Dec 14th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Shoe Toss
Iraqi journalist tosses shoes at George W. Bush:
Some people got very upset when I said I thought throwing pie at Tom Friedman was funny, but I’m having trouble coming up with appropriately humorless language with which to express my fake outrage at this incident. Instead, a flashback to April 2003:
Iraqis had begun tearing down portraits of Saddam and throwing shoes — a grave insult in the Arab world — and chipping away at the base of the statue with sledgehammers after a column of Marines advanced into the square Wednesday afternoon.
Is it possible that there’s a region somewhere where throwing shoes is a compliment?
63 Responses to “Shoe Toss”
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December 14th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
And all I can think of is that scene in Austin Powers:
“Who throws a shoe? Honestly.”
the end of our national farce
December 14th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I think they meant “a grave insult” as opposed to “totally random”. Josh at TPM made the good point that not to second guess someone else doing their jobs, but um, where were the Secret Service? If you watch the video it does seem to take quite a long time for anyone burly to show up. Also, why are people allowed to wear shoes in the same room as the president if we have to take them off before getting on a plane? And that’s really all the outrage I can muster about this.
Oh, and you know this dude is never going to have to buy his own drink ever again, anywhere in all the Arab world and much of the rest of it.
December 14th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I must admit I also thought the incident was funny. Like Josh Marshall however I was also impressed with Bush’s quick response. Great evasive work on his part without expending lots of energy. I’ve trained in Martial Arts for a number of years and let me tell you he did quite well. He was also quick to respond to the second shoe, a more subtle duck with the hand up. I really hate Bush because of the damage he has done. But good job on this! His comments of course afterwards were stupid.
December 14th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Shrubby will probably claim he was under “enemy fire” and demand a combat medal.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I have a somewhat meaningless question: I wonder if the shoe thrower intended to throw the second shoe all along? As the CNN person says, he threw them “one after the other.” But he had to reach down for the second shoe after Bush’s impressive evasive maneuver. And the second throw wasn’t nearly as forceful and on target as the first.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Oh, and you know this dude is never going to have to buy his own drink ever again, anywhere in all the Arab world and much of the rest of it.
They don’t drink in the Arab world. Unless you meant tea. And that’s assuming Maliki’s goons don’t whack this guy.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
High-profile shoe attacks aren’t anything new.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I’d forgotten about that Austin Powers scene. Someone at the link you provided, Angry Sam, did a quick edit that is extremely funny.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I read that with the first shoe the journalist made the kiss the dog goodbye statement. The second shoe was for the widow, orphans, and Iraqi dead.
Knowing he would be beaten and perhaps killed, the man must have been overwhelmed with disgust. Why shouldn’t he be?
December 14th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
What are the nuances here? Is it the throwing of the shoe(s) that is the insult? Is the insult compounded if the shoe hits its target, or is a direct hit just injury added to insult?
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the guy.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Honestly? I am not outraged but I don’t feel the tiniest urge to laugh. Josh Marshall also has an interseting post on this.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
William Kristol also took a pie to the face. Not that I want to encourage pastry terrorism, but the link to it on youtube is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDEoLJGyCAo
December 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I think the more the world sees this fiasco being seen as “Bush invaded Iraq,” instead of “America invaded Iraq,” the better it is for Americans.
I think a “Our mothers taught us all it’s very bad to throw shoes. And wow, Iraq may be the one country where Bush’s approval rating is lower than it is in New Orleans” is probably the right kind of response.
Inasmuch as we can express a “yes, we hate him, too,” sentiment instead of getting caught up in faux outrage on shoe throwing (seriously, nobody over the age of three thinks that’s an acceptable way to express anger at someone, do we really have to listen to Fox News spent 23 hours pretending there’s some confusion on this?), it’s good for America, because it makes the mistakes of the past 8 years Bush’s mistakes, not every individual American’s mistakes. Which makes them much easier for us to reverse direction on and correct.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I, like a lot of people, was impressed by Dubya’s reflexes. But seriously, should we be surprised by Bush’s talent to dodge things? He’s had a lifetime of practice.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Seriously, GW gets the Patches O’Houlihan award for that dodge. That guy is lucky it wasn’t Cheney. The Vice President would have caught the shoe and thrown it back at him.
