Nancy Pelosi's blinking

Both Stephen Colbert and David Letterman had bits last night where they
compared Nancy Pelosi's rapid-fire blinking with Dick Cheney's blank
stare during the State of the Union. They both put counters on the
screen below each, ringing a bell and counting up whenever one of them
blinked. In the time that Pelosi blinked about 30 times (about once a
second), Cheney didn't blink at all in Letterman's clip, and just once
in Colbert's.

stamant...

From what I read on the Web, the average blink rate is around 15 times
minute, which means Pelosi's blink rate was four times the average and
Cheney's blink rate was about a seventh of the average. Obviously

RichA...

Depends what you are doing. People doing intensive work on computers
often don't blink enough.
Watching TV, blink rates are likely to be normal. Pelosi looked like
she has some problem. Besides being a leftlib.

Pelosi has a bird in her family tree, Cheney a lizard or snake. The
interaction between descendants of these two species is to be
expected.

Beowulfie...

I think that if she is maybe wearing contact lenses she might blink more
to keep them lubricated.

Anim8rFSK...

Anybody want to change the subject to "Nancy Pelosi needs to be
lubricated"?

Anim8rFSK...

Nancy Pelosi's motto: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I think the better question would be what is Cheney's problem that
allows him to only blink once a day!

What's with her, does she have an eye problem? And how can Cheney keep
his eyes open so long -- do the glasses help with that?

Garondo Marondo...

Eh, check out the ice princess Condi Rice's face in this shot from
Rader's body language piece

David...

Great. Now I have "The Omen" theme stuck in my head.

Go bak or forward for the rest.

RichA...

She's a left-lib liar and devious.

RichA...

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, July, 2001 by Joe Navarro, John
R. Schafer

Additionally, individuals who struggle with an idea or concept often
blink their eyes rapidly. Rapid blinking or "eyelid flutter" signals a
sensitive topic. [9] Officers carefully should observe the speaker's
eyes, which can alert to the possibility of deception.

Barry Margolin...

OK, but what does it mean when you're not speaking, but just sitting
there?

Anim8rFSK...

It means they're using ever ounce of willpower to keep from blinking.

Gerry...

Dave's bit was a set up, they only showed when Nancy blinked, and only
showed Chaney when he wasn't blinking. It was a joke.

Barry Margolin...

So what about Colbert's bit? And since posting the above I've watched
my recording of last night's Jimmy Kimmel, and he *also* did a bit about
Pelosi's blinking. Have they all been fooled by the same fake video? I
don't think Kimmel's video was from the same vantage point, so it's
wasn't the same as Letterman and Colbert.

Nancy2...

Nope. Even CNN.com on their home page this morning calls it "the
incredible blinking Pelosi - 85 times a minute. Some of my co-workers
counted, too. No joke.

It's the Principle!...

It's a body language tell for, oddly, someone afraid of being
criticized. It was her first time at the SOTU in that place, first
woman, the camera is on the prez and her right behind...

Victor Velazquez...

That's an interesting idea. Of course, her contacts might have been
bothering her but I like yours better.

Still doesn't explain "Shark-Eyed" Cheney.

It's the Principle!...

Weak batteries.