Nightscrawlers

Ok, I'll admit that I don't think that tossing shoes at someone is at all a cool thing, but one has to admit, bush supporter or not, that was a fantastically cracky moment.

If I hadn't seen it in a news clip, I would have thought it was fake. Gotta admit, Bush can duck like a pro. I would have caught one of those puppies upside the head without a doubt.

Apparently someone is offering his daughter in marriage to shoe thrower man.

And then there are a ton of parodies of course.

Anything shoe and bush related that you've heard of? This'll go down in history I think.

Quite honestly, Bush supporter or not, I think we can agree that that guy should be thankful to be alive and healthy for a couple of reasons. First of all, this obviously was not one of the Secret Service's finest moments, as if they were on top of things, they would have brought that guy down (hopefully non-lethally) the second he reached back to throw anything. Second of all, were it not for one of the few things that went right in an otherwise ill-advised war, the shoe-thrower would not have been able to insult or even just disagree with any political leader in his country without losing his life and likely those of his family and friends as well.

I am glad that the guy saw fit to express his beliefs in a non-lethal fashion. Unfortunately, I don't think this represents a trend among the insurgency.

[Edited on 18/12/2008 by Angelique]

Uhm....


it was a shoe. At worst, and i'm talking about a dense steel toed boot, he would be knocked out.

If you ask me, more people should be giving him the boot (or tennis shoe?)

Although yes, I think he handled it quite well with his cracks afterwards. ("All I can say is it was a size ten" funny.)

The guy may not be anywhere near what I would consider worthy of being president, but he does have *some* class and he is just as much a jokester and prankster as anyone else (look at his past) so I'm glad to see he laughed it off.

Though honestly, that Iraqi reporter HAD to be drunk. I mean he was covered by secret service in SECONDS... if you're gonna hit a president with something NOT a bullet, make sure it's not the only shoes on you. You'll need them when you run away.

[Edited on 18/12/08 by Ult_Sm86]

Well the idea wasn't to be lethal, but to give an insult. And I think ange meant that the shoe thrower was lucky to be alive. And the shoe throwee is having to face some pretty tough penalties ontop of having his arm broken and head bashed.

FYI - In the middle east throwing a shoe at someone is considered the worst insult you could possibly give someone, short of slitting their throat, wrapping them in pig skin and burying them face down facing away from Mecca. The western equivalent would be something along the lines of pissing on a guy's grave during his funeral. That's how big a deal it is over there. It's also considered highly insulting to sit with the sole of your shoe facing someone.

So not really that cracky when you know the culture

Even so, and I know full well what shoes mean in middle eastern culture, I still think it's far more civilized to hurl shoes at someone than to plant IED's by his or her motorcade.

I have to agree with ange in so far that it's kinda ironic that this guy only has been able to throw those shoes and survive it because of the war he's hating this president for. Not defending the war or anything, just gleeing at the irony.

Though I have to think the whole act is kind of an insider joke, only people who know Middle-Eastern culture a bit would realize the significance, everyone else would just laugh. In my eyes this guy is just as bad as what he hates about Bush: he didn't really think through the results of his actions, he didn't think about the international impact but rather of the impact on his people, and most of all it was just him wanting to be presented as the glorious freedom fighter or whatever.

An amusing anecdote, not much more.

PS: Way to fuck up, secret service.