December 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
They don’t drink in the Arab world.
Pre-invasion Baghdad had more bars per capita than NYC.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:09 am
When the Iraqis learn to throw pies instead of shoes then we will know that our work there is truly done.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I bet we see some copycats, some more serious than others. Watch for the shoe-throwing meme to endure a while.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:51 am
If people confuse a few different traditions, they might throw shoes at the bride and groom.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Well, feet to the head are considered a huge, huge insult, one of the gravest insults one can deliver in the Arab World/Islam. Saddam had Bush’s face tiled onto the floor of one of his palaces in order to express this very insult everyday. Im not sure where it takes its roots in the arab world, but it was certainly edified in Islam where many hadiths specify the extreme displeasure in striking someone’s head, as it (may) contain religious knowledge.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:34 am
I wonder if the shoe thrower intended to throw the second shoe all along? As the CNN person says, he threw them “one after the other.” But he had to reach down for the second shoe after Bush’s impressive evasive maneuver. And the second throw wasn’t nearly as forceful and on target as the first.
Probably he figured he wouldn’t be able to get two tosses off. (Heh heh.) I would have assumed the Secret Service would have tackled him immediately after the first one, but I guess they’re not all that concerned about protecting a lame duck president.
December 15th, 2008 at 3:55 am
“Great evasive work on his part without expending lots of energy”
Obviously hunting with Cheney has improved his reflexes.
I just wondering if the brand of shoe will be as popular in the Arab world as Palin’s glasses are in America?
December 15th, 2008 at 4:29 am
It’s also a direct result of the common practice of US troops in Iraq to put their foot on the necks of detained Iraqis.
This of course just massively magnifies the insult of being detained for no reason in the first place.
And I agree, this was pathetic protection for Bush. If those shoes had something in them, he’d be considerably more of a “lame” duck President. The Secret Service is supposed to be watching people’s movements and faces in the crowd. This guy had to reach down and remove his shoes, assuming he hadn’t done it earlier. In any event, such a movement should have alerted the SS that something was wrong and they should have been moving barely he got his arm up to throw. He was pretty fast, so they probably couldn’t have stopped him entirely.
I am surprised they simply didn’t shoot him immediately.
But you can bet Bush gave them hell afterwards. Everybody on his duty list is probably going to be stationed in the “busting teenage hackers” cyber division of the SS from now on.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I too am always amused by the Arab Experts who patiently explain to the rest of us how shoe-throwing is insulting “in their culture”. We are so lucky we have Arab Experts who are so learn-ed in this sort of information.
Personally I’m just glad the Secret Service got there when they did. Any longer and I can only assume the reporter would’ve thrown his purse next. Then his lipstick, then his compact….
December 15th, 2008 at 6:52 am
This is of course about the worst insult imaginable in the Arab world. Shoes, like your left hand, are unclean, and for much the same reason.
I personally see no harm in throwing shoes, tomatoes or eggs at public figures.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:37 am
It’s not just the Arab world, incidentally, where shoes are considered gravely polluting- Hindu Indian culture is similar in this regard. About ten years ago there was a big firestorm in India when a statue of the great Dalit leader Ambedkar was dishonored by having a garland of shoes placed around his neck.
Alcohol is, of course, permitted among Christian Arabs, although not among the more observant Muslims. Doesn’t Iraq have some unique alcoholic drinks of its own, ‘arak’ or something like that?
December 15th, 2008 at 8:15 am
You know what’s an insult? Throwing a hand grenade at someone.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Iraq rally for Bush shoe attacker
BBC News – 50 minutes ago
Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.
I knew there was something about Iraqis I liked.
You watch, that journalist will end up running the government.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:17 am
[insert Max Boot joke here]
December 15th, 2008 at 9:17 am
If only US journalists showed half that much bravery during the past 8 years.
W’s popularity has sunk so low it takes two shoes to rouse the Secret Service from their slumber.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
“Is it possible that there’s a region somewhere where throwing shoes is a compliment?”
Yes. The Solomon Islands. You can look it up.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am
So some iraqi journalists apologized to Bush for the behavior of their colleague. Does that ever happen when some conservative gets pied by some nut at a college? If not,
US elite college students look pretty bad by comparison.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:37 am
My dislike for Bush knows no bounds, but I’m not at all happy that some jerkoff reporter thinks he can get away with attempting to injure the President of the United States or any world leader for that matter.
