Posted on 10/01/2012 8:43:59 AM PDT by kingattax
President Obama has a number of "poker tells" which he displays when answering questions. They betray an increasing distance between his reply and the truth.
Talk show hosts love when the president gives one of his very rare press conference or any other occasion when he is off prompter. That is when these "tells" surface, giving all veteran Obama observers the verbal heads-up that the president has entered the land of thinly disguised fantasy or obvious dissembling.
First, the president begins a pattern of "ahs" and "uhmms" which are as embarrassing as they are revealing. The awkward pausing punctuated by these semi-stutters increases in frequency as the president senses his own flailing about.
Next, the president begins filibustering. His average length of answer in every press conference is already epic, but he has been getting worse as the presidency has dragged on. Pressers are not battles between the "reporters" and the president. Very few not named Jake or Ed bother the president with fastballs. The struggle is simply between the president and the effort he has to land the plane anywhere near where it took off, so far does he wander as he rambles through the minutes he is obliged to spend appearing to take questions.
The president will allegedly be subject to time limits on Wednesday night, but his contempt for most such rules almost guarantees he will blow through every limit and dare the moderator or Mitt Romney to challenge him.
If either does, we will be treated to "tell No. 4," the president's feigned outrage that anyone would interrupt or question him. When this happens, his countenance displays a disapproving sneer and his voice clouds with displeasure. It is practiced. It is also profoundly anti-democratic and arrogant, and if he plays this card on this stage, it will backfire.
Watch as well for nonresponsive self-pity, verbal essays on how difficult it was when he took over and how hard he has been working. Self-pity and self-regard are not designed to endear him to the unemployed or even the economically fragile, so he will be coached to try to avoid displaying his sense of outrage at being thought a failure or "in over his head," but the president's sense of his own immensity is so great as to blow past such base political calculations.
Finally, watch for the parade of straw men, the president's favorite rhetorical trick. He will set up arguments that have never been made in the service of Republican goals that have never existed, and then he will denounce both. If the appearance of a straw man serves as a trigger in a drinking game, many bottles will empty by the end of Debate No. 1.
So the president enters the debate a prohibitive favorite to clobber Mitt Romney. But if Benghazi or the unemployment rate surfaces, if the president's failure to remedy joblessness, spark a serious recovery, or in any way pose an obstacle to Iran's nuclear ambitions are brought up in the course of Wednesday night's first big debate, then watch for these verbal ticks and know that Romney is scoring.
I noticed him whistling through his teeth also. I think he does it when he tightens his mouth up while telling a lie.
I assume there will be green, yellow, and red lights visible.
Probably Lehrer won’t say anything unless the red light has been on for a while (maybe 15 seconds or so). From past memory he’ll make some weak attempts to stop the politician and then they’ll often just ignore him.
At the UN they have time limits but no one enforces them.
Netanyahu gave a 32 minute speech even though the red light starting flashing after 15 minutes.
Let me be clear....
I/We will not rest until...
I have noticed that one also.
What’s the statistical likelihood that if Romney calls Obama out on his use of the Strawman, the next few newscycles will be dominated by accusations that Romney was being racist because of how Michael Jackson played the Scarecrow in The Wiz?
Thank you.
yes and the whistle gets worse the more he lie’s
“Make no mistake, ...”
“Let me be clear” and “Make no mistake” and then he looks up and to the left. Classic liar’s tell.
And I expect to see his Mussolini impression early and often.
If that is an accurate quote, then I agree with Wiki Answers.
“I will stand with them” refers back to “Arab and Pakistani Americans,” who are American citizens and not necessarily Muslims. “I will stand with the Muslims” changes the meaning slightly, and coupling it with pictures from the middle east compounds the problem.
My father-in-law thinks 0bama will be given the questions before the debate. OR he will write the questions for the debate and provide them to the moderator.
Other tells will include it being obviojs that Lehrer never asks him a question he isn’t already expecting.
That’s the only question. My guess is Axelrod’s team has had a hand in th e questions for both candidates.
He also has the look of the intellectionally superior of “Looking Down” at the rest of us.
He tilts his chin upward so he’s looking down.
If his mouth is open and he is speaking...he’s lying!
I hate that. I really, really hate that. I call it the 'Whistling Esses'. It is more of a lisp to me. But it drives me nuts.
A little 'street knowledge' helps here. Trav, I included you because you like these.
In the 'urban setting', people who live in the urban lifestyle will say "folk" quite a bit, dropping the 'lk' in the pronunciation, as in "Dat is too a full eight-ball, fo'."
When challenged, they can deny they were calling you a fool. "Ah was callin' you FOLK, fo'."
Been there, challenged that.
Another street term, they call police "folk" too. Same pronunciation.
You’re on to him. I, too, have confirmed that everytime he says “folks”, he is winding up to tell a whopper. A sure ‘tell’.
For the first time in my adult life.....I’m actually looking forward to and making a point of watching a presidential debate.
Wish me luck (I will keep the mute finger poised over the remote if it gets to be more than I can take).
-PJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.