President Bush’s Iraq television address conveyed "a stony lack of genuine intention, and he appeared disingenuous when he accepted responsibility for mistakes," according to University of Maryland dance professor Karen Bradley, who studies the nonverbal and movement behaviors of political leaders.

"There was not a moment of heartfelt or gut-level rhetoric. George Bush stilled his usual side-to-side rocking, reduced his smirk to an almost-unchanging grimace and read his speech as a recitation of mere facts," Bradley, an expert in Laban Movement analysis and a specialist in Movement for Actors, says.

"What he said mattered little for his case; he ran through the homilies and platitudes without belief. This speech was all about conveying intention without serious rationale. As he read the monitor, only the merest of shifts took place; it was as if he was running a marathon and he needed to preserve all his energy for the long haul; no point in conveying any expression or communicating any real information.

"At one point he stated that the mistakes ‘rest with me.’ It was a moment of profound disconnection; he almost edged away from the words and his mouth grimaced a little more. When he damned the Iraq Study Group with faint praise, his eyes blinked rapidly; a little too obviously disingenuous."

"It reminded me of an alcoholic father who comes home after a binge and tells the family that they must leave the house and move because they have not paid the bills."