Fox News' "body language expert" accused Clinton of exhibiting "evil laughter"
On the September 24 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during the weekly "Body Language" segment, which, according to host Bill O'Reilly, "has been switched to Mondays because of popular demand," Fox News body language expert Tonya Reiman asserted that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) exhibited "evil laughter" during her recent Fox News Sunday interview with host Chris Wallace. After playing video clips of Clinton laughing at different moments during the interview, O'Reilly asserted: "Well, she looked like she's having a swell time." Reiman replied: "Oh, contrived, contrived. That was the first word that came to mind." O'Reilly then asked: "[Y]ou mean, those laughs weren't genuine?" to which Reiman responded: "I saw some evil laughter." "Evil?" O'Reilly asked. "Evil laughter," Reiman repeated.
During the show, Reiman elaborated on her "evil laughter" conclusion: "[Y]ou know, just the way her face contorted -- the different shifts in her face -- and then the length of time that you laugh and smile. You can kind of tell a lot from the length of time that someone branches out with a smile. Real, genuine smiles are quick. They flash. She went into a full body laughter, which is bizarre for this kind of an interview."
Reiman also asserted that Clinton "used" laughter to "lighten the situation." O'Reilly then stated: "[M]ost people know that's not a sincere laugh" and asked Reiman, "Don't they?" She replied: "Yeah," and referring to the video clip of Clinton's September 23 Fox News Sunday appearance, said: "The first smile that she gave, you can see that it was more genuine, because I think she was a little bit surprised and actually starts to chuckle. You can tell that because her eyebrows dipped down. When you see someone's eyebrows dipping down, you can kind of assume that that's a genuine smile. Throughout the next few laughters, I can get the impression that those are not as genuine."
Reiman has previously given her assessment of Clinton's body language, as Media Matters for America has documented. On the January 30 O'Reilly Factor, also during the "Body Language" segment, O'Reilly stated that "Hillary just look[ed] like a zombie" during part of President Bush's State of the Union address. Reiman then analyzed Clinton's body language during a January 28 speech in Davenport, Iowa, in which Clinton responded to a question by saying: "What, in my background, equips me to deal with evil and bad men?" While watching video of Clinton making the joke, Reiman said: "Watch how she sways back and forth. It's almost childlike, the way she moves back and forth." Reiman then said that Clinton was in a "little-girl posture," while O'Reilly added: "Right. 'I'm bad, I'm bad.' "
From the September 24 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: "Back of the Book" segment tonight, our weekly "Body Language" segment, which has been switched to Mondays because of popular demand -- with us now, body language expert Tonya Reiman. And before we get to the sound clips -- Ahmadinejad, what did you pick up from his appearance today?
REIMAN: You know, when I watched him, it was interesting. He comes across as trying to be very powerful, with the finger pointing, and the shifting in position, but what I noticed during this very short clip was that he constantly licked his lips, so he's trying to come across as dominant, but he is, in fact, quite nervous.
O'REILLY: OK. Hillary Clinton appears on Fox News Sunday, and you might remember that with Chris Wallace and her husband, Bill Clinton, had a little dust-up. So it was interesting that Mrs. Clinton appeared. Roll the tape.
[begin video clip]
WALLACE: Why do you and the president have such a hyper-partisan view of politics?
CLINTON: Well, Chris, if you had walked even a day in our shoes over the last 15 years, I'm sure you'd understand.
[...]
WALLACE: Let me ask you about health care because you did come out --
CLINTON: Yeah, I'd love for you to ask me about health care.
WALLACE: You did come up with a new plan this week. Don't be a stranger, and please send my best to the president.
CLINTON: I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that, Chris. Thank you.
[end video clip]
O'REILLY: Well, she looked like she's having a swell time.
REIMAN: Oh, contrived, contrived. That was the first word that came to mind.
O'REILLY: They -- you mean, those laughs weren't genuine?
REIMAN: They -- some of those -- I saw some evil laughter.
O'REILLY: Evil?
REIMAN: Evil laughter.
O'REILLY: Whoa! How did -- what's evil laughter?
REIMAN: Yeah, you know, just the way her face contorted -- the different shifts in her face -- and then the length of time that you laugh and smile. You can kind of tell a lot from the length of time that someone branches out with a smile. Real, genuine smiles are quick. They flash. She went into a full body laughter, which is bizarre for this kind of an interview.
O'REILLY: Yeah. So, you're not -- you thought that the laughter was -- why would she use that?
