The quotidian vacuum of presidential existence was violated in Iraq yesterday when an Iraqi journalist attending an impromptu boilerplate bunker news conference threw both of his shoes (one of the actual shoes is seen at left, likely soon to be soaring on ebay) at the President of the United States in a non-sartorial statement that had nothing to do with footwear per se, the US per se or its presidency per se, just with the target of the shoes. Footwear is a standard fixture of insults in the Middle East.The first thing I thought upon seeing the news video was that this guy has a major-league arm! Two fastball shoes like that, in quick succession, under World-Series-seventh-game kind of pressure, and they were both strikes, right down the old pipe! This guy's got some serious stuff! Probably being scouted by the Yankees even now, as a game saver with major potential. In fact, right at this moment a lot of folks (baseball fans, shoe fans, insult fans etc.) are parading for the thrower's release, and sending him more shoes.
He's a hero on many levels to many classes of people, though I think - apart from the career-changing revelation of his skills to major league scouts - he should have simply donated his shoes to the shoeless, instead of wasting them on the guy who's probably the world's best avoider of shoes and other objects, both real and abstract. From the facility with which the target ducked the strikezone footwear it was obvious that he's an Artful Dodger with a lifetime of practice. He was clearly in his element. It's a skill that after all got him 8 years in the highest office in the world and topped off his Middle-East legacy with the deft avoidance of two shoes. Metaphors just don't get any better than that.
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Media update: Secret Service Defends Shoe Response
"I took a shoe for the President..."
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Egyptian offers daughter to Iraqi shoe-thrower
God is a lot like the Marx Brothers.+
Saudi man seeks 'Shoe of Dignity'
Way better price than on e-bay...
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Model 271, "The Bush Shoe," Flying off the shelves...
From around the globe, orders are flying in like crazy
for the world's most popular shoe...
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Stampede for 'Bush Shoe' Creates 100 New Jobs
"BLACK leather shoes"? Is this another intel mixup?
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Shoes Thrown at Bush Have Message Written on Bottoms
5 comments:
My first thought was 'Cripes, that guy can really throw.' My second thought was, 'I guess we should be greatful the rest of this gentleman didn't go along with his shoes, considering the unpopularity of George these days.'
What I find unbelieveable is that we as a people would normally be completely infuriated at such a thing happening to the leader of our country....and we are not. That says it all, doesn't it Bob?
Ooops, that should be 'grateful'. It was very late last night.... ~Joy
Good point, Joy; I hadn't thought of that... as with the secrecy of the bailout: where's the outrage?
All metaphors aside, that guy Dubya -- he's got cat-like reflexes !!
Shoegate....a really big shoe!
Loved the message on the bottom of the shoes, and the rest, well, the best laugh of the season.
Thanks.
:)
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