First of all, the story says he "left the stage," which is not the same as "stalking off," a good example of "agenda creep" as a story is passed along. Not all that important, but I've seen this kind of twisting from professional newsmen, too.

It's painfully obvious in a news conference which questions are real requests for information, and which ones are attempts to get Bush to say something they can use to cut him off at the knees.

After his recent victory, a good ninety percent of the reporters in a typical White House press conference would give anything to see Bush brought down a good half dozen notches. A lot of them would probably give anything to see him eaten alive by a horde of rabid weasels.

What possible motivation could there have been for the reporter to ask that particular question other than an attempt to create friction and bad feelings?

"Gotcha journalism" isn't really journalism.