REIMAN: Like, look at that look. Right there, it was almost annoyed amusement.
O'REILLY: But why would she use laughter? Why would she use that?
REIMAN: To lighten the situation; to make herself look like she's --
O'REILLY: But it -- but I have to agree with you. I don't think most people -- see, right there. She looks fine. She looks fine.
REIMAN: Yeah. And then she bursts out, too.
O'REILLY: Yeah, but most people know that's not a sincere laugh.
REIMAN: Yeah.
O'REILLY: Don't they?
REIMAN: Yeah. See, she did have certain points. The first smile that she gave, you can see that it was more genuine, because I think she was a little bit surprised and actually starts to chuckle. You can tell that because her eyebrows dipped down. When you see someone's eyebrows dipping down, you can kind of assume that that's a genuine smile. Throughout the next few laughters, I can get the impression that those are not as genuine.
I would say it was more mocking then evil...and frankly the interviewer deserved to be mocked for such an asinine question...IMHO (-:
It's funny that Bill spends so much time analyzing body language yet gets all bent out of shape when others analyze his verbal language. Boy the irony that is Bill O'rielly.
Loofa Boy just wants to hear your body talk. Over the phone. My God this man is a hero! Who wouldn't want their daughter working for a guy who believes in Christmas as much as he does?
Brilliant observation. Nuff said
Yes, definitely mocking Fox News for claiming she was "hyper-partisan," clearly an assessment they are well qualified to make, being such experts in hyper-partisanship themselves! And her other bouts of laughter were for "Yes, I'd love for you to talk about health care," knowing full well that the last thing this guy wanted to talk about was health care itself, or even anything substantive about her policy, but probably to do the whole scare on 'socialized medicine,' and for "give my best to your husband," after Fox is so dedicated to trashing them both!!
Yes, it's perfectly clear the laughter wasn't genuine--it was pointed. It was meant to highlight the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of what Wallace was saying.
And the "body language expert" is quite right, it is unusual to laugh in "this kind of interview" but I think that's what Hillary meant it to be...to show that under Wallace's seemingly genteel demeanor, he was asking absurdly leading questions and was being highly biased under the veneer of civility. By laughing, Hillary is saying, "You're not being a journalist, you belong on the Moment of Zen on the Daily Show!"
It was a great disarming technique, so much so that the Foxites had to sic their psuedo-science gal on her.
That's very true, that Mrs. Clinton laughing right in the face of the hack/whore wallace, got them all so defensive, that they resorted to this focus groupie.
If you analyze Fox News Channel's response to Mrs. Clinton's laughing on-air at their hack/whore wallace (which is what this item cites; that response)...
...then I'd say FNC and their hack o'reilly's response, demonstrates that they were intimidated by Mrs. Clinton, and that they are embarrassed that she wouldn't take them and their attacks and innuendo seriously, and that their little vindictive minds aren't going to forget, and that they'll take a stab at making Mrs. Clinton self-conscious, by analyzing on-air her laughter...
Which won't work. It seems MMFA has documented many times, where various hacks like tucker carlson and hannity, have tried greatly to ridicule Mrs. Clinton for everything, in particular her voice when raised to the level of a public speaker.
They're wasting their time.
It just compounds their embarrassment, for them to be so small, and unable to get over having Mrs. Clinton laugh right in their foolish faces.
It makes all of us laugh at them, for such a smallness and vinidctiveness of mind, as they demonstrate, by resorting to their focus groupie.
Maybe she was being semi-evil. She's quasi-evil. She's the margarine of evil. She's the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough!
Sorry, couldn't resist the Austin Powers reference.
MWUUAH HAHAHAHHAA
MWUAAH HAHAHAHHAH
I would say it was more mocking then evil
I would say Hillary's laugh was more hideous, no make that scary. And phony to boot. I don't need to see the video, the audio was creepy enough.
Hillary, please work on that laugh. It gave me the heebie jeebies...like nails across a chalkboard :-O
Why doesn't this response from you surprise me in the least?
Sorry, I just can't imagine how somebody with excess makeup and dorky looking glasses can have a long enough social life to understand body language.
Snoopy, I was thinking along the same lines. If she was such an expert she hasn't seen a mirror in a long time.
The way O'Reilly lifts his brow when he talks is a sign of a psychopath.
This woman is a phony. She was on O'Reilly some time ago comparing the body language of George Bush and Tony Blair. She remarked how Blair was basically a creampuff, while Bush exuded confidence and integrity and leadership all kinds of sycophantic crap. She never even mentioned his reptilian head bobbing or verbal stumbling.
