Political Punch

Hearing Hillary's pathetic excuse for an accent is like hearing nails on a chalkboard. The reason people are pointing it out is not because it was some Drudge story, but because of her futile attempt to deliver a certain vocal characterization. Her sanctimonious sense of self-importance shines right through those badly spoken lines.

They are both slick politicos that say to me that there will be no change in America for at least the next four years after the disaster that is Bush, Corruption will continue to tear away the last vestiges of the economy, social problems will escalate, and no one responsible for the illegal murder/oil grab in Iraq will be brought to justice, the rich will get richer, and the poor will be further ground into the dirt...same ol' same ol'...

ahahaha - what is funny is the defenders of Hillary claiming a Matt Drudge conspiracy. Talk about talking points - geeze. Is this what the Daily Kos told you??? It works both ways, my sweets.

I first heard the Hillary "accent" on talk radio and it had nothing to do with Matt Drudge or Fox news - Puhleeze...

At first I was thinking - what the??? But then they explained, of course, it was her rendition of a famous hymn - but still.... I've listened to plenty of high school orators do a better job 100 times over. Hillary was shrill, condescending and arrogant. There was no passion in her voice, only shouting which anyone could do. I had no idea why she thought she could throw her voice - and this idea that she spent time in Arkansas has anything to do with it is a pathetic reach.

It was simply awful and I was embarrassed for her and all black people. I was comforted when a black woman called in and said exactly the same thing and she felt like it was a slap in the face to black people. She was quite upset and rightly so.

Oh my, if this woman gets into the white house, where can I hide? At least Bush's southern drawl is real and he usually minimizes it when he's in Wash, not the other way around. This was pandering to the black community and trying to be something she is not and not qualified for.

As a person from Birmingham, i had to laugh when I heard Hillary with her fake southern accent. Hollywood and most other people around the nation that have never visited this state still think we talk in this antebellum accent. Yes, we still have a southern draw but not this Scarlet, pull up the mule accent in which Hillary was trying to imitate. Thanks Hillary, but if i wanted a socialist government i would live in China.

Of the two, if any has the right to make any claim, it is Obama simply because he is of racially mixed parentage. Whether Obama was born in 1965 or 1961, it makes no difference.
Mrs. Clinton's drawl was a bit much.

Opportunists.

I would say the Hillary thing is worse. Obama's stunt may have been maladroit, but his point stands: thanks to the civil rights movement, all blacks in America, and not just descendants of slaves, were able to be part of the American Dream.

It seems the Clinton kool-aid drinkers can't take a little criticism. Face the facts, all politicians are slimeballs who would do anything to buy your vote. Mrs Clinton is no more from the south than she is from New York. She is an opportunist, just the rest of them.

It is time to fire your government. It is time to take the country back from the democravts and republicans. When you pull back the sheets, you can't tell the difference between the parties...

I lived in Arkansas for many years and never heard a drawl like that. In many ways, Arkansas is more Midwestern than Deep South, including linguistically.

At first I thought you were being unfair to Ms Clinton, since, it seems clear, she was quoting from text that was written in black dialect. However, I was floored when I actually viewed the clip. I couldn't help but cringe at the obsequious nature of her obvious pandering. I felt like I was watching Linda Blair's head twist around and spewing green vomit. There really is something very disquieting about this woman.

Tapper seems to have "curiously lapsed" into an
affected "Drudge drawl." It is you and your cohorts in the mainstream press that are following a careful script, namely that Clinton is scripted. Every one of the journalists who reported on Clinton in Alabama at first failed to mention the "accent" until it appeared in Drudge, then they reported it as proof Mrs. Clinton is "carefully scripted" apparently without knowing and/or reporting she was quoting a black hymn. This is jounalistic dishonesty and intellectual laziness.

sen. clinton did very well. sen. obama is a contender- where was the other party? Just remember 6 years of bush- they both look look better every day!

I agree. non-story. Please find something of importance to write about.

Be fair, Tapper. Hillary spent a number of years in Arkansas and being back in the south or around southerners for any time, always brings back MY accent...why accuse her of being pandering for something so human? Take issue with the issues, Jake. Save the the personal putdowns for the irresponsible journalists.

There was nothing phony about Hillary`s accent in her speech yesterday at Selma. Your trashing of her accent comes from that rightwing whack job Matt Drudge.
It is obvious that you get your talking points from Drudge which makes you a foot soldier of the radical right. You should go work for Fox News-where your rightwing bias would fit right in.

I'd cut Hillary some slack...I may be phillygirl, but my accent can change depending on who I am talking to or what I am saying...I had 2 co-workers from Baahston who came here YEARS ago...one had no discernable accent, and the other sounded like she just came down I95 for the day...I have a sister in Dallas and spent time in the South growing up, so my speech does drawl from time to time

Obama and Hillary are both frauds. Hillary's newfound dialect almost made me throw up, and Obama's new "black leader voice", one which I have never heard him use before, was hilarious. But Hillary's performance was truly disgusting. I will never vote for either of those clowns.

Jake, I admire you but this story is irresponsible, principally for the reason Ed has pointed out. Before the remark in question, Obama laid the groundwork for making "Selma" a metaphor for the whole Alabama civil rights struggle going back to Rosa Parks in 1955; it was that ongoing struggle that he was saying sent ripples across the world, and Selma was a piece of that struggle. Virtually every day, George W. Bush says something that, if parsed out of context in the way you've quoted Obama, is demonstrably false. Just check out Slate's ongoing collection of hundreds of "Bushims." With regard to may of these, Bush is obviously using a shorthand or imprecise language, such as "Our enemies think every day how to destroy this country, and so do I." And you in the press -- appropriately -- treat it as a nonstory, as long as Bush or his spokesman promptly clears up the misunderstanding, which Obama promptly did yesterday. Given the context and the quick explanation, this is a prime example of lazy "gotcha" journalism; and, what's worse, biased lazy "gotcha" journalism. This is a nonstory. Pull it down.

hey jake, is Ed right - did you take Obama's remarks out of context? That's not very nice.

It's nothing more than politicians playing to (and playing up to) their audience: Hillary in adopting a Southern drawl and Barack in crediting civil rights for his very existence. I wouldn't read too much into any of this unless Hillary starts reminiscing about the antebellum South and Barack starts organizing civil rights marches.