Seriously, is this a 'satisfied smile' or a medical condition?

[Bluebear]

On the morning after his State of the Union speech, President George W. Bush wears a satisfied smile during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, before heading West on a two-day trip to promote his second-term agenda, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005.

Is his face melting? How do they explain away this drooping of one half of his mouth?

[jimshoes]

1. He's the Mona Dopa

nt

[Bluebear]

3. Mona Dopa

hehehehehe

[kiki]

35. Mona Loser?

[Pam-Moby]

2. Yes, Its call brain dead. n/t

[SeveneightyWhoa]

4. Well, thats what I look like after..

..consuming a lot of beer.

[EVDebs]

5. He's dipping into his Dad's halcyon stash ! eom

[WildClarySage]

6. He looks like a college kid the morning after a frat party

trying desperately to remember her name.

[City Lights]

7. Check his pants.

Bet they're wet.

[displacedtexan]

8. The drooping is on the "family side" of his face!

Did you see that special with John Cleese about reading the face?

The person's left side reflects his/her family situation.

The right side reflects his/her business/public situation.

That man in the picture has a shitty family life, and he's a complete moron in public!

[Quakerfriend]

9. I just have to say

There's been a lot of talk about his facial droop...especially his mouth. But, has anyone else noticed the way his eyes never seem to be converging his vision quite right??

You can see a hint of it in this picture. But, in some photos it's really obvious!

What could this be??

[displacedtexan]

10. His right eye looks cloudy.

Interesting!

[MuseRider]

11. Stoner.

He looks like he is stoned out of what he has for a mind. * Not that there is anything wrong with stoners.* :hi: Seriously, no brain cells are firing in this photo. If you cover one side of his face then the other they look like they don't even belong together. Happy face/Sad face

[Bluebear]

12. The left side of his face has no expression!

I did the cover up thing, has he had a stroke?

[MuseRider]

13. Dunno

but it is very odd isn't it? He does not look real. The 2 faces of evil? This picture tells us something but I don't know what it is. I do know that I really do not like that look, it is scary for a number of reasons.

[soup]

18. scary with good reason

>snip<
Bush

Asymmetrical lip raise and lip corner tighten = mockery, contempt, disdain

Lip funnel = playfulness

Eyebrow raise = interest, submissiveness
>snip<

Bush

1. The asymmetrical smile (AU12; Zygomaticus major). Many of Bush's smiles have stronger muscle action on one side of the face.

2. The asymmetrical upper lip raise (AUIO; Levator labii superioris) or asymmetrical lip corner tighten (AU14; Buccinator). These actions typically accompany Bush's smile, and account for the smirk.

3. The eyebrow raise (AU 1 + 2; Frentalis, pars medialis; Frontalis, pars laterelis). Bush frequently raises his eyebrows when smiling, which is somewhat unusual (in contrast, Gore often lowers eyebrows).

4. The smile and corner of mouth down (AU15; Depressor anguli otis). Although less frequent, it is interesting that Bush pulls his smile down.

5. Lip funnel (AU22; Orbicularis oris). Interesting because Bush often funnels his lips (almost like a purse) when smiling, which is something of a playful, flirtatious gesture.
>snip<

Bush

The conflict between his smile and asymmetrical lip raise and lip corner tighten (AUIO, 14), connotes disdain and contempt alongside his warm smile.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_5_33/ai_66380418/pg_4

[MuseRider]

27. Disdain and contempt

wow, that is exactly what he seems to feel for most living things. Thanks.

[Redleg]

14. It's an "I fucked the neighbor's dog" look.

What a sorry piece of shit Der Fuhrer is.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. How drunk was he there?

What a goofy looking idiot! Actually he looks like the cat that swallowed the canary.

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. Lieberman gave him herpes?

It's a possibility... :)


http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[Quakerfriend]

17. The lack of proper convergence of vision

is a classic brain injury!

What's odd to me is that this seems to be a relatively new phenomenon.

Any neurologists out there??

[Bluebear]

21. Cover one side of his face, then the other

as a poster suggested.

All kidding aside, it is like there is no life in one side of the face!

[RedSpartan]

19. No question: he's farting.

[Quakerfriend]

20. He must have a lot of gas! n/t

[RedSpartan]

23. [insert "bag of hot air/windbag" joke here]

[Quakerfriend]

28. How about

a woopi pad!:P

[ReverendDeuce]

22. I made a graphical comparison for naysayers...

Check it out... I took the images and made a sort of left-versus-right face comparison.

http://www.swsnews.com/fullstory.php?iid=3559

[Quakerfriend]

25. WOW! That really says it all.

Interestingly enough, when one has had a stroke you will see many of the symptoms manifest in this picture.

