First the media snarked on 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s twang in South Carolina, and within minutes the Drudge had its whine published.
VIDEO: Hillary breaks out southern twang… http://t.co/EBkOr6JEOH
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) May 27, 2015
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They write, “Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was born in Illinois and represented New York in the U.S. Senate, has brought back her Southern accent for her speech today in South Carolina.”
Watch Hillary Clinton’s South Carolina speech here:
Republicans don’t want to share the south, their only region, with a Democrat, so naturally if they hear a twang coming from anyone but their party, they get upset. This is, after all, all they have thanks to their success with the race-based Southern Strategy.
But they know that the former Secretary of State lived in the southern state of Arkansas with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for a long time. They owned a house there before they moved into the governor’s mansion, where she was First Lady of the southern state. She worked with a southern law firm for many years.
Maybe the media has never lived in the south. Because you know what happens to many people when they live in the south? They pick up the accent. It happened to me. It doesn’t grip all of your speech, but you slow down and you drawl a bit and sometimes you have a ‘Y’all”. It’s called assimilation. It happens no matter where you are – it can even happen on a short overseas vacation.
Sure, it’s politically expedient to talk like the people around you, and no doubt any politician who has spent time in the South would play on that when they are there. Just like a politician in the Midwest will talk about work ethic and family with the flatter accent of the region. But unlike when failed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tried this repeatedly, Hillary Clinton actually has a reason to have a drawl.
Hillary Clinton is married to a native Southerner and she lived in the south for years as his partner and wife. She comes by her ‘Y’alls” the hard way. Sorry, Republicans — you might not get to own the South this time around. Good luck picking up the rest of the country on a tax the poor, pro-molestation, anti-equal rights for all platform.
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