Damn, so close, so close. This would never have happened if the TSA were screening these guys.
Found by Mister Justin
3
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C’mon. How blatant does liberal media bias have to get when they’re throwing shoes?
But the guy should have paid more attention to Obama’s Secretary of War, Robert Gates, announcing amid an 80% drop in violence and with further withdrawals of US forces in sight, the coalition in Iraq has reached the “endgame.” Mission accomplished, Bush.
RBG
To all those harping about respect:
Respect must be earned. Bush has earned none. Frankly, he deserves far worse than this.
He should have been impeached and incarcerated long ago.
Mister Mustard
All of those things you said are fine because they insult the man. Throwing a shoe at an acting president is an insult to the office because he is there AS President of the United States not George Bush the man. It is a fine distinction but it is there and it is important that we observe it.
# 11
It’s possible the shoe thrower wasn’t a journalist. I mean it’s not like the Secret Service is going to do more than search these people for LETHAL weapons, not shoes. But the first thing I thought is would it have been that easy to have a bomb in those shoes?
Considering how knee-jerk we are since 9/11 I wouldn’t be surprised if press conferences will be done shoeless from now on.
#63 – “J”
Well, it’s a pretty fine distinction indeed. Insulting the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran to his face when he’s visiting our country in his capacity as President is OK; tossing a stinky shoe at Bush is not. Maybe it’s too fine a distinction for me.
# 64 FRAGaLOT said, “It’s possible the shoe thrower wasn’t a journalist.”
Except he was, from Egypt.
Too bad Prez Bush didn’t catch one of the shoes in the air and take it back to the jerk and shove it down his throat. Saddam would have had the man thrown whole into a chipper in a public square and everybody would have been there in support of Fearless Leader Thug.
When performers become the target of thrown food and other objects, it isn’t their profession that’s being insulted, but their rotten performance in that profession. So it was with Bush. Other, less passionate reviewers of the president’s work might simply give him two thumbs down (while wishing for more thumbs).
According to more detailed news reports, the reporter intended the first shoe as a “farewell kiss” for Bush, and the second shoe was from all the widows, orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.
The president told ABC News, “The guy wanted to get on TV and he did.” Once again, all meaning went right over the president’s head.
#58 Terry, you and your kind are so full of crap it hurts. Take a vote in Iraq NOW to see how many would still want the ultra-genocidal THUG Saddam still in power. That would be the ULTIMATE REFUTATION of you moronic Bush bashers and islamorons.
Did ANY of the benevolent brotherhood of arabs bother to free their brethren from Saddam the Mass Murderer? No, NOT A SINGLE ONE of them raised one of their chickenshit fingers…lest it get cut off. Stick it, all of ya…and Merry Christmas!
#69–hey dipshit==WE don’t need a vote in Iraq. How about the same vote in the USA? In fact, I did see an interview of several Iraqi’s a year ago. They remembered and preferred the “stability” they knew under Sadam==ie, it all depends on who’s ox is getting gored.
How would you feel if a member of your family was killed by way of collateral damage from a CHICKENHAWK deserter like Bush?
I think a shoe is quite appropriate given its symbolism in that culture.
Bush===worse president in USA’s History. Details to follow and it will only get worse.
Shoe throw = Diversion.
Everybody crowd around the thrower.
Real assassin, elsewhere in the room: Easy shot.
That means we can take the Iraqi journalist outside and shoot him, right?
70 bobbo. Yeah, like the Iraqi Shi’ite majority thought forced war with Iran’s Shia was known as “stability.” Ditto the gassed Kurds. And Hussein’s son’s rape victims.
George W. Bush still holds the presidential record for the highest approval rating with 92% (10/8-9/2001).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_rating
Details to follow by historians after Iraq war “endgame” finishes up as per #60 above.
It probably would have ended sooner with far fewer dead but for all the “unwinnable war” encouragement given to the insurgents by liberals. Then again, maybe Obama’s Secretary of War is keeping the real truth from Obama & the American people.
RBG
#56. I’ve seen a guy throwing shoes, and I’ve seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib. You tell me who’s the “savage.”
#73 – RBG
>>George W. Bush still holds the presidential
>>record for the highest approval rating with
>>92% (10/8-9/2001).
