Bush's Nicknames

How do you interpret the many nicknames that President Bush has given the people in his life? Is it merely fun or, in the case of his opponents, a passive-agressive means of venting frustration? Here's a list from NNDB.com:

Joe Allbaugh	Big Country
Fred Barnes	Barney
Max Baucus	Maxie
Tony Blair	Landslide
Barbara Boxer	Ali
Martha Brant	Martita
Michael D. Brown	Brownie
Frank Bruni	Pancho
George H.W. Bush	Poppy
George W. Bush	Dubya, Bushie
Laura Bush	Bushie
Carl Cameron	Camarones
Andrew Card	Tangent Man
Paul Cellucci	Cellooch
Dick Cheney	Big Time
Jean Chrétien	Dino (as in Dinosaur)
Susan Collins	Sweet Susan
John Cornyn	Corndog
Candy Crowley	Dulce
Mitch Daniels	The Blade
Tom Davis	T.D.
John Dickerson	Dick
Maureen Dowd	Cobra
Dianne Feinstein	Frazier
Barney Frank	Sabretooth
Bill Frist	Fristy
Rich Galen	Richie
Alberto Gonzales	Fredo
David Gregory	Little Stretch
Stephen Hadley	Hads
Dennis Hastert	Speak
Pete Hoekstra	Pedro
Karen Hughes	High Prophet, The Enforcer, Hurricane Karen
Tim Hutchinson	Hutch
David Jackson	Action Jackson
Lee Jackson	Action Jackson
Ted Kennedy	Senator
Pete King	Pedro
Mort Kondracke	Morton
Dennis Kucinich	Mayor
Dick Kyle	Stretch
Ken Lay	Kenny Boy
Larry Lindsey	Thunderbolt Lindsey
Mitch McConnell	Mitchie
Mark McKinnon	M-Cat
George Miller	El Grande Jorge
Ben Nelson	Nellie, Benny, Benator
Bill O'Reilly	Factor, Big O
Colin Powell	Balloonfoot
Vladimir Putin	Pootie-Poot
Condoleezza Rice	Guru
Karl Rove	Boy Genius, Turd Blossom
John Rowland	Johnny
Bill Sammon	Super Stretch
Olympia Snowe	The Big O
John Sweeney	Congressman Kick-Ass
George Tenet	Brother George
Tommy Thompson	Double T
Fred Upton	Freddo
Ann Veneman	Bullets
Paul Wellstone	Pablo
George Will	The Commissioner
Patricia Wilson	Outback Woman
Robert Zoellick	The Adding Machine