I don't need a reminder what Kepler's Laws are or what the proper firing technique is for a rifle, I certainly might want a reminder to talk about them. This is her Q&A session after a speech, the whole thing is on youtube, it's actually rather humorus because you can see her look at her hand repeatedly if you're watching for it, but it's farily unnoticeable if you're not thinking about it. She usually says something pertaining to one of those things immediatly after.

These things happen in public speaking, they are very common. Look, all through SOTU Biden was a bit fidgety and about ten minutes into I realized he just seemed that way because he was reading Obama's teleprompter and reacting to jokes or comments a moment before Obama said them. It was actually rather humorous once I noted it, but hardly a big deal. During Brown's speech, the 'we can do this moment' is funny as all heck, but you have to be really reaching out of genuine malice to think he meant they could insert a curling iron up Coakley's nether region. You also have to know the context for that statement to understand why someone said that specific thing, it wasn't a random nasty comment, it has to do with some specific thing that went on in her previous job involving a case where that horrific act was done to a child.

When you're used to looking for these things they pop up noticeably, one of the reason I prefer radio or text format's, the video often distracts me from the content. A public speaker should know better than to tap their pen during a debate for instance, but many do it anyway because their stressed and distracted and it's a habit. It's good for a chuckle but it's not really a big deal, like Obama bowing to people, he's a tall guy and he obviously considers it a respectful gesture, he needs to stop doing it, but other than it's humor value it's hardly an indication of some mass deficiency in his qualificaiton to be POTUS, like Bush Sr's tendency to vomit on foriegn leaders. You start looking for it you'll notice all sorts of tells, like people who sip from a glass of water before answering questions because they aren't just parched but use it as a way to buy a moment of time without seeming to stall. I do it with cigarettes. Going 'uh... um...' for five seconds comes off stupid whereas taking a sip of water or a long drag on a cigarette seems dignified. I don't see what the hassle is all about on this and it just seems like petty sniping.

In some ways you're right that this isn't ad hominem because you're not using personal attacks to disprove her arguments, your not even talking about her arguments. No one does, they never discuss her points, they just sneer and abuse, it's outright dismissal via abuse. These type of comments don't even rise to the low level of ad hominem. "I don't consider Gov. Palin to be a foriegn policy expert" as a counter to something she said about Afghanistan is ad hominem, most of the crap thrown at Palin is just nasty slurs. "Well, Mr. Brokaw, in response to that I just like to say my opponent is a drooling incompetent" is not ad hominem.