I find it amusing that none of the security detail jumped in front of the shoe for him. They are supposed to take a bullet, but nobody said anything about a size 10 loafer.

This is a HUGE insult in Iraqi culture.

And he is grinning like Alfred E Neuman when he dodges the first shoe.

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I'd guess it was a "clean" room, in the sense that everyone had been checked for weapons, so they wouldn't have someone in bullet-diving position.

Maybe they'll put the TSA in charge of press conferences?

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I think by now, Bush is pretty used to being violently unpopular.

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and hes been ducking accountability, so hes got practice!

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I remember 20 years ago going to Jordan and they told us to be careful how we sat so as not to point the bottoms of our shoes at anyone, because it was very insulting, so I can imagine how much worse the throwing is.

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...in which cultures is having a shoe thrown at you a compliment?

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Well, in some cultures it's just weird. In mainstream American culture, having shoes thrown at you isn't any more of an insult than having something else of similar weight and heft, whereas presumably in Iraqi culture shoes are the hot thing to throw.

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Alley cat cultures. It's a sign of status.

Edited at 2008-12-15 08:13 pm (UTC)

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I had only seen stills, with a very motion-blurred President to indicate how fast he moved, but that is definitely impressive. He even gets his trademark smirk up almost immediately.

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i keep watching the loop, waiting for him to block the shoe, and then scream "HADOKEN!"

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Thank you.

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I could watch this all damn day.

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Someone's been practicing at the coconut shy!

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I thought it was the job of the secret service to make sure that the Iraqi journalist was full of lead before the first shoe had even reached the Decider? The guy had plenty of time to reach down and grab his second shoe before anyone around him reacted.

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You know what -- I'm also impressed the W. that he didn't hide after the first shoe. He ducks out of the way, then stands straight back up again. You would've thought that -- considering that he was in Baghdad of all places -- he'd just hit the floor and stay there after he saw the first one coming at him.

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In other news, all footwear has now been classified as offensive weaponry and must be removed when entering government buildings. Anyone seen fiddling with their laces will be deemed a terror suspect.

I'm not surprised at his quick reactions, it's a common survival trait of monkeys isn't it?

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"all footwear has now been classified as offensive weaponry and must be removed when entering government buildings"

You've not been in a courthouse lately, have you?

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We need Georgie to change his hair. STAT!

;-)

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Almost like he knew it was bound to happen eventually, and had been waiting for it, on a sub-sub-sub-conscious level.

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exhibit B.5

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courtesy of sadlyno comments: "the insurgency is in it's last throws".

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That thrower deserves to be Man of the Year, and a bloody statue! Just too bad he missed. At least he'll go down in history as the first man to ever throw a shoe at the "most powerful man in the world", and Bush, as the president so hated, that someone threw shoes at him.

I can picture it, just like the Statue of Liberty, but with a shoe in his hands... and Bush ducking and covering at the other end. What a metaphor

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Even though he missed Bush, he hit the American flag right behind him.
I'm still trying to decide between ironic and iconic.

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Ironic? Do you know what the word means?

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Thanks for helping me decide, I guess?

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Could be ironic in the sense that Dubya's supposed to protect the US constitution ("oh hahaha, yeah right!"), here represented by the flag, but he ducked the shoe to let the flag take it... but that's just too much symbolism for the viewers.

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He mistook Bush for Austin Powers.

"That really hurt! I'm gonna have a lump there, you idiot! Who throws a shoe? Honestly! You fight like a woman!"

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Two things: one, this is awesome in ways that cannot be described.

Second, where the hell is the Secret Service? I understand that the room was clean, all the journalists went through multiple layers of security checks, etc etc, but the reaction time (or lack thereof) of the Secret Service makes me worried about the next four years.

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Yeah, almost like they didn't care that the lame-duck President might get a shoe-shiner.

/lulzislayme


Edited at 2008-12-15 07:15 pm (UTC)

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The Secret Service would have been all over the guy like stupid on Britney Spears; I believe that the Iraqi security detail (such as it was) merely got Medieval on the guy's ass.

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Nice reflexes, tho.

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He's always saying how the Iraqi people are a proud, brave and freedom loving people. And now they've proved him right!

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I was hoping for at least 1 Perry Farrell joke out of all this.

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I don't think it was a Birkenstock. How fashionable are the Iraqi people anyway? :D

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Definitely earned his 72 virgins.

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This is my shoe.
There are many like it, but this one is MINE.
My shoe is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My shoe without me is useless. Without my shoe, I am useless.
I must wear my shoe true.
I must walk straighter than my enemy who is trying to outpace me.

~M~

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