That was right after 9/11, when the country was bouyed by the irrational exuberance of thinking that he would do something right for in his life.
Of course, he then went on to flush that down the toilet by garnering the LOWEST approval rating in history with his massive cock-up in Iraq.
Of course, it wasn’t ONLY his Iraqi cock-up, this brutal mishandling of Katrina, the FISA courts, Gitmo, the economy, and everything else were contributing factors as well.
However, when historians remember Dumbya’s legacy, the first thing to their minds will likely be “Iraqi cock-up”.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
#70
I’m sure some 1940 Germans would have said they loved Hitler because of the stability. Hussein gassed his own people. He killed people including many of his own family for political gain. To say that things were better under that tyrant is to look at those times with rose colored glasses.
As post #75 shows, the left have blamed Bush for all kinds of things that were not his doing. Katrina was a failure of the local and State governments. The issues with FISA were not clear and it is likely that Obama will take advantage of those gray areas. The people captured on the battlefield were soldiers with no country. There is precedence for incarceration of these types of soldiers as POWs instead of as common criminals and for this, Gitmo was well suited. Iraq is becoming more stable and if continues to do so as a democracy, Bush will be seen as a President that deposed a tyrant and fostered a democratic nation in the face opposition from his own country.
I’m not saying Bush is/was a great President. His track record on dealing with illegal immigration is abysmal. Still, history will put him in the middle of the pack. I have disagreed with many of decisions but I’m also not so deranged as to blame him for everything that is wrong in the country. Congress ALSO has had the worst approval ratings in history. Just as Clinton was helped by a quality Congress, so has Bush been hurt by a bunch of clowns.
My new American Hero, an Iraq with shoes as big as his balls. Modern TV watching Americans have such tiny feet.
Hurray for freedom of speech. Let this freedom ring bigger and louder then the feelings of some office holding toad.
Something else I can’t stand about Stupid republicans, they always like to quote “DANCE WITH THE ONE THAT BROUGHT YOU”.
Well American manufacturing prowess and our constitution is what brought us over 200 years of prosperity.
Are the dumb-ass republicans building up or tearing down American manufacturing prowess and our constitution??
#73. “It probably would have ended sooner with far fewer dead but for all the “unwinnable war” encouragement given to the insurgents by liberals.”
the people who promoted the war (using a false pretext that ensured political support would eventually fail), who ‘planned’ (pardon the euphemism here) the occupation, who sent GOP party hacks to run the CPA, who disbanded the Iraqi Army, who did not send enough troops to secure Iraq’s cities and borders, who did not provide them with enough body armor or armored vehicles, who pretended there was no insurgency (“a few dead-enders”) until it was well-entrenched …
and so on.
no, the prolonged and bloody war in Iraq is not their fault.
no, it was the people opposed to all of the above.
thanks for the Big Lie.
#76 – Thomas.
No, no, no.
>>Katrina was a failure of the local and State
>>governments.
Well the, why was Brownie sticking his nose in? Just so he could hear “heckuva job, Brownie” as his federal agency totally botched the managing of an emergency? That’s why they call it FEMA, you know. They’re supposed to manage emergencies.
>>The issues with FISA were not clear
Sure they were. There was a FISA court that would rubber stamp just about anything that was put in front of them. And if time was of the essence, the Feds could wiretap now, get a warrant rubber stamped later. That wasn’t enough for Dumbya’s henchmen though. They didn’t want to explain anything to anybody. Ever. Draw your own conclusions.
>>and it is likely that Obama will take
>>advantage of those gray areas.
I haven’t heard what the grey areas are yet. But if you mean warrantless wiretapping, spying on Americans with no good reason, and stuff like that, I will be very disappointed in Obama if he does. If I had any reason to think that he would, I wouldn’t have voted for him.
>>The people captured on the battlefield were
>>soldiers with no country.
“the battlefield”? What battlefield? You mean like when they captured US native José Padilla on the battlefield in Chicago? And held him in a torture camp for 3 1/2 years, before they decided he was a regular old criminal, tried him, and sent him off to jail? Or do you mean the innocent ones who never get a trial, they just sit there rotting, being waterboarded, tortured, until we win the “war on terror”?
