This, Of Course, Comes From a Guy Who Got “Gentleman C’s” At Yale

“President Bush strongly defended Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today, declaring that the Pentagon chief is doing ‘a really fine job’…”
–Bush Defends Rumsfeld, Saying He’s Doing ‘a Really Fine Job’, by David Stout, The New York Times, Dec. 2004.
Related: If you google “gentleman C’s”, almost all the hits are for Bush. Maybe William Safire or Jesse Sheidlower can give us the full etymology.