What’s the best simile for the expression on Bush’s face during his “seven minutes”? I haven’t read one that hits it exactly. “Deer in the headlights” seems popular, but it suggests wide-eyed paralysis or being mesmerized, and Bush does far too much nervous grimacing and glancing around for that to fit. “Like a kicked puppy” seems too brutal; Bush doesn’t look that pathetic. There’s “like a man unsure whether to throw up or burst into tears”, but that’s a little too wordy.

I thought P.G. would have something, but none of these seem quite right either:

“… the appearance of one who had searched for the leak in life’s gas-pipe with a lighted candle…” [The Man Upstairs]

“… for perhaps half a minute he felt so boneless that he could not have squeezed a
grape…” [Eggs, Beans and Crumpets]

“…like a mouse surprised while eating cheese...” [Quick Service]

“…like a pole-axed blanc-mange…” [The Inimitable Jeeves]

“..like a ventriloquist’s dummy whose ventriloquist has gone off to the local and left it sitting…” [Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves]

Any suggestions?

(As this is the ‘words and language’ section, and not the ‘government’, maybe we should stay away from the topic of what Bush should have looked like; someone leaving the room to find out what was going on.)

Has realized that he has had a misadventure in his underwear and is just a bit nonplussed as to what his next move should be? (Drat those tacos!)

Here are some more, from the net:

"…stared like a stuffed deer into space..." (Why does this 'deer' theme keep coming up? That's not it at all.)

"...looks like a man waiting to be told what to do."

"...like a scared child..."

Here's the expression: www.thememoryhole.org

A kid alone in a haunted house.
A woken husband whose wife says " What's that noise?"
A man wondering where the President is when you need him...... ?