’)This sort of says everything.
BBC: “In the Middle East, the sole of the foot is unclean, so pointing it at someone is insulting: when Iraqis vented their fury on the deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, they beat his statue with their shoes.”
BBC: “”Going into someone’s house or a mosque, you would always take your shoes off first. Shoes are used to beat servants, thieves, prostitutes; it indicates servility. Were you to beat your children, this would be done with a stick or the hand, but never shoes.” ”
>> Video: Austin Powers – “Who throws a show, honestly?”
First Thoughts:
Can’t believe an American hasn’t done that to him years ago.
Pity Billo wasn’t standing right behind the President.
The guy that threw the show – bet you anything he’s their next Prime Minister.
Bush, the dumbest guy in the world – his mark on history; TWICE elected by Americans.
Will Bush just have the decency to please go quietly!
Bush, the dumbest guy in the world – his mark on history; TWICE elected by Americans.
Dumbest? I dunno. All those voters should be serious contenders.
Streisand should have done that last week
They have a mighty funny way of greeting liberators over there.
I’d laugh, but Obama is going to be protected by that secret service.
Now where’s Jay or Bruce to remind us that it was “obviously” the Iraqi branch of MSNBC that journalist was working for, and the gesture was “no doubt” planned either by Obama or Howard Dean?
Actually, Dura, I was going to chime in to note that we’ve not likely heard the last of this guy. Under the prior administration in Iraq, he’d quietly disappear.
And I’d never throw my shoes at Obama. That would be a violation of the Chemical Weapons ban.
J.
I have two thoughts:
1. nice bookend to the ‘greeted as liberators’ talk
2. this is a terrible precedent to set – what if some bonehead in the US or anywhere decides to throw shoes at Obama? Will that then mean everyone from now on will have to take off their shoes now before a press conference?
“Shoes are used to beat servants, thieves, prostitutes…”
Why the hell are servants and prostitutes in the same categories as thieves?
“Actually, Dura, I was going to chime in to note that we’ve not likely heard the last of this guy. Under the prior administration in Iraq, he’d quietly disappear.”
Unlike this administration where he could disappear in a suicide bomber’s blast. Be killed by an American bomb that went off course. Kidnapped and beheaded. Die because of the lack of clean water. Etc.
The death rate in Iraq is no better now than it was under Saddam.It’s just different people, and different methods.
It’s sad but true, the Americans went in and somehow made Iraq worse than it was before. At least Saddam was secular and wasn’t going after Jews and Christians and gave women equal protection under the law.
HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU SCREW UP THAT BAD?
Legacy.
What? He didnt sell any stadiums out?
Give Commander Bunnypants credit where credit is due: He showed some pretty good reflexes.
George Walker Bush, welcome to the rest of your lousy, stinking life. Learn to love it.
As a measure of how much Iraq has changed let us contrast the openness of their society now with that of a few short years ago. Perhaps some of the smug liberals here might like to tell us what would have happened to that shoe thrower under the reign of Saddam.
“The death rate in Iraq is no better now than it was under Saddam.It’s just different people, and different methods.
It’s sad but true, the Americans went in and somehow made Iraq worse than it was before”
Have a cite for that dubious statement?
I’ve been thinking to myself, “Bush can’t possibly be worse than James Buchanan.” Well Bush damn well might be the worst President this Republic has ever seen. He passed LBJ, Nixon and Reagan, long ago and recent events shows he is as bad if not worse than Hoover. Let’s hope Bush doesn’t pass Buchanan on his way down the ladder, Buchanan’s legacy was a civil war–what could be worse than that I shudder to think.
The fact that he can even throw his shoe at shoe at bush is the beginning of a free society. If this journalist did such a thing to any arab leader in name your arab country, or to saddam when he was around, such a journalist would be tortured and then killed.