I guess atrocious sentence structure doesn't fall into the realm of body language.
Well, good point, but he often does weird little head movements while he's mangling the language. Then there's that sophomoric giggle and smirk that Jon Stewart mocks so well.
Offer enough money to any "expert" and they'll deliver whatever kind of "expert" opinion you're looking for.
Furthermore...
I wonder if anyone else has asked Miss "Expert" for a guest appearance and found out that she is "contractually forbidden". I would love to hear her "expert" opinion on Bill-O's body language whenever that vein is about to pop out of the side of his forehead.
did she check out chris wallace's body language? it said "i know i'm being made a fool of here." [which is one reason why a blanket refusal to go on fox is counterproductive. debates no, appearances yes.]
"Look, toots, we're gonna be switching your segment to Monday nights, but don't do any backflips quite yet, ya got me? We need you to step it up a notch. We need the dirt on dese guys. If I say Ted Kennedy, you say drunk. If I say Barney Frank, you say psychopath. If I say Hillary...?"
blo'reilly. I know that doesn't pertain to the issue at hand, but I just like calling him blo'reilly.
FYI a Google search of "Tonya Reiman" and crack whore returns 8 results, I'm just saying, not that it means anything, just putting it out there, you decide.
I found that if you google Tonya Reiman and Tonya Harding you get your cap busted!
Your virtual cap, right?
"There! See? How she extends her pinkie and touches it to the corner of her mouth!"
"Exactly! and the way she says 'one BILLION dollars!."
As a body language expert, I can clearly tell from Mr. O'Reilly's mouth-breathing that he is a sexual predator who cheats on his wife every opportunity he gets. Also, his 'evil eye' indicates that he is a sociopath, and a liar. Finally, the fact that his knuckles drag on the ground when he walks tells me that he is a racist, and that he thinks that rape victims are 'asking for it' by dressing provocatively.
Man, I'm getting good at this!
Disclaimer: I'm not a REAL body language expert. I just play one on TV.
This is amusing...
[link to www.tonyareiman.com]
Her website is all about selling appearances and seminars, and tons of testimonials...but...WAIT A MINUTE---where are her credentials??? Where is the page that says "About Me" or even says where she went to school and what degrees she got? Has she written any books? Dissertations? Has her work been published in any peer-reviewed journal?
Here is some more interesting stuff, from speakersaccess.com:
My good heavens, she's not even an UNDERgraduate psychology MAJOR?!?! The woman is considered an "expert" when she has a degeree in General Studies?? From a college that's listed as 3rd tier by US News? (colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com) No graduate work?
Is it just me or does "independent study...reading everything within her reach" seem to imply that she's read a lot of layperson self-help books? It doesn't seem from the FAQs on her website that she has any deeper insights than that!
There are "fields" of "training" and "influence"???
And, just to address the stereotype of "liberal intellectual elite" or whatever, I'm not necessarily saying "fieldwork" (and whatever "influence" means) is useless, or that one has to go to particular colleges or get certain degrees to have insights...
BUT, usually when people come from unlikely circumstances and make a genuine contribution to their field, they get into collaborative efforts with real research (after all, who wouldn't want a lot of funding and prestige to carry on their work?!). They might go back to school to engage in discourse with other experts in their field, or even get an honorary degree if they come up with something really brilliant. And, no matter where you come from, if you are really an expert, you should be able to get some publications by virtue of anonymous peer review.
So, I guess we shouldn't be quite so snobbish about her "General Studies" degree, IF there were evidence of serious sociological inquiry in the field and documented real accomplishments even if not from the Ivory Tower. The fact that her inquiry seems not to be advanced by her nor acclaimed by real experts in the field further confirms the "General Studies" indication that she is, in fact, a quack.
More interesting, if she got interested in this in college (as a Freshman!), why didn't she use the university's resources to study this, get an undergraduate research grant, etc., etc., or even MAJOR in the subject?!?!
As a person with undergraduate and a graduate degree in communications from notable universities, and who has conducted more media training sessions for business executives and political candidates than this idiot, I can tell you authoritatively that she is a not legitimate. I'm supportive of self-study so she could be self-learned, but for Fox and other media outlets to label her an expert is pure and purile propaganda.
