VIDEO – Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoes at Bush: ‘This is a Farewell Kiss, Dog’

Staged Legacy Visit 'Marred' by Actual Event, Expression of Truth

UPDATED: WH Spokesliar Perino Said to Receive Literal, Symbolic Blackeye...

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Unlike the previous video, this one is real, as the line between satire and Bush’s ‘Presidency’ grows increasingly impossible to discern in his waning days, and as his final visit to Iraq becomes as embarrassing as his first (when he delivered a fake turkey to the troops).

From NYTimes:

BAGHDAD “” President Bush flew to Iraq on Sunday, his fourth and final trip, to highlight the recently completed security agreement between the United States and the country that occupied the bulk of his presidency and will to a large extent define his legacy.

But his appearance at a news conference here was interrupted by a man, apparently a journalist, who leaped to his feet and threw one shoe at the president, who ducked and narrowly missed being struck. Chaos ensued. He threw a second shoe, which also narrowly missed Mr. Bush. The man was roughly 12 feet from the lecturn in the center of two rows of chairs, about two feet from a pool of reporters. A scrum of security agents descended on the man and wrestled him, first to the floor and then out of the ornate room where the news conference was taking place.

TV news coverage has noted that throwing shoes is one of the culture’s greatest insults. So is calling someone a “dog.” Unlike hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed by Bush’s attacks over the last 5 years, however, he was able to survive this one with his life, and even make a joke about it…

The president was uninjured and brushed off the incident. “All I can report is it is a size 10,” he said jokingly. An Iraqi accompanying the pool of reporters, colleague said the man had shouted, “This is a farewell kiss, dog.”

UPDATE: The video of both shoes dropping follows below. Also, MSNBC reports that WH Spokesliar Dana Perino may have ended up with a black eye. Both a literal, and an unbelievably symbolic one at the same time…

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VIDEO – Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoes at Bush: ‘This is a Farewell Kiss, Dog’

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35 Responses

  1. 1)
    Jeff said on 12/14/2008 @ 2:41pm PT: [Permalink]

    I thought this incident was funny as hell but probably not for the same reason as all the haters. Shows how agile the old man still is. You go Bush, duck and weave.

  2. 3)
    colinjames said on 12/14/2008 @ 3:04pm PT: [Permalink]

    Obviously, not the first time he’s had to duck something thrown at him. Gotta give Dubya props for being quick… and that’s all I will EVER give him props for. Imagine if the guy actually landed a heel to the forehead. The new “Shoe-Bomber”? Can he be detained in Gitmo for that?

  3. 4)
    Agent 99 said on 12/14/2008 @ 3:32pm PT: [Permalink]

    I’m hoping that the Iraqi authorities got him out of there and held a parade in his honor. He’s obviously a hundred times more of a man than * and deserves at least a parade.

  4. 5)
    Kat said on 12/14/2008 @ 4:03pm PT: [Permalink]

    In my opinion it was a shame he wasnt hit square in the face! Bush made a mess of that country. Democracy isn’t the answer to everyones problems and it doesnt work for every country. The trouble is that Iraq had two groups, the Sunni and the Shia. The Shia were the poor majority and dominated by the wealthier minority the Sunnis. These Sunni were the middle class who were well educated doctors and teachers etc. and were the most secular of the Iraqi people. But since the Shia, who were nonsecular and poorly educated, controlled the oil we ran in there supporting them and destroyed the sunni population or made them refugees and now the more radical bunch is in control all for the sake of friggin oil! The sunnis could have been our most helpful ally in the fight on terror but now do u think those educated individuals will ever forget what we did to them? Were in more danger now than we were after 9/11! And democracy would only further the problems because with the majority being Shia they will have radical control of the country! Way to go Bush! As the most respectable general in the US military Petreas once openly said “If you know why we are here you tell me!” Shortly after he was fired by Rumsfeld because, while he actually made sense, it was against the Bush policies. Thank goodness hes back in there now! Hes the only one I trust!

    Put it this way, if the US was invaded by another country and my countrymen, landmarks, and cities destroyed, and I had to take refuge to mexico and most of my family had been killed all for the sake of that country wanting to impose communism or whatever, but their main goal was to take control of our most valuable resources. I dont think I would just throw my shoes at their ignorant leader, Id kill him and absolutely LOATH his country and probably swear revenge…. but then again im just a 19 year old girl who couldnt possibly know anything about how this world works right?

  5. 6)
    Jeannie Dean (not in) FL-13 said on 12/14/2008 @ 4:17pm PT: [Permalink]

    REPORTER: “As you see, the shoe sailed over his head…”
    Hee-lar-yous.

    I have now watched this video five times as holy catharsis. O! If only one shoe had landed true. The trajectory is so promising!

    Turns out our lame duck ain’t such a lame DUCKER. This quick reflex-response belies his 8 years of pigeon dances, stumbles, pet-goat bumbles, and pretzel choking. Maybe his intense Cheerleading training prepared him for just such a moment. (Certainly had no problems ‘ducking’ his Texas National Air Guard obligations.)

