# How much are attitudes about Palin influenced by her accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562 "2008-11-13T18:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/21 "2008-11-13T20:07:54Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > In politics different is bad. Yes, just ask President-elect Obama. > [@](#): > > It also hurt her that she had other cultural markers such as numerous kids, religiousity, conservative politics, and non-elite education. She probably could have overcome her accent if she did not have the other markers. The kids and the religiosity were part of the reason she was enormously popular with the religious right. If you’re suggesting they hurt her with independent voters, even though most of those voters also have kids, are religious and don’t have elite education, I’d like to see a cite. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/22 "2008-11-13T20:09:55Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I don’t notice her accent as much as I notice that her sentence structure seems backwards. So is Yoda’s but stupid is he no one thinks. It’s not just how she talks but what she says that makes her seem stupid. [Obligatory Palin 2012 link](http://www.palinaspresident.us/never/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/23 "2008-11-13T20:10:12Z")
She comes from an area that was the destination of a government-sponsored resettlement program back in the 30s. About 200 rural Minnesota families were moved to the Mat-Su valley. While many people in Minnesota sound a bit like Palin her accent is, in my experience their accents are not a strong. More Marge Gunderson or Garrison Keillor, but they have benefitted from a stronger connection to the outside world and their accents have softened. In a more isolated area the accent is likely to stay strong longer. On the other hand, it sounds pretty fake to me, like she was playing it up for her folksy image. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/24 "2008-11-13T20:24:23Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I wouldn’t say that her voice was the main reason I think she’d make a horrible choice for any office, but it is certainly a contributor. Every time I heard her on the radio, I wanted to change the channel. The timbre of her voice is like an icepick through my eardrums. It’s not just humans. I noticed our Siamese cat putting his ears back when she spoke during the VP debate. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/25 "2008-11-13T20:28:30Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > She comes from an area that was the destination of a government-sponsored resettlement program back in the 30s. About 200 rural Minnesota families were moved to the Mat-Su valley. While many people in Minnesota sound a bit like Palin her accent is, in my experience their accents are not a strong. More Marge Gunderson or Garrison Keillor, but they have benefitted from a stronger connection to the outside world and their accents have softened. In a more isolated area the accent is likely to stay strong longer. > > On the other hand, it sounds pretty fake to me, like she was playing it up for her folksy image. I expect all politicians to be hamming it up for the cameras. Some do it better than others. To really judge it though one needs to examine it based on how it reaches their audience, not how it appeals to your own sensibilities. Generally I’ve judged all art and media that way, and kind of think of politicians as much actor as leader. I mean honestly, do people think Barack Obama is authentic? Please. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/26 "2008-11-13T20:36:20Z")
Maybe she just really liked Fargo? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/27 "2008-11-13T20:42:12Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I mean honestly, do people think Barack Obama is authentic? Please. Depends on what you mean by “authentic”. Do I think he walks into his daughter’s room and says, “My fellow family member, can we get the dishes done before you’re allowed to go out to play? Yes we can.” Then no, he’s not authentic. However, he speaks clearly, in a pleasant baritone, without pandering … outside of a few rhetorical flourishes here and there. Unlike what \*\*dropzone \*\*was suggesting Palin does – strapping on the ol’ Joe Six-Pack facade to make sure “the base” latches on to her words. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/28 "2008-11-13T21:12:38Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > I don’t know… I have a soft spot for Marge Gunderson. So I could have found Palin’s similar accent endearing. Palin’s accent seems closer to Jean Lundegaard’s than Margie’s — by which I mean, _even more_ nasal than standard Minnesotan, to the point of being grating rather than just charming. Marge Gunderson I’d vote for. Not so sure about Jean. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/29 "2008-11-13T21:17:05Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Her accent is working quite well for her among her base. > > \ > > This is why people in the main street America style think of the urban elitists. Because the urban elitists want everyone to adopt that sort of cosmopolitan standard, and cannot even comprehend that there is this whole other America that doesn’t agree with them. :rolleyes: If not wishing to have my country represented by a woman who speaks like a mildly retarded truck stop waitress makes me “elitist”, I’ll wear that label proudly. I won’t apologize for my contempt for “her base”, who apparently believe that book-learnin’ is for pussies, “real Americans” only live in backwaters, and that “elite” is a bad thing to be. Shoring up the self-esteem of “her base” by pretending that their opinons are based on anything other than ignorance doesn’t interest me. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/30 "2008-11-13T21:21:57Z")
