It may be wrong but I thought the shoe thing was funny.

[ccharles000]

If bush did not fuck America up I might feel sorry for him.

[TomInTib]

1. I didn't think it was funny.

I thought it was fucking hilarious and totally appropriate.

But I wish the guy had a lower release point.

[Divine Discontent]

2. ccharles000! shame on you!

it wasn't funny, it was hysterical!

and why don't you come put that comment in one of the 20 other threads on this forum about it! ha

That reporter will probably get rich from doing this...

[RoseMead]

3. It WAS funny

Totally freaking hilarious.

But there will always be some people who don't see things the way I see them.

I believe the laughers are in the majority, however. :)

[AyanEva]

4. I LOL'd

HARD. This ttly made my entire day.

[Greybnk48]

5. It's about time someone treated him like the cur he is.

I'v e watched it at least 10 times. I wish I could put it in a Holiday card. The guy who through his shoes should get a medal. Maybe one of those they gave to Tenet and those other criminals.

[Brazenly Liberal]

6. I've watched it at least a dozen times

and I still laugh out loud every time.

[grantcart]

7. It was funny

Bush's move was skillful and his comment was funny.

Unfortunately it actually works to his advantage and humanizes him a little, but its still funny.

[DevonRex]

8. I laughed every time I watched it.

If he had gotten hurt it wouldn't have been funny, I guess. As it is, I thought it was funny. Considering all the deaths caused by the war, he should be thankful that only one person threw his shoes at him.

[Bucky]

9. It was funny at first. But if the guy gets anything worse than a fine for this attack....

it will confirm everything he was protesting against. The only way to confirm he was wrong to attack our president is if his punishment is a nominal fine and maybe some community service. I fear he'll get something much, much worse--some embarrassed prison official may give him the Abu Ghraib treatment for making the regime look bad.

[stillcool]

15. Seeing as he's already been tortured..

what the hey?

[uppityperson]

10. I admire the restraint of someone who was kidnapped and tortured to only throw a shoe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7979926&mesg_id=7979926
Shoe tosser a journalist who had been kidnapped, beaten while reporting in Iraq.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSRYA67238820071118
An Iraqi television journalist was kidnapped on Friday after leaving his home in Baghdad, Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for al-Baghdadiya television station, disappeared after leaving his home in a busy area of central Baghdad, the non-governmental organization said in a statement.

Zaidi's family said they had called his mobile phone in the afternoon, and confirmed he had been abducted, the group said. But his family did not receive any specific demands for his release. Zaidi is 26-years-old, it added.

"The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory asks Zaidi's kidnappers once more for his swift release for humanitarian reasons," the group said in a statement....(more)


His release:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19159708.htm
Nov 19 (Reuters) - An Iraqi TV journalist who was kidnapped last week in a busy Baghdad neighbourhood said he was released unharmed before dawn on Monday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the independent al- Baghdadiya television station, said he spent more than two days blindfolded, barely eating and drinking, after armed men forced him into a car as he walked to work on Friday morning in the bustling Bab al-Sharji area of central Baghdad.

"My release is a miracle. I couldn't believe I was still alive," Zaidi, 28, told Reuters by telephone.

Zaidi said the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness. They used his necktie to blindfold him and bound his hands with his shoelaces...(more)

[Jennicut]

11. Wow. This guy was clearly making a statement. I respect his standing up to Bush.

No journalists here have had the guts to do that. As a woman, if i was a reporter I would have thrown my heels at him a long time ago, and those can definitely be used as weapons. This was funny because Bush is such an idiot but sad too as our president is so looked down upon in the rest of the world. Hopefully Barack will be greeted with open arms in some parts of the Arab world.

[appleannie1]

12. I do too, especially the meaning behind the shoe. We flip the bird, Iraq aims the sole of shoes.

[Lerrad]

13. VIDEO!

http://news.aol.com/article/man-throws-two-shoes-at-bush-in-iraq/241945+

[nc4bo]

14. Seeing the big strong war mongering hero cower like a p***y was funny...

as in slapstick funny. The reason behind the shoe throw was not.

* should count himself either as very lucky or very blessed that the missiles were only shoes.

That rat bastard had no business being over there in the first place. If I were an Iraqi I'd have been extremely insulted and very pissed off.

