During a news conference at his surprise visit to Iraq, President Bush showed great reflexes by dodging a shoe thrown by an angry Iraqi journalist:
In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, a reporter stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurtling his shoes at Mr Bush, narrowly missing him.
"All I can report is a size 10," Mr Bush said according to the Associated Press news agency.
The shoe thrower was taken away by security guards and the news conference continued.
Correspondents called it a symbolic incident. Iraqis threw shoes and used them to beat Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad after his overthrow.
Link - Thanks Mark Storen!
Let the major "leave politics out you lefttards" bonanza begin. Cheers!
he deserves that from every country in the world
Seriously, those are some pretty good reflexes there for a 62-year-old.
to be honest i am sad that it missed :(
What is "neat" about this?
Neatorama was once a site where politics was left at the door. Once upon a time, a person could visit Neatorama and find all sorts of interesting things and politics was expressly verboten.
Guess times have changed, eh?
Having said that, let me ask:
I wonder if that Iraqi reporter would have attempted such when Saddam was in power?
If he had, then I wonder if he would have had his tongue cut out?
Would he have been placed in the wood chipper? Feet first? Or head first?
Would he have been bound and thrown off of a three story building?
Or would he have just disappeared in the night never to be seen or heard from again?
That darned freedom. It makes people do such strange things.
No, that reporter never would have done such when Saddam was in power. He wouldn't have had the courage.
Of course this reporter may not be smart enough to realize that without the steely eyed resolve of President Bush and the heroic efforts of the US military, he, along with 50 million or so of his countrymen, would suffer severe repercussions for such behavior.
Yes, tis neat to watch someone enjoy their their freedom of speech while lashing out against the very man who was key in helping secure it.
Let's see if Barack Obama can do half as well as Bush did -- he's neck deep in a corruption scandal and hasn't even been inaugurated yet!
Thanks for asking.
The next four are not going to be very great at all. You elected a corrupt and incompetent man because of his skin colour, and the consequences won't be pretty.
@Adam:
Nicely put.
@Chihuahua:
Yes, hurray for Democracy! Democracy for which hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqi citizens had to die. Democracy for which a whole country lies in ruins.
Don't get me wrong, I love democracy. However, it's not worth much if your dead.
This has neat written all over it. I don't care who the president is, some guy throwing a shoe at the president is wonderfully absurd. One of the great hallmarks of 'sillyness' is an 'upperclass' or stodgy person being assulted in a silly way (like a pie in the face of a Duchess, a prince falling in the mud, and, well, footware projectiles at presidents!)
What's more amusing is that anyone who disagrees with the template that the Iraq war was wrong is considered ignorant. The person calling others ignorant is the person who's post is full of typos and misspellings. Funny how that works, eh?
At least one leftist here believes that Democracy is not worth having if you have to die for it. Fortunately, that line of logic holds no water. If it did we would all be speaking the Queen's English or typing our posts in German or Japanese.
TB, how does that whole "steal their oil" idea work and when will it be implemented? I've got two big SUV's in my garage and I would love to know when gas will be 50 cents per gallon again. Let me know please.
Also, I'd really like to know what the "lies" were and who told them because I've seen a whole lot of evidence to support the original reasons for the invasion.
Finally TB, I looked over this site rather closely and have been unsuccessful at determining your ownership here. Until you can authenticate your position of authority, Evil Pundit and I will stay put. While I appreciate your invitation, someone's got to stick around here to keep you honest.
I would agree there's more political freedoms now and that deserves recognition. But as for the issue of whether democracy is worth having if you have to die for it. That's a choice that only the Iraqi people had the right to make. It's their country and their lives. Even assuming that the war was fought mainly for the sake of spreading democracy (dubious), we did force the decision on them for better or worse and clearly some of them are sore at the way things turned out.
Let's not ruin this perfectly neat demonstration of Bush's keen spidey senses. I kind of feel bad for the guy, but at least he handled the follow-up questions well.
Maybe we should get the heads of all countries on some sort of a stand and have shoe-dodging contests. It could be included in the Olympics. The Head-Of-State Shoe Dodge.
Now thats entertainment.
Try actually being an Iraqi or how about the 1,284,105 Iraqi civilians slaughtered because of your beautiful idea of democracy and spreading it to all of the world.
Oh, don't forget the oppression the Iraqis are feeling right now because the U.S. presence and the extremely corrupt government that murders and oppresses anyone who stands against it.
Stop listening to your bullcrap propaganda that you hear on your lovely news and how you guys have achieved great progress and the Iraqi people are happy because of U.S. policies and occupation.
Go look at how many ING and IPs last month have died because the U.S. now sending them out instead of themselves. Don't forget the Sahwas either or "awakeners" that have died last month.
Just because U.S. soldier deaths have decreased doesn't mean you've made progress. Go and see what is really happening rather than regurgitate what you heard on the news.
Your posts were like some sun in the darkness of the leftists normal lies. I imagine they and their ilk will all be deliriously happy once the terrorist loving anti America Communist takes over. Oh I forgot, leftists despise the truth.