For me it’s first and foremost the content. I first thought that LBJ and Carter drawled like hicks, but soon discovered that they were impressive speakers, articulate and plenty sharp, and forgot about the way they pronouned words, except for its entertainment value. Then it’s the sloppy syntax. Norman Mailer once described the way Hubert Humphrey spoke as being like a disorganized trainman moving every car in the yard to move one car around, wasteful and impossible to follow, but Palin’s got HHH beat. Then it’s her limited vocabulary, frequently lapsing into Valley Girl type jargon to describe the highest concepts, as in her bit yesterday “And then I’m, like, ‘God?’ and He goes like, ‘Sarah?’…” Then it’s attitude–mean-spirited always, ranging from simplistic-smug to choir-girl false-humble, but always with the spotlight on her and her ambitions. And then finally it’s the accent, which she turns on whenever she’s caught in the headlights. I thought the best thing Fey did when doing her wasn’t so much the way she formed phonemes but the way the accent got turned up a few notches when she was tryin’ ta bullshit her folksy way through “I got nothin’.” ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/31 "2008-11-13T21:36:33Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > For Then it’s attitude–mean-spirited always, ranging from simplistic-smug to choir-girl false-humble, but always with the spotlight on her and her ambitions. And with a good helping of passive-aggressive slipperiness. “Those guys are real jerks, but I’m not complaining.” ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/32 "2008-11-13T21:40:08Z")
I didn’t give her voice a second thought. That doesn’t mean I’m above such superficialities; a slow Southern drawl makes my eyes glaze. But her lying about the Bridge to Nowhere, the Ayers crap, the Couric interview, the inability to name a newspaper, the unwillingness to answer media questions… those thing made me think she was a pushy dope. And her lack of education or experience made me fear for my country’s future. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/33 "2008-11-13T21:50:05Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > And with a good helping of passive-aggressive slipperiness. “Those guys are real jerks, but I’m not complaining.” The Daily Show had a good series of clips of her on spot after spot complaining and then using the “but I’m not complaining.” She deserves many :rolleyes: for all of her actions during the campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/34 "2008-11-13T22:05:21Z")
I hate I missed that! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/35 "2008-11-13T22:49:37Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Her accent tells me she’s from Alaska, that’s it. True. Her accent says nothing about her intelligence or her character. Her _actual words_, on the other hand, are an approximately equal mixture of affected folksiness, casual dishonesty, and utter gibberish, like a word salad made by combining Larry the Cable Guy, a Chomsky linguistic experiment, and Joe Isuzu. And it’s from that that we conclude that she’s slipperier than a sorority girl in an oil-wrestling pit, and that she must not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power. Accent ain’t got nothin’ to do with it. You betcha. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/36 "2008-11-13T22:53:48Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Drat, I forgot the second half of the question, which is: > > Would she be wise to get a voice coach, or is it too late? I’m not a mathematician, but I estimate it’s about 9 days too late. 😛 But, in all seriousness, I think it’s too late for her future, too. Even if she crams for the next four years, there are going to be tons of clips from this election cycle that will be played ad nauseam if she ever hits the national spotlight again. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/37 "2008-11-13T23:00:29Z")
She’s a Creationist. What does her accent matter, compared to that? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/38 "2008-11-13T23:00:43Z")
I’ve heard maybe 30 seconds of words from her mouth. I’ve read far more of them, and her beliefs and policy positions are abhorrent to me. I don’t give a flying fuck how she sounds, except that it’s mildly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/39 "2008-11-13T23:14:10Z")
her voice sounds shrill and self-righteous. aside from that, her borderline racist ideas, and her idiotic superstitions that she’s trying to shove down everyone’s throat, I don’t think her accent has played any part in my conception of her as a proud ignoramus. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562/40 "2008-11-13T23:16:59Z")
Here are some scary quotes from [http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=35605](http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=35605) Comment: THESE ARE VERIFIED QUOTES FROM GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN OVER THE PAST 20+ YEARS (verified from reliable sources and newspapers): “I don’t believe in interracial relationships, I was born in Idaho and raised to believe that whites and blacks shouldn’t mix or date each other” (1986) “I want creationism as the only theory taught in our schools” (2001) “I don’t know a lot about Iran, I just heard that they are bad people”(2006) “He can say he is a christian but as far as I’m concerned, Obama is a muslim, look at his middle name” (2007) “The bible will at some point, be in every classroom in our great state if I have my way” (2005) “Here in Alaska, we don’t have hardly any black people, I never talk to them, so I was surprised that a black girl beat me in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant” (1988) “Todd and I talked about Hurricane Katrina as God’s way of cleansing New Orleans of the blacks who have sinned, the Bible predicted it” (2005) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-are-attitudes-about-palin-influenced-by-her-accent/472562.md?page=3)