she was born in Chicago, right? Educated at Wellesley and then at Yale, right? Spent 8 years in DC, right? When would she ever have picked up even the hint of a southern accent?
Oh that's right. The 17 years she spent in Arkansas.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no big fan of Clinton's, I'm just trying to save the conservative columnists at the P-G some more embarrassment (as if that's possible). I'll let Sargent have the last word:
Look, Hillary's real sins here were being corny as hell and painfully tone deaf. But phony this wasn't. You'd think that after having so many of their silly tales blow up in their faces these wingers would start checking the facts once in awhile -- if only to stop making themselves look so damn foolish all the time.Morning, Pittsburgh.
It sounds like a drawl to me. She did it in other parts of her speech where she wasn't quoting any hymnals. It sounds forced and affected, about as convincing as Renee Zellweger's work in the Bridget Jones films. And one's accents tend to be anchored at the stage when one reaches puberty. That's why Henry Kissenger, who didn't arrive in the United States until his early teens, has such a strong accent, while his younger brother -- who had not yet reached puberty when the family arrived on our shores -- sounds more or less like a typical American. Since she didn't get to Arkansas until after law school, it's unlikely that she picked up much of an accent there. I certainly haven't heard her sounding like that in many (any?) of her previous speeches.
ReplyDeleteErgo, the story of her "southern drawl" is far from debunked. She probably was faking it.
It also, however, is a completely meaningless criticism. I'm not big fan of hers, either, but I couldn't give two shits about what accent she wants to use when she's speaking. I would love to see her come here to Pittsbugh and do her entire speech as the biggest yinzer of all time. "Yinz is sendin' yer kids to die in Ahrak n'at..." It would be great!
I just don't see why this, of all things, is a big deal. You want to slam her health care proposals, fine. That's at least a substantive argument. But I don't care what kind of accent she uses when she's in front of different audiences.
What drove me to such madness I don't know, but I did listen to parts of it yesterday and the drawl did continue beyond the hymn. I guess you could say she got caught up in the moment, but Hillary is about as good at improvisation as Dubya.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it's a nonstory, but that's all the right has to push. It's almost never about a stance on an issue. I'll hand it to the folks at Red State, while they traffic in a lot of this crap, they also have folks who actually do talk about issues and lay out their arguments. IMO, the arguments are wrong, but at least one or two of the wingers over there try.
I'm no Hillary fan and I hope Edwards, Obama, or even Richardson start to pick up steam.
I consider this a non-story, but as a Southerner nothing sounds more grating to my ears then a fake and affected accent, and Hillary’s was a fake and affected accent. While a person can pick up certain parts of speech after living in a non-native area for a few years they rarely ever pick up a true accent. Heck, I’ve been living and working with the public in Pittsburgh for years now and have never uttered the words “Yinz,” “Haas,” or “Dahntahn” just to fit in. Frankly, it’s kind of insulting to the locals.
ReplyDeleteit was fake..playing to the crowd..kinda like Al G did...it's like having the lilt of the irish brogue on St.Patty's day..no biggie
ReplyDelete..."but as a Southerner nothing sounds more grating to my ears then a fake and affected accent..."
ReplyDeleteBack when I first moved to NYC, I used to do a lot of market research work and one of the company's biggest clients had us calling farmers all over the South and Mid-west and I got quite good at faking a Southern accent after 8 hours a day of calling peanut farmers, though it was more me picking up on their accent than actively trying to fake it.
If you want to hear a really grating faux Southern accent, you should have heard the girl who sat next to me faking one -- she was from the Bronx/Yonkers border. LOL
I should have written with greater care this morning.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies.
The part that was debunked was the part where she's quoting the hymn. It's presented as her words when it's obvious to anyone with "the google" that it's not.
The accent part - that's just corny. I should have focussed more on the context of the hymn's words than the accent.
You live and learn.
You tell 'em Dave!
ReplyDelete