It was no curtious and reflects ill will among some sectors of the iraqi population and arab world, but the fact that it happened is a reflection of progress and that things are getting better in Iraq. Namely, things started cooling down in Iraq over the last year, and we are on the right track.
Perhaps some of the smug liberals here might like to tell us what would have happened to that shoe thrower under the reign of Saddam.
Trick question. Bush never would have visited Iraq under Saddam. And if he had, the shoe thrower probably would have been given a medal.
Wow! Those republicans sure get their talking points out quick.
Jay Tea interesting enough said the EXACT same thing as a FOX News reporter.
Naw–the reporter won’t disappear–just get blown up, given tainted water
or have one of the incomplete dangerous buildings we spent billions of dollars
on–fall on him. Iraq–garden and shoe throwing spot of the world. . . .
Just remember that if anyone does throw their shoes at Obama, it is officially a laughing matter.
What’s surprising about this is how long it took for Secret Service to react. I didn’t see a reaction for 3 seconds after the first shoe was thrown. What if those were explosive shoes? They use the same excuse to make us all remove our shoes for inspection before boarding a flight, so it should be taken seriously. What if he had been throwing a grenade? Maybe I expect too much, but I think the Secret Service should be able to recognize when a person goes from mild mannered reporter to the pitching position.
Sure, this guy won’t be executed on the spot (indeed, he’ll probably become something of a natinal folk hero, given how much the Iraqis hate Bush).
But what FOX and Jay won’t tell you is that apparently this reporter has had a number of family members and friends killed during the US occupation for various reasons, and that he himself was captured and tortured for a week by an Iraqi insurgent group that might have been backed by the US occupation forces.
Sorry wing-nuts, you can’t have one without the other. The “freedom” to throw a shoe goes hand-in-hand with the blood of tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Actually, my sources tell me it was all a misunderstanding. The poor reporter was trying to show how impressed he was by Bush, but took the phrase “knocked my socks off” a bit too literally.
Seriously, even if the numbers about the death rate are valid (which I do not accept), there is a huge difference between killings as official government policy and killings by terrorists/insurgents. To conflate the two is appalling.
J.
Dead is dead, Jay Tea.
To the individual, Bruce? Absolutely. To society in general? Absolutely not.
What is the difference between murder and death by natural causes? Why do we have different degrees of “murder,” from first-degree to manslaughter? Was the death of Timothy McVeigh as much a tragedy and atrocity as the death of Martin Luther King? As you noted, to those dead, there is no difference. To everyone else, it’s all the difference in the world.
I’d rather live in modern-day Iraq, where the government is trying to protect me from those trying to kill me, than in Saddam’s, where the government could choose to kill me at any moment, for any reason or no reason at all.
Yes, that’s easy to say here in New Hampshire, where the biggest threat to my life is freezing to death from teh global warmening, but I don’t do too well with a boot on my neck.
A shoe lobbed at my head I can handle. A boot on my neck, though — no thanks.
J.
let it be said that I think this was extremely hilarious.
But I will say this Bush does have great reflexs for an old guy.
Kinda sums up how most of Americans feel about the guy. Although it concerns me that some reporter managed to get two shots off at the president. Did the secret service take the day off?
I could understand if it was a hardcored trained killer… but it was a reporter with pretty terrible aim. Scary lapse in security.
I wanted to laugh, a little, too, Syco… but I disagree with you about the guy’s aim. Shoes are NOT very aerodynamic, and Bush had to duck that first one. And I, too, am bothered by the Secret Service’s slow reaction.
By the way, this was NOT some harmless prank. Dana Perino ended up with a hell of a shiner out of the scuffle.
J.
Now that IS funny.
So the right’s argument is that the reporter’s opinion about Bush is undermined by the fact that he is free to express it without fear of being “disappeared,” which shows just how much freedom there is in Iraq since we invaded?
Do I have that right?
