Vance explains his now-famous side-eye
You know that now-famous “look” Vance gave during his debate with Walz? The one that seemed to gaze at the viewer and say: “Can you believe this guy?
Well, Vance has now explained that what he really was doing was checking the timer.
Do you believe him?
He also said he looked at his wife when the debate was all over, to see her opinion of how it had gone:
“I looked at Usha’s face and I just knew, I was like, ‘Holy sh*t we must have done a very good job,’ because Usha doesn’t lie to me and her face especially doesn’t lie to me,” he said. “And I knew that minute that meant we had a very good debate.”
And this bit of debate wisdom:
He said he realized that his opponent Tim Walz appeared nervous and flustered but he resisted seizing the moment to gain more points.
“‘When your enemy is making a mistake, don’t interrupt him,’” he said, referring to what he called a “Sun Tzu” quote.
Here’s a colorful description of Walz during that debate, from James Howard Kunstler [hat tip: commenter “Hubert”]:
Tuesday night’s veep palaver could be the last time you see the frightened animal known as Tim Walz for the duration of the campaign. He’s famous for his wild body language — jumping around on stage, flapping his arms — but this time the action was all concentrated in his face. You saw his eyes bug out, dart left and right, as if something fierce was coming at him (it was), and more than a few times, his head jerked around sideways so hard you wondered if it might do a whole three-sixty. His mouth, a pain-inflected frown in repose, turned down so deeply it looked like he had sashweights hanging from the corners. Altogether, his face said more than the embarrassing mishmash of mangled English that came out of it.
Ouch.
Yeah. It looks like his pupil is looking up and over at something before it looks at the camera, and then to Walz. Haven’t seen any still shots that capture that brief moment…
Kinda sorta reminds me of how Oliver Hardy would sometimes give the movie audience a knowing glance when Stan Laurel was behaving in an especially exasperating way.
“He’s famous for his wild body language — jumping around on stage, flapping his arms — but this time the action was all concentrated in his face. You saw his eyes bug out, dart left and right, . . . and more than a few times, his head jerked around sideways so hard you wondered if it might do a whole three-sixty.” — James Howard Kunstler
Errrmm, excuse me, but . . . ummm . . . WHO’s “weird”?
Vance could have been checking the timer, while allowing himself a slight smile at the nonsense Walz was spewing.
A writer who blogs under the pseudonym “The Z Man” described Walz as a cross between Uncle Fester and an overly caffeinated Elmer Fudd.
“Can you believe this guy?” is exactly the thought that Vance was conveying. He’s looking directly at the camera and holding his gaze upon it with exquisite timing.
His later plausible ‘explanation’ reveals a highly astute political savviness.
Do you remember when Gore walked behind Bush at their Debate? I told my Wife that Bush just won the election. When Bush half turned and looked Gore up and down and then turned away, dismissing Gore.
That look from Vance may have helped to seal the deal for them.
Hate to be a killjoy, but Vance was looking at the countdown timer above the questioners above camera view. The timer is visible in shots from behind the candidates looking toward the schoolmarms (which they certainly looked like– all they needed was some glasses and a pointer stick to whack their pupils when they didn’t like the answer).
There’s a quick view of it beginning at 54:20. You might need to slow down the playback speed. This video is the entire debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4wneSkAyx8