If the shoe fits...

Well this is obviously a faked news report. After all, we ALL know that the Iraqi people are nothing but ecstatic about the fact that we invaded their country and destroyed the place.

Right?

Here's the deal: The only reason he threw the shoe was because President Bush is a decent man. Consider: would this guy have thrown his shoe at Saddam 7 years ago?? No. Absolutely no. Because it would've won him a trip to "the plastic shredder". Does this guy even remember what that dictator was like? Have people forgotten? No, this guy has completely forgotten what he had to live with back then. So he took the easy shot. After all the blood that was spilled so he could throw the stupid shoe at the man who liberated him. I have no respect for this 'reporter'.

Yeah, Michelle. Because the only possible choices are dictator or invader.

Why can't he insult our President? Not only can he do so, so can our own media (although they really don't too much). And the fact that the offending journalist couldn't do so under Saddam Hussein seems totally irrelevant - he didn't like him and he doesn't like Bush. You express your anger when and how you can. When did our Presidents become demi-gods? And why do the Iraqis have to feel grateful (even if it turns out that removing Saddam was a good thing) to us? They weren't exactly consulted by us before we invaded them. Perhaps they missed the Fox News report on how the surge was such a success?

Bush's misadventure in Iraq is responsible for the death of (at least) tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, the displacement of millions more (some who now work as child prostitutes in exile), the extinction of historic Christian communities, the shame of Abu Ghuraib, and let's not even talk about our own dead and wounded and the moral and financial toll that brings.

One hopes the infamous shoe was a particularly stinky one.

This report, and many other TBH, have shown the low level of competence and the high level of dishonesty by our current administration. Way too much power was concentrated into the hands of a small few. They made bad decisions we will pay for over a long time.

Steve

The really pathetic thing is that Bush doesn't seem to understand what throwing shoes at someone means in Arab, at least Iraqi Arab, culture. It is a very severe insult, worse than flipping the bird or saying "yo mama".

The weird thing about our policy and attitude to the Arab world is that it's schizophrenic. On the one hand, they are all Islamic fundie nutsos who want to kill us, so we have to take them out, but they all secretly deep deep down, want to be Jeffersonian Democrats and so we are supposed to engage in a round of nation building and turn them into a New England town meeting.

Bush is fortunate that the guy didn't throw a bomb at him. Iraq could still eventually turn out ok, but it doesn't look likely. We took a country that was governed by a thug, but a thug who was anti-Iranian, anti-Al Quada, tolerant of Christians, and where women had a certain measure of freedom, into a smoking disaster Al-Quada took up residence, the Iranians are the government's good buddies, women have been beaten and killed for not wearing the veil, and the country's 2000 year old Christian community is fleeing for their lives.

It's like a bumper sticker I saw, "Be nice to us, or we'll bring DEMOCRACY to your country!".

The posts that make it worth coming to from this site have really become few and far between.

Between you agreeing with the journalist throwing his shoe at President Bush and Rod previously saying he applauded the guy who punched the Lehman Brothers CEO and essentially agreeing with calling our troops murders and an "illegal" invasion in a previous post, I mind as well begin reading the Democratic Underground or Huffington Post.

The fact that the Bush administration is responsible for freeing two countries from oppressive dictatorships and keeping our nation free from attack since 9-11 is a service to the world and this country.

The fact remains as it was noted above, had this been done to Saddam, he would have been tortured slowly to death, as would his family more than likely and then fed into a shredder feet first or a vat of acid.

Yes, it has and continues to be worth it.

Marty: The really pathetic thing is that Bush doesn't seem to understand what throwing shoes at someone means in Arab, at least Iraqi Arab, culture.

Why? What difference would it have made? Had President Bush understood that throwing a shoe wasn't just bad, but rather, really, really bad, would he then have been overwhelmed with the shame and contrition?

fbc: Yeah, Michelle. Because the only possible choices are dictator or invader.

That was your original response to Michelle and it indicated absolutely no understanding at all of her point (since her point had nothing to do with what options were available w/r/t/ Saddam Hussein).

To the point of the item: More than $100billion of our taxpayer dollars were wasted by the Bush administration and its minions.

Think of all that wealth leaving our nation for nothing. Think of your kids and grandkids who got stuck with the bill, and consider being "free" to work until you die because your 401k, IRA, pension and SSI were all sacrificed on the altar of Bush's incompetence, Rumsfeld's arrogance and Cheney's hubris.

And then ask yourself what Rod really asked: "Why aren't you throwing your shoes at these guys?"

Brian
The fact that the Bush administration is responsible for freeing two countries from oppressive dictatorships and keeping our nation free from attack since 9-11 is a service to the world and this country.

Hey, moron, we have been attacked since 9/11. In fact, we got attacked starting a week later and five people got killed in those attacks. 26 people in the US have died from presumable terrorist attacks since 9/11. (And Richard Reid's attack, which would have killed 197 people at minimum, failed without any help from Bush, so it's pure luck those numbers aren't 10 times higher.)

And the Afghanistan government wasn't a 'dictatorship' either. The 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' was a totalitarian theocracy, but it wasn't a dictatorship. (Or, duh, there would have been a dictator.)

Don't know why you left out the Rumsfeld bits -- did you see the one where he declared we would never spend a billion dollars on a country like Iraq? In the words of Beverly Hills teen Cher -- as if.

Has there ever been a more arrogant jerk in the history of Washington D.C. than Donald Rumsfeld? I mean, jeez. Nixon was capable of self-criticism. Bush has a sense of humor. Even Cheney speaks the truth once in a while (warning Republicans recently that it'll be "Herbert Hoover time" if the they reject the Detroit bail-out, which of course they did). What good did Rumsfeld do anyone, ever?

Michele, I respect your sticking to your point, but I'm not sure it's clear as yet (at least to me). Your answer to one question might serve to help me understand.

Is a US citizen burning an American flag a valid act of protest?

Thanks.

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