Like father like son. Just as President Bush’s father will forever be remembered for throwing up on the Prime Minister of Japan at a state dinner in Tokyo, so will this weekend’s video of our beloved President follow him for the rest of his days.
An Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at President Bush yesterday while he was holding a press conference in Iraqi with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. It was a deliberate insult directed at President Bush. For Muslims, sitting with the soles of your shoes facing someone or hurling them at someone is a sign of contempt.
The reporter, who works for an Egyptian based television network, yelled “This is a farewell… you dog!” in Arabic. He was put in jail where he remains while Iraqi officials decide whether or not he’ll face charges for assaulting an official.
As for President Bush, he made light of it and announced to reporters that the shoes were a size 10.
Questions have been raised about the seemingly delayed Secret Service response and why the man was able to throw his second shoe after throwing the first, but President Bush apparently waved off Secret Service officers at first.
Thousands of Iraqis rallied in support of the reporter’s actions. Some said he shouldn’t have thrown his shoes at President Bush in the presence of the Iraqi prime minister.
Here’s my question to you: What does it say about our image when a foreign reporter throws his shoes at President Bush?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Gus from San Francisco, California writes:
It looks bad, but there is a silver lining. I don’t think that this journalist would still be alive if he had thrown his shoes at an American President or Dignitary standing next to Saddam Hussein. I guess that is progress.
Al from California writes:
It means Bush has no soul, and someone decided to loan him theirs.
JS from Grenada, West Indies writes:
The last thing I want to see happen is that George Bush leaves office with a chorus of sympathy from protocol buffs like myself. I want to condemn the shoe throwing incident. The reporter squandered a good opportunity to register his objection to Bush’s presence and the last eight years by doing what journalists do best — ask cutting edge questions.
Wayne writes:
President Bush was just being greeted as a liberator.
Beverley from Fredericksburg, Virginia writes:
Jack, The journalist who threw the shoe stated that it was for the widows and the people who have been killed — I’ve never heard the President talk about them. I have no doubts that Sadaam was a ruthless dictator and he killed his own citizens — but he never killed as many as Bush and the neo-cons in the pursuit of liberating Iraq.
Tommy in Texas writes:
If the reporter’s feelings are representative of most Iraqis’, and I think they are, it is time to get our troops home.
Ed in Savannah, Georgia writes:
Jack, As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words” — or in this case, 500 pairs of shoes. I have a hunch that reporter did what a lot of Iraqis would like to do. What I’d like to know is — can we get that reporter into the White House Press corps? Press conferences might then get the TV ratings of, say, American Idol!
Jack writes:
Watching a lame duck duck, really quacked me up!
