``I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires,'' Vilsack wrote in a 1994 column in the Mount Pleasant News, while her husband, Tom, was a state senator.
Vilsack wrote that southerners seem to have ``slurred speech,'' wrote that she'd rather learn Polish than try to speak like people from New Jersey, and wrote that a West Virginian waitress once offered her friend a ``side saddle'' instead of a ``side salad.''
At the Jan. 12 endorsement event, Kerry said of Vilsack, ``Christie is the first teacher, not just the first lady.''
``Later, on the boardwalk, I heard mothers calling to their children, `I'll meet yoose here after the movie,' '' she wrote. ``The only way I can speak like residents of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania is to let my jaw drop an inch and talk with my lips in an `O' like a fish. I'd rather learn to speak Polish.''
Two years later, in a column about her trip to the Olympics in Atlanta, Vilsack said she had ``language problems.''
``When I ask for directions, I can't understand the slurred speech of southern Americans, who are so polite and eager to please,'' Vilsack said.
Vilsack didn't return calls last night but said earlier this month she'd be speaking about real American values to convention delegates tomorrow night.
``I'm going to talk about Main Street values because I live on Main Street,'' Vilsack said.
Kerry with Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack in January. (Photo: Nancy Lane)