'Amazing'! Politico Explains Tim Walz's Debate 'Eye-Popping' and It's Something Else

Doug P. | 3:15 PM on October 02, 2024

The post-VP debate spin continues in the media, and one of the unintentionally funniest is in a body language piece from Politico Mag.

At issue were some of the expressions on Tim Walz's face last night, namely about his occasionally bugged-out eyes.

Were those expressions because Walz got busted for lying about having been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre? Well, according to the Politico story, Walz's "look" goes back many, many more years than that -- thousands even:

This debate analysis from Politico 😂 pic.twitter.com/sLAA0MQrcT
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) October 2, 2024

It's real, and it's spectacular...

👀https://t.co/phqfzHWyfb pic.twitter.com/Id14AQdNgG
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) October 2, 2024

Yes, it's real, and I can't believe it lol https://t.co/BrViGujcjV
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) October 2, 2024

This is like the political journalism of a Geico commercial: "Democrat Vice Presidenting: So Simple a Caveman Could Do It."

When Walz felt especially passionate about something, he’d open his eyes wide as saucers. Eye-popping can sometimes be a sign of surprise, but for Walz, it simply revealed his emotional intensity — like this moment during an exchange about abortion. The orbicularis oculi muscle, working in concert with the corrugator and frontalis muscles, contract to raise the eyebrows — a dynamic and emphatic facial motion that grabbed the viewer’s attention. Early humans would have made such facial gestures to communicate strong emotions, like “danger is close.” For Walz, it gave extra weight to his feelings and held our gaze.