Well written response. Right up until you question whether R.F. Kennedy was drunk or not because of his voice. I’m sure you were not seriously considering that as an option but so you know Kennedy has a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, a specific form of an involuntary movement disorder called dystonia that affects only the voice box. If you can remember he did ask the audience to accuse his voice since he was having a bad day with it. Besides that kudos to your argument.

That said, this story is abysmal. Even under deadline pressure, it’s clear most of Kennedy’s presentation went right over the reporter’s head. A “wide range of topics” is rookie reporter code for “I didn’t get most of it.”

Kennedy spoke at length and in great detail about the destructive hidden costs of nuclear AND coal power (of particular relevance to this state) before turning his focus to the promise of renewables and his vision for a national energy grid. He paid special attention to the plight of West Virginia and the Appalachia country — important context that is missing here.

Beyond that, this story makes no mention of the odd tremble in his voice all night. It was noticeable, like the worst case of frog-in-the-throat you’ve ever heard. Is he sick? Was he drunk? What gives? It made him kind of hard to understand.

No mention of the fact that he was animated. No script. He didn’t stand behind a lectern. He obviously knows this stuff so well that he can speak extemporaneously for hours about it. And he took questions from the audience.

Also no mention of the fact that Interim President Wilbur stood there in front of a FULL (not half-full) auditorium and lavished praise upon the Speaker Series, which to my knowledge still has not been given secure funding beyond arbitrary one-time allocations as administrators see fit. Either resuscitate and fund it, or shut up and stop taking credit. Or stop wasting MILLIONS on medical school and subsidizing the football team.