Body language cues are very subtle and complicated and are often counterintuitive. As a person with a Ph.D. in social psychology (under which interpretation of body language is studied), I can say with some confidence that a person with such minimal training on the topic is unlikely to be accurate. Even if she has read widely on the subject, she wouldn't be able to discern which books, journals, and researchers are reputable.
Someone like this would not be allowed to serve as an expert witness in court; she simply doesn't have the credentials. They must not have been able to find a *real* expert to give an opinion on Bill's show, probably 'cause most psychologists (and perhaps social psychologists in particular) are liberals.
BTW, although I don't claim to be an expert in this area myself (despite having taken a graduate level course on the topic), I do know that fake smiles are asymmetrical, and all Hillary's smiles in those clips are quite symmetrical.
NEW YORK? Git a rope...
I'm still waiting for Fox to broadcast Sybil the Soothsayer.
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
Chris Wallace was turning an interview into an attempt to "gotcha" or slander Hilary. When she broke out into a Hilarious laugh on her first question about the Clintons' partisanship and the "rightwing conspiracy," or "Fox hit job" remarks it was spectacular, if not Hilarious! I thought Chris was going to cry!!
I think her Fox appearance was by far her best, watching Chris Wallace trying to get her to take him serious was worth the watch by itself! He looked like the latest Republican just caught cruising the mens room!
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
I'm sorry, did you mean "Hillaryous laughter"??
...Just couldn't resist!!
Dan I gotta agree. The expression on Chris Wallace's face when Hillary starting laughing was priceless. I must applaud her, it was brilliant!
This body language "expert" reminds me of an old Perry Mason episode.
The "expert" witness claims Perry's client was predisposed to commit the crime, as evidenced by a "peculiar cast" in his eye. Mason cross examines the "expert" and asks if anyone with this "peculiar cast" would be predisposed to a life of crime and the "expert" says yes. Mason then closes the trap -- "you mean the judge in THIS TRIAL is predisposed to a life of crime? Your Honor has the very same peculiar cast that you claim tells so much about my client." Of course, the "expert" and the prosecutor are taken completely aback, and the judge isn't inclined to give them any breaks, and Perry wins his case.
Not now Della.
Sorry the only Peary Mason I remember was the MAD vesion. Think Wallace Wood drew it.
how pathetic. look at what this show has been reduced to. where's the tarot card reader? the bearded lady?
THESE PEOPLE ARE CERTIFIABLY NUTS! WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING ON TELEVISION TRYING TO ACT LIKE INTELLIGENT RATIONAL HUMAN BEINGS?
Oh, my gosh. You don't think, do you, that Fox Noise will next predict candidates' behavior and motivation by use of phrenology?
OK. The movie "Network" has now come to be a fact: Sybil the Soothsayer has appeared on a "news" channel. Now if only O'Reilly ends up like Howard Beal.
Hillary does NOT have an evil laugh!!
This, my friends, is an evil laugh:
[link to www.youtube.com]
When YouTube gives more compelling results than your official "expert," you know you have problems!
Golly, Bill is getting so afraid of Mrs. Clinton that he even has someone on his program to demonize her about her laugh. But in my opinion, she should wear the badge of criticism from Bill and any of his sidekicks as a badge of great achievement. Surely speaks of his constant fear that she will be the next President. I sort of like the stature it gives her though. I live in a very conservative area but they are fair and even handed and they hate this sort of thing. So keep it up Bill. One woman said her group had discussed things and for the first time they are reregistering and voting for Hillary. Great to see folks begin to see Bill for what he is. A hateful guy who can dish it out but cannot even take the slightest confrontation, Vilify the other guy is always his tack. Not working all that well these days, Thanks to MMFA. Bless all of you who work so hard.
Billo's body language?
"i am a smug idiot who has to act like I know what I am talking about even though I don't have a clue"
I am no expert, but it's fairly obvious.
I guess y'all didn't see the fake news with Jon Stewart last night? He took the clip from Wallace/Clinton and compared it to every other interview she did that day (Stephanopoulos, Russert and the old guy on CBS).
Hillary needs to do some focus group work on that laugh, because she used it in EVERY interview done on Sunday. Not only did it come off as phony, but there were delays at times and then she would just bray like a donkey!?
The CBS Sunday show guy (what on earth is his name?) even kind of gave a snicker as if to say "what going on Ms. Clinton?"
I'm no expert on body language, but I will agree, when the questions she was uncomfortable with came up her face had a sour look to it, and then she started cackling like a hyena.
Hills needs some work before "prime time".
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml
If you'd like a peek here it is...
I think you'll agree.