ADDED: Here's an attack on people who linked to the clip and laughed at Hillary:
But as always, a simple fact-check shows this latest wingnut preoccupation to be highly dishonest. The audio clip Drudge linked to cherry-picked that quote and removed it completely from its context, which would have shown that Hillary wasn't adopting this accent or grammar or language as her own at all.Oh, ridiculous! It was obvious that she was quoting something -- some song or poem. If I had thought those were her own words, I wouldn't have just made fun of the accent, I'd have made fun of the affected grammar. ("I don't feel no ways tired... I come too far....") Really! What a thoroughly bogus criticism.
Rather, it turns out that Hillary was actually quoting the hymn lyrics of someone else -- while clearly and very openly imitating (not very well, it turns out) the cadences she thought the lyrics would traditionally have been delivered in. There was nothing phony about it at all.
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120 comments:
I wonder what would happen if a Republican went to Detroit or Harlaam and began talking "street"?
Would people find it humorous?
Gahrie: I can picture Stephen Colber doing that. "Harlaam"? Hey, you don't sound American!
Does she slip into a Brahmin accent when addressing crowds in Boston?
It is evidence of her phoniness and pandering nature that she thinks when she does this, it won't be noticed by anyone. It's rather condescending. That is the significance.
This is nothing new. I saw her speak to the Italian-American Society a couple of months ago and I swear her opening line was:
"I'm-a glada to-a be-a here-a witha you-a all-a today... a."
Let's just all pray she doesn't break into Jive/ebonics when addressing the NAACP later this month!
Except most people at the NAACP don't speak jive/ebonics. That would be the easiest way for her to lose the audience. She might as well as call them "you people".
Obama was doing the same thing yesterday speaking in the loud, rhythmic way of a black minister. He doesn't normally sound that way, but he adopted the tone for the venue.
There's a difference in that and trying some local food. When you try local food, you are sampling the culture. You're saying, hey, I've never tried this before. It's good. When you emulate tone and speech patterns, you're saying, I am this. This is who I am (or who I want you to think I am). That's wholly different from sampling local culture.
Once a carpetbagger always a carpetbagger...
Well when you're right, you're right. Not only did she shameless put on that southern accent just to fool people, can you believe it, she also plagiarized her speech from James Cleveland:
Chorus:
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.
Vamp:
I don't believe He brought me this far
(repeat as desired)
I've been sick (I don't believe),
but God brought me (He brought me this far).
I've been in trouble (I don't believe),
but God brought me (He brought me this far).
I’ve been friendless (I don't believe),
but God brought me (He brought me this far).
I’ve been lonely (I don't believe),
but God brought me (He brought me this far).
Please don’t leave me (I don't believe),
don’t leave me Jesus (He brought me this far).
Don’t leave (I don't believe),
don’t leave me Lord (He brought me this far).
I don’t believe (I don't believe)
that God would bring me
(would bring me this far).
I don’t believe (I don't believe)
that God would bring me
(would bring me this far).
I don’t believe (I don't believe)
that God would bring me (would bring me this far just to leave me).
Please Law Professor Citation Althouse: we need better strawman than this!
Next time, I'll have to check the kerning on you.
Where is Harlaam? Just what do you teach anyway?
I don't know...I have a tendency to pick up the cadences of the people around me at any given time. I don't think it necessarily means I'm trying to be them. Of course, I'm not a politician.
I can't wait til she goes to London. Imagine Hillary doing a cockney accent. Maybe she'll throw in some rhyming slang.
Wow this is a scandal alright.
EVERYONE IS PLAGIARIZING FROM JAMES CLEVELAND!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH1cpJPo4gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvYG7FLL5gU
I agree with jennifer. I'm a dialectical chameleon. HRC lived in Arkansas for quite a while. This doesn't surprise me at all (nor does the response from the echo chamber).
Okay, now I feel sorry for her. That was awful. She is definitely not our second black president!
Obama is just as bad, in his own way. Like when he talked about how he on Saturday goes to the barbershop (yeah, right) where everbody knows he's black enough, yada, yada.
at some level Jennifer and MM are correct, but having listening to the audio clips, you could tell it was pure pandering.
I'm a Yankee (northern Calif), but spent a bunch of years in the Army and there are certain Army things that MUST be done with a drawl. Chewing out troops and Cadence are two of them.
Now Hillary spent time in Little Rock. She would have heard white Arkansas from Bill.
Listen to Hillary. What she was speaking was Black Ba ma.
Poor Pandering. Period.
What we need here is Elizabeth, a Southern English Prof, who though it may not be her specialty, can I assume pick out regional differences better than the rest of us Yankees :)
Drill Sgt sez it was "pure pandering."
So why all the howling? Annie A. panders almost 24/7. And you-all lap it up.
