blinky is blinky

James Wolcott wonders why blinky is blinky (i quote in full, just because):

I was quite taken aback by Bush's appearance and demeanor in the pre-G8 summit ITV interview with Trevor Macdonald, or at least by the portion I saw of it. For one thing, a transcript doesn't do justice with the sluffing-off manner with which Bush treated the question of whether or not he owed Blair some give on global warming because of Blair's staunch support over Iraq. He exuded that fake Tall Texan horeshit of refusing to be beholden to any man, even an ally, coz he's got do what's best for his folks just as Blair has to do for his.

But was more fascinating that Bush's imperial tone was the fact that during these answers, he was blinking furiously. There's nothing like a tight camera shot to reveal an eyeblink storm in all its telltale signaling.

Signaling what? Rapid blinking is usually ascribed to nervousness or prevarication (or both), and Bush, not being in his usual bubble, may have felt the stress, and his inability to confront the truth has become first nature for him.

But the last time Bush put on a virtuoso display of rapid blinking, it was during the second presidential debate with Kerry, the one where Bush's mouth was so strangely downturned through the evening, a performance so riddled with tics and anomalies that it gave rise to this surge of speculation and Sherlockian deduction.

Here's what I'm wondering. I only saw the snippets from the ITV interview that related to Blair, Iraq, and a Kyoto-like agreement. Did this flurry of rapid eyeblinks only occur during that portion of the interview, with Bush more relaxed elsewhere? Or was he blinking like a madman the entire sitdown?

If any blogger's seen the entire interview, I'd love to see verification one way or another. Because the man appears to be under a greater strain than we're hearing, and that rally speech he gave in West Va on the 4th of July was also a subpar performance for him--he's usually much more "up" for these friendly audiences. Maybe he was rattled by the tomb silence he received from the troops during his prime time address, but visually something's just not right with the way he's coming across.