Is it "heckling" if you just roll your eyes?

Regarding one of the later developments in the right-wing Michael Ware smear job, the latest wanker talking point is that, well, OK, the video shows clearly that Ware was not "heckling" Sen. John McCain. But that doesn't mean he wasn't, you know, mocking or laughing or something like that. Sort of what poor Brian is suggesting here in a desperate attempt to save face:

Ware carefully denies heckling and speaking. He was NEVER accused of either heckling and speaking. [False.] Video could not prove that he didn't laugh and mock, only if he did.

Let's take a closer look at McCain's nonchalant stroll through the streets of Baghdad, shall we?

It was clear to all assembled that the trip to Thieves Market in Shorja yesterday was a carefully orchestrated event by the U.S. military and Senator John McCain but many did not know it was specifically for CBS's 60 Minutes. Kirk Semple of the The New York Times went back a day later to discover that it was all a sham.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”

... The junket wore body armor and was surrounded by over 100 members of the armed forces. Sniper patrols bristled from surrounding rooftops, six helicopters flew overhead and the "diamond" instead of being 4 people was 30 deep. In a classic psyops move, the entrourage [sic] was told to take their helmets off and even General Petraeus put on a forage cap.

So, having ventured forth under the protection of a phalanx of heavily-armed guards and rooftop snipers, plus a small contingent of gunship helicopters, McCain later had the nerve, at the aforementioned press conference, to respond to a journalist's question about McCain's prior claim that there were areas in Baghdad that were safe to walk around in with, "I just came from one."

Under the circumstances, could you possibly blame any journalist in the room for perhaps rolling his eyes quietly in disbelief? How stoic and self-possessed would you have to be, upon hearing that, to not want to just smack your head against the wall a couple of times to make sure you weren't just having a really, really bad dream?

I don't think it's a question of whether Ware might have made a face or two at that point. Rather, I think it's a question of whether it was physically possible for him not to.