God help us all!
Factor by which an Iraqi in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime: 3.6
Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be violence: 120
Chance that an Iraqi has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war: 1 in 6
Percentage of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4
Percentage change since 2000 in US emigration to Canada: +79
Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37
Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country too under Stalin: 37
As to the posters above who give that worn-out argument re: "liberating" the peole of Iraq from Saddam. Ask yourself-- Why is it that in regards to non oil-rich areas of the world (read: Darfur), Bush and his govt. have done absolutely nothing to end the oppression, suffering and genocide?
So many American soldiers' lives lost in the name of greed. Let's all throw our shoes.
You reveal much about yourself simply by quoting numbers from the repeatedly debunked Lancet study.
Good try on the rest of your drivel too, but those of us who are paying attention are not fooled.
Alex,
Link the Harper's article please. I'd like to read it.
the Lancet survey claiming -- 654,965 (392,979-942,636)--
ORB survey claiming 900,000-1.2 million dead
IBC saying 93,000
and WHO and Iraqi Ministry of Health saying 100,000-220,000
Fooled by what?
Saying that Iraqis don't really want U.S. occupation there. Crimes of the ING and IP. Do you not believe them? Go look at videos of themselves, they proudly admit it and show it off, beating old men and children because they are Sunni rather than Shia,destroying mosques of the Sunnis. These aren't "death squads" these are IPs and the ING. Go there you see 10 ft walls separating neighborhoods segregating all neighborhoods from each other.
But don't believe me. For internet arguments go nowhere for the ignorant will stay ignorant even in the face of truth. You and the general public will believe you are doing good fighting the Mujahideen all over the world claiming you will rid the world of all "extremist" Muslims and have only pro-west murtad, and munafiqeen Muslims while your country slowly bleeds to death economically as the USSR did, as you keep making the mistakes they did.
I'm not big on Bush, but that is an excellent dodge and a worthwhile response. I'm surprised he managed to come up with that joke. Good for him.
The one other memorable thing that Bush did was to reassure the entire country after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. I mean before the whole Iraq business. He was, for at least one point in his career, a leader.
Of course if anyone is interested in the facts, the guy chucking shoes was an Egyptian "reporter". (Like they have a free press)
BTW, Iraqi deaths have been tracking downwards significantly post surge.
A majority of Iraqis citizens generally approve of what we did for their country, and have a high expectation things will get better. They want us out, but not yet.
On to Afghanistan. At least with a Dem at the helm, we will hopefully start to hear about the good things we are doing...
And at least the Nazis made the trains run on time ....
Heck, the Jews even got to ride them for free!
It was Mussolini who made the trains run on time.
Also, the Jews didn't ride for free, most paid with their lives.
And you just proved Godwin's law which makes you an idiot.
I for one find this neat because I love Austin Powers and it looks like I am not the only one. Here is a great parody of what I actually seen in my head when I seen bush get a shoe thrown at him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db3HsIjqavY
"Who throws a shoe, honestly?" Classic!
but would like to say that any person who would have feelings and care for the human beings would be ready to do such a thing.that journalist knew the circumstances but were man enough to stand for the goodness.
A REMINDER,
bush said that he is bringing war on iraq because of WMD, not because he wanted to bring freedom to the people of iraq.now that things went wrong, he just changed his words. poor those who are badly affected by the media controlled by bush administration and some israeli's chairholders.
feeling pity for those who cant distinguish between right and wrong.
do you guys think that killing 1 million people worth such a thing?
"Don't taze me Bro'"
Ah, such leftist brilliance! Let us live in servitude instead, right?
So much for "give me liberty or give me death".
pure Genius.
You Americans forget that "the good guy" Mr. Bush has been the ENEMY in that conflict AGAINST the "evil" Iraq. Why would Hussein punish a shoe- attack against the enemy?
Go GW!
@57 Pete. They didn't go in there for 'democracy' or 'nation-building'. Don't remember the Anthrax/Powell thing? Or the 45minutes to drop a rocket on London?
100,000 plus dead people...damn those ragheads are ungrateful.
I assume from your spelling you are English. If so
the next time you come begging for help to save your country from the next Kaiser or Nazi I think the U.S. should tell you to go straight to Hell. Typical anti America BS. Spout all sorts of lies until their
butt is in a sling then who do they come to for help?
How much American blood was shed in two world wars
for your despicable sorry ass?
I can understand the sympathy you might have for the welfare of the Iraqi people, but something tells me living under a tyranny would not make you all that comfortable yourself. Do not summarily dismiss it as being acceptable for others.
How would you feel if a bomb was dropped on your wedding, killing and injuring all your loved ones? Would you feel more "free"?
And when you tried to leave to go to an adjoining state, guards at the road block shot and maimed you?
How would you like Mount Rushmore to be leveled to make an airfield for the bombers?
And then the invading army set up residence in the White House?
Then the USA was bombed for years with cancer-causing depleted uranium?
Would you be enjoying "freedom", as defined by the culture of the invading county?
Or would you feel like your country got raped?