Nick Robinson takes to his blog to “big up” his question to President Bush.

I thought it was extraordinary that just the day after the Iraq study group had been so critical of what was happening in Iraq, the president used such soft language to describe the situation there. All we got from the president was a very gentle phrase about the trouble in Baghdad being ‘unsettling’.

That’s why I put the question to him that I did.

Here is that question:

The Iraq Study Group described the situation as “grave and deteriorating.” You said that the increase in attacks is “unsettling.”

That would convince many people that you’re still in denial about how bad things are in Iraq and question your sincerity about changing course.

British journalism is lousy as attribution. I don’t usually rush to defend Mr Bush, but I struggle to see the importance of the semantic difference Robinson quotes.

But what gets me about his question is that the second part is offering opinion in the guise of an unattributed statement, and justifying it with the preceding distinction.

Who precisely are the “many people?”

As for Robinson’s claim that he was eyeballed by the President? Nick. He looked at you. Get over it.