>>There is precedence for incarceration of
>>these types of soldiers as POWs instead of as
>>common criminals and for this, Gitmo was well
>>suited.
Where? North Korea? North Vietnam? The Gulag Archipelago? Auschwitz?
>>Iraq is becoming more stable
It is? Last I heard, it was still pretty much under lockdown. Maybe not the same unchained bloodshed as at the height of Dumbya’s war, but still pretty bad.
>>Still, history will put him in the middle of
>>the pack.
Jesus, I hope not. That would require that the next 43 presidents be shittier than Dumbya. That’s a pretty low bar to limbo under, no matter HOW incompetent and evil the aspirant.
Those of you who suggested that our President deserved an assault–shame on you. That includes you John.
#80
>>Those of you who suggested that our President
>>deserved an assault–shame on you.
Who suggested that?
>>That includes you John.
He didn’t even post anything in this thread.
#79–Mustard, I think it more than I say it on these left of center issues: well done. Good mixture of fact and attitude.
Too bad the jingoists have nothing but slogans.
#79
Again MM, you show that you are a fanatic.
RE: Katrina
It was the mayor of NO and the governor that didn’t do dick to get those people out of there. It was both of them and the string of corrupt bozos before them that did not have a real contingency plan in place. It was years of siphoning most of the Army Corp of Engineer money on something other than preventing the city from going under water. It was the mayor’s police that bugged out when the going got tough. It was the governor who was unreachable in order to get authorization to bring in military troops. Compare that situation to the flooding in Iowa where the city and state had a disaster plan in place. When the 1994 Northridge earthquake hit, FEMA were incompetent bozos. Nothing changed. The difference is that the local and State governments had their act together. While FEMA performed poorly, that entire fiasco should be blamed squarely on the shoulders of the people of NO and Louisiana for continually electing corrupt bozos.
RE: FISA
Actually, no. FISA said nothing about when the country was at war and it is already the case that the President can wiretap foreign nationals on foreign soil whenever he wishes. Lincoln regularly spied on Americans in the North that were suspected of being Southern sympathizers and the country was not officially at war (No Congressional declaration nor AUMF equivalent).
RE: POWs
Read up on the Civil War. It was common for Southerners to be detained (not arrested), given a military tribunal and then thrown into a POW camp and the country was not officially at war. Jose Padilla is an exception on which I whole heartedly agree but he is an exception. The vast majority of the people in Gitmo are not US citizens and were not arrested on US soil.
RE: Iraq
If Iraq is under lockdown, then that would still be better than the fear zone under Saddam. It turns out that *some* parts of the country are still on high alert but most of the country is not.
#83–Thomas: you say:
1. “It was the mayor of NO and the governor that didn’t do dick” /// While true, Bush and his minions also did dick or oft time worse than dick as they turned away “unauthorized” rescue efforts while securing poisoned trailers at inflated prices. When “EVERYONE INVOLVED FAILED” it is only partisan bias that spews forth limiting causation to less than everyone. You post nekkid before us==not a pretty sight.
2. It is clear FISA has nothing to say about foreigners in foreign land or the Lincoln Presidency. So, now, TRY TO BE RELEVANT/RATIONAL and tell us how FISA is unclear OR how Bush showed anything other than unbounded hubris in violating its provisions OR how FISA fails to provide any flexibility that is needed?
3. Civil War POW’s BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR????? WTF fantasy are you referring to? Do you have even a single Padilla type example??? From memory, about 80,000 folks were rounded up and detained after 911 for questioning. Some got renditioned overseas. One got punched by the FBI agents when they found out he was completely innocent for being difficult in demanding his rights. Yes, we are no 1939 Germany, but no example of respecting the Constitution in times of stress either.
4. Iraq. I do wonder what happens when we stop paying all sides not to fight. Haven’t formed a conclusion, just wondering.
Thomas, like too many intelligent people, ((like Mustard in fact)) you fail to take correction. Fail to make a losing argument “better” if not abandoned. You can do better.
#83 – Thomas
>>It was the mayor of NO and the governor that
>>didn’t do dick to get those people out of
>>there.
And it was Brownie and Dumbya’s band of fools that didn’t do dick for years to follow.
