I have listened to the Gabfest for almost two years. While I respect Emily Bazelon's legal knowlege, her speaking voice is infuriatingly girlish and distracts from what she and the other two panelists are discussing. It is time to replace her with someone (anyone) who sounds a bit more serious...

What a terrible thing to suggest. She's bright, has intelligent things to say, and surely we can get beyond the superficial raspiness of her voice and pay attention to the content rather than something she can't do anything about. Listen to what she says.

I agree. I think that Emily provides a grounded reasoned approach to the discussion. I enjoy listening to her commentary. I think it would be a grave disservice to the audience to eliminate someone who I feel is an integral part of the panel.

I do agree that her voice is, as you put it, "girlish," but she IS female.

It's unclear why that is self-evidently a bad thing. Her diction is quite good, and to me a failure there would be the thing that would irritate me. Emily's speech shows her to be educated, well-read, and a master of the language. The pitch of the voice seems kind of a silly thing to focus on.

On the other hand... if you listen to the Culture Gabfest there is a lisp that gets a little grating...