Sounds From Mars

by digby

I can’t tell you how much Sarah W. Palin’s accent is bugging me. Alaskans do not have this accent. They don’t sound like North Dakotans and they don’t sound like Canadians and they certainly don’t have the weird, folksy drawl of Sarah W. Palin. Unless they are transplants, which Palin is not, Alaskans sound like other inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest, which is to say they sound like newscasters.

Julia has put together some clips which show that Sarah W’s accent isn’t only odd for someone who spent her life in Alaska — it comes and goes:

Of course, there’s nothing that the conservative base likes more than someone who sports a rural or southern accent. And in fact, they prefer it to be fake — it means the person who uses it understands how important they are and has even changed the way they sound in order to appeal to them. They squealed with delight at the Connecticut Yankee George W. Bush’s carefully cultivated Texas drawl.

There’s nothing wrong with Palin’s accent. In fact, it might even be charming if it were real. But I’m just not charmed by phonies and that exactly what she is.

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