Banner suggestion: "Pandering since 2004."
On the one hand, who know what her spinmeisters are telling her about tctics for connecting with the people.
On the other hand, my mom is a lifelong city girl. Half the state of Tennessee is my dad's cousins. Whenever we'd visit, my mom would (unintentionally) ease into a southern drawl within an hour of arrival, probably just subconsciously trying to fit in. When in Rome... etc.
Final judgment: Meh. Not a big deal.
How is that even when I'm defending Hillary, I'm accused of "shamelessly pandering" to her opponents?
It's annoying. I couldn't shut it off fast enough. My ears! I can not bear that tone another moment. It's worse than Madona's British accent.
I'll be spending the next year avoiding the sound of that voice as one who feels properly stalked. It's the rising shrillness, the pep-rally tone that gets me.
just as long as they don't put cream and sugar on their grits, that is.
I like cheese in my grits. What would southerners think of me?
"How is that even when I'm defending Hillary, I'm accused of "shamelessly pandering" to her opponents?" -Ann
Because the ones making the charge are the same koolaid drinkers that kicked Joe Leiberman to the curb over the WOT, despite Joe supporting the other 99.9999% of liberal policies. Ideological purity uber alles.
Stephenb was right about why this is so annoying - it's patronizing. There's a big difference between commenting on a local sports team or sampling some local goodies, and trying to pretend that you're a part of that local culture. Plus there's the added bonus here that people constantly make fun of those with southern accents, and the ridiculousness of her doing this horrible accent almost makes me think that she's either totally stupid (which I don't believe) or purposefully mocking.
Also, MadisonMan - cheese in grits is perfectly acceptable.
"Liberal Democrat condescends to black voters"
...talk about a dog-bites-man story!
Clearly, the South and its denizens is a bafflement to y'all.
Here, then...
Your Handy Clip 'n' Save Pocket Guide to Southern Politicians
George W. Bush….Buford Pusser
Jeb Bush…Ken Berry
Bill Clinton……Sheriff Andy Taylor (Remember, lots went on at those law enforcement conventions in Rahleigh that Andy never told Ain’t Bee about.)
Hillary Clinton…Scarlett O’Hara
Ernest Hollings…..Foghorn Leghorn
Robert Byrd…..Yosemite Sam
John Edwards….Otis Campbell
Elizabeth Edwards….Mrs. Douglas
Lindsey Graham….Howard Sprague
James Webb….Ernest T. Bass
Condoleezza Rice…Miss Hathaway
Thomas Jefferson….Jed Clampett
George Washington…Clint Eastwood
Newt Gingrich…Egghead Jr.
Elizabeth “Liddy” Dole….Ain’t Bee
Ted Turner….Granny
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson….Amos ‘n’ Andy
James Carville….Mr. Haney
Ray Nagin…Don Knotts
Jimmy Carter….Floyd (the barber)
Oliver North….Double Naught Jethro
Oprah….Mammy (Scarlett’s maid)
Fred Thompson….Johnny Cash
Mike Nifong…Popeye (of the novel “Sanctuary”)
Natalie Maines…Elly Mae
Clarence Thomas…The Tasmanian Devil
Trent Lott…Elmer Fudd
Bill Frist….Mr. Spock
Hamilton Jordan….Ernest P. Worrell
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…..Sorry, but no way do I make fun of him.
Rev. Billy Graham…Sorry, ain’t funnin’ on him neither.
I work by phone with folks from northern Ohio all the way down to southeastern Kentucky, and i cna tell you I (sometimes consciously, sometimes not) modify my accent a little.
With the norhtern folks its to maintain some control over the conversation- as Jeff Foxworthy says:"they hear my accent and deduct 20 IQ points"- especially in what maybe an adversarial situation.
With the southern folks I modify my accent to gain trust and cooperation. Lay a little Yankee on them and you get nowhere fast.
That said, I listened to Drudge last night, and the clips he kept playing were not a slight modification, but a complete bastardization. I couldn't believe the cheers she was receiving; I would have thrown something at her myself.
Drill Sgt., Thanks for the promotion (I'm an instructor, not a prof--you know how important rank is to those who live within its structure).
I found the clip funny. She starts off quoting, I guess, from a hymn or a sermon, and that part is the most over the top, and arguably a bit of pandering to the church audience. Frankly, it was somewhat a garble of generic southernness. I'm no expert; I'm going on my experience with one parent from Arkansas, one from Georgia, and having lived in Ark., Okla., Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri (military brat). I can easily slip in and out of degrees of having a southern accent, or very little accent, depending on the situation. After that initial bit, it sounds to me a lot like what she'd have heard, and maybe developed in her own speech, during her years in Arkansas.
