There have been a lot of President Bush’s “Trust me — wink, wink” assurances about Harriet Miers to his conservative base. But columnist Dana Milbank suggests, with his description of Bush’s appearance on the “Today” show with Matt Lauer, that Bush’s blinking is more telling than his winking.
“The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was ‘trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression,’ Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.
“When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer — along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling. Laura Bush, by contrast, delivered only three blinks and stood still through her entire answer about encouraging volunteerism.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
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26 Comments
I know that the blinking is annoying, but actually counting them? There are some bored people.
Also some very attentive people.Body language may only be pseudo-science, but it’s widely understood and accepted.
Body language is very important. Behavior specialist’s study it.I had an odd experience at a lecture recently. I was sitting in the back row of a forum style lecture room where I was up high. The lecturer made a joke about Bush pronouncing nuclear “nuculur”. About half the room shifted very noticably in their seats, a whole row of 5 or 6 family members shifted so much it looked like they were going to get out of their seats. Everyone settled within seconds (everyone was chuckling, of course).I immediatly thought…all of those people voted for Bush.
…or they all pronounced the word “nucullar” too.
Amarillo Slim won the National Poker Championship almost every year because he could read your “tells.”
“Body language” is a recognized science and only the Poker-Players who have master that art win consistently.
Bush’s blinking is a “tell.” He lying.
Amarillo Slim won the National Poker Championship almost every year because he could read your “tells.”
“Body language” is a recognized science and only the Poker-Players who have master that art win consistently.
There’s a “tell” for when you have the cards, and a “tell” for when you don’t.Poker is all about raising the bet against cards you can’t see { other guy’s hand } or knowing when to fold.
Bush’s blinking is a “tell.” He’s lying.
He has developed a “tell” because he’s been caught being untruthful so many times.
Jerry Falwell’s “tell” is pulling his head back and fluttering his eyelids.
Pat Robertson’s “tell” is wagging his head from sise to side and another is over-pronouncing words.
Wow! I know I don’t get the liberal memo on what to say after each event, but it is surprising that every single one of the liberals said “body langauge”
I guess the memo is out. So I guess I will hear this term over and over again when I watch the Sunday morning political talk shows.
Joe Willliams,
Do you mean all the ‘liberals’ who appear on ‘Face the Nation,’ ‘Meet the Press,’ and especially ‘Fox News Sunday” in Joe Williams land of ‘liberal media’ make-believe?
Actual liberals are scarcer than hen’s teeth on any of those shows.
This nomination will thankfully go down in flames! Bush has LOST the true conservative base over a botched war for israel, runaway deficit spending, cowardly court nominations and his treasonous plan to give amnesty to illegal immigrants!
Matt didn’t stay on the script. That always screws Bushboy up. Having to actually ANSWER questions instead of reading what KKKarl Rove wrote out for him . . . hey, who’s he supposed to be, the President of the United States or something?
A major US paper announced today that not only was Bush’s extemporanous give-and-take with troops in Iraq all scripted and rehearsed, BushCo. even planted their own PR person in the group dressed in military fatigues.
They’re consistent . . . by golly, they’re consistent. Even when they’re caught red-handed churning out propaganda, they just keep doing it.
Oh Really Galahad.
You know what is funny about the press calling this a staged event. Did you know that every single interview, talk show, commentator guest, and you name it…. they all are told what questions they will ask and what to expect.
It’s called prep… not staged. If Bush and the Pentagon is doing what the press and news organization always does, then the entire news organization and programs…. right down to Larry King and Air America is all staged.
If you want to see a staged event. Check out what NBC Today Show did yesterday. That is what I called staged.
It’s on the Crooks and Liars website. http://www.crooksandliars.com
To CF: I notice when I scrolled down I saw my name in the begining of your post. This is probably the last time I will say anything to you, but I don’t read your post. You are a blog fly and have no crediability nor anything worthwhile to say. I just scroll past your trash posts, so if you asked me a question or have something for me to respond, I will not. Trolls are a waste of my time.
Joe Williams,
Suit yourself. But I’ll go on responding to factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and sloppy reasoning when they appear in your posts, whether you read them or not. And to be fair, I do agree with some of your statements, some of the time.
For the record, trolls attack anonymously. I do not. Trolls also do not contribute reasoned arguments, something I have been known to do on occasion.
