Palin and Folksiness

excellent observation. Yes i too have read with bewilderment comments about her bring 'authentic'. I find her false, manipulative and insulting; mean, divisive and dangerous. How can she be for education when she belittles the educated. Is she trying to say that small town equals stupid, simple, as in simple-minded. I don't trust the woman. And the fake smile makes me ill.

You state it exactly right. I find it hard to believe that people actually think she speaks for the middle class. I struggled to go to college as a single mom but did it and I find her insulting and not authentic at all. It's like she is talking down to people. I think someone running for the Vice President of the US should be more professional and try to address the public in such a way. Biden seemed more authentic than Palin in my opinion and I could relate to him more. It amazes me that anyone likes her “folkiness”.

I also felt that Palin's mannered folksiness was nothing like the way most regular folk speak and was insulting — condescending — to them.

I'm sure she is not ridculing anyone. She comes from an area where that is common speech. I'm sure as and educated person she can adjust her speech to address who she is talking to. Since her debate appearance was aimed at a specific audience she was just fine. Maybe you are the one ridiculing ? Not every part of the country has the same speech patterns. Most times not even the same state has the same lingo. We are all Americans looking for a better way. Attack and question each other paths to get their not the people who are trying to make the difference.

According to someone I know who is from Alaska, Palin has a fake accent. She never talked this way before being selected to McCain and her accent has gotten more extreme since the.

I am from a small town and was the first in my family to atend college and i never spoke in this manner. Even those in my family who never attended college speaks this way.

She is an insult to women who have worked hard to advance themselves.

While watching McCain self destruct, and seeing some hints of frayed nerves on his part, Palin is suddenly less of a joke and more of a very frightening nightmare. There is more below the surface of this woman then the hockey mom persona. She could make the Cheney Vice Presidency seem like a walk in the park if God forbid she should ever end up behind the desk in the oval office, a possibility that is far more likely then not if they win in November.

I'm from middle america, Nebrask. I can tell you all I saw from palin was a lot of old fashion flirting and dodgeing the issues! We middle americans don't use the word gee much at all. Were all eduacated enough now to not use “Drill baby Drill' statements, even in jest. This gal darn sure ain't from any small town I know of, and I surrounded by farms, and farmers in this small community, and Palin made a laughing stock of herself. Reading off a coffee cup in calif, on a statment Mrs. Albright made almost inflamed middle america when he couldn't even read it right, and proclaim women would go to hell if they didn't support other women just about took the cake! This gal needs to travel some, to understand the american small town people before she tries to claim she is one!

I wondered if the folksiness was totally put on and went looking for older youtube videos of Sarah, from back before she was named to the ticket.

Sure enough, I found an earlier interview with Charlie Rose, and some Alaska debates, and while she had that accent and dropped her g's, she didn't do the winks, and all the Joe Sixpack, hockey mom, middle class references.

She's obviously pandering now.

Thank you. I also grew up in a small dairy farming town, went to school with the sons and daughters of farmers (my grandmother was a farmer), my parents struggled to send me to college, but I paid for my own Ph.D. I spent 40 years as a university professor whose specialty was literary theory and interpretation but you helped me to understand why I was so absolutely outraged about the Palin debate. Thank you! Virginia Doland

Thank you. I also grew up in a small dairy farming town, went to school with the sons and daughters of farmers (my grandmother was a farmer), my parents struggled to send me to college, but I paid for my own Ph.D. I spent 40 years as a university professor whose specialty was literary theory and interpretation but you helped me to understand why I was so absolutely outraged about the Palin debate. Thank you! Virginia Doland