The Smirk: Could McCain's Facial Gestures Define Debate?

As the spin of Friday night's debate settled in and both sides staked a claim to victory, one media narrative began to take hold: while Obama may have been over-complimentary of McCain, the GOP nominee was grumpy, mean, and downright contemptuous of Obama, much to his detriment.

A clip circulated by Democrats showed the McCain demonstrating all of those traits: smirking when Obama gave his answers, eyes blinking, unwilling to even look at his opponent.

It was a small visual, but one that seemed to be getting traction among the punditry. Charlie Gibson on ABC and David Brooks on PBS both noted that McCain didn't look at Obama once. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder wrote that McCain sounded "angry and passionate"; MSNBC's Chris Matthews described the GOP nominee as "troll-like" and "grouchy."

The episode was reminiscent, to some extent, of Al Gore's sighs during the 2000 debate with George W. Bush. But more than that, it seemed to be a counterbalance to the first takeaway from the debate: mainly, that Obama had agreed too much and been too deferential to his opponent.

GOP aides giddily highlighted the several instances where Obama said he agreed with McCain. But Democrats warned that the move would backfire: while Obama appeared like a statesman, noting both when they agreed and disagreed, McCain refused to even look Obama in the eye.

Certainly the immediate, post-debate focus polls suggested that voters had soured on the Republican nominee's performance. And both in private and in public, aides to Obama thought that the tics and smirks could resonate.

"The scowls and the squints and the facial tics of John McCain didn't serve him well here," said advisor Robert Gibbs, in the spin room.

UPDATE: Here's another video compiling McCain's angriest moments during the debate:

Comments

[katlade]

The distaste for Obama is very apparant in John McCains's physical gestures. I would think the black community might view that has racist. I think he thinks Obama is a young whipper snapper. You know the I am older so I know better theory. I hope that Obama can gently egg McCain on so he blows a gasket. I don't even understand how McCain does well in the town hall style debates. He is not very personable and he is actually starting to look a bit scary. His make-up makes him look like he has some kind of liver disease. He looks sick. Obama is the total opposite. But I hope John McCain does try to attack Obama - all that will do is tee off the undecided and veer them to Obama's side. McCain/Palin are Obama/Biden's best weapon.

[sstern]

I think the reason McCain did not look at Obama is that he did not want to get distracted from his pre-vetted party line talking points. His debate was virtually identical to the speech he gave to the Council for National Policy, which is the group that runs the GOP, and the group that vetted Palin. Check it out on their website. I fear this is a more serious battle for the ascendency of right wing Theocratic goals than average Americans might realize.

[jrich221]

Haven't heard much on when McCain appeared to be looking and squinting through the lights for something or someone in the crowd while Barack was talking. As an experienced debater myself, I believe McCain was looking for "signals" in the crowd on what response to give - recall, this is when McCain when in his "way back" machine to the 1980s and talked about "Beirut", "Gorbachev", "peristroika", etc. It seemed very "canned" and scripted and coincided with him gazing into th crowd. Anyone else catch this?

[wwsword]

Are supposed to electing a Vulcan?

[galinha]

All this from a man who has crowned himself the most bipartisan of all politicians? Actions speak louder than words. Bipartisanship should include looking your opponent in the eye and agreeing to disagree in a cordial manner. The McCain campaign and the republicans proved how stupid and out of touch they are when they mocked Obama's agreements with McCain. That was true bipartisanship and honesty. Obama was showing that both parties do have issues they agree on and most importantly, that you don't oppose for the sake of opposing, and you give credit where its due. That is the new kind of politics, the change, that Obama is talking about, and that which he practices.

[ABJ]

There is a clip posted on Youtube of McCain muttering "horseshit" twice under his breathe when Obama was talking about McCain not knowing that Spain was an ally.\His anger is palpable.

[osage]

The older a man gets, the harder it isf for him to put on a "happy face". When McCain tries to fake his feelings, he comes across as a phony. When McCain doesn't try to fake his feelings, he comes across as the meanspirited elitist he truly is.

[Dangler]

you can tell that under that thin veneer of civility he's just a volcano of anger waiting to explode....

[Harveycritic]

Another thing: While Obama regularly called his opponent "John," McCain never referred to Obama as "Barack."

[angryveteran]

It's obvious that McCain doesn't like Obama but that's o.k. to me. There are several people I don't like. My issue is one of respect. We've all been put in situations where we have to work with folks we don't like but we're still called to respect them. Why can't McCain practice the same courtesy as a presidential candidate? When I was stationed in Turkey, I had the opportunity to have countless frank discussions with 'Turks' I now call my friends. They didn't have an issue with America being the best nation in the world. They just had a problem with Americans (especially our political leaders) thinking they were better than everyone else because they were from the best nation in the world. I would assure them that most Americans aren't like that. Friday night, I was embarrassed as I saw McCain turn into what my Turkish friends would call an 'ugly American'. He embodied what they detest about America ... not our might but our smugness. Don't get me wrong, I love my country and I love being an American. I don't like disrespect ... it's not attractive in a presidential candidate. Go Obama!

[Oblique]

As I was watching McCain's facial expressions during the Presidential debate I couldn't help but recall Herbert Lom's portrayal of Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther film series. I kept waiting for McCain to mutter "Clouseau" as his face dissolved into a morass of tics, blinks and twitches.

Does anyone else see the resemblance?

[greyingbutchlesbian]

here's a medical take on McCain's non stop eye blinking:
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/symptoms/eye_blinking_symptoms/causes.htm

[StValentine]

Yes, great medical referece - yes, we're being way too hard on him - it's not nice to pick on the helpless..........

[rosal]

I have been saying for a long time the smirk, and fake laugh, is to control himself so he doesn't lose it. He knows his candidacy would end if he shows in public one of his now famous temper tantrums. He must be very angry because a lot of true conservatives don't like him,and his pick for VP is backfiring. Too bad he comes as an angry old man, instead of a kinder older person. Nobody with a bad temper belongs in the White House.

[research]

That's why he wouldn't look Obama in the eye.

[letsgetrealpeople]

Extremely disrespectful.

[liliperl]

As far as facial expressions and bodylanguage are concerned, Sen. McCain was simply disrespectful to Sen. Obama. I want our next President to have a culture of interaction (which Sen. McCain does not seem to have) including (but not limited to) respect for the other. I do not want more of the same old demonizing attitude Sen. McCain 'performed' in the debate, because it's counterproductive by any measure. I do not want more of the heroic experience of Sen. McCain which promotes endless war and violence in the name of victorious US citizenry while thousands of young people die in Iraq for a failed decision and lies of the current administration. Sen. McCain 'does not understand' that we, the citizens of this country, are not idiots who need his arrogant 'lullaby'. I want to see change and that's guaranteed by Sen. Obama. Period.