Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s voice

He's on Colbert now (f-ing hilarious, btw) and I've heard him on the local Air America radio. Even if I don't agree with all he says, the man is smart but has one of the worst voices on earth. If nothing else, it makes him sound nervous all the time.

 

Does he er uh, sow-und anything-uh like-uh his fawtha or uncle-uh?

 

He always sounds like that. It's pretty terrible. Sort of like he yelled too much the night before.

 

RFK didn't have a particulary great voice, either. Very nasal, Boston accent.

But in those days I think we listened to what he was saying, and not how he sounded when he said it.

I'm no great fan of the Kennedys. Amid the tragedies, they've also squandered some tremendous opportunities. But I often believe this country would have been much better off, in the short and the long run, had RFK not been killed because he would have won the nomination and beaten Nixon in 1968.

I remember vividly waking up that morning learning he'd been shot, and the overwhelming sadness of the funeral train from NYC to Arlington.

 

Bobby suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, which is characterized by involuntary spasms of the vocal cords. This affects a person's ability to speak as well as the quality of their voice, making it sound strained or strangled. That's what you're hearing.

All that aside, I'd like to see him enter politics. Not that he'd have to have a lot on the ball to be more qualified for politics than many others in his family who have run for and won office, but he is a highly intelligent man with a relatively clean background (since he kicked drugs, anyway), a passion for environmental issues and a reputation for getting things done.

 

if my name's robert kennedy jr., the last thing in the world I want to do is run for office.

 

He has considered it in the past. He did contemplate a run for attorney general in New York, where his main opponent for the Democratic nomination would have been his ex-brother-in-law, Andrew Cuomo.

 

OK, now I feel like a prick.

 

And so you should.





Just kidding. It's probably not well known that he has this disorder. I learned of it a year or two ago when he paid an environment-related visit to the area where I live and gave a speech.

 

Thanks for this thread, hhh - I wondered the same thing when I saw him on CR last night - I wondered if something was medically wrong, because he doesn't sound like a typical kennedy - or mayor quimby.
What a hilarious interview, though - I loved the end where Colbert called him on wanting to leave a paper trail - "and I thought you were an environmentalist - I nailed you."

 

Random thought - does Bruce Weber have the same condition?

 

Thanks, Double.
I thought the poor bastard had emphysema or something.