Milbank highlights Sotomayor's "blink rate"
July 15, 2009 10:54 am ET
From the July 15 edition of NPR's Morning Edition:
From Milbank's July 15 column, "Grasping at Nunchucks in the Hearing Room":
One slip of the tongue could doom her otherwise secure appointment -- and the pressure to avoid error was evident in her eyelids. When Leahy asked her to explain her controversial remark about the superior judgment of a wise Latina woman, she blinked no fewer than 247 times during her answer. When Sessions asked her about the same remark, she blinked an additional 146 times. Her overall blink rate appeared to be between 90 and 100 per minute in the morning, calming to about 50 in the afternoon.
Previously:
- Fox's Cameron on Sotomayor's reactions: "I think we've all gotten sort of familiar with her frown"
- Limbaugh on Sotomayor hearings: "I had to turn it off" because "the woman's scary"
- Fox's
Kelly teases report on Sotomayor's "stone face"
- Fox's Kelly asks if Sotomayor's "infamous temper" will "flare up"
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OK, Dana, I'll play. Her "blink rate" dropped after lunch? You mean after she'd gotten a few hours past her sunrise Bustelo and shifted some of her metabolic processes over to digestion? Very suspicious.
BTW, Gordie Howe blinked so constantly his teammates called him Blinky.
Managed to score a few goals, "shooting between blinks."
(Thanks, Dana, for giving me a chance to sneak in a hockey reference.)
Blinking
Blinking is a neat natural process whereby the eyelids wipe the eyes clean, much as a windscreen wiper on a car.
Blink rate tends to increase when people are thinking more. This can be an indication of lying as the liar has to keep thinking about what they are saying. Realizing this, they may also force their eyes open and appear to stare.
Blinking can also indicate rapport, and people who are connected often blink at the same rate. Someone who is listening carefully to you is more likely to blink when you pause (keeping eyes open to watch everything you say).
Beyond natural random blinking, a single blink can signal surprise that the person does not quite believe what they see ('I'll wipe my eyes clean to better see').
Rapid blinking blocks vision and can be an arrogant signal, saying 'I am so important, I do not need to see you'.
Rapid blinking also flutters the eyelashes and can be a coy romantic invitation.
ref:Changing Minds
Blink rate? Hand in your press card, Milbank... you've clearly given up.