I'm looking forward to Guiliani in a cowboy hat. The entertainment's just beginning.
You might be right. Every time I visit the New York area or speak to someone at length from that area, the accent of my youth becomes much stronger. My wife and son go into hysterics as I ask for caw-fee and some arnj juice.
But in Hillary's case, I prefer to think this was the result of a focus group. It turns out the only reason people pay any attention to her at all is because she was married to Bill. Bill's southern charm was key to his popularity. Ipso facto, she must adopt his accent to win. I think we'll be hearing more and more of it. She will claim her great-grandfather owned slaves (but set them free). She will claim to have "always" been a Razorback, no make that 'Tide, no make that Hawwg fan. And there's nothin' she finds more relaxin' than settin' onna porch in a white threepiece suit, eatin' some fried chicken and washin' it down with some corn liquor.
redneck, my experience is similar to yours. I once had someone from Michigan say to me, "You're from the South? But you're so literate!" So, yes, when I sense that kind of attitude, I tone it down. My father did that as well, and he had a very thick Arkansas accent. It's called code-switching. When my car breaks down deep in Mississippi, I'm a good old gal, no problem. New Orleanians, for the most part, don't speak with Southern accents, so mine generally appears fully only when I'm angry or tired.
Beth said... and maybe developed in her own speech, during her years in Arkansas.
Beth, I'm disappointed that you didn't make a comment that her accent, diction and vocabulary were clearly not what she would have used during her own years, but were IMHO "Black speech" patterns (whatever you professionals call it)
I think you avoided commenting on that dimension of the pandering.
Drill SGT, no, I did say that, but maybe not clearly enough. I think her accent slips and slides around through the segments on this recording, but that the opening, the part that sounds like a quote, most clearly sounds like an attempt to pander to a black, Southern church audience. In the second part, some of it sounds Arkansas/Texas to me (the way she says pulse) and some is just incomprehensible. The word "country" drops off with an "eh" sound -- count-reh -- and that just sounds like Hollywood fake southern to me. The combination of sounds doesn't add up to a single dialect with which I'm familiar.
Drill Sgt., one more thing: "black" speech patterns differ around the South just as much as white ones do, both by region and by urban versus rural origins. It's the cadence of that little sermon/hymn quote she begins with that puts it into a pandering to black audience category for me. Her dialect is just a mish mash, but her attempt at a sermon style is undeniable.
It said alot about Hillary but not what she intended to say. First she clawed at Obama and now this faux accent.
She is making big mistakes and could be ko'd if she continues to screw up. This tape will be paid over and over and over and over.
Defending her? You're not defending her! You're calling attention to Drudge and adding her your clever thin schmear of plausible deniability.
If you were defending her you would have mentioned that what she was doing was reciting a poem and that Drudge had bastardized the clip.
What you said was, "Hillary is a goof, but it's nothing, really."
That's the clever lawyer crap where you bring something up, let your opponent object and then you withdraw the comment, knowing that the bell cannot be unrung.
And your approved regular commenters know that you aren't defending her. Look how they all jump all over her like Charles Johnson's little black dog attacking his "blue" jeans.
Coming from the South, I don't know how ridiculous Hillary's accent was... but what is ridiculous is Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez doing an interview with the Washington Post wearing only pants and a black bra
My comment should read ..this tape will be PLAYED over and over and over.
Beth said...I'm looking forward to Guiliani in a cowboy hat. The entertainment's just beginning.
I think Rudy's too smart for that. I think the only place Rudy would have worn tight blues and a cowboy hat would have been for a politico-comedy benefit or a NYC gay bar and he's too smart to do either at this point.
PS: Rudy's not my first choice, but he, McCain and Richardson are all acceptable IMHO.
Sgt., I'll take Guiliani over McCain. I'm still getting to know more about Richardson.
Meanwhile, I'm coming to accept that I am probably going to vote for a socially conservative Republican for governor, unless someone really exceptional steps out on the Dem's side here in Louisiana. The reasons are arcane and narrowly focused. Still, it galls me. But we do what we must to survice.
Sorry to hijack the comments, but is anyone else left wondering why there have been more posts on Rudy, Hillary, Bill Richarson, and John Edwards on the blog this week than there has been thoughts on the Supreme Court arguments from last Wednesday?
I like politics as much as the next guy (so long as the next guy actually votes..so my odds are maybe 50/50 there), but the Freedom from Religion Foundation taking on the Federal government in the Supreme Court is the kind of story that made me start coming here in the first place.
The Freedom from Religion group is actually Wisconsin-based, too!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-28-court-faith_N.htm
Hillary Clinton has been doing this for years. Remember that while living in Arkansas and during the 1992 presidential campaign, she spoke with her version of a Southern accent, too. See Here.
