This sentence is [STRIKE]captured[/STRIKE] taken from "The Casual Vacancy".
Samantha thought he retaliated by being deliberately obtuse.
Not a teacher.
I take 'he was being deliberately obtuse' to mean 'he was deliberately obtuse just then but not always'.If I omit being, the meaning is same as before?
I think that word "deliberately" suggests that this was not always the case.