Maybe just say that he is a notorious phony

No need to beat around the bush.

Some observers who were seeing Kennedy in action for the first time even questioned whether the senator is very bright. He is, of course, as those who've watched him for a long time know. They also know that he has a history of cranking up the outrage and incredulity for maximum effect, a habit that served him just fine in Louisiana.

Clearly the effect was lost on much of his new, broader audience.

Look, we get it.  John Kennedy's act is all smarm. We know it's fake. We know it's condescending. We know he's basically Ted Cruz with a banjo slung around his neck. We also know the reason the "broader audience" reads it as stupid is because he is actually very bad at this. "Weed killer,"  "To a bear we all taste like chicken," That whole "Love is the answer"/"Handgun" thing. These aren't wise country colloquialisms. They are bizarre head-scratchers.  Kennedy's faux-folksy manner is so tone deaf, so inauthentic, that Occam's razor leads those getting their first glance to conclude that nobody would be doing this on purpose.  Well, he is. And we know. Sooner or later the press in Washington will figure it out too. That is, if Kennedy ever becomes a consequential enough figure for them to even pay much attention to.

In the meantime, maybe the Louisiana press shouldn't validate his behavior as "a habit that served him just fine" here. Kennedy served as Treasurer for a decade but rarely faced much opposition. He got himself elected Senator with a lot of help from David Vitter's money, stump speeches by a newly elected President and Vice President, and a near complete lack of interest from the DNC and State Democratic Party in supporting his opponent.  Those circumstances served him well. Let's not do ourselves, or the voters of the state the insult of asserting that Kennedy's stupid clown act has as much to do with his rise as all that.