Southern candidates haven’t fared too well in contested New Hampshire primaries, the single exception being Al Gore in 2000 – and one could argue Bradley hardly “contested” the nomination that cycle. David Freddoso of The Corner wondered why, and is finding out: it’s crass regionalism, accentism, and down-home prejudice against people who can’t understand them when they say, “I had to pahk the cah in the yahd, and it was too fah to walk to Hahvahd. Ayup.”
It takes conscious effort for some New Englanders to overcome the First Impression that Southern Accent doesn’t equal perhaps deliberate ignorance…Yes, it’s prejudice, but try and get a New Englander, a genuine Yankee, to admit a shortcoming like this. It’s almost always rationalized as something else, and thinly…
More at the link above. Still more HERE and HERE and HERE, etc.
Damn Yankees . . .