[AZBlue]

16. I can't stop laughing!

[Clio the Leo]

17. Un-uh .... it's scary and it's an embarassment.

Regardless of what we think of Bush, it's scary that ANYONE was able to hurl ANYTHING at him.

And it's an embarassment that someone so openly insulted the President that WE allowed to take office. I dont care if you didn't vote for him and I dont care about FL or OH. If we had all worked a little harder the last two elections, maybe we could have changed history.

The man didn't throw a shoe at the leader of the Republican party ... or the most powerful conservative in the land .... he paid the highest insult to OUR leader. Again, support him or not, he's our leader. Even if we'd give ANYTHING to get him out of office, the world sees us all as Americans. And we have all been shamed. Perhaps it's deserved? Bush has sullied the American name and we've allowed him to do it. The reporter threw a shoe at every one of us.

Bush is the very icon of how NOT to lead by example, of how NOT to make sure the right people are in office. And homeboy with his shoes just called us out in front of the world.

Let someone throw a shoe at Barack and NONE of us would be laughing.

[Number23]

18. I hear you. But I think the only embarrasment in this whole situation is Bush

I completely understand your point that the reporter threw a shoe at all of us, but I think that Bush is so reviled and the country is so ready for him to simply be GONE that most people don't even see it that way. I bet even the Iraqi who threw the shoe wasn't thinking "I'm going to throw this at the leader of the free world." It was probably more "I'm going to throw this at the man who is responsible for more death than I could ever imagine and the destruction of my country."

You're right. No one would laugh had the shoes been thrown at Obama, but I think the difference is that that wouldn't happen. Not now anyway. But if at the end of his terms as President, if Obama has f*cked up one TENTH as bad as Bush has, all bets are off. :)

[Clio the Leo]

20. If a lunatic would shout "KILL HIM!" .....

.... then a lunatic would throw a shoe.

I'll agree that perhaps an Iraqi might be less likely to throw a shoe at Barack, but wait until the KKK learns it's the thing to do.

Ah ... most klan members dont own shoes .... you may have a point. :)

[NYC Liberal]

21. I think it's justified, but the embarrassing thing is that we have a president

who is as hated as Bush is.

Obama will at least begin the restoration of our image. I don't know if it can be done in 4 or 8 years but it'll definitely be a start.

[elizm]

24. If the shoe fits....

George W. Bush is hated around the world. President Obama will never have a shoe thrown at him because he will not incite hate for his policies the way GW did. So your argument/defense of Bush has no merit.

[MarkInCA]

28. Actually, I disagree with one statement:

"Let someone throw a shoe at Barack and NONE of us would be laughing."

Barack would be the first to laugh. We would laugh with him because we appreciate that he can find humor in a difficult situation.

We are laughing, Bush included, because in this country throwing a shoe is relatively meaningless, therefore funny.

It is possible to see some humor while at the sametime understand the statement being made as well as the serious security breach.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. Nobody would throw shoes at Obama.

He's not going to fuck up the world like Bush has.

[trayfoot]

19. I wish both shoes had hit him!

Sorry, but I have NO SYMPATHY for this A-Hole!

[Clio the Leo]

23. You've been around Bush too long....

.... his vengeful ways are starting to rub off on you. ;)

[kwenu]

22. I thought it was funny but I don't like the idea of assaulting a U.S. President.

I wasn't impressed with secret service either. That was a long time for a reaction.

It's still funny though.

[Diamonique]

27. Ditto everything you said.

Even though it wasn't right... it sure was damn funny. And good to see some of that nasty karma coming back at him.

And WTF was wrong with the SS? They should have covered Bush (or got him out of the room) before the second show headed his way.

[Parche]

25. hey

you have a lot of sole
:hug:

[Morpheal]

26. Shoes thrown....

That was a symbolic, ritual, gesture.
It means "leave" and is the worst insult possible within that context.

Actually if there were not so much restraint and self discipline he would have got hundreds of pair of shoes thrown at him.

What I think, however, is that Bush had no idea what it really meant.

Robert Morpheal

[Bake]

30. In some cultures they throw rocks.

Would that have been acceptable in this case?

Bake

[moondust]

31. It gets funnier every time I see it.

:rofl: