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I can't believe there isn't a thread about this. My computer is messed up so I can't open another window, but check the front page of CNN.
An Iraqi journalist threw both his shoes at President Bush during his visit to the country. Bush ducked underneath both of them with surprising deftness.
I think the best part of the entire video was the look on Bush's face during the whole encounter. He had this goofy grin that was either "hey this is fun!" or "what, that's the best you got?" Or maybe both.
That's the most entertaining thing I've seen in a long time.
posted
I believe Bush said it's like a political protest back home. Or someone else did. (Except, you know, that there was blood and the journalist hasn't been seen and his editor is calling for the international press to band together to make sure the security forces don't kill him.)
I thought he took it rather well. He was even making corny jokes about shoes and soles and such.
I think this coming during his "Lame Duck" period makes him a little more laid back about it than he might have been otherwise.
It's good to see his sense of humor, we don't get to see that a lot from him.
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But as Jon Stewart pointed out last week- this is not exactly the right time for levity, and it's a little embarrassing to have a lame duck president that actually resembles a lame duck. And Bush has never been one to know what the right time for anything was.
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I was pretty impressed with his reflexes at ducking, for his age and all. I probably wouldn't have moved that fast. In the video also, SS people jump up toward the President, as if to usher him away, and you see him hand-signal them to just back off - it's okay.
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: I was pretty impressed with his reflexes at ducking, for his age and all. I probably wouldn't have moved that fast.
He's probably ready to have things thrown at him by now.
quote:In the video also, SS people jump up toward the President, as if to usher him away, and you see him hand-signal them to just back off - it's okay.
I'm guessing the Iraqi security on location are much more "pleasant" than Secret Service anyway.
Had he thrown anything at the Iraqi PM, he'd probably be dead before he hit the ground.
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: I was pretty impressed with his reflexes at ducking, for his age and all. I probably wouldn't have moved that fast.
Those shoes weren't exactly lightly tossed either.
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I was actually asking a question of a secret service agent yesterday evening, and he used "throwing a shoe at the president" as an example. I hadn't yet heard about this event yet, so didn't realize it wasn't just a hypothetical (he also used it alongside the example of an Al Qaeda attack, which was hypothetical, so it wasn't an unreasonable thought).
Yeah, I was also surprised at the slow reaction to covering the president. I guess I've had my expectations set too high by how quickly they react to things (admittedly, bullets more often than shoes) when scripted on TV.
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: I was pretty impressed with his reflexes at ducking, for his age and all. I probably wouldn't have moved that fast.
You would have. Object avoidance is a brain-stem reflex, and requires no thinking.
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I'd have been way more impressed if he caught it and threw it back in one smooth motion. Bonus points if he posed dramatically and said, "Your kung-fu is weak, old man!"
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Papa Moose: I was actually asking a question of a secret service agent yesterday evening, and he used "throwing a shoe at the president" as an example. I hadn't yet heard about this event yet, so didn't realize it wasn't just a hypothetical (he also used it alongside the example of an Al Qaeda attack, which was hypothetical, so it wasn't an unreasonable thought).
Yeah, I was also surprised at the slow reaction to covering the president. I guess I've had my expectations set too high by how quickly they react to things (admittedly, bullets more often than shoes) when scripted on TV.
What was his shoe example? This sounds like an interesting story.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: I was pretty impressed with his reflexes at ducking, for his age and all. I probably wouldn't have moved that fast.
You would have. Object avoidance is a brain-stem reflex, and requires no thinking.
That joke's way too easy for this crowd...
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: I'd have been way more impressed if he caught it and threw it back in one smooth motion. Bonus points if he posed dramatically and said, "Your kung-fu is weak, old man!"
That would have been pretty awesome. And ensured that the war and economic meltdown were not what he was remembered for. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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though one report said that he waved off the SS...though it was hard to tell from the video I saw.
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I think there is a symbolic significants in 'shoes'. Arabs and Persians consider the foot the dirtiest part of the body, so showing you foot to anyone or brandishing a shoe at anyone is a deep insult. Like giving the finger in the USA, or similar gestures in Europe.
Apparently this particular journalist has be extremely critical of the American occupation of Iraq, and frequently signs of his news reports 'so-and-so reporting from occupied Bagdad'.
So, I think the gesture was meant more as a grave and deep insult to the President rather than any real attempt to harm him.
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