the daily snivel

BUSH GOES NEGATIVE… ON CHARLIE GIBSON?

“President Bush smirked and winked and chuckled to himself. He jumped from his stool, chopped at the air and interrupted the debate moderator. As he fought to keep his emotions in check in a testy, personal debate with Sen. John Kerry, the president asserted, ‘That answer almost made me scowl.’” [AP, 10/8/04]

“An angry Bush at one point cut off moderator Charles Gibson to upbraid Kerry for criticizing the size of the coalition backing the United States in Iraq, saying it denigrated allies like Britain and Poland.” [Reuters, 10/9/04]

“During his [Bush’s] own answers and rebuttals, he was pugnacious. He overrode moderator Charles Gibson's protests at one point, saying loudly, ‘I have to answer this.’” [USA Today, 10/9/04]

BUSH ON DEFENSE

Mark Shields: “I thought the President played defense on an awful lot of issues tonight. I mean including the Canadian importation of drugs and so much on the economy, and as well as Iraq.” [PBS, 10/8/04]

Liz Marlantes, Christian Science Monitor: “I actually would in many ways characterize the president’s performance as heated and to me, at times; it seemed very defensive, actually.” [MSNBC, 10/9/04]

John Harwood, Wall Street Journal: “[Bush] was quite agitated at the beginning. He looked defensive, he looked like somebody who was sort of trying to push the rock up hill, convincing people why he really should have gone to war against Iraq even though there were no weapons of mass destruction.” [CNN, 10/8/04]

BUSH’S ANGER MANAGEMENT

“ANGRY MAN”

Jon Meachan: “That was so interesting to me about President Bush is that he seemed like an angry man tonight, and clearly Kerry got under his skin in the first debate and instead of frankly not letting butter melt in his mouth, tonight he seemed to me to be speaking very loudly.” [PBS, 10/9/04]

Melinda Henneberger: “[Bush] seemed angry to me.” [MSNBC 10/9/04]

“TIGHTLY COILED”

Liz Marlantes, Christian Science Monitor: “[Bush] still has some of those things… I mean, you look at his face, he’s so tightly coiled; he’s got the jaw, he’s doing the blinking thing.” [MSNBC, 10/9/04]

“TENSE AND ANGRY”

Joe Klein: “…Bush seemed tense and angry. The person who wins is the person when you turn off the sound, the one who looks better to the public – that was Kerry tonight. Bush is supposed to be the laid back regular guy, [but] he seems more tense than Kerry does.” [CNN, 10/9/04]

“When Mr. Kerry accused the president of going to war unilaterally, Mr. Bush could not suppress his anger. He jumped off his stool and interrupted the moderator, Charles Gibson of ABC, saying, ‘I've got to answer this.’ Mr. Gibson wanted to pursue the subject of whether deploying Reserves constituted a form of military draft, but Mr. Bush was adamant. ‘Let me just answer what he just said about going alone,’ he insisted. ‘You tell Tony Blair we're going alone! Tell Tony Blair we're going alone!’” [New York Times, 10/9/04]

“STRIDENT AND INTENSE”

“At the outset, Bush seemed strident and intense, as if over-eager to avoid a repetition of his pained performance eight days ago.” [New York Times, 10/9/04]

“[Bush]...could have used more humility and was almost shrill at times.” [Editorial, Dallas Morning News, 10/9/04]

“The president seemed to fall back frequently on name-calling....” [Editorial, New York Times, 10/9/04]

NIXON-LIKE

“Bush ‘seemed wound a bit too tight. He was a little like Nixon – sort of jumping out of his suit,’ said David Niven, political science professor at Florida Atlantic University. ‘He looked bad on the TV close-ups.’” [AP, 10/9/04]

HOT UNDER THE COLLAR

“The president...let his feelings get the better of him, getting hot under the collar in a medium best served cold. From the outset, his clenched jaw twitched, and he blinked repeatedly, like a man whose contact lens hurt. And when Senator John Kerry turned and confronted him face to face with the latest report on the absence of illicit weapons in Iraq, President Bush snickered derisively - the first sign that the president, though more combative than in the first debate, was not on his game.” [New York Times, 10/9/04]

“AGITATED”

“Bush, curbing most of the signs of frustration that marked his performance in last week's debate, grew agitated after Kerry asserted the United States is bearing the burden in Iraq.” [Houston Chronicle, 10/9/04]

“FLUSTERED”

“[Bush]...did come across as flustered at a couple points in the evening, referring to his opponent as ‘Sen. Kennedy,’ who is the senior senator from Massachusetts. When asked about the draft, Bush declared: ‘I hear there is a rumor on the Internets.’” [Chicago Tribune, 10/9/04]

BUSH’S DEJA VU EXPRESSIONS

“Mr. Bush seemed hesitant and spoke loudly when he took the stage...at times he flashed glances of anger at Mr. Kerry that were reminiscent of his demeanor the week before.” [New York Times, 10/9/04]

“And not unlike that first battle, the president sounded angry and defensive, as if scolding the undecided. ‘Yeah, great question,’ he said when a man asked him about the draft.” [New York Times, 10/9/04]

“Bush kept his smirks and other body language in check more so than he did in the first debate, though at times he still let them roam. At one point, Bush even interrupted moderator Charles Gibson to lecture Kerry about the allied coalition in Iraq: ‘You tell (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair we're going alone!’” [Arizona Republic, 10/9/04]