Bush in a Snit

But Sandalow writes that the White House, predictably, "dismissed the premise of a question regarding how Bush might work with a Speaker Pelosi.

"'The president fully intends to maintain control of the House and the Senate and looks forward to working with (Republican) Speaker (Dennis) Hastert,' White House spokesman Peter Watkins said."

Simply Unacceptable

R. Jeffrey Smith , with research assistance from Lucy Shackelford, writes in Friday's Washington Post: "President Bush finds the world around him increasingly 'unacceptable.'

"In speeches, statements and news conferences this year, the president has repeatedly declared a range of problems 'unacceptable,' including rising health costs, immigrants who live outside the law, North Korea's claimed nuclear test, genocide in Sudan and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"Bush's decision to lay down blunt new markers about the things he deems intolerable comes at an odd time, a phase of his presidency in which all manner of circumstances are not bending to his will: national security setbacks in North Korea and Iraq, a Congress that has shrugged its shoulders at his top domestic initiatives, a favorability rating mired below 40 percent. . . .

"Having a president call something 'unacceptable' is not the same as having him order U.S. troops into action. But foreign policy experts say the word is one of the strongest any leader can deploy, since it both broadcasts a national position and conveys an implicit threat to take action if his warnings are disregarded. . . .

"Moisés Naím, the editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, said there is a relationship between 'how strident and extreme' the language of many leaders is and how limited their options are. For Bush, Naím said, 'this comes at a time when the world is convinced he is weaker than ever.' . . .

"Bush's proclamations are not the only rhetorical evidence of his mounting frustrations. One of his favorite verbal tics has long been to instruct audiences bluntly to 'listen' to what he is about to say, as in 'Listen, America is respected' (Aug. 30) or 'Listen, this economy is good' (May 24). This year, he made that request more often than he did in a comparable portion of 2005, a sign that he hasn't given up hope it might work."

Inconceivable!

All of this reminded one faithful reader of my column of that running joke in the movie, "The Princess Bride," where the evil Vizzini, played by Wallace Shawn, repeatedly splutters "inconceivable!" in the fact of the implacable advance of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Eventually, Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya tells him: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

(See IMDB 's list of memorable quotes from the movie.)

Angry President

The Huffington Post called my attention to this exchange on NBC's Chris Matthews Show on Sunday, between correspondent Andrea Mitchell and Bob Woodward.

Andrea Mitchell: "Andy Card, former White House chief of staff so memorably interviewed by Bob Woodward for the book, did fly down to the christening of the George Herbert Walker Bush [aircraft] carrier last week on Air Force One, at the personal invitation of the president. But this does not mean he's been absolved. In fact, the president -- and the first lady, most importantly -- are really angry at him for talking to Bob Woodward."