He had to access confidential information by blagging: by pretending to be someone else and extracting the details from a hapless victim.

But the scandal could not have erupted at a worse moment for a president often portrayed as an indecisive figure and hapless victim of events.

The hapless victim becomes the avenging survivor.

The corrupt priest, the hateful missionary, the slimy revivalist preaching fire and brimstone-they're more like caricatures than characters, the hapless victims of lazy writing.