    I wonder if the Secret Service will now mandate Press Conferences be shoe-less in the interest of National Security. After all, “No one could have anticipated using shoes as projectiles to slam into the President’s head.”

    As for Perino, well, if all she ever gets is a black eye for doing the dirty work of lying to the American People on behalf of this criminal administration, she will have, at least for now, ducked cancer.

  6. 9)
    mick said on 12/14/2008 @ 4:46pm PT: [Permalink]

    Quote of the day

    “lame DUCKER”

    In Arabic calling someone an animal as in “you dog” is far worse than an American calling someone an A##hole.Culture counts !

  7. 10)
    Jeannie Dean (not in) FL-13 said on 12/14/2008 @ 4:57pm PT: [Permalink]

    Yeah, Larry! Proof of the inter-connectedness of all us Bradbloggers. Election Integrity Collective Consciousness–very reassuring.

    Yup–no more smart-pumps. Check your penny-loafers with the men in black. Helen Thomas will have to jettison her Rockport Prowalkers before being banned from the WH press corps for all the usual reasons. And yes, maybe Perino will tell us it’s because the Japanese had it right all along…

  8. 13)
    DMcD said on 12/14/2008 @ 8:39pm PT: [Permalink]

    Too bad this didn’t happen in Holland.

    Finally, a reporter showing Bush the respect he so richly deserves.

    .

  9. 14)
    mick said on 12/14/2008 @ 10:19pm PT: [Permalink]

    … Big Dan Only in name ,the word “Bush” will become slang for anything that doesn’t work as planned or is generally an idiotic idea.Now that a heck of a legacy …don’t ya thunk?

  10. 24)
    Cyteria said on 12/15/2008 @ 4:35pm PT: [Permalink]

    KEEP YOUR OLD WORN SHOES! Save them in case Pres. Doofus comes to town!!! I am going to take the most beatup old shoe I have and one of my 7 yr. old’s (and they are REALLY stinky, believe me!) and send both to “George W. Bush, Interloper President of the U.S., the WHite House, Washington, DC). Do the same.

  11. 25)
    Jeannie Dean (not in) FL-13 said on 12/15/2008 @ 4:38pm PT: [Permalink]

    Excellent, 99! I’d been looking for a link like that all morning. Concerned when I couldn’t find any information re: what happened AFTER the shoe-throwing, and the video ends with Mr. al-Zaidi’s screams. (Not surprisingly, they beat him to a pulp.) Thanks for the link.

    Still hoping to find a “thank you Mr. al-Zaidi” site, like the one someone put together for Stephen Colbert after the WH Correspondent’s dinner in ’06.

  12. 28)
    molly said on 12/16/2008 @ 2:18am PT: [Permalink]

    DU has a post saying the journalist throwing the shoe is being tortured. Would not surprise me keeping in mind a disproportianately high number of journalists have been jailed and murdered under the bush reign.Our justice dept. should go over there and demand he is treated fairly. That last sentence is sad, isn’t it?

  13. 29)
    Agent 99 said on 12/16/2008 @ 2:45am PT: [Permalink]

    I’ve been googling for a couple of hours. The report about Camp Cropper is from one single Iraqi blog source, who says he heard it on tv. AntiWar dot com has scared the crap out of me, but al-Zaidi is 28, not 25. I’ve emailed everyone I can think of with the juice to start getting some real answers.

    HE BETTER BE SAFE. HE BETTER NOT BE DEAD.

    I CAN’T BELIEVE NOBODY’S BEEN SITTING ON WHAT IS HAPPENING TO HIM!

    I can’t believe someone in *’s entourage, since it would never be * himself, didn’t make sure he wasn’t harmed before he left.

    I’m really flipping and needing to go soak my head. 🙁

  14. 31)
    czaragorn said on 12/16/2008 @ 10:25am PT: [Permalink]

    I just heard Thomm Hartman talking about broken bones, “signs of torture on his thihgs” and so on. What an outrage – it outrages even a jaded old realist like yours truly. And to think the journalist was just tossing duhbaya his shoe phone, as Condi was trying to get duhbaya’s thoughts on her latest pumps. The second shoe, presumably, was to draw attention to the first one, which was blaring a shock and awe standby riff from the Noriega kidnapping. Seriously, I’m genuinely afraid for the journalist, because if they have seriously beaten him up they may not be able to release him. What story will The Big Dick and his cohorts cook up to explain his disappearance? Allah swooped in and took him up to his virgins? I’m mailing some old shoes and a few bags of pretzels to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, addressed to the Dog in Chief.

  15. 33)
    Agent 99 said on 12/16/2008 @ 12:34pm PT: [Permalink]

    Jeannie

    The problem with the AP is that they will say whatever the fascist fucks want them to say, but there is a little report from Al-Jazeera that I believe, because, it seems, they talked to his brother.

    Czaragorn

    Truly, pretzel-filled old stanky sneakers for * this Christmas.

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