Nonverbal Cues May Speak Louder Than Words: A look at the Dems' debate body language

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Read Her Lips. And Hands. Oh, And Eyes, Too
At Debate, Nonverbal Cues May Speak Louder Than Words
BY AMY ARGETSINGER - WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2007


From left: Dodd, Richardson, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich and Clinton at Wednesday's debate.

....HILLARY CLINTON

....Clinton's always been adept at conveying strength. Warmth? Still a new thing for her. So the test comes at the moment when Clinton declares she opposes torture, even to cadge information about an imminent terror attack -- and Russert notes, gotcha!-style, that her husband disagrees.

"Well, he's not standing here right now," retorts Clinton, staring down Russert -- and then breaks out in a coy grin: "Well, I'll talk to him later." "Damn!" exclaims (public-speaking coach John) Neffinger. "The tone is, 'I'm the one wearing the pants now,' " says (speaking coach Seth) Pendleton. "But she rounds it out with a genuine smile. That's a skill, to weave in warmth and humor."

JOHN EDWARDS

He's blinking a lot -- is it the lights? -- and his smile seems forced....But his body language displays a real enthusiasm when the topic moves to economics. "We have to be very careful," Edwards says, about Social Security, and he cups his hands as if carrying an egg....

BARACK OBAMA

....Then there's that . . . that look. Neffinger tries to mimic it: the cocked head, the easy grin, the sideways gleam in the eye. "That's part of the reason he's the young, hip candidate. He's the cool guy. He's got the head bob. Reagan had it."

JOE BIDEN

Strong voice. More relaxed than ever, he's giving confident one-word answers, resisting the old impulse to declaim. Almost a great speaker. Except . . ."We're talking about Iraq, right?" says Neffinger. "Let's see if he can keep the smile off his face."...

BILL RICHARDSON

He talks about Iraq in an earnest, plodding cadence, one word after the other....But Richardson suddenly gets his groove on the topic of immigration....

CHRIS DODD

He's tall, and -- face it -- people like that. Subconsciously, it suggests strength. His gestures are very strong and determined. But the stern-eagle stare, framed by those fierce black brows, rarely softens....

MIKE GRAVEL

Scolding Clinton for a vote he claimed would lead to war with Iran, Gravel flings an arm in her direction...."And he's yelling already."

DENNIS KUCINICH

....then, his moment. "You can have a president" who opposed the war, opposed the Patriot Act and supports single-payer health care, Kucinich deadpans. "Or you can have a president who's tall." Ba-da BUM! Suddenly, an assured grin, a sly glance to the side.

"Look at that!" says Neffinger. "This guy is Mr. Cool tonight! He's not straining, the eyebrows are level. . . . If he had a little more gray in his hair, and were like this all the time, he might actually get somewhere."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/style/features/2007/analysis-092807/gallery.html?hpid=artslot

[begin_within]

1. Edwards looks like he's modeling the suit for the Sears catalog

Kucinich looks like he's just made a killing. Clinton looks like she's waiting to receive communion.

[david_vincent]

10. I want a President who's a man of the people,

not a man of the corporatocracy. Frankly, I don't give a crap what Edwards looks like in his suit; I care about his ideas, his principles, and his leadership, all of which he has in abundance. If I were in that picture wearing a suit, I'd look bad !! So what: looks are just looks.

[jgraz]

11. And Richardson looks like he really needs to take a leak

Edit: And Dodd looks like he's modeling for his profile on Mt. Rushmore.

[Mythsaje]

2. I think the lights really bother Edwards...

I've noticed that when he's on stage speaking, he does blink a lot. But not so much in other locations. It does look a little weird, but I don't think he can help it.

[Armstead]

3. If the media were not such stupid whores....

...Kucinich's zinger would have been as much of a sound bite as Hilary's (probably scripted) one.

[Debi]

4. Hey, Biden's not in the photo - what the heck??? n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

5. I saw this mentioned last night about a photo. Don't know if it was the way the pic is cut...

or if Biden was offstage or out of the line somehow.

[Debi]

7. Right after he hits a home run in the Senate he's conveniently out of the MSM shot?

Seems odd....AND considering the complete uproar when a different candidate wasn't in a similar pic thought I'd add my two cents. Of course if this has already been covered here and I'm a day late, my apologies :hi:

[BootinUp]

6. Didn't read the whole article but your snippets

are interesting, sounds like it might be a decent article to check out.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. It's kind of frippery, but I thought it was interesting. And I liked that each candidate...

pretty well had both weakness and strength highlighted.

[Jane Austin]

9. Dodd is tall?

That's not what the picture shows.

[question everything]

12. To be fair to Clinton

she did not add the "I'll talk to him later" and the smile until Russert asked her: do you, then, disagree with him? (or something similar)