The Folksy and the Fake

After someone made an editorial comment about Governor Chiles' folksiness a couple months ago, I've thought a lot about the line between folksiness and fake. How do you know where it is?
Is there any reason to doubt Chiles' public and private record of folksiness? Blind hogs rooting out acorns, cut dogs barking, frogs refusing to holler in their own pond...

Everything I know now tells me it's all true. He could be folksy till the last dog was dead.

Folksiness tends to win you votes. Most people like voting for people who talk and think like them--who "care about their issues." And sometimes speaking a few codes words is all it takes to show you're part of the club. Fake it till you make it.

Maybe the only thing to say about faking folksiness is that you know it when you see it. At worst, it sounds like fingernails scraped across a blackboard. I think when we talk about it in the context of Chiles or anyone else, folksiness usually isn't really about backslapping or hand-shaking, its about being comfortable in your skin. It's about knowing who you are and staying who you are in all worlds, all company.

West Wing buff that I am, I think of Vice President John Hoynes when I think of faking it. I was just thinking the other day; there are few things more entertaining on that show than the put-upon folksiness of John Hoynes. He'd rather finish a round of golf than pose for one photo with the winning Girl Scouts troop. When he smirks after photo-ops, he knows he is smarter than anyone in the room. He knows he won. He can BS about the Girl Scouts and Texas and American history and make you forget it with a handshake. If you get anything more than a handshake, you know you're in his club. Otherwise, you know to shut the hell up.

Had Governor Chiles lived to see The West Wing, he probably have recognized Hoynes. He defeated politicians like him.