Debate with the Sound Off

Wifey had heard on NPR that you could tell the outcome of many debates without hearing the sound. Then today Sullivan posted this e-mail from a reader:

I got home late and didn't see the debate on its first run, and just as I sat down to watch the rebroadcast on C-SPAN, I got a phone call that I had to take. So I put the TV on mute, and spent the next hour or so talking on the phone and just watching the candidates. It was pretty interesting, actually. It's often said that part of what people look for in the debates are facial expressions, posture, body language and just relative poise, and at least on that measure, Kerry won in a landslide. Watching on C-SPAN's split screen there was a stark contrast between the candidates. Kerry looked confident, stood fully upright throughout, even looked commanding. Even when being criticized (and you could guess when that was happening), Kerry just smiled, nodded and took it. Bush on the other hand often looked irritable, kept oddly twitching his lips (which was pretty noticeable on mute), rolled his eyes, hunched over the podium, sighed (that horrid crime Al Gore was convicted of), and basically looked insulted that he had to be there as if he was thinking but I've already TOLD you that talking point.