Talking Out the Sides of Their Heads.

I freely admit that - when time permits - I'm a TV news junkie. Whether the views offered are from the left or from the right (it's rarely - if ever - from the center), I'll tune in. Some of its thoughtful, much of its spoon-fed talking points straight from the party (or candidate, or lobbyist, or employer) but it can help you think.

The other night I was watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC as the show's amiable if smarmy host chatted (as he often does) with Air America's Rachel Maddow. Maddow can be engaging, but there's something she does that I find extremely off-putting: she talks with her lips firmly planted to the right side of her face. There are times that I really want to listen to what she's saying, but the smirk-like affectation she cops with her pie hole really distracts me.

And she's not alone as a talking head who talks out of the side of their mouth. Okay, so most of these folks do so, but it's figuratively not literally out of the sides of their mouth. Another case in point is FOXNews' Greta Van Susteren. But I'll cut Greta a little slack...on two counts. One, as I understand it, she's had elective surgery performed on her face. Perhaps this led to the sideways talking? Secondly - and far more plausible - is that she works for FOX News - and subconsciously cops a facial tick because she knows what she's saying is usually crap. Perhaps it's Greta's "tell".

And the sideways lip slide isn't a recent affectation with news types. One of the greatest, all-time practitioners of the art was NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw.

Perhaps it's something that is taught in the nation's preeminent television journalism schools? "If you really want them to see you as sincere, pull your mouth as far to one of your ears as possible. Viewers eat that crap up with a spoon!"

I for one would like to see a bit more straight talk from the wonks on TV. Figuratively and literally.

And I'd like you now to literally click on humor-blogs.com.