Bush: 1
Shoe-thrower: 0
December 15th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Angry Arab has been noting the idiotic meme that show-throwing is somehow a uniquely Arab insult for years: http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
seriously, nobody over the age of three thinks that’s an acceptable way to express anger at someone
*raises hand*
I think it’s a perfectly acceptable way to express anger at someone who’s responsible for deaths numbering in the hundreds of thousands. In itself, pretty much anything would be, I think. At some point, e.g. if it had been a hand grenade, the danger of the martyr effect and other political considerations make the throw a bad idea. But the only arguments I can think of against throwing shoes are premised on the idea that we ought to have some respect towards Bush, for the sake of politeness, or dialogue, or his office, or whatever. Fuck that. I’m just going to laugh, with my happiness marred only by the wish that Bush hadn’t managed to duck.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I read that with the first shoe the journalist made the kiss the dog goodbye statement. The second shoe was for the widow, orphans, and Iraqi dead.
Knowing he would be beaten and perhaps killed, the man must have been overwhelmed with disgust. Why shouldn’t he be?
Is this true? Seriously is this true or just a guess? In Saddam’s police state he would have been taken out back and shot.
Anyone watch the HBO miniseries House of Saddam? I thought the guy who played Uday did a good job, as did the guy who played Saddam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uday_Hussein
December 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Wow, I can’t believe that anyone who has had to put with Bush for 8 years is outraged at the harmless gesture of having a shoe thrown at him. After all that he has done to screw the world, a shoe should just be the beginning. Hopefully, tomatoes and cabbage come next. The man gave up the concept of dignity or respect many years ago.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
You arab (small letters intentional) can all go to hell. You have no concept of freedom and would not begin to understand it, even if it were to smack you in the face. You do not deserve to be free. I am truly sorry we ever tried to help you. Our efforts are obviously wasted. Eat your sand and your oil. If your world is the “Cradle of Civilization”, then we are all doomed. I hope you are doomed before me. You deserve it.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Wow. My favorite line here is, “You do not deserve to be free.” A journalist being angrey enough at Bush to throw a shoe = All Arabs being undeserving of freedom.
I liked the “smack you in the face” bit too. Works with the flying shoe motif.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Join The Million Shoe March
The net is just full of comedy about the really big shoe this morning. Old one-liners that refer to shoes are being recycled everywhere to good effect, and a few Republican Patriots are weighing in with steel-toed jackboots of their own. Stiletto heels for Condoweezie? LMAO!
But here’s the real punch line: let’s all send Bush a shoe or two for Christmas. Here’s the address:
President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Extra props for manure-encrusted farm boots lolz.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
“seriously, nobody over the age of three thinks that’s an acceptable way to express anger at someone”
That’s true. Historically speaking the well-accepted method of dealing with political opponents–particularly violent invaders–is to kill them. Of course, we live in a “civilized” era and so we can expect that anonymiss would disapprove of that too. After all, as anonymiss says “we hate him, too” but these Arabs should know, mere politics is nothing to come to blows over (as we blow away their country). Don’t they see how our opposing senators smile and chat when together in the Capitol elevator?
Anonymiss is a good liberal, which is to say, a feckless person; for him, for most of you, violence is something that shouldn’t be seen, done to those who can’t be seen (Iraqis).
December 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
That’s true. Historically speaking the well-accepted method of dealing with political opponents–particularly violent invaders–is to kill them. Of course, we live in a “civilized” era and so we can expect that anonymiss would disapprove of that too. After all, as anonymiss says “we hate him, too” but these Arabs should know, mere politics is nothing to come to blows over (as we blow away their country). Don’t they see how our opposing senators smile and chat when together in the Capitol elevator?
Are you going to be saying the same thing about Obama and Afghanistan in January, Mr. Anonymous?
Actually, Iraqis on all sides of the sectarian spectrum did a good job of violently cleansing other relgious/ethinc groups. This is not to blame Iraqis per se as “uncivilized”. After a decade of “sanctions plus Saddam”, Iraq was devasted. This is what Bush and his advisors criminally failed to take account of, as looting ran rampant after Saddam was toppled, for example.