Mark Daniels
BJK: You are right. I should have a post on that oral argument -- and I was working on it, reading the whole argument, and then I got very distracted by the troubles here at my law school. I was going to write my NYT column about it on Friday, but it was not to be. These other posts are much easier to do, and that's what explains this instead of that. But I will write on it soon.
HRC lived in Arkansas for quite a while.
Uh, that's fascinating, but she didn't talk like that after "living in Arkansas for quite a while". We all heard her speak on many occasions throughout the last 15 years, and she always sounded like the Midwesterner she is. She hasn't started talking like a New Yorker after six years as their Senator, either.
Ann categories this post as "2008 campaign, Hillary." A better category would be "entertainment for political junkies." Can it really be that a politician like Hill would pander to her most important voter constituency? Say it ain't so. Can it being that pandering, when viewed by those who were not its intended object, seems lame? Ditto.
Politics is a cruel sport, as Hill undoubtedly knows. And, while everyone was enjoying Hill's pathetically bad skills at mimicking ethnic/regional speech, Obama was doing some heavy-duty pandering of his own -- vowing to pass (and if he were president, sign) the "Employee Freedom Restoration Act," a/k/a the
dumb the secret ballot" act.
But there is one item of interest, besides the sheer entertainment value, to be derived from these two incidents. Hill is pandering to Southern blacks, while Obama is pandering to the unions. Maybe that tells you where each feels a bit weak or vulnerable.
"Chameleonitis" sounds on Mrs. Clinton like it did on Olympia Dukakis in the film "Steel Magnolias." Not a good accent, but "E" for effort.
She didn't pick up some long-lost southern accent from her time in Arkansas. She was trying to sound Southern and doing a piss-poor job of it.
Why it matters is that she is not smart enough to know it does more damage than it does good for her.
I'm just mad b/c I can't get her speech out of my head. Especially the way she says "ea-SAY". Her cadence is like Forrest Gump.
Pandering? Folks, these are DHIMMIcRATs speaking to black people. This is the paradigm for pandering. It's been going on since Booth shot Lincoln.
Please, spare me the mock indignation. At least she didn't lapse into Ebonics.
What was she supposed to do, speak in her native Illinois tongue? In which case, none of those black folk would have been able to understand her.
All that moral outrage, and about a DHIMMIcRAT no less ... doesn't anyone have anything serious to do on Monday?
revenant, I've not heard her talking to Arkansans, or to New Yorkers, so I've no idea how she sounds there. Surrounded by the non-accented people of DC, yes she sounds midwestern to me as well. So do I. But I still do a very nice central Pennsylvania twang when I'm there talking to the natives.
This is a storm in a teacup, er, tempest in a teapot. It seems there has to be a weekly What-has-HRC-done-wrong-this-week "news" item.
It's Zelig on the campaign trail.
Ah'm Hillary Gump. People cahll may Hillary Gump.
Or mebbe she was allus jes a coal miner's daughter. Hush, Bill, ya soun' like a mean ol bahr.
Pandering? Folks, these are DHIMMIcRATs speaking to black people. This is the paradigm for pandering. It's been going on since Booth shot Lincoln.
Could you or Drudge give us some examples of Republicans commemorating the Selma March in a non-pandering way? Were there any Republicans that made it to Selma?
[chirp chirp chirp]
Cool, I saw this on Drudge, then it made it to NRO, then here. Should be all the rage on Fox tonight, which probably means Julie Chen will be talking about it tomorrow.
Oh well -- Anna Nichol Smith is still dead.
Could you or Drudge give us some examples of Republicans commemorating the Selma March in a non-pandering way? Were there any Republicans that made it to Selma?
Sure. Charleton Heston, for example, although he was a Democrat at the time, and subsequently became Republican, like Reagan or (on the other side of the race-relations ledger) Strom Thurmond.
And of course, in the larger context, it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were holding up the Civil Rights movement. Eisenhower proposed a number of civil rights acts and supported the Brown v. Board decision. For the 1964 Act, the margin of Republican support was much larger than the margin of Democratic support (~60% for the Republicans, as opposed to 30-35% or so for the Democrats).
On the other issue -- Clinton putting on a Southern accent, I think it may be a bit comic, but I do it myself, so it's not like I'm in any position to object. In some cases (e.g. where it seems like you're making fun of them), it's not appropriate, but generally it's a bit like using a different language -- when in Rome, do as the Romans do, to the extent you can. When in Paris, talk -- or try to -- as the Parisians do (i.e. in French), when in Vienna, as the Viennese (i.e. Austrian German), and when down in the Usonian South, talk like the Southron, no? There's always different accents, though, and you're better off imitating a bog standard middle-class accent than one that is particularly marked, in terms of race or class.
Yes, Democrats claiming Selma as their own is far worse an historical lie than Hillary's dialect transvestism.