First of all, the reporter was not exercising anything even remotely close to freedom of the press in throwing his shoes at Bush. I’m sure we could all agree that if Wolf Blitzer threw his shoes at Bush during a press conference in DC, Blitzer would find himself in a world of hurt within seconds. Not only would he undoubtedly lose his job, he’d be facing serious, Federal criminal charges and possibly some serious jail time.
No one has the right to express themselves by throwing shoes at the President. Not here. Not in Iraq.
Second, here we are one day after this incident and we’re all pretending that we know what’s happened to this guy and what’s going to happen to him? Really? The guy is now in jail being “interrogated” by the police:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7783608.stm
So Iraqi officials are interrogating the guy. Great. I’m sure we can all rest comfortably knowing that.
As it turns out that this reporter has been arrested before for doing his job:
Now the article’s main focus is that thousands of Iraqis are protesting the reporters arrest and demanding his release. That’s freedom of expression. What are they saying?
The same article at the link notes this:
Victory!
Also, maybe someone could explain the wonderful new freedom of the press in iraq to this guy:
http://www.aina.org/news/20081203044715.htm
Oliver’s source for the background on the cultural view of a tossed shoe comes (of course) from foreign press. The US presstitutes failed to mention the significance.
Clueless Shrub brushes it off as a joke.
ps: Funny how the trolls here didn’t acknowledge, or don’t understand the cultural significance of the bottom of a shoe…
pps: Hey J: If you don’t want to be “freezing to death from teh global warmening”, why don’t you enlist & go to wonderful Iraq? Their government won’t try to kill you!
Don’t reply with an excuse, as none are valid.
“Under the prior administration in Iraq, he’d quietly disappear.”
Just to add, as if it wasn’t completely obvious, don’t you think that “better than Saddam Hussein” is setting the bar way too low for judging our progress and success in Iraq?
The reporter has been arrested and is currently being interrogated before facing a criminal justice system that has been roundly condemned by an international human rights group because “torture and abuse of prisoners before trial appeared common, and legal representation was often ineffectual.”
In such a situation, saying that, “Well, at least, he wasn’t immediately shot and thrown in a ditch” is really just pathetic.
[...] Video: Iraqi Man Throws Shoe At Bush (Oliver Willis) [...]
Have a cite for that dubious statement?
I got one. STFU, you don’t matter.
Had he been shot and thrown in a ditch, there are those around here who would have said ‘at least he wasn’t tortured first! Saddam would have had him tortured!!11!!’
OK Jay, how ’bout this: I kill your mom, you dad, your brothers, your sisters, and all of your children in cold blood, most likely after they’ve been tortured a bit. But, when it’s all over, I let you know that indeed, you now have the right to throw your shoes at me whenever I hold a press conference, which is about every two years.
Sound fair?
Jay writes “I’d rather live in modern-day Iraq, where the government is trying to protect me from those trying to kill me, than in Saddam’s, where the government could choose to kill me at any moment, for any reason or no reason at all.”
Ah yes, such a bold internet tough-guy. Tell us Jay, if liberating Iraq was so important, why didn’t you enlist?
Ah yes, such a bold internet tough-guy. Tell us Jay, if liberating Iraq was so important, why didn’t you enlist?
Uh oh. Now you’ve done it.
If there’s one thing I think we could all do without is another long and whiny run down of Jay Tea’s myriad physical ailments.
It’s a fair question. Always has been despite the Cheetoh-dusted shrieks of the Yellow Elephants.
“If there’s one thing I think we could all do without is another long and whiny run down of Jay Tea’s myriad physical ailments.”
Myriad physical ailments don’t count. The physical requirement for contractors is a heartbeat.
“It’s sad but true, the Americans went in and somehow made Iraq worse than it was before”
“Have a cite for that dubious statement?”
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_war_in_iraq_/2007/09/1220580.php
How about an apology, you soulless monster?
Don’t hold your breath. Republicans never apologise or accept blame no matter how obvious it is. Soulless monster here is no exception.