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The Story Behind The Iraqi Journalist Bush Shoe Throwing Incident

Posted by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief in Media, Politics.
Dec 14th, 2008 | Comments

When George Bush was running for President, he was considered in terms of campaign contributions to be one of the most well-heeled candidates. Today’s big media sensation was a story about an Iraqi journalist who also tried to make Bush a well-soled President, by throwing shoes at him.

What was behind the incident? It now appears the journalist was living in a part of Iraq that impacted him and he just snapped. And the irony? In the end, GWB came out smelling…not like an old shoe at all..but like a rose due to the way he handled it and his quip afterward.

Here’s a news report that puts it into perspective and shows the incident:

Many people all over the world have wanted to lace into George Bush. This was the first time someone tried to shoe-lace into him.

THIS JUST IN: Here’s a detailed analysis of the shoe shot.

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StockBoySF

Yes, Bush did handle the incident very well. Now we have an actual example, on tape, of Bush handling something well!

elrod

Sorry, but however Bush handled the immediate aftermath, the incident may become a historic bookend to the Bush Presidency. There he is getting insulted in the worst possible place by the country he claims to have liberated. The fact that the only thing we can say in his defense was "Where was the Secret Service?", "He ducks pretty fast?" or "Nice joke about the Size 10?" shows how little sympathy the country feels for him

Mike_P

Awright, Joe, this post is a two-groaner! Well soled?! Groan. Shoe lace into him??!! Double groan! Too much time on the road, Joe. Put down that dummy and take a break!

StockBoySF

I rather liked the "two-groaners"!

elrod- I think the only other thing Bush could have done was duck, and stay ducked behind the podium, or he could have turned around and fled. I can imagine that if he had run away from a couple shoes being thrown at him (in Baghdad, where generally what is thrown is more lethal) he would have been a laughingstock. He would have been labelled a coward for not being able to stand his own ground when a couple shoes were thrown at him, after he sent hundreds of thousands of troops to war, thousands of which have died.

But your comment about the incident possibly becoming a historic bookend to his presidency got me to thinking... The journalist who threw the shoes at him might have meant it to be an insult, but Bush wasn't insulted. The insult with the shoes went right over his head... and he ducked, too! Both literally and figuratively. :) I think that's the apt metaphor.

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