Why Do So Many People Hate the Sound of Hillary Clinton's Voice?

New Republic ^ | May 1, 2015 | Elspeth Reeve

[lbryce]

ou know Hillary Clinton’s voice, right? I mean, you know it. It’s just so loud and annoying. Or maybe it's like a nagging wife. Or inauthentic—that phony Southern accent! Those flat Midwestern vowels! Whatever it is, her voice is burned into your brain.

Now think of Jeb Bush’s voice. It’s so—wait, what does it sound like again? He sounds just ... like a guy, maybe? It's probably hard for you to recall distinguishing features about most of the Republican candidates. Maybe you don’t know what Ted Cruz sounds like, except that he sounds like a jerk. Why? In part it's because women’s voices are scrutinized more. It's also because Clinton has been in the public eye for far longer. The conventional wisdom about Clinton's character has fully matured, but it's still forming for her potential Republican competitors, like a cicada grub nestled underground. Despite our collective sexist tendencies, the Republican candidates' voices will eventually get some attention.

A politician's voice shapes how we see him. Take, for example, Lenny Bruce’s early 1960s imitation of Lyndon Johnson. "They didn't let him talk for the first six months," Bruce says. "It took him six months to learn how to say negro." He imagines handlers trying to teach Johnson to say “negro,” but the sound of the n-word keeps slipping through. In frustration, Bruce-as-Johnson yelps, "I cain't hep it! I cain't say it! ... Lemme show mah scar." Johnson had a reputation as crude and uncultured. Of course, he went on to sign landmark civil rights laws.

[Vaquero]

Nails on a chalk board...

...Nails on a chalk board

[laweeks]

I just love, whenever this beast gets cornered, how she says, “Ya’ know . . . “ and rambles on in her canklier, meaty thigh mode.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

I hate her voice because I know it’s her voice, and I despise what she has done in her life-long quest for power for power’s sake.

Take her voice and give it to some random 60-something lady, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

[Maceman]

Ted Cruz sound like a jerk? Seriously?

Progressives is da craziest peoples.

[Lisbon1940]

I just tried that on a sheet of corrugated tin. Not very loud or annoying.

[stanne]

What I don’t like about the voice is that it always companies the person

And the person signifies America- hating, law breaking, from her as well as from her supporters

[CrazyIvan]

Content matters more than the voice. Find an actual recording of Patton’s voice. You’ll be surprised.

[Disambiguator]

In part it's because women’s voices are scrutinized more. It's also because Clinton has been in the public eye for far longer.

No, it's because she's shrill, screechy, naggy*, and annoying. She's a harpy.

*As in "naggers," or "people who annoy you."

[Vaquero]

[rockrr]

There’s a reason why Rush gives that particular cut so much exposure on his show ;’)

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Maybe you don’t know what Ted Cruz sounds like, except that he sounds like a jerk. Why? -—

Because that’s what my liberal friends say, right? LOL. Wut?

[RetSignman]

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— One advantage the faux Indian has over Clinton is her soft-spoken approach. -—

When she gets wound up, she’s just as bad. We had to suffer through her campaign here in MA. She can REILLY come across like a nagging school marm.

[stanne]

Well coded sexism. Of course. I have to remember to think like the press. Rush gave the lesson the other day pointing out what they were doing to Ted Cruz diminishing his Latino lanolin with ther racism

They aim it at the GOP candidate they don’t want running against Hillary. And they aim it at the supporters of Hillary’s opponent.

Ok

I have no problem with the sound of the voices of good female leaders any more than I have with tge sound of the voice of a good male leader

Can’t deal wit BOs voice. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uhh uhh eh eh uh um um um

[Semper911]

I agree with you. Ted Cruz’s voice is hard on my ears. But when he speaks, it is genuine and authentic. When I hear Hillary, it just sounds calculated, rehearsed, and fake. Her voice is indeed annoying, but it is the fakeness that will be the turnoff for voters.

[stanne]

How did ‘identity’ turn into ‘lanolin’?

[elcid1970]

“meatier thighs”

Cellulite & meat are two different things. Hillary’s thighs are a cottage cheese nightmare.

Most grating Hillary quote: “Ah ain’t in no ways tired!!”

[KarlInOhio]

[Ted Cruz's voice] is high-pitched and nasally and he needs to work on it as well. I spoke to someone who knew him and he said that he never would.

Some comments on Lincoln's voice:

Lincoln's voice was, when he first began speaking, shrill, squeaking, piping, unpleasant; his general look, his form, his pose, the color of his flesh, wrinkled and dry, his sensitiveness, and his momentary diffidence, everything seemed to be against him, but he soon recovered.
--William H. Herndon letter, July 19, 1887

But whenever he began to talk his eyes flashed and every facial movement helped express his idea and feeling. Then involuntarily vanished all thought or consciousness of his uncouth appearance, or awkward manner, or even his high keyed, unpleasant voice.
--Abram Bergen in Intimate Memories of Lincoln

The [second] inaugural address was received in most profound silence. Every word was clear and audible as the ringing and somewhat shrill tones of Lincoln's voice sounded over the vast concourse.
--Noah Brooks in Washington in Lincoln's Time

http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/speaker.htm

[nothingnew]

I hate her voice because I know it’s her voice

Yes. My first answer to the question was "because it's HER voice".

FMCDH(BITS)

[Starstruck]

Or inauthentic—that phony Southern accent!

No it's inauthentic in that she is always lying.