Also Iraq resistance and Al Qaeda in Iraq killed a lot of coaltion soldiers with roadside bombs, etc, along with bombing the UN compoud, killing UN workers, etc. So there was violent resistance.
But then there was the Surge and now Afghanistan is worse than Iraq. Will Obama surge in Afghanistan?
December 15th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
It’s not clear to me what the relation is between what you’ve written and what I’ve said, but I do find a shred of commonality between you and anonymiss on this:
“This is what Bush and his advisors [sic] criminally failed to take account of…”
Or the crime was invading, killing by itself tens of thousands and setting in motion events that killed hundreds of thousands more. Of course I follow the Nuremberg principle which asserts that unprovoked aggression is “the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” Likely you don’t and so feel no responsibility.
But all of that to me is just symptomatic of the same decadence of mind that envelops anonymiss: an inability to take violence seriously, death dealing seriously–you think Bush’s problem was invading country inefficiently, but see shoe throwing as out of bounds.
And your reasoning that “what of Obama in Afghanistan” is some sort of gotcha for me is only the more illuminating.
December 15th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Is this true? Seriously is this true or just a guess? In Saddam’s police state he would have been taken out back and shot.
Bush wins the ethics competition with Saddam. Whoopie-doo. Aren’t you setting the bar a bit low?
And screw the idea that he should be respected because of his office. Ancient Chinese Confucian philosophy had a useful approach to that problem, in laying down that an office of honor and respect demands an occupant who behaves in an honorable and respectable way. Otherwise, he has in effect abandoned his position and only holds it as an illegitimate usurper, in which case anything goes. As Mencius remarked of one tyrant who came to a sticky end, “I’ve heard they killed a robber and a murderer. I didn’t hear anything about killing a true king.”
December 15th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
But all of that to me is just symptomatic of the same decadence of mind that envelops anonymiss: an inability to take violence seriously, death dealing seriously–you think Bush’s problem was invading country inefficiently, but see shoe throwing as out of bounds.
I don’t blame the guy for throwing the shoe, Iraq is still a wreck, and I admire Bush for dodging it and laughing it off. Saddam Hussein would have had the guy taken out back and shot.
I just don’t think you take death dealing seriously when it is perpertrated by foreign governments or groups. They are just not relevant in your mind. I just can’t callously dismiss, say, genocide in Darfar or Rwanda or Bosnia, and say “tough shit for them but I’m just happy the US isn’t invading them for oil, conscience is clear.” Who am I to judge foreigners???
sunsin: “Bush wins the ethics competition with Saddam. Whoopie-doo. Aren’t you setting the bar a bit low?”
I thought Saddam “wan’t that bad”… I think it’s a relative metric. Before you couldn’t throw shoes, now you can. To me it says how clueless some were/are about Iraq.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Sunsin,
I’m sure that Mencius said it. More relvantly for me, Aquinas said it in almost exactly identical words. That a human law that contravenes the natural law is invalid, and that a ruler that rules for his own good and not the common good is perforce not a true ruler at all, and therefore need not be obeyed (under St. Paul’s admonition to obey the secular powers), and that overthrowing an unjust ruler does not fall under the species of sedition.
No discredit to Mencius, but there was a time when one could expect that intelligent political debaters would all have some passing familiarity with the doctors of the church. Sadly, that day is no more, and today fashionable political debaters like Mr. Yglesias rreference ‘The Simpsons’ and Bill Maher rather than people like Plato and St. Augustine.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Am I the only one who feels this thread has become ridiculous?
December 16th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Laughing at the crazy journalist’s antics does nothing but insult your country and your president. Philosophical references to Mencius and Aquinas sound intelligent but are not grounded in reality. Maybe you should read a little Gibbon for a dose of man’s treatment of man. You’ld gain a better understanding of what we’re up against. The world is a cruel place and for all our technicalogical advances humanity is rooted in it’s basic instincts. Fortunately for all American’s, President Bush has kept the barbarians at bay since 9/11. Right now, most of your self-loathing is putting you in lock step with al-queda.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Allow me to end the thread on a high note:
Fuck Bush and the Party he rode in on.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:15 am
No, please let me — fuck you and the blog you rode in on.
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