Hmmm... Here is Hillary's chance to laugh at herself on Letterman or Leno and appear human again.
Side bets? I'll give 10:1 against.
revenant, I've not heard her talking to Arkansans, or to New Yorkers, so I've no idea how she sounds there.
She sounds the same way she does when speaking to what you call "the non-accented people of DC" (which makes be suspect you've never *been* to DC, as southern accents, and especially "black" accents, are common there too).
In any case, the notion that she's being a vocal chameleon is also undermined by the fact that nobody actually talks the way she sounds in that clip.
Nothing like being a smartass with my "sic" when quoting someone's response with a typo and then making my own typo by misspelling "perhaps"!
The proud shall be humbled!
Which is even worse.
Kyra Sedgwick does a good Bama accent, so close that it makes me miss my college sweetheart. OTH, Jessica Simpson as Daisy does a horrible job and is distracting.
If you're going to affect an accent to fit in with a certain crowd, you should either nail it or not bother.
/oops. lag-typing here, was responding to Revenant
In any case, the notion that she's being a vocal chameleon is also undermined by the fact that nobody actually talks the way she sounds in that clip.
Which is even worse....If you're going to affect an accent to fit in with a certain crowd, you should either nail it or not bother.
I really don't care either. I'm just here for the humorous comments about grits, etc. (Note to Hillary: that should be pronounced " GREE-its" if you are in most southern regions of the country. But I'm sure you already know that.)
Here's how easy it would be for Hillary to get my vote. If every day of her presidency, she were to sing the national anthem, followed by her best cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," I'd vote for her. Twice. She doesn't even have to bake cookies for me (unless, of course, she wants my vote two times more.)
NakedLunch, can you understand that poking fun at Hillary for her bad fake accent does not necessarily amount to a defense of every single thing that every single Republican politician has ever done or not done? Your comment is the equivalent of someone coming in to a discussion criticizing Ann Coulter's remark and saying, "Oh yeah? Well Bill Clinton signed the DOMA!" It's a non sequitur in that discussion.
Fen-NakedLunch: Conservative X affects a ridiculous southern accent. Are you going to energetically engage with that issue?
/just wanted to get that out of the way.
I have spent a fair amount of my life in both Texas and North Carolina, and often slip into those specific accents when I am there. In other southern states I do the same. But honestly, the few bits I heard of Hillary don't convince me that's what was happening in her case. My accents are far more realistic sounding, as I imagine the accents would be of anyone who lived there.
Conservative X affects a ridiculous southern accent. Are you going to energetically engage with that issue?
Heck, its already been gotten out of the way. People have been making fun of the way George Bush talks for the last seven years.
But I also don't think it's that big of a deal either way.
Could you or Drudge give us some examples of Republicans commemorating the Selma March in a non-pandering way? Were there any Republicans that made it to Selma?
Don't you just love it when Mr Chirp, Chirp, Chirp can't do his own research in the convenience of his own pajamas.
Here's a link to documentation of legislation proposed by a Republican to honor Selma.
I'm not going to spend my valuable time trying to hammer sense into the empty head of a smartass DHIMMIcRAT bigot, but these should do for starters.
However, as a note of warning. When you folks work overtime to paint events like Selma as DHIMMIcRAT events and not as part of history for all Americans, you get what you ask for.
Marginalized.
This early out & as tame as it is, I agree. Not a big deal. But it is indicative of Hillary's contempt for the "rubes" she's courting. We'll see more of that pattern as the primaries approach.
Don't you just love it when Mr Chirp, Chirp, Chirp can't do his own research in the convenience of his own pajamas
Oh its too easy. Bets that our little troll wasn't even aware of the event until Ann reminded him and he saw a convenient tool to bash conservatives with.
Ouch. Finally listened to the Hillary clip.
Is it possible she was attempting parody? Or does she really think her voters are stupid enough to buy that? Because I have a hard time believing someone as intelligent and clever as Hillary would deliberately try to appeal with that sorry attempt at an accent.
party barge said...
Don't you just love it when Mr Chirp, Chirp, Chirp can't do his own research in the convenience of his own pajamas.
It took you all day to come up with one dead link. Nice work Ace.
Mello-drama said...
NakedLunch, can you understand that poking fun at Hillary for her bad fake accent does not necessarily amount to a defense of every single thing that every single Republican politician has ever done or not done?
Sure. But where did you get that's what I was implying? What I seen is alot people taking digs at Democrats for commemorating the event from people who seem oblivious to the event itself.
What's really strange NL, is that that's the search I used to find where the Ark of the Covenant is being stored under the Pentagon. Also where the grays are being stored as well as the human/alien hybrids from Season Three.
And Samantha.