So, Joe Williams and others, get your terms straight: CF is not a troll. Am I a partisan? You bet. And if you can’t take the heat or the substance, Joe Williams, stay out of the kitchen.
Joe
The problem is that Bush insisted that it was not staged.
It is important that he not lie anymore.
His lies are now killing American soldiers, Arabs, bankrupting this country, and driving-up the cost of gasoline.
That’s why his ratings have gone through the floor.
Americans consider him a lying stupid bastard who represents Israel and not the United States.
They’re right, and they hate his guts for it.
The one honorable thing left for him to do is to resign.
Granted! Bunch of people hate Bush Ed. I don’t blame them. It’s their right to have their own opinion.
I don’t think Bush is all that great, and I disagree with some of his policies, but I don’t resort to following every single moment of the president, counting blinks, and trying to find every bad thing about him.
You can do that to anybody. The only thing to say that will disappoint you, the United States will not be ran by leftist anytime soon, so it is a pipe dream to believe that leftist will force Bush to resign and they take over the entire government. A lot of people might not like Bush, but a whole lot more people don’t like leftist than Bush.
Joe,Whether you call it staged or prepped, it all boils down to an attempt to show he’s “in touch” without having to risk touching anything hot! In doing so, he’s not only blown his own credibility, he’s blown ours as a country too. That will last long past the next election. Someday soon, we’re going to really need some credibility and integrity, and it won’t be there, thanks to Bushllit and Co. That will be his legacy!
Joe
I didn’t say that “leftist” should take over. But this country is facing some very serious problems, which Bush is not equipted to handle.
I’d rather see Clinton back in there, or almost anybody with a brain at this point.
He’s talking about “Nuking” Iran, for God’s sake.
{ on channel 3 in Israel }
Joe W.
An interview with the president is not the same as Late Night with David Letterman. The latter is for entertainment–the former is supposed to be for information.
You think JFK would have scripted an event like this?
He didn’t have to . . . he was a President of the United States, for God’s sake.
Why does the right-wing keep forgeting that George W. Bush, VP DICK Cheney, and all the rest of them are OUR employees.
We’re their fricken BOSS.
And they owe us answers and the truth.
We do not owe the enemy the TRUTH!
Joe
This isn’t a “left” or “right” situation.
With Bush at the helm, we’re not going to have a country in 3 years.
Once the nuclear geni comes out-of-the-bottle, nuclear war starts, and there’s only one end there.
For Bush to even say it, means he’s nuts.
Does he not understand that?
Putin, of Russia, is backing Iran and Syria to bring about a stalemate with crazy Bush and renegade Israel.
Oil traders picked-up on that and crude oil prices have backed-down somewhat.
Joe? You got alotta nerve attacking CF! In your post which you end by saying “I’ll scroo past CF” YOu start that post with comments about interviews in general. Your ost is almost word for WORD the words of RUSH LIMBAUGH on his Friday show following Bush’s staged media event.
Joe? I listen to Rush TOO!I do it so I can find the dittoheads like you who can’t post their own words but only parrot his.
You wanna go bare knuckles Joe? I will find and post on here Rush’s rant about that staged troop/bush interview. It will show that you are just Rush’s resident mouthpiece here.
As to that staged event, I don’t think you can honestly say you support the troops when their commander speaks with them only after they have been rehearsed by Pentagon staffers as to what to say and when!
Joe DITTOHEADto the pillpopper pissed me off so much I missed the thread.
OF COURSE body language is telling. My surprise is that bush’s handlers even let him DO interviews. But I guess after he stole in again they have less to worry about.
Joe,The enemy already knows the truth! It’s US he doesn’t want to find it out!
Joe C,
You wrote “We do not owe the enemy the TRUTH!”
To whom were you referring as ‘the enemy?’ Who did you have in mind as ‘we’?
Thanks.
Joesy likes that word “enemy.”
He doesn’t understand how easily he could fit into that category himself, given the current drift into fascism this country is experiencing.
Have you ever experimented with explosives (made a homemade firecracker)? Do you know how to make a pipe bomb?
If you answered yes to either of the above, authorities can hold you indefinitly as a “potential terrorist.”
My old English pointer used to blink birds a lot during field trials. It’s called missing the point. lol