Friday, March 18, 2011

A Southern Accent

Tim Pawlenty is trying to fit in to the idiot wing (ok, the whole) Republican party:
On a trip to Iowa last week, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty attracted attention not for his policy positions, but for the way he was speaking. Many people thought they heard him using a southern accent. Back in Pawlenty's home state of Minnesota, an MPR News listener said when he heard a report on the Pawlenty speech on the radio, he couldn't believe who it was.
"I didn't understand where the accent came from," said Mike Supina, a St. Paul architect. "He sounded like he was from Arkansas."
It is stereotyping, but Southern accents make me think the speaker is dumb.

5 comments:

  1. I heard Jesse Jackson speak at OU in 1998. He was making a speech and hosting a panel discussion on the history of the civil rights movement. Three months later I was in D.C. for a college conference and Jesse Jackson was speaking to a crowd on the mall. The eloquent and erudite man I heard at OU was now talking jive and shuffling to the thrill of a different audience.

    Instead of present the crowd the real person, the person is selling an image to different crowds. I understand the concept of communicating on different levels with different people, but did FDR dumb down fireside chats for illiterate southerners?

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  2. Maybe Pawlenty is trying to steal some Mike Huckabee supporters for the Iowa caucus.

    Last time I was in D.C. there was a giant Ron Paul supporter gathering. Interesting. I picked up a card at the WWII memorial warning about the impending introduction of the Amero, the currency for the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada supernation.

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  3. I for one welcome our new Canadian Overlords!

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  4. Really, the guy whose answering machine starts with Howdy is saying that other people's accents sound dumb?

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