I think she picked it up from President Bush...you know..the guy from Connecticut, Yale Grad, Harvard Grad School....the guy who forget the letter "G" at the end of a lotta words?
Seriously, if you have lived in the south for any length of time, it is very very easy to lapse back into the speech pattern. Should she have been better? yes. its it the crime of the century that the rightwingnuts are portraying...well...i think there are bigger things on everyone's plate, don't you?
Professor Althouse,
The snippet of audio is being taken out of context. Senator Clinton was quoting an old hymn, and affected an accent to set it off. If you listen to the period immediately before and after, she's speaking in her normal accent. She wasn't trying to fool people into thinking she had a southern accent.
There's a rather vitriolic page describing this bit of selective editing. It also features a video of the relevant portion of the event.
Re:
DHIMMIcRAT
Look . . . can we not engage in embarassing name calling? Dhimmicrat, Dumboocrat, Repuglican, Rethuglican, etc -- it grates on the ears. Eyes. Whatever.
I think she picked it up from President Bush
I have heard -- from people who watched Bush speak at campaign events during the 2000 election -- that Bush does the same thing sometimes, only in his case, he seems to be affecting a standard/midwestern US accent. Also, I think he sometimes hams up his Texan accent -- this being something many Texans outside of Texas do, my kinfolk included, that actually seems pretty normal, though.
hdhouse, the wingnuts don't really believe this, well gahrie does, but all the rest just don't give a shit.
This is just a piece of fecal matter that feels good in their hands that they can use to smear and pervert another election.
Check out Althouse - she claims she is defending Hillary, but nowhere is that evident.
Althouse is a nihilist and a culture vulture. She is a bored academic that literally does not give a shit about anything and here too she "remarks" on it, only so she can feel some ancient pulse quicken her veins and she can feel she is a power broker once more -- a feeling alien to her since her kids were toilet trained.
A smear is a smear is a smear.
That is all that is important to these extremists.
And they say that you and I hate America.
What was she supposed to do, speak in her native Illinois tongue? In which case, none of those black folk would have been able to understand her.
Please elaborate, Paul. Why wouldn't any of the black folk present understand an Illinois accent?
I think she picked it up from President Bush...you know..the guy from Connecticut, Yale Grad, Harvard Grad School...
Which would make Mahatma Gandhi "the guy from London", I suppose.
The bottom line is that Hillary! is a phoney from the get go. She is a left authoritarian with a huge socialist streak and a hard head.
no revenant...it would make bush a pandering, southern wannabe who trys to talk "common" (remember that???) so it seems he wasn't born with a silver spoon up his ass
The snippet of audio is being taken out of context. Senator Clinton was quoting an old hymn, and affected an accent to set it off.
According to resident experts MadisonMan, Reality Check, and hdhouse, Clinton was simply lapsing back into the natural accent she picked up living in the south. Only right wing echo-chamber wingnuts think otherwise.
So, Paul... welcome to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. We don't get health insurance, but there IS a secret handshake. :)
No, Revenant. Gandhi was born in India. He spent some time studying in London. Bush is Eastern born and bred, and most of his education was there as well. He's a transplant Texan, on an estate he calls a "ranch." He's can drawl and spit and amble like a Texan all he wants, and you can fantasize that you voted for the Marlboro Man. I don't know why it bothers Bush devotees so much to recognize that, like many politicians, he's constructed an image, a facade. So what?
no revenant...it would make bush a pandering, southern wannabe who trys to talk "common" (remember that???) so it seems he wasn't born with a silver spoon up his ass
Obviously Bush downplays his privileged upbringing. That doesn't change the fact that he's actually Texan. He grew up there and he's lived there all his post-college adult life.
Bush is Eastern born and bred
No, he isn't. He was raised in Texas, which makes him Eastern born and Texas bred.
Bush was 54 when he was first elected President. He'd spent 40 of those years, plus a dozen summers, in Texas, including the vast majority of his childhood.
If you want to argue that he's not from Texas, name the state he IS from and offer evidence of the many years he called it home. Or just keep jerking off and listing every northeastern state he ever took a dump in, hdhouse style; either's fine with me. :)
Most of his supporters, financial and otherwise are from Saudi Arabia....
When his polls were sagging his Saudi hand holding boyfriends even staged a terrorist attack.
So I say he's a Saudi Terrorist sleeper agent.
What do I get?
naked lunch: What I seen is alot people taking digs at Democrats for exploiting the event.
/fixed
Really, Dems care about blacks the way a plantation owner cares about his house slaves. Witness the treatment they dole out to any who flee the plantation.
hdhouse: if you have lived in the south for any length of time, it is very very easy to lapse back into the speech pattern.
