Salon/Kerry Blog Conspiracy: Why doesn't Clark Blink?

[Jerseycoa]

"Clark's low blink rate probably doesn't augur a descent into debilitation, but it does serve as a sort of double-edged sword; he can come across as intensely focused and calm but also robotic, more reptilian than mammalian. It can seem creepy, because, as Givens explains, primates express emotion and an arousal of the nervous system by blinking more. "My husband was just commenting on Clark's unusualness," wrote a woman on John Kerry's official Web site last week. "Clark never blinks. It creeps out." Kurt F., a 44-year-old Virginia architect who posted a comment about Clark's blinking on his blog last fall, told me that he remembers feeling vaguely uncomfortable whenever Clark appeared television but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why. "Then last fall, Chris Matthews mentioned something about Clark's not blinking on 'Hardball,'" he said. "And I thought, 'My god, that's it!'"

"There's no doubt that right-wing pundits and opinion makers would be more than happy to use such statements as ammunition against Clark ("Hardball" guest Don Imus called him a "psycho" just a few moments before Chris Matthews commented on his not blinking). But conservatives have a lot to answer for when it comes to the blink rates of their own candidates. If, as asserted, a high blink rate signals deception or stress, then the Republicans have done a lot to seem mistrustful and manic. During the fall 2000 presidential debate, for example, the Hartford Courant's Susan Campbell counted the number of times Al Gore and George W. Bush blinked. Bush won (or, rather, lost), with a final tally of 2,867 to Gore's 1,808. In 1996, Bob Dole entered the annals of presidential-debate blinking history when, after being questioned about the nation's economy, he hit a blink rate of 163 a minute. And Richard Nixon's blink rate increased markedly during the Watergate hearings and press conferences."

Source: Salon, Feb. 2, 2004

It's a conspiracy, I tell you. :P

[DaisyUCSB]

1. Somebody get Lyndon LaRouche, or better yet, David Icke on the phone!

Is Clark a Beast-man or a lizard-man?

[Jerseycoa]

2. I thought you meant Harold Ickes for a minute

Now there's a reptile man.

[LandOLincoln]

3. He's the Lizard King,

He can do anything. Oh, wait--that was another gorgeous champeen swimmer from the South who thought about going out for the 1960 Olympics...

[Leilani]

4. He wears contact lenses

I have worn them at times, & it affected my blinking.

We're really hitting the bottom of the barrel...Is this all that's left to go after Wes on?

[Jerseycoa]

7. Whaddya want them to do?

Issues, maybe? Policy? The press isn't interested in what Clark thinks. They might have to stop calling him a "lightweight" -- which I actually heard some pundit say this weekend. :crazy:

[mikehiggins]

5. Clark's low blink rate is likely due to an intense focus on what

he is doing. There was a study done, and I'm sure someone can help me out with a cite, that supports that position. Additionally, the rate of blinking often correlates with lying, or at least with an attempt to conceal the truth.

Ask Bush about WMD's and watch out for the backlash of air as his eyes go into hyper-blink.

Up close and personal, when someone is REALLY listening to what you are saying, he or she blinks very little. Unconsciously they try to take in all the information they can, and much of what we know we learn through sight.

Someone who blinks a lot as they talk, i.e. Matthews, is generally bullshitting you.

[mikehiggins]

6. I like the opening line to the Salon article

"Rapid blinking suggests nervousness, or deceitfulness. So what does it mean when someone -- like Gen. Wesley Clark -- rarely bats an eye?"

Hmmmm. You have to wonder why someone finds it difficult to connect the dots.

[girl gone mad]

9. That's fascinating..

since I've always had an innate sense that Clark is being honest. Wonder if I was subconsciously aaware of his blin rate.

Bush blinks an awful lot.. I've actually consciously noticed that before.

[Tatiana]

8. He doesn't blink...

in order to better hypnotize his supporters! ;)

Seriously, I'm gonna go with the contact thing. I wear them, and I rarely blink either.

[Jerseycoa]

10. Max Cleland doesn't blink, either, apparently

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=250712

Must be a soldier thing.

[Kimber Scott]

11. Soldiers blink

when they get dirt in their eyes! (I know from experience.)

I'm going with the intently listening thing. I've met Clark twice and this is the very impression I got.

[incapsulated]

12. Because he's an android

and hasn't mastered all the little human involuntary mannerisms yet.

Resistance is futile, you will all be assimilated.