The shoe fits

Wish I could've done that!

17-Dec-08. So, George W sneaked into Baghdad on a farewell tour, tried to give a press conference, and had two shoes hurled at his head by an Iraqi TV journalist who shouted out that Bush was a "dog."

When the chaos subsided, after Dana Perino had suffered a poke in the eye from a microphone during the melee to subdue the shoe-hurler, W turned his attention to making the best of a bad situation. The guy was only trying to "gain attention," W said. "It's like going to a political rally," he said, "and having someone yell at you."

Not quite, you dumb ox. In the Arab world, throwing your shoes or hitting someone with your shoes is as close to an ultimate insult as you can get. It means, "I think you are lower than dirt!" Remember that the Iraqis pelted the fallen statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes.

Please! When was the last time Bush ever had someone yell at him at a political rally? He only goes to "safe" ones, where the attendees are carefully screened for political correctness (that is, adoring Republicans) and are often bearing gifts, like bundles of campaign contributions; or, in the alternative, to a military base where the service men and women are made to line up and applaud politely, props in a photo op.

Michael Ware on CNN, no Bush admirer he, lauded W's "reflexes" in having dodged the shoe. But if you look carefully at the pictures, Bush has his eyes closed, hardly the way an old baseball guy, as he lays claim to be, responds to a rapidly moving object in flight.

What a sorry excuse for a president. If we can only get through the next 33 days.