Certainly. Problem is, this is the first time the Arkansan has lapsed. It was obviously affected.
paul: The snippet of audio is being taken out of context. Senator Clinton was quoting an old hymn, and affected an accent to set it off.
Well that makes much more sense. I honestly didn't think Hillary was that deceptive. I'll follow the link and see if its reasonable.
Thanks Paul. The link checks out. Hillary affected a southern accent purely for dramatic purposes, to lend to the southern dialect she was quoting. Instapundit, Powerline, FR et al owe her a correction.
Dream on, revenant, if you think I'm an expert in patois. I only know that I quickly absorb local dialects and can parrot them back after a couple days. If HRC is anything like me (Ha!) I can see how she'd be able to talk the way she does -- at least when I've heard her.
Actually, all I ever hear from her is a very annoying modulated voice.
Ah, Reality Check [sic], it's OK to adopt a patronising, affected and not even very good Southern accent in a black church when you're quoting a hymn?
My Lord, I know primary season requires you to send your brain on a round the world cruise while the candidates pander like pimps on a spree, but this is just silly.
Ah, Reality Check [sic], it's OK to adopt a patronising, affected and not even very good Southern accent in a black church when you're quoting a hymn?
Well, Bush tried using his high-school Spanish to reach out to the Hispanic community. Maybe Hillary was just trying to demonstrate her own linguistic skills to prospective black voters.
Dream on, revenant, if you think I'm an expert in patois.
Um, that was sarcasm, Maddy. I don't consider you an expert in anything beyond reciting Democratic talking points. :)
Nice work posting that link, Paul.
Well, once again, the Mighty Wurlitzer does its job in getting some anti-Hillary memes into popular culture. Even though those lines have been shown to have been taken out of context, you can bet they'll be cited for months to come by conservatives as examples of Hillary trying to sound Southern/Black for patronizing or racist reasons, rather than just for dramatic effect.
You guys are nitwits, I posted the poem and youtubes of other recitations of it hours ago, but because someone who is not ashamed of the truth says it, you can't pay it any attention.
But I wonder what Althouse's problem is.
Despite my preference to make fun of her, this explanation and video is at least somewhat convincing. I mean, the speech itself is still totally phony, but at least I can give her a pass on the accent now.
I'm told that as we speak Mrs. Bill Clinton is being fitted for a burqua, complete with face veil, for her upcoming speech to a Moslem group in Michigan.
Thanks Paul. The link checks out. Hillary affected a southern accent purely for dramatic purposes, to lend to the southern dialect she was quoting. Instapundit, Powerline, FR et al owe her a correction.
You are delusional if any of those smear merchants ever apologize to her.
Like Althouse, they make money by smearing people. They make money by fooling you.
They won't apologize, they will just move on to the next smear.
Just like Professor Althouse.
monkeyboy: no homophobia about it; check it out for yourself. Just some stupid conspiracy theory.
By the way, Powerline links to the TPMCafe story and to a video of Cleveland himself. They're covered, at least now.
Somefeller
This is the same press corps that thought the 10 million per inch investigation of Bill Clinton's dick was in the publics best interest, and same press corps that invented a phony land pseudo-scandal that spent even more millions, thousands of more documents, and hundreds of hours of testimony for nothing.
Well, for all the money they spent on that investigation, I don't think it was enough to be sure you got your numbers right. :)
a phony land pseudo-scandal that spent even more millions, thousands of more documents, and hundreds of hours of testimony for nothing.
The Starr investigation resulted in the prosecution and successful conviction of fifteen people, including the White House counsel and Bill Clinton's replacement as governor of Arkansas.
It may be that fraud and conspiracy convictions don't impress you, and perhaps weren't worth the money spent, but at least they found evidence of some crime beyond lying to the investigators -- that's more than Fitzgerald can say.
You know what mcg - In my haste of trying to entrap the first person that did the computation and commented on it, I went off memory of the amount spent at 70 million. That could be hilarious if I was way off.
Revenant
And what did they find on the Clintons?
Ha ha! Well of course, the portion of that money devoted to the Lewinsky afair was much, um, smaller.
ah, ann, you are defending hillary by linking to a drudge smear article...
how chivalrous! particularly given, like most of drudge's crap, its been taken out of context in such a way as to render it completely false...
how nonpartisan of you!
The Starr investigation resulted in the prosecution and successful conviction of fifteen people, including the White House counsel and Bill Clinton's replacement as governor of Arkansas.
please provide links establishing substantive connections between these convictions and any wrongdoing committed by bill or hillary clinton, the subject of starr's $40 million inquiry.
Instapundit, Powerline, FR et al owe her a correction.
Here's what Instapundit said:
It's not only a fake southern accent, it's a bad fake southern accent. You'd think that someone who spent years in Arkansas could do better.