We’re not rating the mayor of NO or the governor. They may not have done dick, but FEMA CERTAINLY didn’t do dick. I’m suprised Dumbya didn’t give Brownie a Presidential Medal of Freedom for the dick that he didn’t do. And if the role of FEMA is not to do dick, why are we paying their salaries?
If that’s the case (re: FISA), then why were Dumbya’s panties all in a twist when all he had to do was follow the laws as they stood? Why insist on the right to wiretap anyone, anywhere, without ever being held accountable, even after the fact? Kinda makes you think he had something to hide, doesn’t it? Oh well. Maybe when ‘berto Gonzo is indicted, all will be made clearer to us.
RE: POWs Lincoln suspended habeas corpus too. Would you like Dumbya to have had that power? Christ, he’s already used the Constitution as a piece of toilet paper. And regardless of where Gitmo prisoners are from, and where they were arrested, that gives no cause to treat the Geneva Convention with the same disrespect Dumbya treats the Constitution. The standing of America in the world’s eyes went into the crapper with his policy of endless internment and government-sanctioned torture.
Re: Iraq “some” and “most” are pretty subjective terms there, Thomas. If the goal was to take out Saddam, we could have done that for $900 with a sniper. Sheeeit, the whole family could have been put six feet under for a couple of thou.
The bottom line remains, when history books write up Dumbya, they won’t be kind. And a large reason for that will be his monumental bungling of his trophy war in Iraq.
#83
RE: Katrina
The evidence that the local and State governments were the single greatest source of the Katrina fiasco is irrefutable. How is it that every other State does not have a city wiped out by a natural disaster in the manner of Katrina? Category 5 hurricanes hit Florida all the time. How is it that a fiasco like Katrina had not happened to them? Tornadoes hit the midwest all the time. Yet those cities do not rely on the Federal government being the one and only source of aid. Every single city and State, even before Katrina, should assume that any help they get from FEMA is a bonus. They need to be responsible to their own citizens.
I never said “everyone” failed. I said the voters that elected corrupt politicians over decades that did nothing to help prepare the city and State for a real disaster are to blame. Like I said, not Bush’s fault.
RE: FISA
Actually, my response was quite relevant. It is already the case, WITHOUT FISA, that the President can spy on foreign nationals in foreign countries or at home in peace or at war. It is not clear that when the country is at war whether the President can spy on potential threats in the US even if those threats are US citizens. It was done during WWII and during the Civil War.
RE: Civil War
Who said anything about “before” the Civil War. I said DURING the Civil War. Southern sympathizers were regularly thrown into POW camps after having a military tribunal even if they were found in the North. To make it really clear, American citizens were summarily arrested by the government and thrown into POW camps without full due process as afforded by the Constitution and the country was not officially at war.
RE: Padilla
Padilla is the exception to the rule where I agree that the government went too far. They arrested a US citizen and threw out his rights. However, as I said he is the exception. The vast majority of people that were sent to Gitmo were foreigners fighting a war without a country.
I am more than willing to change my position when a compelling argument to the contrary is made. I’ve seen none that would justify blaming Bush for Katrina. Frankly, I think that the wiretapping is small potatoes to the Military Commissions Act of 2006. If you want to place actually blame on abrogation of rights, that is where it should be directed.
#85
In general, the Geneva Convention does not apply to soldiers with no country. There is no host country to coordinate rights, prisoner swaps etc.
> If the goal was to take out Saddam
> , we could have done that for
> $900 with a sniper
Actually, we did try on numerous occassions to do just that. The military did everything they could to pin point his location and hit his hotel, bunker etc. I remember at one point we hit a hotel we thought he was at and flattened and entire block and got one of his lieutenants but not him. He was more elusive than you give him credit.
> Sheeeit, the whole family
> could have been put six feet
> under for a couple of thou.
Well, Saddam did that for us. He killed a large number of his own family.
Bush DESERVES a bag of CRAP to be thrown at him for signing this agreement as a lame duck, instead of letting the next president sign it, since he’s the one who has to work with it. What a jerk.
If Iraq becomes a stable nation, there are respected historians who already are saying that Bush’s presidency with respect to Iraq will be judged positively. With 80% of the violence eliminated, with the end game in progress and the planned troop withdrawals, with continued Democrat support for Bush’s Iraq War architect; seems this could happen.
RBG