Like it or not, that slow West Texan drawl sounds to an Easterner, at least, like someone of lower than average IQ speaking. That’s part of why the media succeeded with the “W is stupid” meme—because that’s what he sounds like to someone used to a faster pace of speech. Perry further reinforces it with a lot of nonstandard English.
Now, W had Harvard and Yale degrees and his Eastern Establishment family pedigree, so GOP voters were able to overlook that. The question is whether someone without those, yes, ‘elite’ markers can come along after W and get people to hear him through his manner of speaking.
Counter to that is what our talkers (Rush and Levin especially) do so well. Line up the sound bites of
Obama
Biden (remember him?)
Reid
Schumer
Rangel
Pelosi
Wasserman
Sharpton
Barney's Frank
etc
and play them over and over.
Excellent observations. The fast-paced speech of the typical northeasterner sounds to the southerner like a used-car saleman (or stockbroker) trying to run a bad deal past them. Also, this fast-pattern is insulting because it is condescending and de-personalises the listener. And direct personal relationships are very important to the people who produce and live out in the provinces.
Our only defense is to ridicule in kind the mannerisms and distinctive affectations of the ruling classes, exactly as they ridicule us peasants.