Ben Bradlee talks with his mouth full, and stirs his iced tea with his knife. My best friend saw this first-hand. She said his horrible table manners were AMAZING.
One of the best educated men and best salesmen I ever knew had the same habits. He would pop and snap his gum while talking on the phone, too.
Go figure. He comes from a nice old Boston family, I believe. You would expect him to have better table manners, but maybe he does the "working class hero" pose a la Mick Jagger.