[Bush looking at his watch during the debate, was another big moment in that campaign. He mailed it in.]
Dubya learned from Bush pere - every public gesture, facial expression and word has to be carefully guarded, lest it be taken out of context and used as a weapon by the other side. That’s allegedly the source of “fool me twice, won’t get fooled again”. “Shame on me” might have been used as a sound bite against him.