However, that hollow look in his eyes is not a common one. This is more typical of those with Alzheimer's.

I worked in clinical medicine for many yrs but am not an MD, so don't know for sure what's going on with the prez.

[spooked911]

31. Good job!-- but too creepy to look at for very long.

[Bluebear]

32. VERY well done.

[Lisa]

40. nicely done!

I've seen some other attempts at analyzing his left-side/right-side split, but yours is the most seamless (and makes the comparisons a lot easier).

[MiniMe]

44. Not defending him at all but.......

There is a condition known as Bell's Palsy, my dad has it. It makes one side of the face droop and looks like the person has had a stroke. Just wanted to list another possibility.

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. looks like he's had a mild stroke.

A transient ischemic attack, maybe.

[AllyCat]

33. I don't even think it could be called a TIA anymore

He looks like this all the time. I rarely see him speak, but all the radio/audio I've heard of SOTU, I thought "what is wrong with his speech?"

The guy has had a stroke on top of his alcoholic dementia.

[riverwalker]

26. left side is pure evil

I covered up the right side and felt I was looking into the face of beezelbub himself. <shiver>

[htuttle]

29. I only get that expression when I'm taking a crap

:shrug:

[Quakerfriend]

30. Thank you

for fulfilling the "bag of hot air/windbag" criterion!

[bleedingheart]

34. Bells Palsy perhaps???

[CatBoreal]

39. Bells Palsy...

What is Bell's Palsy?
Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from damage to the 7th (facial) cranial nerve. This nerve disorder afflicts approximately 40,000 Americans each year. It can strike almost anyone at any age; however, it disproportionately attacks pregnant women and people who have diabetes, influenza, a cold, or some other upper respiratory ailment. In addition to one-sided facial paralysis with possible inability to close the eye, symptoms of Bell's palsy may include pain, tearing, drooling, hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear, and impairment of taste. The common cold sore virus, herpes simplex, and other herpes viruses are the likely cause of many cases of Bell's palsy.

[Gloria]

36. What is that eye doing (his left) along with the mouth on the same

side??? It looks almost fixed....

[theresistance]

37. whose caption is that?

Seems to be like the weird interpretations of Bush's expression when he was told "America is under attack" on 911. Naturally, all interpretations from the MSM were positive...

[Bluebear]

38. The caption is by the Associated Press

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050203/480/dcsa10902032130

[beyurslf]

41. He took an extra happy pill last night and it is just the effects of that.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

42. Here, look at this

(On Edit: I didn't realize an earlier post did the same thing I've done below, but you might find the rest of the post reveals something about the nature of facial symmetry.)

About 30 years ago, in an art magazine, I saw a photo exhibit in which the artist took each subject's photo and made two new photos from it. By dividing the face down the middle and flopping the halves, he made one face out two images of the right side, and then did the same with the left side.

In every single series, the original subject looked warm, lively, happy and outgoing in the photo made solely with the right side of the face. In the photo made with the left side, the subject looked pensive, sad, even cruel and malicious. Sometimes the changes were so dramatic that in a series of three photos, they appeared to be three different people.

The artist was illustrating the asymmetry of the human face. Nobody's face is the same on both sides. You can see this for yourself by looking in the mirror and covering one side of your face with a sheet of white paper, and then the other side. The right side will look happy; the left will look sad.

It works best with photos taken straight on, but I have tried the same with the photo above. Here are the results.

Right side....

...left side:


What does it mean? The artist believed it revealed a psychic split, or reflected dual natures contained within every person - love and hate, happiness and sadness, kindness and cruelty. However to my knowledge no formal study has been made, and the results have not been quantified.

[jimshoes]

47. Wow, no wonder he won't

negotiate with himself. His tyrannical left side would kill his wimpy right side in a New York minute.

[SpiralHawk]

43. Secret Occult Technique for Photo Analysis

Released from the Bin of Secret Occult Techniques n'Stuff

Hold your hand over the photo so you can only see the right side of Bush's face. Then hold your hand so you can only see the left side.

What do you see?

[karlrschneider]

45. Loose lips smirk chimps?

;-)

[LittleClarkie]

46. ...Purple Haze runs through my mind...

'Scuse me while I kiss this guy....

Dude's stoned. That's a wasted smile if ever I've seen one.

That's just the eyes.

The mouth looks like he's had a stroke. My dad had a stroke, and half of his face looked like that.

Either that, or the smirk has become permanent.

[n2mark]

48. It is the look

of ..... ha, ha, fooled the American people again. They swallowed my lies!

[Lisa]

49. notice how the difference between his "faces" evens out ...

... when he's exceptionally pleased with himself. Maybe he only has that lopsided look when he's uncertain ("of two minds"?) about something.



(photo copied from the thread below)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3054361