Yes. So genuinely folksy. I have an entirely Southeastern Conference education. Now, I definitely knew some kids who never shed their accents after law school, and frankly I had at least one professor whose public persona, including his teaching, was not a world apart from Senator Leghorn here, but all of them could code-switch and tone it down considerably. It’s basically mandatory to succeed as a lawyer. The fact that he talks like he does says as much about the voting population of Louisiana as it does about Kennedy.
You don’t have to take anyones word for it, there’s plenty of news footage of him speaking earlier in his career when he was a democrat, no foghorn leghorn played up accent to be found. He still was hokey and used tired phrases for low-hanging laughs, but it wasn’t until he was appealing to Republicans for elected office that he started using that voice and making it his full time persona. Find cspan footage of his Senate democratic primary debate in 2004, then watch when he’s running for Senate as a Republican a couple years later. No remembering hearing required. He just likes power and, like many of the grifters, he found the way to get it.
Yes. So genuinely folksy. I have an entirely Southeastern Conference education. Now, I definitely knew some kids who never shed their accents after law school, and frankly I had at least one professor whose public persona, including his teaching, was not a world apart from Senator Leghorn here, but all of them could code-switch and tone it down considerably. It’s basically mandatory to succeed as a lawyer. The fact that he talks like he does says as much about the voting population of Louisiana as it does about Kennedy.
I remember hearing that he began leaning heavily into this persona when it won him an election though and it’s not really his baseline.
You don’t have to take anyones word for it, there’s plenty of news footage of him speaking earlier in his career when he was a democrat, no foghorn leghorn played up accent to be found. He still was hokey and used tired phrases for low-hanging laughs, but it wasn’t until he was appealing to Republicans for elected office that he started using that voice and making it his full time persona. Find cspan footage of his Senate democratic primary debate in 2004, then watch when he’s running for Senate as a Republican a couple years later. No remembering hearing required. He just likes power and, like many of the grifters, he found the way to get it.
Fascinating, thanks for your insight