The Secret Service agent was fired for being a loafer.

How soleless do you have to be to attack a lame duck president?

Luckily, this situation was tied up rather quickly.

What a heel.

The would be assassin was a real sneaker.

He was probably a government mule.

It's good thing he didn't have a stiletto.

Man, the Secret Service really gave that guy the boot.

The reporter who threw the shoe is apparently Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was kidnapped a year ago.

Link (new window)

Quick, greenlight this before the queue becomes clogged..

I know that throwing shoes is a big insult in Iraq because I remember the Iraqis hitting the fallen statue of Saddam with their shoes.

But I don't know why it's such a big deal.

What does it signify?

kaminariko: I know that throwing shoes is a big insult in Iraq because I remember the Iraqis hitting the fallen statue of Saddam with their shoes.

But I don't know why it's such a big deal.

What does it signify?

OMG that's the first thing I thought of. Who knows what it means, but I remember when the statue of Saddam Hussein came down, all the guys there were hitting it with the bottoms of their shoes.

Maybe it means that you are lower than the sole of my shoe, dirt on the ground?

Lame duck ducks Iraqi criticism.

Who throws a shoe? Honestly.

i dunno id say he got off pretty lucky. the family members of the hundred thousand plus iraqi civis who've been killed as a result of his war would probably do a lil' more than throw shoes at this guy.

hell i know a fer marine corps families in pendleton who'd do the same.

The president shrugged and said "I'm OK" after the incident in Baghdad today. "All I can report is it is a size 10," Bush said.

It is sad that as far as I know this is the wittiest thing our president has said in 8 years.

kaminariko: What does it signify?

From Wikipedia:

In the Arab world: a gesture of contempt

In the Arab world, shoe flinging is a gesture of extreme disrespect. A notable occurrence of this gesture happened in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. When U.S. forces pulled down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, many Iraqi detractors of Hussein threw their shoes at the fallen statue.
This may be an ancient gesture from the Middle East; Psalms 60:10, speaking of some of the traditional enemies of Judah, says that "Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe...." (KJV)
The shoe represents the lowest part of the body (the foot) and displaying or throwing a shoe at someone or something in Arab cultures denotes that the person or thing is "beneath them." Showing the bottom of one's feet or shoes (for example, putting one's feet up on a table or desk) in Arab cultures is considered an extreme insult. Examples include Iraqi citizens smacking torn-down posters of Saddam Hussein with their shoes, and the depiction of President of the United States George H. W. Bush on a tile mosaic of the floor of the Al-Rashid Hotel's lobby, forcing all visitors entering the hotel to walk on Bush's face to enter the hotel.
During President George W. Bush's surprise visit to Iraq in December 2008, an Iraqi reporter threw shoes at him during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki.

The shoe-thrower, who was in a group of journalists, was wrestled to the ground and taken away.

That guy is a goner. poor bastard.

Linux_Yes: Bush is a shoe-in for being the worst U.S. President in 100 years ever.

ftfm

When evil is afoot, the righteous must toe the line.

Say it ain't so, Muntazer al-Zaidi!

kaminariko: I know that throwing shoes is a big insult in Iraq because I remember the Iraqis hitting the fallen statue of Saddam with their shoes.

But I don't know why it's such a big deal.

What does it signify?

it signifies that this guy has the freedom to express himself this way, without being later hauled off and being hung from meathooks, beaten, and have his toenails pulled off with pliers.

"It doesn't bother me," Bush told reporters. "So what if he threw a shoe at me." The president said it showed free speech in a democracy. Maliki said nothing about the incident, after which the two leaders signed the agreement

FTA

He's right about that. If anyone ever tried that with Saddam, every male in his family would have been cut in half within the hour and the females locked up for future raping.

I guess we'll see how Maliki handles it.

"It doesn't bother me," Bush told reporters. "So what if he threw a shoe at me." The president said it showed free speech in a democracy

sure moron, except that the Iraqis might democratically elect to screw America down the line. A free Iraq doesn't ensure American security.

the eidolon

Luckily, this situation was tied up rather quickly.


Knot!

Weaver95: The shoe-thrower, who was in a group of journalists, was wrestled to the ground and taken away.

That guy is a goner. poor bastard.