Where's the need for a correction? He didn't speculate as to her reasons, he just commented on the fact that she sounded like a goofball. Which, well, she did.
In any event, quite apart from her attempt to speak Jive during the recitation of the hymn, Hillary was faking a Southern accent during other parts of her speech. So it is far from clear that even those people who accused her of trying to pander to the audience owe her a correction.
And what did they find on the Clintons?
More than Fitzgerald has found on Bush, Cheney, or Rove. :)
please provide links establishing substantive connections between these convictions and any wrongdoing committed by bill or hillary clinton, the subject of starr's $40 million inquiry.
Why?
It may be that fraud and conspiracy convictions don't impress you, and perhaps weren't worth the money spent, but at least they found evidence of some crime beyond lying to the investigators -- that's more than Fitzgerald can say.
Even this is wrong. Read this. There you will find in detail that the Pillsbury Report exonerated the Clintons of any wrongdoing whatsoever. Your reference to the Libby case is laughable.
ROANOKE TIMES (5/30/95): Tuesday's convictions [of the McDougals] do not implicate the president in any way. Lead prosecutor W. Ray Jahn himself stressed that Clinton and his wife weren't involved. "Why isn't the president of the United States on trial?" Jahn asked in his closing argument. "Because he didn't set up any phony corporations...didn't backdate any documents... He didn't lie to any examiners, he didn't lie to any investigators."
I meant to link this originally. But you get the idea.
NL, you're putting words in Revenant's mouth. He did not say that those fraud and conspiracy convictions were levied against the Clintons themselves. But they did come directly out of the Whitewater investigation. As stated Revenant is exactly right.
And spent his 1st 2 years on Yale campus, in the Quonset huts they set up for WWII Vets returning.
What, no room at the Prescott Bush ancestral home? Sure, he's a old cowhand and he majored in ropin' at Phillips Academy.
Even this is wrong. Read this. There you will find in detail that the Pillsbury Report exonerated the Clintons of any wrongdoing whatsoever. Your reference to the Libby case is laughable.
I was referring to the fact that the Starr investigation found evidence of massive fraud by over a dozen other suspects, dumbass. I never said it found evidence that the Clintons were guilty of anything beyond perjury and obstruciton of justice.
The Starr investigation found nothing on its primary targets, but convicted fifteen people of crimes ranging from fraud to tax evasion. The Fitzgerald investigation found nothing on its primary targets and is prosecution a minor White House figure for lying to the investigation.
Yawn.
Yeah, Bill did no wrong whatsoever. That's why he lost his law license. (rolling eyes).
reality check: You guys are nitwits, I posted the poem and youtubes of other recitations of it hours ago
Yah, but you're the little boy who always cries wolf. No one here lends you any credibility. That must suck. Even on the rare occassion you are right, no one bothers with you. Wonder why?
Rev: Where's the need for a correction? He didn't speculate as to her reasons, he just commented on the fact that she sounded like a goofball. Which, well, she did.
Well, the implication I got was that the accent was a phoney attempt to pander to southerners. Perhaps I read too much into that and the mistake is mine.
I am well aware that the left considers two men holding hands (somthing natural in arab culture) all icky and not the thing for white Americans to be doing.
Actually, I think you meant "right" not left above. But it would not be "icky" if one GWB was holding hands with wasn't the leader of a country whose second largest export is its unique brand of terrorist-coddling Wahaabi Islam. Some of us believe that the Saudis have not been held responsible for 9/11 to the degree that it is deserved, and playing all sweet with them is hardly a step in that direction.
Well, the implication I got was that the accent was a phoney attempt to pander to southerners.
Nah, that was what the content of the speech did.
Jesus! Cut the poor woman some slack. All she did was fuck up a Southern dialect bit. She should listen to some old Dinah Shore records if she wants to sound Southern. That would be an improvement, wouldn't it? Mrs. Clinton with a sexy, Southern drawl and a beautiful, clear singing voice. They wouldn't have to bother with the election. She's be acclaimed President.
If she wants my advice, I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, never do dialect straight. First, you have to hire an expensive coach. Then, if it goes well, nobody notices, or they might say, "That's cute." If you screw up, that's all the reviewers talk about, people get offended, and you can close the show all by yourself. As they say in business, there's no upside potential.
Now all you people who go around acting like Mrs. Clinton is the Virgin Mary, you're pretty damn stupid, too. Professor, how do you put up with these nitwits?
Mrs. Clinton is in the public eye. You have to take crap. She looks pretty tough to me, so I don't think she's losing any sleep. I hope she's learned to watch what she says, though. Basic rules: Don't complain. Don't explain. And NO dialect.
IF she were speaking to Native Americans and said, "How, Kimasabe. Me come heap big distance. Many moons ago..." would that be patronizing Native Americans?
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