I'd imagine he'd probably have been roughed up pretty good if he were in this country and was throwing shoes at the president

Speaking of Iraq, did anybody read the article in the NYT about the unpublished article describing the fumbled rebuilding of Iraq?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/world/middleeast/14reconstruct.html?hp

Official History Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders

By JAMES GLANZ and T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
Published: December 13, 2008

"In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department "kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces - the number would jump 20,000 a week! 'We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.'"

...

" The history records how Mr. Garner presented Mr. Rumsfeld with several rebuilding plans, including one that would include projects across Iraq.

"What do you think that'll cost?" Mr. Rumsfeld asked of the more expansive plan.

"I think it's going to cost billions of dollars," Mr. Garner said.

"My friend," Mr. Rumsfeld replied, "if you think we're going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.""

...

"At the end of his narrative, Mr. Bowen chooses a line from "Great Expectations" by Dickens as the epitaph of the American-led attempt to rebuild Iraq: "We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us.""

They're going to sock it to this guy.

From_The_Year_2000: Weaver95: The shoe-thrower, who was in a group of journalists, was wrestled to the ground and taken away.

That guy is a goner. poor bastard.

I'd imagine he'd probably have been roughed up pretty good if he were in this country and was throwing shoes at the president

He'd be in court, that's for sure.

jeffwashingdc: "It doesn't bother me," Bush told reporters. "So what if he threw a shoe at me." The president said it showed free speech in a democracy

sure moron, except that the Iraqis might democratically elect to screw America down the line. A free Iraq doesn't ensure American security.

it's ok, the CIA will just overthrow the democratically elected government and install another bloody dictator.

/iran.

kaminariko: I know that throwing shoes is a big insult in Iraq because I remember the Iraqis hitting the fallen statue of Saddam with their shoes.

But I don't know why it's such a big deal.

What does it signify?

That the recipient is beneath one's feet, according to George Monger's Marriage Customs of the World. (new window)

So did the guy bring an extra pair of shoes, or did he take one off and then walk home all lopsided.

Was it pump action?

May the aglet soar with pride!

Bush is reported to have said:

That's not a shoe, this is a shoe!!!

I just came in here to say that I'm impressed with the president's reaction time.

At least Bush has a sense of humor about it, with the size 10 joke.

\wish I could throw my dirty socks at him

ollin: So did the guy bring an extra pair of shoes, or did he take one off and then walk home all lopsided.

I think Gitmo is more of a sandal kinda place anyways.

I submitted this as
"So long and thanks for the shoes"

No conspiracy here, he was the sole attacker.

kaminariko: What does it signify?

From Wikiraqi.com (no, really):

The 'insulting' meaning is due to the fact that shoes are dirty and dirt and dirty shoes are regarded something ugly or bad. Let's not forget that you wear off your shoes in front of rooms or mosques.

Just saw it on CBS. Sweet jeebus that was funny!

\missed by two feet

Bush: All I can report is that it is a size 10.

You decide to be witty now? NOW? I mean, that's actually a good one. All the words are in order and... you know... real.

President George W. Bush ducked two shoes thrown at him by an unidentified man during a press conference in the Iraqi prime minister's office...

In Arab culture, throwing shoes is a grave show of disrespect. The man shouted an Arabic phrase, which an Iraqi present said translated as "this is a farewell kiss, dog."

Bush has some farking gall, making a last visit to a country he managed to make worse after years of rule by a sadistic dictator. It's like a rapist sending flowers the next day.

I want to say "too bad those shoes weren't hand grenades". But there were probably a lot of innocents present, so I won't. And Bush doesn't deserve death, he deserves to see himself labeled the worst President the country ever had, and his legacy one of destruction, misery and ignorance. War crimes indictments preventing him from leaving the US would just be icing on the cake.

I hope this catches on back in the US, I'd like my chance to throw a shoe at Bush if I ever run into him.

I bet heel be booted from any future press conferences.

It's been reported Dana Perino received a black eye in the ensuing scuffle to wrestle the shoer down.

/wish she'd had her jaw taken out, like Coulter did recently.

All I can report is it is a size 10

Even though Bush re-defines the term douche, it's amusing that he at least he tries to have a sense of humor. I'd find it hard to shrug off the fact that im up there on the list of the most hated world leaders of all-time